Good News October 2017 Broward

of which were several stories high. Each of those stories contained families or busi- nesses. Each building repre- sented a handful of souls and we could see countless build- ings in every direction. Look- ing out over the sea of gray buildings and realizing the ex- cessive number of people who needed Christ there broke my heart and brought Romans 10:14 to mind: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear with- out someone preaching?” To get a feel for the enor- mity of the city of Tokyo, hop on to Google Maps and look up Tokyo with the satellite view. Zoom in until you can see individual streets clearly and then slowly zoom out. The size of the city is overwhelm- ing. The population in just the city of Tokyo is greater than the population of all of Florida; it’s even greater than the pop- ulation of the entire country of Canada. The culture In Japan, the officially reigning religion is Shintoism followed by Buddhism. Over 85 percent of the population is part of one or both of these be- lief systems. Many Japanese visit shrines daily on their way to or from work to ensure pros- perity in their pursuits. How- ever, their beliefs seem to be very shallow in nature from what we encountered. While in Japan, we met a few non- believers and quite a few con- verts and spoke with them about their current or past be- liefs. It seemed like most did not know why they practiced their religion or why they did the things they did within the framework of their religion. They visited shrines and paid for talismans, but they claimed not to believe that these things would benefit them. What happens is that many Japanese are Shinto in the same way that many Americans are Christian. They attend major religious serv- ices, seek spiritual guidance when life is difficult, and think favorably of the religion for the most part, but do not actually know very much about it and do not live it out daily. Their re- ligion is just something they do because of their culture, not something they do out of con- viction. Most are actually ag- nostic and do not hold to any beliefs stringently. Despite their loosely held religious beliefs, the Japanese people have been difficult to evangelize. There are many reasons for this stemming from culture, history and even language. For example: in Japanese culture, there is no concept or word for what the Bible calls “sin.” As a result, talking to the Japanese about the forgiveness Christ extends to us for our sins has very little meaning for them. A metropolitan hub There is hope, however, for the Japanese people. The Holy Spirit is the one who works in the hearts of men to soften them and make them receptive to His Word, but the only way they will hear that Word is if Christians stand up and contribute to the spread- ing of the Gospel in Japan and Tokyo in particular. I stress the importance of Tokyo because it is a central hub of commerce in the world and has great in- fluence over a wide range of topics globally. When Paul went on his missionary jour- neys, he did not go to remote areas but to metropolitan areas. He knew that by win- ning converts in the cities, the Gospel message could spread more widely and quickly. Similarly, we ought to pur- sue the great cities of the world and win them for Christ. Many reading this may feel a tug on their hearts to maybe go and be a part of God’s work in this way. I would encourage you to pray earnestly asking for God’s guidance. Get your feet wet by going with your church on a short-term mis- sions trip; if your church does- n’t have any coming up, you can search for organizations that you could joining for short term missions. I would sug- gest the International Mission Board. Lastly, I would encour- age you to take the advice I have often heard given by oth- ers: when praying, do not ask, “Why should I go?” but ask, “Why should I stay?” A native-born Miamian, Tami Gomez is a freelance writer for the Good News while she and her husband attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in North Carolina. They hope to be- come missionaries to the Far East. She can be reached at tfer- [email protected]. buy one, FR ne get o EE COMBO Validon itemofequalor lesservalue.E One timeuseonly.Notvalidwithanyotheroff Ft.Lauderdale: 17thStreet,PembrokeP Expires: 12/1/17 CODE: 841 ,k MEAL xcludesbeverageswithsaladsorbowls. aklandP ers.ValidatPDQFt.Lauderdale:O ar ompanoBeach locationsONL inesandP Y. -481-319 ARK AKL ALE: O UDERD A L PDQ FT AND P :AT VISIT US CH ANO BEA PDQ POMP S PDQ PEMBROKE PINE TREET ALE: 17TH S UDERD A. L PDQ FT . &$6+ 21 7+( 6327 5811,1* 25 127 ;)&9=97)('%67 &3%87 &$// )5(( 72:,1* $9$,/$%/(