A letter to a/the terrorist/militant group(s) in North East India

Dear friends,

I am not writing this as one who hates you or who wishes that someone bad come upon you. As much as you love to do right, I love it too.

It is oftentimes hard to digest criticisms specially one is strongly convinced that one has been wronged all these years and one’s life is dedicated to put these wrongs to right. If someone comes to you and says to that what you are actually doing is perpetuating violence and thus ends up destroying more lives rather than put things to right, I think you would not like to listen to such people. But forgive my audacity for I am going to do exactly that.

I grew up hearing all the legendary stories of some of you. I also grew up hearing that “ Freedom” is round the corner and once that is achieved everybody will be happy; nobody will be unemployed and nobody will ever harassed us. I hear from the older generation that they too grew up hearing such stories. I also learnt that some of you are so sacrificial that some groups can even tame the wildest kids.

However, we are here now. The situation is as bad as it can be. What have you/we achieved? Nothing. How is the moral character of your armed cadres? Not appreciated. People have gone ahead, yet your or rather our people are struggling with petty things. All these years of fighting have killed so many people; so many parents have lost their children. And all this for some kind of “freedom” which will never come true.

True freedom does not come with having gained some kind of control over certain territory. I don’t think it is feasible to gain such territorial freedom because, firstly, the civil society is divided whether to remain part of India or not, and secondly, India is not going to give in to such demand. But suppose the people are united and India is willing to concede to such demand, how are you/we going to run the economy? Political freedom without economic freedom is not freedom at all. You cannot run a country with starving and homeless citizens. It is for this reason that I prefer to remain in India.

Some of you are Christian, some Hindu, some Muslim and some pagan. But does your religion teach you to use violence to fight for you cause? Even if there is difference of opinion whether to remain in India or otherwise, I would expect you all to fight for your cause without employing guns. I don’t think most people of the world appreciate what you are doing. Yet most people, if not all, would appreciate freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi or Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela. Aren’t they consider to be statesmen the world over?

I am a Christian, and I could never understand how it is possible to use the name of Christ to fight for a cause which some of you are fighting for.

You think that you cannot live together with India. But since you are not able to live together with your own people: people who speak the same language, eat the same food, wear the same kind of clothes, worship the same deity etc. this argument does not hold. Count the number of your own people you have killed. This shows that living together is something that we have to learn; it is not something that comes to us naturally. Whether it is my own tribesman or whether the person from a distant land one must learn the virtue of loving and respecting others. If one will not do that but remain stubborn tin thinking we are the only ‘good’ people, there will be no peace and acceptance even within the same ethnic group/tribe/village. Isn’t that the reason why there is so much of bloodshed within your own peoples group. Ahoms against Ahoms; Bodos against Bodos; Kukis against Kukis; Meeteis against Meeteis; Nagas against Nagas; Tripuris against Tripuris. Some of your brothers and sisters have gone ahead in accepting others; they have gone on even to marry Indian or other Asians or even European/American. These brothers and sisters travel, work, live and prosper with others. While you are into killing even your own people, let alone mixing with others. As long as human society is there on earth differences will not go away, but one has to live with that. I just don’t think it is right to use guns to assert one’s otherness. There are thousand of ways to do that. But the more important thing, I think, is to find ways to be in unity and peace in truth with those others around me. And this pursuit in truth cannot lead to the kind of bloodshed that I find in our beautiful North East.

I have more to say but as we sustain the dialogue, or monologue, should I say? I shall bring out some more points. The scare with many people is that speaking out some factual matters lead to bitterness that ultimately result in silencing them forever. Since there has been occasions when those who speak out views different from yours have been silenced forever, I shall take this lesson of history seriously. There are people I know very well, and whom I believe have much wisdom to share to us all, who have chosen silence on the matter, instead of saying anything against your view, because they believe you or your disciples will put a bullet in their head if they open their mouth. But ultimately it’s you and us all included who are poorer by their silence. Alas, it’s guns…

Yours sincerely,

Jer

Manipur: The God forsaken country!

I have tried to read up the social and political history for the sustained functioning of militancy/terrorism in various parts of India. Whether it’s the crisis in Jammu & Kashmir or Assam or the effort to tackle the menace of Naxalism or Khalistan or even the political imbroglio of the Nagas/Mizos/Bodos/Tripuris or the elimination of the the dreaded Veerapan, I have no doubt that the most complex situation is that of Manipur. The Meetei civil society as well as the insurgents will not quite agree to the demand of the Nagas; and the Nagas in general will not give in to the demand of the Kukis. The Kukis are not in good terms with the Paites or say UNLF. Each ethnic group needs to support their underground brothers or the other ethnic group will bully the one that does not have the support of the gun wielding young men and women. Without NSCN Meeteis will bully the Nagas, and there is no doubt about that in the mind of every Naga; and the same applies to the Meeteis. Even each politician must have at least one militant group as their benefactor, whether it’s during election or after that. Some politicians will have multiple militant groups as their protector. But without such support from gun wielding brethren they cannot survive in politics. And for the support every politician must shell out couple of lakhs each year. Even businessmen are not spared.

