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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Mere Christianity -- Part 21

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Mere Christianity - Part 20

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Friday, February 15, 2013

Mere Christianity - Part 19

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Mere Christianity - Part 18

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Saturday, February 09, 2013

Mere Christianity - Part 17

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Thursday, February 07, 2013

Mere Christianity -- Part 16

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Mere Christianity -- Party 15

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Sunday, February 03, 2013

Mere Christianity - Part 14

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Mere Christianity -- Part 22

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

Mere Christianity (Part 2) / (Part 3)

Mere Christianity (Part 4) / (Part 5)

Mere Christianity - Part 6 / (Part 7)

Mere Christianity -- Part 8 / Part 9

Mere Christianity -- Part 10 / Part 11

Mere Christianity - Part 12 / Part 13

Mere Christianity - Part 14 / Party 15

Mere Christianity -- Part 16 / Part 17

Mere Christianity - Part 18 / Part 19

Mere Christianity - Part 2 / Mere Christianity -- Part 21

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Friday, January 25, 2013

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

God is in Cambodia and he wants the Cambodian population to belong to him. This is why Annelise Clausen and her husband have been working as missionaries in Phnom Pehn for four years.

2007-10-24
By Signe Damkjaer
ScandAsia.Denmark

Annelise Clausen in front of her house in Phnom pehn“People have to be given the opportunity to get to know Jesus so they can go to Heaven. This is the main purpose of our presents in Cambodia”, says Annelise Clausen from Danish Lutheran Mission (DLM). Together with her husband Axel Rye Clausen she has been doing missionary work and humanitarian work for DLM in Phnom Pehn for four years. “But we should also have a good life while we are here on earth. That’s why it is important to help people in need.

The first

DLM chose Cambodia because we saw that there was a need for development and also because there are hardly any Christians here”, Annelise explains. Annelise joined DLM in 1977. In addition to her education as a teacher she has a three year education as a missionary.

While her husband since they came to Cambodia has been teaching at a bible school, Annelise has been taking part in several different projects such as working in a hospice for AIDS patients, training of teachers and working in an orphanage. The couple has previously been working 12 years for LM in Tanzania. As the first DLM missionaries in Cambodia, they had to start up everything from the beginning.

“You come with your suitcase and then there is nothing. In Tanzania where we worked before it was decided what we should do and where we should live. Here everything had to be started from scratch”, she says. But for Annelise the process of setting up new projects has been rewarding. “Coming here has been such a positive challenge. It has been very exiting to start new project and to find new ways. And to have the responsibility to make things work”, she says.

Development and Christianity goes hand in hand

In all of DLM’s projects Christianity is in focus as well as helping people in need. “Development and Christianity goes hand in hand”, says Annelise. “As Christians we are not only concerned that people get to know Jesus. We also want them to be helped in their everyday problems. Those two things are inseparable for us. But notably this is irrespectively of peoples own religions”.

This is why the people who are taking part in DLM’s project with young tuc tuc drivers start their day with devotion. The project gives young people who have never gone to school a change to get a basic education and afterwards to make a living by driving a tuc tuc. “We have devotion every morning where we read the bible and pray. Then they learn English, Mathematics and mechanics” says Annelise.

“We believe that human beings will be saved if they are Christians. We want other people to be saved by believing that Jesus died for our sake. It is very important that we not only help in life on earth, but also give them an opportunity to find an eternity afterwards”.

The combination of Christianity and humanitarian work is also evident in DLM’s project, the Sunshine Centre. The Sunshine Centre is a villa with a garden where children come in the morning. Here they get breakfast and after school help with their homework. The children have never gone to school before, either because their parents could not afford it, or because the children had to earn money for the family. “If they had not come here, they would have been begging on the street”, says Annelise. “Once a month the parents can come and pick up rice as compensations for the parents for the “lost” work of the children”. And as part of the project the children are taught Christianity two hours a week. However, Annelise underlines that although Christianity is taught as part of the project, it is an individual choice whether the young people become Christian or not.

