Tuesday, May 09, 2006
from the article Japan's Faithful Judas
from the second half of this article http://www.baobab.or.jp/~stranger/mypage/endo.htm
"Why is Christianity virtually the only Western practice that has failed to
take root in Japan? Endo traces its failure to misunderstandings, especially
regarding the Western concept of the Fatherhood of God. Therapist Erich Fromm
says that a child from a balanced family receives two kinds of love. Mother
love tends to be unconditional, accepting the child no matter what,
regardless of behavior. Father love tends to be more provisional, bestowing
approval as the child meets certain standards of behavior. Ideally, says
Fromm, a child should receive and internalize both kinds of love.
According to Endo, Japan, a nation of authoritarian fathers, has understood
the father love of God but not the mother love. An old Japanese saying lists
the four most awful things on earth as "fires, earthquakes, thunderbolts, and
fathers." For Christianity to have any appeal to the Japanese, Endo
concludes, it must stress instead the mother love of God, the love that
forgives wrongs and binds wounds and draws, rather than forces, others to
itself. ("O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those
sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!") "
"Why is Christianity virtually the only Western practice that has failed to
take root in Japan? Endo traces its failure to misunderstandings, especially
regarding the Western concept of the Fatherhood of God. Therapist Erich Fromm
says that a child from a balanced family receives two kinds of love. Mother
love tends to be unconditional, accepting the child no matter what,
regardless of behavior. Father love tends to be more provisional, bestowing
approval as the child meets certain standards of behavior. Ideally, says
Fromm, a child should receive and internalize both kinds of love.
According to Endo, Japan, a nation of authoritarian fathers, has understood
the father love of God but not the mother love. An old Japanese saying lists
the four most awful things on earth as "fires, earthquakes, thunderbolts, and
fathers." For Christianity to have any appeal to the Japanese, Endo
concludes, it must stress instead the mother love of God, the love that
forgives wrongs and binds wounds and draws, rather than forces, others to
itself. ("O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those
sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a
hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!") "
hd 3:22 PM
1 Comments:
Interesting insight into culture...both Japanese and Western. I saw a bumper sticker the other day about praying to "Goddess"....just got me thinking about how society has forever put focus on the male side of God, but in Genesis I clearly see how both men AND women were created in the image of the Triune God. We get really stuck in our thinking and it can be a hinderance to others.
P.S. Thanks for the package. Love the curtain (forgot the correct name) and the Eki-Ben!
P.S. Thanks for the package. Love the curtain (forgot the correct name) and the Eki-Ben!