In social and political matrix of Manipur it is very difficult to decipher which individual or community do not have a stake in the flourishing of small scale militant industry. Everybody is deep into it. The Church and the bureaucracy too have a stake. After all each individual in the church or bureaucracy is made up of individual who belongs to a particular ethnic group.

On the other hand it is the politicians who are against the withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act, the Act that gives power even to non-commissioned officer to shoot anyone on mere suspicion so as to maintain public law and order. For a politician it does not matter if all the underground groups are killed provided the group that protects him is kept happy. But in the whole process some members of politicians protectors will also get killed. But that’s the way it has to be. Because withdrawal of the Act will make things chaotic.

Each politician who comes to power will try to keep CBI away as the entry of CBI will unlock all the connections—the involvement of every politician in corruption and the siphoning off of money to the militants. Oftentimes money that are meant for development will be shared between a local politician, militants and bureaucrats. No wonder every politician, every senior militants and every bureaucratic will have big buildings and big cars and big belly. The Imphal that was 20 years back is long gone. If there is any city has gone worse from bad in all 20 years then it must be Imphal. Other cities get better and better each decade whereas for Imphal it’s the other way round.

I don’t have any expectation from the government. Nor do I expect the Church to bring any change. I don’t have any expectation from the existing NGOs either. Even Christian NGOs are equally bad like any other (or should I say equally good!) Didn’t they say that God works through us! Well, there is no one through whom God can work. Because there is no one… or rather because God has forsaken it!

We need good seminaries, not many seminaries.

I have never been to a theological college to study. I have not really sought for such a time nor has such thought occurred to me except for a brief seconds. One reason why I have not been keen to study is because of the students that graduated from the theological colleges. I have often felt that it was a waste studying four years for BD when one could just as well read and study at home. Of late I have changed in my perception of such study. After all, I cannot expect all the students to graduate having mastered Church history and theology, and ready to speak to the issues the Church and society face. There are bundles of students who go to study because parents want them do that; and there are others who do that because theological colleges are the only ‘rehabilitation centre’ that can help them get out drug addiction; and there are still others who can afford to study only in such theological colleges. For different reason, therefore, seminaries are not able to produce ideal students. It is mainly for this reason that I have now felt that it’s unfair to undermine the contribution of theological colleges.

A good seminary will definitely provide good library and a good number of faculty numbers and also admit God fearing and hardworking students. To be able to interact with all these resources is indeed something one cannot get elsewhere. But in reality not everybody is wise enough to make use of all the resources available.

In India I have heard people say that UBS, Pune, is the best seminary in India. UTC, Bangalore, is good but it has compromised in its doctrinal matters, they say. SAIACS is doing good, some opined. I am inclined to agree with all the observations. But compared to the number of Christians in India the number of fairly good seminaries is really small. Why is this so? The number of good theologians is also extremely small. We have so many theological colleges, but there is hardly anyone offering Ph.D in Old Testament or Systematic Theology etc. We have many theological colleges offering degrees so cheaply. I think theological colleges has also more or less taken the shape of a small scale industry, manufacturing degrees after degrees for those who cannot afford to join big names. It is also a pity that many of them are funded by Christians in the West.

My view is that some churches/denomination should join hand and form a good seminary. Instead of each denomination running its own seminary and in the process struggle to have a good library, not to mention well trained faculty members, if these seminaries pull resources together they can few very good seminaries. That way denominational bias will be screened out too. As for those seminaries owned and run by individual person funders should re-examine their quality and accountability. I don’t think it is a good tradition for theological colleges to be owned and run by a single person. Such institution gradually takes the form of a family enterprise.

What we really need is a fairly good number of fine seminaries, not a huge number of third class seminaries that can’t even buy books and hire good teachers . After all if we want churches and para-church organizations to remain healthy we need healthy seminaries.

Gospel Praxis for Poumai town churches

Gospel praxis for PNBA’s town churches!

Perhaps as the most brilliant thinker the Church has ever seen, apostle Paul, with degrees, they say, equal to our three Ph.Ds set out as a missionary to the Gentiles, the untouchables for the Jews. His harvest among the Gentiles was critiqued by some Jewish Christians as having compromised the sanctity of the right belief. Even in the face of Peter’s withdrawal for a while, Paul stood his ground because he firmly believed that Jesus Christ as the Lord of all is drawing people from every tribe and tongue to Himself and to each other. Later on wrting to the Christians at Ephesus, Paul underscores that through the cross one new humanity was created with both Jews and non-Jews. Racial inclusivenss in the church was controversial, yet so rooted in Pauline theology that the first Church Council at Jerusalem ( Acts 15) was a deliberation on the subject matter.

