What will my family and community think if I follow Jesus?
It may be hard. Jesus told the truth about the cost, and promised he would never leave you. Many believers from Buddhist families have walked this road with love and patience.
In some families and communities, following Jesus can mean misunderstanding, pressure or loss. Do not hurry and do not act alone. Keep honouring your parents. Speak gently and live well, so that your life explains your faith. And you are not alone: there are Christians from Buddhist backgrounds in every country of Asia.
37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 38He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me isn’t worthy of me. 39He who seeks his life will lose it; and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:37-39 (WEB) · context
15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear, 16having a good conscience. Thus, while you are spoken against as evildoers, they may be disappointed who curse your good way of life in Christ.
1 Peter 3:15-16 (WEB) · context
5Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (WEB) · context
29Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, 30but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
Mark 10:29-30 (WEB) · context