Travel Is Wasted on Some People

This is pure evil and should be razed to make way for a megachurch. Or possibly a Walmart.

One of the things that disappoints me most about being poor is that I will never get to travel. I would love, more than anything, to see the pyramids, to see Rome, to see the land of WTF?!, otherwise known as Japan. I want to see unusual things, experience a different culture, learn something new. Some people apparently don't feel the same way.

My daughter has been on a mission trip to Japan this summer. She and her sponsor sent a report on how the trip is going. This is the prayer guide given out in Church. It is info about Kimberly's trip from Kimberly and from her ministry coordinator, Jeff that I would like to share:

“It's 9:17 pm Wednesday here in Tokyo. That would be about 7:17 am
where you are.
Today, we went prayer walking at Asakusa Temple, and it was
devastating. As you enter through the large gates, you see two huge
statues of "protectors" (translation: demons). Beyond that is a
market place and then another gate with yet more demon
representations. As you enter the second gate, you can see people
bowing to the false gods before they enter. Then, you're greeted by
the smell of incense as you watch people stand around an altar,
bathing themselves in the smoke in order to purify themselves. After
that, they go to the right where a large water fountain/basin is
located so that they can rinse their hands and mouths to purify those.
To the left is an atrocity. They have a bronze Buddha called a
"healing Buddha." People rub the place on the idol that needs healing
and then rub themselves in the same stop. It's terrible.
Inside the temple was bad, too. People were throwing money into this
large...thing...and clapping their hands before saying a prayer. Yes,
they have to pay the gods to listen to their prayers and clap to wake
them up. It's the worst. There are two large lantern-like things to
either side in which people place small white birthday candles to pray
for aborted babies (this is normally done by a family who suffered
this tragedy). Beyond this is an area where only members of the
temple can enter in which they pray to false gods. Beyond that is
something similar to the Holy of Holies in the Jewish temple. Only
the monks could enter. I saw someone open the door, and the monks
were simply lounging about."...
"Outside to the right of the temple was a Shinto shrine. There,
someone had brought their new car to get blessed, and we watched as a
shrine priest performed a very long ceremony over it.
These people are lost. They are so spiritually blind. I've never
seen idol worship to this extent before, and it's a sad thing.

The picture at the top of the post is the Sensoji Temple, also known as the Asakusa Kannon Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo. As you can see, it is an amazing place. I'd probably do nothing but stare open-mouthed for ten minutes as soon as I got there. Not this good Christian. All she sees is evil, idol worship, something to destroy and replace with more of what she could find in any strip mall in America. All the beauty and splendor of the world and religion has made her blind to it. I can't imagine anything more tragic.

The website I linked to, btw, is the website of a Bangledeshi man who loves to travel and take pictures. At least travel isn't wasted on him.