Throughout centuries missionaries sailed for months to reach the unreached with the Gospel because they believe that Jesus is the Lord of all. Whether it was William Carey or William Pettigrew the message of the cross was that which propelled them to move out of their comfort zone: the food habit, the language, the people, etc. Had their love not go beyong their own tribe, We Poumai Nagas would still be pagans. Had they waited all their own tribe members to convert first they would have never moved out to come to India or Manipur. Had Paul waited for all Jews to first turn to Christ, Asia or Europe would not have church then. However, now that the world is connected better by roads or air, it’s not just the missionaries who moved beyond their own tribe members; ideas as well as people travel far and wide. It is for such reason Poumais and other tribe members establish church even beyond their villages.

Poumai theologians as well as church leaders need to re-examine the Gospel praxis with regard to establishing town churches exclusively for the Poumais. Town and cities generally have different ethnic groups. Some groups profess to worship Christ, whereas others may worship someone else or even none. For example, in Imphal there are Meeteis and Kukis and others. Does not the Gospel praxis demand that Christians, or at least the Baptist, from different tongues and tribes worship together just like the Jews-Romans-Greeks worship together in Rome in the first century? The very definition of church is at stake if it is not a place where expression of reconcilliation between man and God, and man and man is not visible. After all Christ, the cornerstone of the churh, came to bridge the gap between God and man, and man and man. Moreover, churches established on racial lines do not provide adequate mechanism for evangelism to unreached ethnic groups. In Imphal whether it’s the Baptist churches of Poumais or Tangkhul, hardly anyone evangelises the Meeteis. It’s those who belong to Gospel for Asia or Laymen who reach out to the Meeteis. But why should Poumai churches and others withhold the message of the cross from the Meeteis? Can a church that registers membership only to one ethnic group be truly called a church? It’s not sufficient to say the church is open to all; a church must actively work to bring in all, making institutional reformation wherever necessary to bring others in.

Chrsitians are not born, but made. Each generation will give birth to non-Christians, who will then need to be brought to Christ individually. Even if all the Poumais ministers serve only the Poumais, it will be unending. For example, the Jacobites of Kerala as a church have been working among the Keralites for almost two thousand years, but it is still an inward looking church, with no mission engagement outside of the Keralites. Poumai churches can also be inward looking for centuries if we think of transforming the Poumai first. Poumai town churches must be broad enough to simultaneously work among its own members as well as others.

Higher Calling

“ Gain the colleges and universities today, and you will gain the nation tomorrow”.

Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. And it is this vision that motivated UESI’s founding fathers to launch the ministry. In its 55 years of ministry UESI has produced leaders of various shape and size. And yet we have miles to go, provided the Lord tarries his return. The church and society await more disciples who will work until His justice and peace embrace and his lordship prevail all in all. To that extent all his disciples are called to be faithful stewards of gifts and talents entrusted to us.
The parable of the talent tells us that the one with one talent did not use his talent well. The llesson for us today is whether we are using the talent well. It is quite possible that in this generation those who have been given talents to serve as a staff worker and contribute to the church and society working somewhere else so that the talents remain obscure. We are used to hearing that tells us to take it as God’s call wherever we are now. But that need not always be God’s message for the particular individual. God may be calling you to join the staff team at this crucial moment when UESI in Delhi is decentralizing.
If you are one who questions if you are where you are supposed to be you can take time to pray and wait on God. If you are a student you can take a year off and work as a staff before you proceed on; and if you are a graduate you can take leave and work as staff till you are sure of His leading. If God wants you to contribute to his church and society by being a staff worker do not hesitate. There is no higher calling than being faithful to Him.

Gender and Education

Feminism has come to mean different thing for different people. For some it is fighting for equality while for some others it is fighting to demonstrate which of the gender is superior, yet some are quite happy with the status quo. The debate on gender, however, has to do, and must be, with removing inequalities which have been constructed by the society. It is not about who is able to give birth and who cannot? because nature has endowed certain differences between male and female. And these differences are about biology. And there is no point fighting about the way nature has endowed us. However, gender inequalities need to be addressed. The evil system that exploits women must be torn down. And the boundary between social construction and natural endowment must be maintained to make the debate meaningful.

Throughout the ages different societies have constructed different way of exploiting women. Aristotle, though considered as the father of biology because of his works The History of animals and The Generation of Animals, considered females as imperfect males, accidentally produced by the father’s inadequacy or by the malign influence of a moist south wind. The ancient Jews would not consider woman as a person, but a thing. A Jewish man would thank that God had made him a Gentile, a slave or a woman. The ancient Romans would marry of their daughters by 12-14 years, and in many cases girl child would be left in dung heaps to die. No wonder even if millions of men die in war male far outnumbered women due to widespread practice of female infanticide. And almost all civilizations inherited the tradition of female oppression and practice it without realizing its negative side.

The biblical idea of gender equality is a profound one. Many Christian theologians debate whether women should be allowed to preach in the church or not. However, that is never an issue in our poumai churches because we allow women to minister without any reservation. Egalitarian defends women’s ministry, and complementarian argues against it. And our churches go for egalitarian pattern. Praise the Lord! Amazingly, however, the issues we face are something which both egalitarian and complementarian would not fight about. Take domestic abuse (wife beating), both egalitarian and complementarian would not hesitate to blast those males who physically assault their wife. Or even take female infanticide, which is very common is certain parts of India though uncommon in our place probably due to absence of technological know-how, every biblically literate person would call such act as murder of babies.