“We hope that they take a personal stand point for Jesus. But this is something we believe happen with the Holy Spirit and not something we can make them do. But we can teach them about Christianity and then it is an individual choice if they want to join us, and their religious standpoint has no consequences for the education we give them”, she says, and continues, “But because we think it is essential to be Christian we have to teach people about Christianity. For the sake of Eternity.

A calling

Christianity as well as the need to do humanitarian work has followed Annelise since her student days. “I have always been interested in development work and in helping people in third world countries”, says Annelise. “While I was studying I had an epiphany that I was going to be a missionary. I knew that this was God wanted with me. I surrendered after big inner protests. I felt that my life would be worthless if I didn’t follow it. It was a calling”.

Annelise and her husband have a contract in Cambodia of six years. But they like Cambodia so much that they hope to be able to extend it “We are really crazy about his country. It has been very exiting to get to know the Cambodian population. People work very hard here and they really want to develop the country. This is very encouraging”. Concerning Cambodia and Christianity Annelise is also optimistic.

”When we came here there were only four per mille Christians in the country. But now it must be two or three per cent”, she says. “This is because God is a live and he wants people in this country to believe. People cannot believe by them selves. But God can let god into their life and then he create faith. He wants people in Cambodia to belong to him. That is how we think it is”, she finishes.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Mere Christianity -- Part 8

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis (Part 1)

Mere Christianity (Part 2)

Mere Christianity (Part 3)

Mere Christianity (Part 4)

Mere Christianity (Part 5)

Mere Christianity - Part 6

Mere Christianity -- Part 7

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

God and genocide in Cambodia

Apr 2, 2009
By Stephen Kurczy
Asia Times (Hong Kong)

PHNOM PENH and BATTAMBANG - The Khmer Rouge's former chief executioner asked for Christian forgiveness this week on the witness stand. Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, is charged with overseeing the radical regime's S-21 torture prison, where more than 12,000 Cambodians lost their lives. Like many of his former cadres, he found religion late in life.

His testimony conceding guilt, which could affect the fate of the regime's other four top cadres, has been influenced by his conversion to Christianity in the mid-1990s, analysts say. The other detainees at the tribunal have denied responsibility for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians from disease, starvation and executions during the Khmer Rouge's four-year reign of terror.

"At the beginning I only prayed to ask forgiveness from my parents. But later on, I attempted to pray for forgiveness from the whole nation, for all the people who died," Duch said Tuesday on the second day of his trial at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. "I would like to express my regret and my heartfelt sorrow and loss for all of the crimes committed by the CPK [Communist Party of Kampuchea] from 1975 to 1979."

"I would like to emphasize that I am responsible for the crimes committed at S-21, especially the torture and execution of the people there," the 66-year-old Duch told a packed courtroom on Tuesday in an address broadcast live on national radio and television. "I would like you to please leave an open window for me to be forgiven."

Those words have set the stage for painful revelations in the weeks ahead. While the Christian Duch apparently aims for salvation through contrition, his former Khmer Rouge colleagues - some who have turned to Buddhism - maintain their innocence. Some view this as a bid to avoid karmic retribution for their sins in the next life.

Once outlawed by the atheist Khmer Rouge, religion has made a comeback among the radical revolutionaries who brutally transformed Cambodia into a nation of killing fields. Buddhist shrines were destroyed and Christian adherents persecuted as a matter of policy during the Khmer Rouge's paranoid reign.

According to local religious figures, meditative ex-Khmer Rouge cadres now fill Buddhist temples or alternately praise Jesus in Christian churches. Khmer Rouge Brother Number 2 Nuon Chea, the regime's chief ideologue who was arrested in 2007 on crimes against humanity and war crimes, has publicly acknowledged his conversion later in life to Buddhism.

