What We Can Learn from Latrines in Asia
Have you ever gone to the store, bought a package, brought it home, and unwrapped it, only to find it wasn't what you wanted? Then you tried to put it all back in the box to take back to the store. You folded, squeezed, and pushed, but the silly thing just would not go back into the box. Some mystical change had taken place when you removed it and it could never fit in the box again.
The same thing happens to a missionary. You take an ordinary Christian who feels at home in his native land and send him to the mission field. Once he has been removed from his culture, he is never quite the same. When he returns, he never seems to fit in. The things a missionary experiences on the field will leave an indelible imprint on him.
When we returned from our time in Asia, we had a hard time getting used to the isolation that exists in American culture. In Asia, hardly a day went by when we either had visitors or we were visiting in a friend's home. And often when visiting, other friends will drop by as well. We were constantly involved with and fellowshipping in other lives. It seemed like a much more natural way of working out the fellowship experienced by the early church in Acts 2:46.
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.
In America, in our home church, there are many I regard as friends, some as close friends. But I've been in very few of their homes. I've been to the door of some close friends, but they didn't invite me in. Many close friends, I don't even know where they live. In Asia, even strangers invite you into their homes if you appear at their door. And I recall one landlord who slept all night on our doorstep because he felt it was his duty to watch over my wife and family while I was away. That is a friend.
Besides the cultural differences, Scripture passages that seemed mundane before suddenly take on new and significant meaning when viewed through the lens of another culture.
While living in Pakistan and suffering with poor sanitation, an ancient law from Deuteronomy suddenly made sense. We were living in the Northwest of Pakistan where most of the Afghan refugees were concentrated. It was hot and crowded, especially in the refugee camps. There were no sanitary facilities for the refugees, and very little water for washing. 98% of the people were strict Muslims. As such, they would not allow their women much freedom to go out of their courtyards. Each collection of tents and mud huts had a place next to the wall where they draped some blankets, and that served as the latrine. As you can imagine, the stench was overpowering. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 23 and read verses 12-14.
12 Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. (NIV)
Oh, this is practical! I wish Muhammad had written this in the Koran for Muslims to read. The refugee camps would have been much cleaner. But what does this have to do with us? We have flush toilets. We don't need these verses any more. Well, before you cut them out of your Bible, turn to Romans 15:4.
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us …
Those ancient laws in the Old Testament were written for our learning. There is a Spiritual lesson to be learned. God is not as concerned with physical cleanliness as He is with spiritual. Mark 7:14-15 & 18-23 make that very clear. You remember when His disciples were eating without washing their hands, and the Pharisees accused them of being defiled. Jesus said, what you eat will not defile you. It is what is in your heart, which comes out of your life that defiles you. So, Deut. 23:12-14 can be applied to spiritual holiness.
Notice there are two parts to the instructions in Deuteronomy,
v.12 Leave the waste outside the camp.
v.13 Cover the waste to keep it out of sight.
The same two parts are seen in Romans 1:28-31, which contains a catalogue of sins that are commonplace in our society. As Christians, we are to put these things away from us. These are terrible, wicked things that none of us do, right? But let's just look at some of those sins.
Wickedness (v.29): The word here translated generically as "wickedness" in the NIV is translated in other versions as "fornication", "sexual immorality", or "whoredom". I am appalled and shocked at the lack of morality in our society. Sadly, there is not much difference between the church and the world in many ways. Virginity seems to be a dirty word, and reserving sex for marriage is deemed an antiquated idea. We parents must be intentional to talk about these things with our young kids. Let them know there is a God who sets standards for our benefit, and we do well to observe them.
Deceit (v.29): Oh, “I don't tell lies”. But how about at tax time? If it will save a few hundred bucks, is it worth lying about? Are you giving your employer an honest day's work, or are you deceiving him, working on your projects on company time? How much is your faith worth?
Covenant breakers (v.31) is translated as "no fidelity" in the NIV. The New Living Translation says "They... break their promises". Do you keep your promises? How about the promise made before God when you stood and said "I do"? "I promise to have this man or woman 'til death do us part". That is a solemn vow to God. It used to be that non-Christians got divorced, Christians rarely did. Now there is little difference. And pastors are afraid to take a stand on the issue. Why? Because many of our spiritual leaders are divorced and remarried. Most of us have close friends or relatives who are divorced.
It is time for faithful Christians to put these things away from us. Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:8-9 also talk about what we should put off, i.e., carry outside the camp.
But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. (Col. 3:8-9 NLT)
Let's carry the garbage outside the camp, as Deut. 23:12 commands us.
But the next verse takes us one step farther. We don't just carry the filth out of the camp, and then go out and gaze at it, longingly. We are to cover it up. Keep it out of sight. Romans 1:32 agrees. We are not to take pleasure in watching those who commit such sins. Why should we as children of God enjoy watching others do what we know is displeasing to our Heavenly Father? It doesn't make sense. Would I enjoy watching someone hurt my wife or my children?
Look at Hebrews 11:13-16. Abraham and his family had left their homeland to follow after God. They were looking for a city prepared by God. It wasn't easy to leave behind all the things they were used to. But this one thing they did; forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, they pressed on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called them (Phil. 3:13-14). Verse 15 in the New Life Version puts it simply:
They did not think about the country they had come from. If they had, they might have gone back.
Years later the children of Israel, who longed for the leeks and onions of Egypt, never made it to the promised land. Their mind, thoughts, and desires were dwelling on what they had left behind. Christian, you have come out of the world, but I assure you that if you keep filling your mind with the things of the world, soon you will find yourself living just like the world.
Paul expressed the same thought to the believers in Corinth:
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (2 Cor. 6:17 to 7:1, NIV)
It is time for Christians to stop feasting our eyes and filling our minds with the filth of the world. Take it out of the camp and bury it. That satisfies the second requirement of Deut. 23.
But why? Why should we be holy? Let's be honest about this. Why should we observe all these rules? Is Christianity just like every other religion, with its set of do's and don'ts? No! The reason for personal holiness is given in Deut. 23:14,
For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you… Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
This is what separates Christianity from every other religion; not a different set of rules, but a relationship with the living God. This is our reason for keeping pure—to maintain that relationship; so that He is pleased to walk with us, and that we "may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:19). This should be the heart-cry of every Christian. Like Paul said in Phil. 3:8-10, to go beyond the place of keeping the law, and cry, "I want to know Christ". Don't be satisfied with knowing about God. The children of Israel knew about God. They saw His works for forty years and died in the wilderness (Heb. 3:8-10). Moses, we are told in Psalm 103:7, knew the WAYS of God. Oh, what a difference that makes. Hebrews 12:10 says that the Lord chastens us "in order that we may share in his holiness". And what does that do for us? Well, verse 14 says that "without holiness no one will see the Lord"! This is serious business.
The psalmist David, wrote,
"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple." (Ps. 27:4)
Is that your desire? I pray that it is. It's God's desire toward you. He said in Mark 3:14-15 that He ordained the twelve disciples, first of all, that they might be with Him. That is His desire for us also. Then let's get rid of the filth in our camp, let's put it out of sight, and walk with the Lord in holiness.