What does the Bible, then, say about gender equality? In the creation account we read of man (in generic sense) i.e. it includes both male and female, being created in the image and likeness of God himself. That is to say both male and female have spiritual thirst, moral awareness, creative power, relational need etc. And we also read of God giving them the mandate to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…” (Gen 1:28 NIV) and to rule over sea creatures, sky creatures and land creatures. The mandate was not given to male alone, but to both the sexes. And God united them to build a home. However, the effect of sin as seen in Genesis 3 disturbs the entire environment. And we still observe in our surrounding scores and scores of cases where the effect of sin is played out: Rape, prostitution, wife beating, dowry system, female foeticide, etc.

God’s answer to all these effect of The Fall is The Cross. Jesus bore the sins of the world on the cross and he redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for us (Gal 3:13). And this healing from the effect of the Fall or curse is extended to all Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, male and female. Christians who call themselves followers of Christ, therefore, must practice a different lifestyle. Not repeating the kind of sinful life that one used to practice before coming to Jesus. Since Christ has dealt sin on the cross the entailment requires us to go back to Genesis 1-2 to find out God’s initial design for male-female relationship. And Genesis teaches us equality of worth though different in our biology.

I consider knowing this theological truth as profoundly liberating. ‘Secular’ education definitely brings liberation to women, but without knowing the theological element the liberation will not be complete. Education of both theological as well as non-theological elements need to go hand in hand to bring out the full force of liberation. And this twin force is a desperate need for our society today.

Education nowadays has become the fourth element of our human need-- after food, shelter and clothing. According to United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index is measured on the basis of three parameters viz. Literacy Rate, Life Expectancy and Per Capita Income . According to 2001 Census Report literacy rate for India is 63.38%. And if we further break it up literacy rate for male is 75.85% and for female it is 54.16%. For Manipur it is 68.87%, and for male 77.87% and female 59.70%. And for the world according to 2002 Report it is 79.7%, and for male 85.2% and 74.2%. What we notice in the statistics is that female are more illiterate than male. Literate women are less likely to be beaten, to be sold for prostitution and raped. Empirical work in recent years has brought out very clearly how the relative respect and regard for women’s well-being is strongly influenced by such variables as women’s ability to earn an independent income, to find employment outside the home, to have ownership rights…^1. These factors, however, depend upon education of the person. An illiterate woman can never achieve of such welfare.

There is no doubt that education is liberating. But I think we need to further dig down why we are not able to provide education. Poverty, it seems to me, emerges as the main culprit. But why poverty? Too many children. Why too many children? Because of illiteracy. So we have here a vicious circle. Poverty results in illiteracy that results in poverty. How then do we get out of this vicious circle? We need to address the issue at various levels. God has given us a self-sufficient kind of economic infrastructure. We never experience drought nor thunderstorm that destroy our crops. The soil is so fertile that whatever is sown sprouts. But so is also the female womb. Our parents are never satisfied with two children. Two children norm, I believe, needs to be vigorously promoted in our society. Even if both the children are girls we need to learn to be satisfied. And that takes us further to the issue of preserving or rather dismantling the patriarchal system. I would not get into sociological dimension in addressing patriarchy. I hope some other contributor would take up the challenge. I would, however, like to take up one biblical passage that male chauvinists use to justify exploitation of women.

Ephesians 5:22 says, “ Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” (NIV). However, v 22 says, “ Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” And between v 21 and v 22 in NIV there is the heading “Wives and Husbands”, as if vv 22-33 forms a paragraph. The Greek Bible reads otherwise. Verses 21 to 24 come as one sentence. And the heading “Wives and husbands”,therefore, must come before v 21, i.e. between 20 to 21. The New Living Translation gets it accurately which unfortunately NIV does not. Here we read of Paul underscoring the idea of mutual submission to one another and then goes on to give further explanation. It is not only the wife who is to submit to husband, but husband also needs to submit to wife.

The issue gets further complicated when Paul uses ‘head’ (Gk. Kephale) to elaborate the nature of wife’s submission to husband. The Greek word ‘kephale’ can be translated in different ways. It can be translated either as chief/ruler or it also be translated as source/beginning. John Stott goes on to argue this way which it seems to me makes sense. “… headship must be compatible with equality. For if ‘the head of the women is men’ as ‘the head of Christ is God’, then man and woman must be equal as the Father and the Son are equal. On the other hand, headship implies some degree of leadership, which, however, is best expressed not in terms of ‘authority’ but of ‘responsibility’. The husband’s headship of his wife, therefore, is headship more of care than of control, more of responsibility than of authority. As Christ gave himself for his bride( the Chruch), in order to present her to himself radiant and blameless, so the husband gives himself for his bride, in order to create the conditions within which she may grow into the fullness of her womanhood. ²

The mark of a Christian man and woman is (not are) “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” ³ When we live a Spirit-filled Christian life there is no place for domination, but only gentleness; no place to shouting, but only self-control; no place to be angry, but only love. If man shouts and punches that may appear masculine, but if woman does that oh! she is no place in the society. But the Bible does not differentiate between man and woman in this kind of behavioral issue. Biblical values are virtues we all need to cultivate, both male and female.

