Nepal - Christians persecuted for proselytising

[hatcheckgirl]

This week there was a news article in which a group of Christians, including one Australian, were arrested in Nepal for preaching, distributing Bibles and literature and showing videos.  The story was not clear as to which denomination was involved in this latest arrest, so I don’t know if it was referring to Jehovah’s Witnesses or others also proselytising. https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/korean/en/article/2018/11/15/australian-woman-arrested-nepal-allegedly-spreading-christianity

 

 

This is the latest in a series of arrests involving Christians 'converting' others from the secular religion of Hindu. The constitution was changed in 2015, and now it is against the law to 'convert' others from their religion, obviously backed up by the Hindu religionists. This echos the same modus operandi of Russia, and other states that sanction religious persecution with the backing of the majority religion, while still claiming to have a democratic system. http://christiannewsjournal.com/eight-christians-arrested-in-nepal-for-illegal-proselytizing/

 

 

Even if this story is not specifically about us and our preaching work in Nepal, I’m certain that our brothers there have to continue their service there 'as cautious as serpents’.

 

[Stormswift]

My friend who was a need greater, had to flee from Nepal about a year ago, her life was threatened previously if she did not stop preaching they would kill her  and an angry mob was gathering outside her bible study who warned her to get out ..  she was able to flee to a Circuit Overseers house who was able to get her out of Nepal back to NZ - she now lives down south. It was traumatising to her but she is doing well spirituallly. So proud of her courageous stand.

Edited November 17, 2018 by Stormswift

[hatcheckgirl]

I wonder if this is the same sister my sister was telling me about.  I'll see if I can get her name.  Yes, she is a very courageous sister, wisely and cautiously doing her ministry.  We will definitely be seeing more of this sort of persecution as more countries batten down on religious activity.  To be expected.

[Stormswift]

Thinking on this though Lucy - I'm wondering if the Australian 'sister' (Not clear she was a JW yet) was only on a tourist visa as noted in the article - which means she should have obeyed the laws and not preached. I know in Fiji if we go there to visit we can go from door to door with a Native, but we can't speak. The example of my friend - she was actually residing there long term - but not sure what type of visa she had.

 

Oh and check with your sister it might be the same sis. Her initials are MS. 

Edited November 17, 2018 by Stormswift

[well]

35 minutes ago, Stormswift said:

Thinking on this though Lucy - I'm wondering if the Australian 'sister' (Not clear she was a JW yet) was only on a tourist visa as noted in the article - which means she should have obeyed the laws and not preached. I know in Fiji if we go there to visit we can go from door to door with a Native, but we can't speak. The example of my friend - she was actually residing there long term - but not sure what type of visa she had.

 

Oh and check with your sister it might be the same sis. Her initials are MS. 

Same with Indonesia, few need greaters have been deported because of the issue, doing ministry discreetly is very important here esp when you talk to people from several background...

 

However, when I visited some "liberal" countries, there's no such issue to join house to house ministry with any kind of visa...

[Beggar for the Spirit]

5 minutes ago, ivy said:

Same with Indonesia, few need greaters have been deported because of the issue, doing ministry discreetly is very important here...

Hi Yanty,

Sorry to hear about what is happening in Indonesia. 

Has there been a change in recent years with the preaching work in Indonesia? Didn't you used to be able to preach freely in your area? 

[hatcheckgirl]

Just to clarify, the sister Mandi is referring to is not the one in this news story.  I just happened to have heard about the same (I think) sister that Mandi mentioned, which is just a coincidence.

[Stormswift]

Yup exactly the same sister. Real gem. Small world in the truth huh?

[well]

1 hour ago, Beggar for the Spirit said:

Hi Yanty,

Sorry to hear about what is happening in Indonesia. 

Has there been a change in recent years with the preaching work in Indonesia? Didn't you used to be able to preach freely in your area? 

I mean the need greaters, Indonesian law strictly allows only foreigners with missionary visa can do the religious teaching activities, even in the cong...

 

As a sister, I dunno much about cong procedure, but we received specific instruction from BOE on how to accompany few need greaters when they came to my cong this year... They stayed for 3 months, and since they were easily to be recognized as foreigners by physical traits, they were not encouraged to speak up while doing house to house unless local publisher invite them to do so. It's not restriction, it's because local publishers read the situation of house holder better than them... If condition is conducive, they can talk... Even they can do house to house,  it should be under company of local publishers, and  some territories are avoided, such as muslims or governmental area... When people're asking about what they are doing here, they can't tell that they are helping the ministry, they are encouraged to tell that they are here to learn Indonesian culture...

 

Of course, the case is different with locals and those coming with missionary visa such as missionaries, bethelites, or any which are assigned to serve here by branch

 

I was only referring to Mandi's post about preaching in other countries with tourist visa, the law is strict here on what you can do just by tourist visa, like you can't work (we all know it), so you are considered to also not preach, unless you have missionary visa...

Edited November 17, 2018 by ivy

[Sheep]

 

On 11/16/2018 at 5:54 PM, hatcheckgirl said:

The constitution was changed in 2015, and now it is against the law to 'convert' others from their religion, obviously backed up by the Hindu religionists. . .

http://christiannewsjournal.com/eight-christians-arrested-in-nepal-for-illegal-proselytizing/

 

Quote

Hindu nationalists want the government to impose the harshest sentence possible.

I have heard from many Hindus that they believe it is wrong to change one's religion into which he or she was born. I asked one Hindu, "What if a person discovers that some of the teachings of his religion are not true? Wouldn't that be a good reason to change his religion?" He told me it doesn't matter. That person should stick with his religion anyway.

[Qapla]

So, I guess they believe that no one who isn't born a Hindu should become one?

 

Seems funny they accept converts

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Qapla