Japanese Pastor Repents

At the recent Tokyo 2010 Global Missions Consultation, a highlight was one highly respected Japanese church leader who had a heartfelt and very open confession, public repentance, and an appeal for forgiveness from nations and people who had suffered during the Pacific War. He did not mince words but spoke more honestly than I have heard from other contexts. Even after 65 years this is still an emotional topic. Along with his contrition and appeal…

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More on Suicide in Japan

An earlier blog on suicide was at http://www.gospelrest.com/suicide-and-the-japan-economy/ Japan suffers over 30,000 suicides annually for the last 12 years. Also it is estimated that upwards of 10 times that number attempt but do not succeed at suicide. Suicide is viewed with scorn by people throughout society.  Talk about suicide is considered taboo and people are viewed as losers who commit suicide. Those victims of suicide are cut off from help from others. One prominent psychiatrist,…

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Reading on Leadership

In preparation for our CPI Leaders’ Summit last month on Gospel-centered Leadership I was reading and reviewing books on leadership especially the heart idols that leaders are most susceptible. (Elaine and I developed a list of heart idols that leaders often encounter). Good books have been Spiritual Leadership by Henry and Richard Blackaby (Experiencing God fame).  Other good books have been Dangers, Toils, Snares, The Heart of a Servant Leader on Jack Miller and Overcoming…

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Our Home Town: Machida

We sure love living in Machida City Tokyo.  Within 15 minutes of our house are 5 parks well-wooded and lots of nature.  You would not think we live in the world’s largest city.  There are nearly 500,000 people living along with us in Machida (mah-chee-dah)including the creator of Pokemon, Satoshi Tajiri.  For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machida,_Tokyo.

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Interested in Japanese Buddha?

Today I was pruning our hedges and two women came by and asked if I would like to read a book on the Japanese Buddha.  I commented that I can read Japanese but I am not interested in the Japanese Buddha but I am interested in the creator of the universe.  I think it caught them by surprise.  Buddhism does not have a concept of a creator in which we are accountable.  I am not…

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