(Published in Dziila)

Politics for Poumais!

The derivative of the word politics is polis which means cities, and the word ‘police’ and ‘polite’ are also derived from the same root word. Broadly speaking, politics then is the process by which people make decisions to govern the citizens of city-state. There is nothing wrong, therefore, in being in political game. To make wise decisions that in effect transforms the lives of thousands of people has to be a virtuous act. If we understand politics in such manner Christian engagement with politics is indispensable and inevitable. Politics, however, has often been narrowly understood and so it used to mean some cunning scheme devised to gain some unjustified end. It seems to me that before we venture into redeeming politics itself, we first need to redeem the definition!

As of now the political system in our society has become so dirty that it seems an impossible task making effort to get it rid of the corruption. Has it become the den of thieves and robbers? The way money power decides the outcome of election instead of the manifesto, the tall promises of the local politicians without the obligation to fulfill them, the diversion of funds meant for the construction of roads and bridges by the ministers to their personal bank accounts, bribery in appointment of different posts in different departments… The list can go on. Seeing the way the elected leaders are governing the city-state, I think, in most people the urge to clean up the system gets punctured.

As Christians, I would argue, that instead of distancing oneself from the political system we need to actively engage in it. We need to engage as citizens of the land, and some even as political leaders. Jesus ministry to transform the society is a political engagement. If we understand Jesus as showing concern only for immaterial entity of human being, and not for the transformation of the peoples-societies-nations (or rather socio-economic-political world) we are not knowing well the Jesus of the Bible. Politicians who cheat, steal, take bribe, and lie need to confronted. In the Bible we read Nathan confronting David, John the Baptist challenging Herod Antipas, Paul appealing to Caesar etc. Even today we can ask our political leaders of their accountability.

Politics is essential for our lives, and Christians must do politics. But what kind of development must it bring? Justice and common good. Justice for all and common good served is the holistic development as followers of Christ we need to pray and work for in our political involvement. Just politicians in a liberal democratic system can do so much to build society, but that is also equally true for its citizens because ultimately every five year every political leader must return to the people to seek their mandate. Church, academic settings, politics – all have tremendous potential to build or destroy people and society. It will not be fair to pit them against one another. To be able to take these different strands and flourish is a hard work, but that is key to progress.

In democratic system can we include even animals and trees in our voter list? Can an elected leader show concern only for those villages who voted for him? Is it wise for entire village to vote for a candidate because she is from the same village? Is the MLA representative of even those villages who did not vote for him? How should we educate the voters about the importance of manifesto? How do we decide which candidates can represent us well in the assembly and speak out for our rights? I think these are some hard questions which particularly students of Political Science should seriously think through, and write and speak out about.

Finally, key to good politics is media. Public moods is best voiced by the newspaper. The newspaper can also express the failures and achievement of the politicians and in effect inform the public of the things happenings. Politicians are much more accountable when there is such a medium like newspaper which can inform the public, and also much more progressive when they are informed of the moods of the public. Sometime back I heard of a newspaper being launched in Senapati. Sad to learn that it shut down because many readers were not willing to pay the bill. We have miles to go before we can day dream!

(Published in Dziila)

Evil Eye

Kids nowadays grow up reading fantasies like Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. And that is the way our worldviews and thought patterns are subtly shaped. But I am sure the little older generations who grew up in the village would have grown up listening to the legendary stories of heroes and heroines like Pou, Proupuzhee, Rohne and others. And many of us take pride in the lesson derived from such folk tales… that we are the descendents of such brave heroes and even today we must maintain our honour and dignity. But there are other stories of one’s own generations and even from other villages that our parents taught us and ultimately influenced the way we live our lives.

One such story that has penetrated our cultural subconscious is the story of evil eyes. The story of ‘hraomai’, if I am allowed to use a Poula. The story is that the power of the evil eyes is passed to the children and spouse, and even to next generation and the next and the next… They can see through human heart, and with a verbal poison they can decapitate even buffaloes and the heroes of the village. They are beautiful and they are rich, so goes the story, and they are intelligent. The story would name people who had ‘victimized’ and been ‘victimized’. And the story lives on demonizing families and clans of the these people.

Stories are powerful tools in communicating and preserving truth and falsehood. No wonder each civilization has produced profound story tellers. Throughout human history we read of story tellers. Homer, Ved Vyasa, Milton, Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Camus and scores of others. Luke whom Paul referred to as the beloved physician was a powerful story teller too. Luke weaved into his story the story of Israel and Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection and the birth of the Church. If Luke was a 21^st century story writer I am sure he would have used “…” to close his volume II, the book of Acts, because we people living in 21^st century, and all to come, are also the member of the characters yet to appear on stage. But Luke’s story is a sub-plot within the Story that God is writing.

