The Cave of 100 Lamas

This is the cave where during the  Communist religious purges of the 1930s, 100 Buddhist Lamas hid for two months, before being found and killed.  The Mongolian people are small of stature, but I try to imagine packing 100 of them into this small cave.  It was definitely close quarters for 2 long, long months.

It seems especially brutal to me that anyone would be able to execute 100 peaceful, gentle Buddhist priests.  The space is small, the floor uneven, and there no heated toilets or bidets.  I doubt that food was abundant, and it makes me wonder which was worst, the hiding or the dying.

These are two things us modernists try to avoid thinking about:  physical comfort deprivation, and death.  Of all our fears, these are the most prominent.

Fear is an interesting emotion.  “Perfect love casts out fear” we are told ( I John 4:18).  What does that mean? 

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt 10:28)

For several years I have asked wiser colleagues what it means to "fear G^d".  The same word is used for "fear not" as is used for "fear G^d".  Despite all their theories, I think "fear" means fear, in its most common and mundane sense.

In  Deuteronomy (second Law) we see:

• 5:29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
• 6:1,2 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
• 6:13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.
• 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.
• 10:12-13 And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
• 10:20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.

There are literally scores of verses on fear scattered throughout the Scriptures, and to come to the end of Scripture,  Revelations, 19:5 “Then a voice came from the throne, saying: "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!"

Maybe we ought to meditate on that a while?