The Killing Fields

Sunday February 28, 2016

We had some free time Sunday afternoon, so we decided to visit the Killing Fields in the outskirts of Phnom Penh.  There is a memorial there to honor the people Pol Pot’s regime exterminated in the late 1970s. It was an extremely difficult experience. The evil and brutality represented by the killing fields are unimaginable. I wouldn’t say that I had a good time, but I’m glad I visited the memorial, because it reminds me why we are in Cambodia. At the risk of oversimplification, I think it is safe to say that the sex trafficking that plagues Cambodia is a by-product of the devastation left by the Khmer Rouge.

My visit to the Killing Fields reminds me of several things:

First, ideas have consequences and bad idea have bad consequences. Evil happens when bad ideas take root in a society and no one is willing or able to resist or counter those ideas.

Second, we can stand up against injustices, but at the end of the day, the most effective way to overcome injustice is to supplant the worldview that tolerates evil with one that promotes justice for all people. Good Vs. evil is ultimately a battle of ideas and worldviews.

How do these points relate to the purpose of our trip? All the good work people do to end sex trafficking will ultimately come to naught, if it is done independent of the Christian worldview and apart from the Gospel. A worldview that regards human life as illusory and the platform where karmic debt is paid leads to a society in which people are complacent about human suffering. A person’s lot in life is deserved, dictated by the sins of a past life. Combine that with a culture that can have a low regard for women and throw in a little corruption for good measure and there you have it. Victims can be rescued, but systemic sex trafficking will persist as long as the worldview of the culture remains intact. On the other hand, the Christian worldview regards human beings as made in God’s image, possessing inherent worth and dignity and immeasurable value. When the Christian worldview takes hold and its full implications are realized, human abuses become unthinkable. And the only way to establish the Christian worldview is through the spread of the Gospel. The Gospel not only transforms lives, it can transform a culture.

This is why I am so excited by AIM’s approach. The center piece of their strategy is the Gospel. It motivates their actions. It gives hope to the victims of sex trafficking. But more importantly, it becomes the means of replacing a toxic worldview with one that provides the framework for true justice.

The work we have ahead of this week is focused on the spread of the Gospel in Svay Pak. We will spend time investing in the lives of the Disciples—young men and women who live and train at Rahab’s House to become future leaders in the church in Cambodia. The impact that they will have on the next generation is exciting to ponder. We will pass out rice and share the Gospel with families living at four brick factories. The hope is that the children in these communities who are the most vulnerable to the threat of sex slavery because of desperate economic circumstances won’t become victimized. We will invest in the lives of young men at the Lord’s Gym. Apart from the Gospel—and without the opportunities created by the Lord’s Gym—many of these young men would most likely become traffickers. Finally, we will teach children from the brick factories and the surrounding community about the Christian faith in the safe setting of Kid’s Club. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in Cambodia.

As Paul wrote to the church at Rome (Romans 1:16), “I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”

The Gospel also has the power to transform Cambodia.