In the story that Lukes narrates to his reader Theophilus, we read of characters like Mary and Zechariah evoking a sense of God rescuing His people from oppression and injustice, a divine promise of liberation. When Jesus came to Nazareth He declared that he was bringing liberation for the people (ch 4). Luke then picked certain teachings and actions of Jesus to communicate the theological idea that God’s kingdom is already here. And in the story that Luke narrates he used healing, feeding, reconciliation, forgiveness etc as signs of God’s kingdom come.

In his story 5:12-16, Luke tells of a man being of his leprosy. Jesus healed skin disease. In 5:17-26, Luke tells of paralytic being forgiven and healed. Jesus forgave and healed bone defect. In 8:40-56, Lukes tells of healing a bleeding woman, and a girl being raised from the dead. Jesus healed sickness related to blood, and He is, in fact, in able to reverse the human body mechanism. Every degenerated DNA comes to live as he spoke. In 10: 37-45, the tormenting evil spirit is driven out of a boy. Jesus has authority over evil spirit. The evil spirit cannot torment Jesus’ children. These events are historical events that Luke used to weave into his story to tell that God’s kingdom is come. The events that Luke used are not fantasy. Finally then , we read of Luke using another historical event to give a punchline, the death and resurrection of Jesus. Luke was here driving home the lesson that Jesus bore the sin and evil of the whole world upon himself as the climactic part of his project, and his Father vindicated him by raising him from the dead on the third day. And this is not fantasy again, but an event that happened in time and space, in history. However, on the 40^th day Jesus moved into another dimension, to use our phrase, and on the 50^th day after resurrection the Spirit came upon those who believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior. This is the birthday of the Church! God is now not far away, so to speak, just believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior and He will come and live in your heart. That’s a promise He gives to all those who believe in son his Jesus as Lord and Savior.

The story of healing that Luke tells is so different from the story that we tell to demonise and oppress the families and clans of the ‘evil eyes’. Luke tells the story of healing and reconciliation based on factual events, and we tell the story of division and hatred based upon pagan hearsay. ‘Evil eyes’ do not have victims, rather they are our victims. We are the oppressors. Through our stories we victimized, ostracized and demonize them. They cry out to God because society considers them to be unclean, and people in the society do not want to marry them. Luke would have been broken if he hears the story we tell today. Because he believed Jesus healed and still heals, mended and mend gaps, destroyed and destroy barriers.

I believe there are people whom the evil spirits use. Black magic, witchcraft, voodoo etc. are real. But even these practitioners get healed when they believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Because evil spirit cannot possess and use a person who has believed in Jesus as his or her Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit comes to live in the life of every believer. (Rom 8:23; Eph 1: 14; 2Co 1:22) However, the story we tell about ‘evil eyes’ is little different. Among the story teller there is confusion whether it’s because of evil spirit or because of DNA. If it’s because of evil spirit there is a possibility of people being used to harm others, but the evil spirit cannot be transferred to other people through marriage or childbearing. Transferring of evil spirit to children or spouse is utter nonsense. But if it’s because of DNA (or blood as commonly understood) there is no medical proof to support that words can kill. Medical science has mapped the DNA code of human being and there is no evidence of such kind. We are not mutants. (For those who have seen the movie series X-Men). The entire story is based on pagan myth. There is no empirical evidence to proof that it is not myth.

There are times when people have openly called names. And I wonder what psychological trauma a person would go through when victimized and abused based on unchristian and intellectually stupid story. As Christians we should not let such story shape our conduct, but teach and live to remove all barriers being erected on the basis of caste, class, clans, colour etc. There is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and is in all ( Col 3:11). As Christians we are new creation, the old is gone. (2Co 5:17) In our pagan society cases of evil spirit using people might have been there. But it just does not make sense in light of Christ giving us new life. If we have problem it only exposes our biblical illiteracy and intellectual poverty.

Many will say, “I have no problem, it’s the society”. Well, you and I make the society. If not you, who will change the society. Do not let society dictate you, look to Jesus and follow his path. We sang as kids, “though no joins me, still I will follow”. I think we need to sing all the more aloud now.

Planting a Mango Tree

Buy one kilo of Mango. Eat the flesh to make oneself healthy. Take the seeds and clean them well. Dry them. Then keep the seeds in a cup till roots begin to be formed. In the meantime you may need to change water every alternate day for some two-three weeks, which is normally the time for roots to be formed. Then plant the seeds in a park that still has space. If possible water them till their roots become strong. But let them be planted in such park where cows will not enter. Cows have eaten such young mango trees in the park before. Cows love mango leaves.

I think this is a very simple task. But if all of us do that global warming may slow down. Those who have been driving a car and polluting the air have a stronger obligation to do this. This may be as useful as putting off lights when not in use, if not more... hmmm!