"I personally respect all religions, but mainly Buddhism, as it belongs to the nation," Nuon Chea told The Cambodia Daily newspaper in 2003. During that interview he presented himself as a devout Buddhist, with a large poster of a revered Thai monk tacked to his wall and claims that Buddhist monks visited him regularly to consult on Buddhist teachings.

According to sources familiar with the detainees, Duch has continued to take communion while in detention and Nuon Chea has decorated his cell with a poster of a venerable Buddhist monk. Religious experts say that while religion alone can not explain the opposing pleas lodged by former Khmer Rouge cadres, the two different faiths inspire their adherents to face the past in starkly different ways.

"Christianity in particular has put more emphasis on the sin/redemption theme than most religions," said Stanford University religion professor Carl Bielefeldt. "Conversion to Buddhism may mean little more than relaxing into the default culture, rather than committing oneself to a spiritual choice … In contrast, conversion to a culturally alien religion [to Cambodia] like Christianity may involve a much more self-conscious spiritual choice."

Faithful minority

Currently round 95% of Cambodia's citizens adhere to Buddhism. When the Khmer Rouge were overthrown in 1979, less than 200 Christians remained remained from a pre-1975 congregation of 20,000, according to Heng Cheng, the head of the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia. Today, more than 100,000 Cambodians belong to more than 3,000 evangelical churches across the country, among them many former members of the Khmer Rouge.
"The former Khmer Rouge more often open their hearts [to God]," said Heng Cheng. "[Duch] is a role model."

Duch's conversion to Christianity has caused some friction with his former cadres. For instance, Nuon Chea scoffed at Duch's conversion, saying in his revealing 2003 interview: "[Duch] wanted God to take responsibility for his sins! ... You commit the sin, so you pay for the sin. Nobody can help take responsibility for the sin."

For his part, Nuon Chea does not accept responsibility for the Khmer Rouge's atrocities, despite his high-ranking position at the time. Former Khmer Rouge southwestern region army chief Meas Muth, who has not been charged by the tribunal and is also a practicing Buddhist, similarly expresses no remorse for his role in the revolution.

"I don't think the court will call me. But if they do, it's useless," he said, adding that he is not guilty of crimes against humanity. Meas, the son-in-law of deceased Khmer Rouge army commander Ta Mok, admits he conversed with the regime's central committee members, including Nuon Chea and head of state Khieu Samphan, but denies having had any influence over policy formulation.

Meas Muth, too, has found religion later in life. During a recent interview at his spacious home on stilts on the outskirts of Battambang province's Samlot town, he mentions the tens of thousands of dollars worth of donations he has made to the local pagoda, Ta Sanh Chas. There, he gives Pali language lessons and oversees building projects.

Thoeun Samnang, the chief Buddhist monk of Ta Sanh Chas temple, said Meas Muth "comes to the pagoda every day. He comes to find peace with the Buddha." The resident ascetic says he still remembers the day Meas Muth first arrived: the auspicious date of September 9, 2009.

"He is a blessing," said the saffron-robed monk, seated cross-legged in his pagoda. "Former Khmer Rouge soldiers seem more interested in Buddhism. They come here more than other people. They are more active in the pagoda."

It is religiously significant, some believe, that former top Khmer Rouge leaders Meas Muth and Nuon Chea have not sought forgiveness for their roles in the alleged genocide. One possible reason, suggests Columbia University's Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, is that Christianity uniquely claims that the road to salvation runs through repentance, remorse and making up for past sins.

"Perhaps the Christian ones are more intent on [forgiveness] because they have the belief that repentance and true belief in Christ will help them once and for all reach heaven, no matter what they've done," Thurman wrote by e-mail. "Whereas Buddhists do repent, do try to do better, but remain aware of a long road ahead to reach enlightenment or nirvana - no one else can grant them the ultimate salvation, in their view."

The monk Thoeun says that no matter how often Meas Muth visits his pagoda, the former Khmer Rouge leader will invariably suffer in the next life for his alleged actions in his current incarnation. "Meas Muth cannot escape from what he did in the past. No matter what he does, he must pay for what he has done," the monk said.

