Like Charlie Chaplin on an out-of-control assembly line, they follow the monks’ commands: into the coffin, down on their backs, eyes closed, shroud on, shroud off, up on their feet, quick prayer and scramble out into a new life.

The whole process takes a minute and a half. The next group of nine is waiting.

But that new life is not the rebirth promised by Christ.  Instead, those in the area are warned that "bad karma" from "dying" devotees might be remaining around the coffins.  They have been warned.

The practice of "funerals for the living" brings Acts 17 to mind, where Paul addressed the philosophers in Athens with the word that people of all nations are "groping" for God [Acts 17:27].  Here we see clear evidence of that truth.

There is a universal human sense that something horrible is wrong with us.  This problem is one that is so fundamental that we sense the need to have a new start -- a new birth, so to speak.

“When I went in I felt warm, and when I came out I felt released,” said Nual Chaichamni, age 52.  According to the article, she has performed the ceremony six times already.  “As I lay there and listened to the chanting of the monks, I felt relaxed,” she said. “When I got up, I was thinking of good things, thinking of the Buddha image in the hall. I felt good.”

The transforming power of the Gospel of Christ is so powerful that the new believer is truly "born again." As the Apostle Paul explains, the old has passed away and all things have become new.  The Christian experience of being born again has nothing to do with expunging bad karma, nor is it a ritual that can be put up on offer for sale.  It is all of grace, and it brings the forgiveness of sins, life everlasting, and union with Christ -- not the gift of good karma.

Jesus Christ did not tell his disciples to be merely observant as those without the Gospel grope toward God. Instead, He sent his disciples -- and his church -- into the nations in order to preach the Gospel.

We owe a debt of gratitude to The New York Times for reminding us of what is at stake.

In addition to being one of Salem’s nationally syndicated radio talk show hosts, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky and recognized as one of America’s leading theologians and cultural commentators. Contact Dr. Mohler at mail@albertmohler.com.