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A Christian Encounter


noise

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The location may be immaterial, but……that is where it happened

I was in Big C Extra this afternoon, pushing my cart down the isle. People were in the way so I said excuse me in Thai. They moved. Now this may not have a bearing on my story because I did not really pay attention to faces. But….

Walked down sto end and walked back on the next isle over. A woman came up to me there and asked, “Do you speak Thai?”

I replied, “Yes” thinking ‘OK, she heard me on the next isle over. But….why accost a stranger?

She asked, “Are you a missionary?

I replied, “No, I am not.”

She paused.... and then asked, “Are you a Christian?

I responded after the nano-second thought that this was a question no one has ever asked me before, “No, I am not.”

She paused again and I could see she was completely disconcerted, but made a fast recovery but still had to ask again, “You are not a Christian?”

I replied again, “No.”

She, “Why not?”

I responded, “Just not”, thinking ‘whoa, boy, I am in for it now, she must be a home grown missionary who wanted to covert me from one Christian sect to another. Now she will think she really found someone who needs to be saved, I am doomed! ’’

OK, that did not happen, but a little dialog later, she said she was 39 and had been a Christian for 11 some years but she he had trouble understanding it all.

I agreed, it was hard for a convert to understand all the intricacies of the different Christianity sects.

She then asked if I could help her.

I envisioned a long, complicated, and unproductive philosophical theological discussion (that I gave up having some umpty ump years ago in college). So I relied, “Probably not.”

She then said, “I am desperate. Could you help me out with some money?”

I had not expected that but said her best bet would be to go to a Christian church.

She repeated her plea for help and money.

Being already primed to say no to whatever she asked I answered, “No, I can not help you.”

A couple of more sentences along the same lines, trying to elicit some Christian charity from the farang who is not a Christian, couldn’t I help, etc., and then, “Not even 500 baht?”

I, once again, replied, “No, I can not help you.”

She tried one more time, “If I just get one pair of pants and a blouse, would you buy them for me?”

And I tried one more time, “No, I will not.”

This conversation ended in the juice aisle. I continued shopping on thru the dairy, vegetables, meat, and then the bakery goods. I kept seeing her walking around and noticed that she was keeping track of me keeping track of her. OK, she was looking for another, no, amend that, she was looking for A Christian but didn't want me to see her do so.

ASIDE: I could have written a short, concise 3—5 sentence description of this encounter simply saying some one asked for money and maybe a real Christian should go see if she really needs help? But that would not have conveyed the subtleness or the complexity of her approach.

One can draw conclusions, can’t one? I concluded I would give her an “A” for originality and maybe a "C" for effort.

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I am confused. Was the conversation in Thai or English?

Christian or non Christian she is a nutcase.

I don't think that I have ever been confronted by a stranger asking me to buy them things before. Seems very strange.

Perhaps you should have told her that you would buy the clothes for her if you can help her try them on back at her place.

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People everywhere and anywhere, will attempt to use guilt, the "entitlement mentality", etc. to goad/manipulate others to subsidize their needs/wants. This is especially true in this current era of socialist-leaning movements. I stay clear of this nonsense. If one desires a better lot in life, go out and earn it.

This is not to say that those who are prosperous should not extend themselves to the less fortunate. But that extension should not be just handing out money, but rather enable others to fish for themselves.

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If it's the person I'm thinking of, it's a Thai woman who has been operating in BigC Extra for months now.

She's accosted me twice, the second time she clearly didn't remember that she'd already tried it on with me before. Exactly the same MO as the OP describes and basically just begging for money. Ye have been warned.

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All Christians that think the distinction between Christians and non-Christians is important are nuts.

A lot of them here in CM fall under that category. I feel sorry for them - a complete and utter misunderstanding of their own prophet's teachings. That is a little bit sad.

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If it's the person I'm thinking of, it's a Thai woman who has been operating in BigC Extra for months now.

She's accosted me twice, the second time she clearly didn't remember that she'd already tried it on with me before. Exactly the same MO as the OP describes and basically just begging for money. Ye have been warned.

Hehe, interesting. So she isn't a christian so much as she's just a beggar/scammer with a new shtick. Nice one. There must be a lot of Christians in that Big C for this to pay off...

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Ulysses was right. And I think Uptheos was correct also. She had a story and she had what is probably a fairly gullible pool of subjects in mind. A minister might be more "charitable", but any Christian in a pinch would do. What better group to fish in?

Her story was fluid in Thai but probably would have sounded more pathetic if delivered in the poor English she did use occassionally.

Add Hanuman1's input, and one might opine she grew up selling flowers on street corners, can no longer look like a poor girl working her way through school, and, therefore, "graduated" to the big time, Big C?

She wanted money, period. The clothes request was a last resort, but a very good one. One might not give money but clothes for a homeless waif? Of course, she knew she could return them the moment I left the store.

Edited by noise
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I don't know about just Christian's, but I get more than my fair share of lingering eye contact and smiles in all big stores and malls Where is better on a hot afternoon than for young ladies to wander around air conditioned malls for free......maybe they'll bump into a soul mate accidentally. biggrin.png

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