When questioned about the notion that a Christian may escape karmic punishment for wrongdoings, the ascetic balked: "Everyone must pay for what they've done. Duch cannot be forgiven. Bad deeds are like shadows that follow you."

Remorse and repentance

Duch's 32-year-old daughter, Ky Sievkim, said that her father longs for forgiveness and views Christianity as a path out of the dark shadow of the S-21 torture prison he previously ran. "My father told me that he had done many wrong things, and that's why he asked Jesus for forgiveness," she said in a recent interview at her small home, also on the outskirts of Samlot town.

Duch may have also converted to Christianity for protection, according to the court's closing order indicting him for crimes against humanity. "Christianity, the West and the realm of international justice symbolized a new form of protection (also undeniably the most effective), because he suffered from insecurity," the order states.

The temptation of salvation has drawn many other former Khmer Rouge cadres to Christianity, according to Victory Heng, executive director of Cambodian Christian Church Organization (CCCO) in Battambang town. "You can be the worst sinner in the world and still enter the gates of heaven," Heng said.

The orginization supports about 100 churches in the provinces of Takeo and Siem Reap, as well as in the former Khmer Rouge strongholds of Battambang, Oddar Meanchey and Banteay Meanchey provinces. Many former Khmer Rouge cadres have entered CCCO's churches, says Heng, although he doesn't maintain an exact tally. "None of them come in and say, 'We are former Khmer Rouge.' And we don't ask. It's not important to us. Our purpose is not to dig up the past. Our purpose is to share Christ."

In that spiritual direction, every year CCCO holds a three-week training course in Battambang town to convert laymen into practicing evangelists. "One of those years, Duch walked through the doors of this building," Heng said, standing outside the clapboard building of the Battambang Christian Church. The year was 1996 and at the end of the training course Duch was baptized nearby in the Sangke River.

Suon Sito says he remembers that day well. He first met Duch four years earlier in Banteay Meanchey province's Phkoam village, where Duch moved his family after living in Thai refugee camps and in China throughout the 1980s. Within months of Duch's arrival, Suon Sito invited him to a CCCO-sponsored house church and soon Duch was inviting others to attend services.

As Duch drew closer to Christianity, he was also attempting to flee from his past, Suon Sito said. He moved his family repeatedly throughout the 1990s - first to another school in Banteay Meanchey, then to a school in Samlot town, then back to a Thai refugee camp - but he never stopped telling his neighbors about the power of Jesus Christ in his life.

"He asked me to be a Christian. He said he wanted to start a Christian community," said Sok Lian, a resident of Samlot town who rented a home on Duch's property for several months in 1999 until Duch's identity and whereabouts were uncovered and published in international media.

When news broke in 1999 of Duch's conversion to Christianity, renowned Cambodia historian David Chandler, who had poured through reams of evidence at Duch's torture prison, says he took Duch's professed conversion seriously.

"He must have given his conversion to Christianity serious thought, as he had done with his conversion to communism in the 1960s, and saw both conversions as ways of clarifying his mind, helping his spirit, and organizing his life," Chandler wrote by e-mail from Australia's Monash University.

"Maybe Duch was looking for refuge found only in Christianity," said Chea Vannath, a political scientist in Cambodia who lives not far from S-21, which is now maintained as a grisly tourist attraction. "Whatever mistakes you make, you recognize and confess and Jesus Christ will help you ... It's possible that if [Nuon Chea] was a Christian, he might confess too."

Stephen Kurczy is an Asia Times Online contributor based in Cambodia. He may be reached at kurczy@gmail.com.

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Tuesday, February 19, 2013

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Sunday, February 17, 2013

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Friday, February 15, 2013

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Saturday, February 09, 2013

– Mere Christianity

Listen to the full audiobook

Thursday, February 07, 2013