Women and ministry 3

For the Christians Easter Sunday is extremely important. Christianity stands or fall with Easter Sunday. Because if Jesus is not risen from the dead, Christians may as well identify with what Paul says: eat and drink for tomorrow we die. To undermine Jesus Christ and in effect Christianity critics have tried to explain away the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

The Bible says that through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God has begun his new creation. God is not yet done with it, but it will ultimately be complete. The Bible also says that those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and God are new creation. God’s work of new creation has begun in their life. In Colossians 3 and Galatians 2 Paul underscores that those who are in Christ are then to follow to a new set of ethical norm. The old relationship between Jews and non-Jews, rich and poor, male and female etc are re-evaluated in the light the this new world order i.e the new creation.

God in his creation made both male and female in his own image and likeness. This ‘image and likeness’ does not mean that we humans are like God’s statue; rather it means that we bear attributes that resemble God. Being image bearer of God, both male and female are given the mandate to take care of the world and live in it. Our ancestors somehow failed to honour God’s wish, and therefore the beginning of all wars, hatred, hunger etc.

It was God’s purpose that we human be made ‘healthy’ again—in term of our relationship with God, with ourselves, with nature etc. and that includes the repair of relationship between male and female. The dead and resurrection of Jesus is that through which the ‘healthy’ relationships begin once again, never ever to rupture again.

Is it not because of seeing through this lens that early Christians were open for women’s participation in the ministry? It is high time the reality of the dawn of new creation is visible in our individual life and our ministries.

Save Palestinian Christians from extinction!

It is not uncommon to find Christians being faulted for the Crusades launched between 1095-1272. Thousands of Muslims and Jews were killed during the period. The worst hit, however, were the Christian themselves. It all started when Pope Urban II urged the kings and leaders of Christian Europe in 1095 to bring back the Holy Land from the Turks. One of the most important rallying point of the Pope's call was to aid the Eastern Christian suffering under the infidels i.e the Muslims. Little did they know that they would end up destroying the Eastern Christians beyond almost possible repair.

As the Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem the Muslims who treated the Christians with suspicion put them out of the city. The Crusaders who could not differentiate between Arab Christians and Arab Muslims ended up slaughtering them. Villagers who were Christians were also killed due to mistaken identity. The Pope also ordered Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern church, to be sacked to pay Crusades debt. This move dealt a crushing blow to the Byzantibe Empire which have been resisting the Turkish sweep into Europe. In all this ultimately it is the Christians weakening the Christians thereby allowing the Muslims to take over.

Isn't there a similar feature between Christian Zionism and Crusades? Proponents of both movements have the intention to be faithful Christians. But the effect of both efforts is similar.There are thousands of Palestinian Christians in Jerusalem. And when Christian Zionists gave unconditional support to the display of Israel's military might upon Palestinians, it leads to the reduction in the number of (Palestinian ) Christians in the land where the church was born. Many Christians believe that when all Jews return to Israel, Jesus will return. Such policy of bringing Jews from elsewhere has negative effect on those Palestinians: Christians and Muslims, because this involves taking land and livelihood from one group to give to the other. Christian Zionism, I believe, is mistaken because land belongs to God, and there is no tribe or tongue that has absolute ownership over land. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, and we must share and live together. Because of faulty eschatological reading of the Bible many Christians ended up supporting Israel at the expense of the Palestinian, and that is a sad affair. Since the God of the Bible who has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ is a God of justice, I cannot support the elevation of Israel to such status that undermines the existence of the Palestinians. With more and more Palestinian Christians being killed with the help of Christians in the West, and more of them migrating each year Christians will very soon extinct from the land from where it all began.

NB: I find the works of Stephen Sizer ( a pastor and a supporter of UCCF) and Chaukat Moucarry ( formerly worked with IFES ) quite helpful.

If I were the CM of Delhi...

I would:
1. Catch all stray animals and deport them or keep them in shed/shelter.
2. Fine those who urinate in public.
3. Strictly enforce traffic rules.
4. Ban marriage band procession on main roads.
5. Promote bicycles on Delhi road.
6. Introduce solar energy run street lights.
7. Make the city safe for women.
8. Seal the house of those landlords who charge rent exorbitantly.
9. Plant more trees.
10. Clean Yamuna.

What else…

Women and Ministry 2

1. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did. Romans 16:7.

* Junia was a female, and an outstanding apostle. Commenting on Romans 16:7 John Chrysostom (347-407) writes, “ how great the wisdom of this woman must have been that she was even deemed worthy of the title of apostle.” Earlier commentators like Origen (185-253) and Jerome (340-419) also understood Junia to be female.

2. But a woman dishonors her head if she prays or prophesies without a covering on her head, for this is the same as shaving her head. 1 Corinthians 11:5.

* The context is about head covering. Whether head covering applies today or not is the point for now. The point is that woman then prayed or prophesied. And Paul was writing that if she prays or prophesies she should cover her head. And there is no reason why “prophesying” here cannot be interpreted as “speaking forth God’s message” or “preaching”.

3. I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Romans 16:1.

* Being a deacon was not only for men. It was a position held by woman too, and sister Phoebe being one.

To be contd.

Women and Ministry 1

The debate is not whether women can do ministry. The debate is in what capacity can women participate in ministry. Can she be a pastor of a church? Or can she teach only in Sunday school or something like that?

One may like to argue that those individuals who are putting forth a case for opening door wide open for women to minister have been influenced by secular feminist. However, one can reply to the argument by saying that those who opposed have been influenced by their patriarchal tradition. This way of arguing rather ends in a draw, with neither position delivering a knock out punch.

One may also argue that this kind of arguing for women’s right is the reason why divorce and such related cases have increased in number. But this point can be countered by saying that male domination is the reason why there is so much of domestic violence and related crimes. Thus, this way of arguing again ends in a draw.

The right approach then is to go into the biblical text and learn what the Bible really says. As one does that one will notice some biblical texts explicitly teaching women not to teach. One will also come across biblical texts where women taught and were in leadership. Taking these various texts and weaving them together will give a sound interpretation of Scripture for a particular way of understanding women and ministry.

To be contd.

Live-in relationship and its effect

In the locality where I stay number of unmarried couples who stay together is high. It is not only the foreigners who practice such lifestyle, but Indians from all states practice it. The old men and women in the locality have also accepted the lifestyle. Nobody seems to be bothered by such arrangement.

Recently when a young married couple went in search of a place to stay on rent they were advised by the dealer to tell the landlord that they are an unmarried couple. Reason is that married couple generally does not move out quickly. Whereas unmarried couple moves out soon. And unless the tenant moves out the rent cannot be increased. And so with married couple landlord cannot make much money. Hence the advice by the dealer to lie about their marital status.

Point, however, is that society has accepted live-in relationships.

I cannot quite agree with such live-in relationship though it is common. Nobody doubts about such couples being in union sexually. And since this kind of union is the most intimate union between two individuals break up of the relationship later leaves a deep scar in the soul of both the individuals. And the rate of break up is pretty high. (I don’t have statistics but I keep hearing of break up stories.) But if one had not gone so far as to have sexual union the wound heals much quicker. Since those individuals who practice such lifestyle are those who are not in a position to give commitment for marriage, it is infinitely better for them to avoid such live-in arrangement so that if things take a different turn they won’t have to go through painful phase.

There is also other negative effect of this practice. As we come to accept the practice more and more, more and more break up will emerge. And as more and more break up results traditional idea of singleness and family will be diluted. Traditionally there are only singles and married individuals. There is no temporary arrangement as live-in relationship for those who cannot marry immediately. But as such arrangement becomes more and more common more people would like to experiment such sexual union without really having to be responsible enough to establish a home. But apart from damaging the individual does such arrangement damage the society? Well, I would prefer a society where everybody experiences joy and happiness; where people don’t struggle with guilt.

However, I can envision more and more single mothers if such practice becomes so widespread. Looking at the West it is so reasonable to argue that such envisioning is being realistic. I also think we need to learn from the West whether this practice is really healthy for a society or not. And I am sure if one does study one will conclude that single mother raising kids is not an ideal situation ‘specially when failed live-in relationship is the reason for such pattern.

I believe it is because Jesus Christ wants us to avoid such unfortunate situation that he tells us to avoid sexual intimacy before marriage.

The Nagas: God's people?

It was in early 90’s when I first heard that Nagas are God chosen people after Israel. I was young then and I just believed what I was told. Growing up in an environment where ethnic factionalism determines the outcome of politics and social life, to hear such ‘prophetic utterances’ from ‘extremely spiritual people’ was very much assuring. After all when the enemies of the Nagas: Meeteis, Kukis and Indians, have us all surrounded on all sides, to be assured that because we are God’s people He will deliver us all gave us hope even in times of terrible situation.

Somehow the idea that Nagas are God’s people seem to be still very much alive even today. Almost all Nagas are Christians, and therefore it seems reasonable to many people that we occupy a special place in God’s heart. This understanding is very common among those who are in the villages; and it is there even among well educated ones living in towns.

For sometime now I have questioned the source of this prophetic utterances. Whatever be the source, I am absolutely sure that the message is not from the God of the Bible. I am convinced about it because there is nowhere in the Bible that says God loves the Nagas more than the Kukis or Meeteis or Indians. Nor can we derive any such message from reading the Bible, unless we distort the biblical message. Though Nagas (in general!) do not like Meeteis, that does not mean God loves Meeteis less. God of the Bible, in fact, loves us all equally.

To believe that God loves Nagas more because God has chosen the people as second Israel is to have a distorted view of who God is. After all God does not do partiality. And having a distorted view of God is bad. It is also bad because elevating oneself that way results in looking down on the other communities. Finally, it is bad because seeing oneself that way prevents oneself from coming nearer to God by way of repentance.

It is important that Nagas try to construct its own identity as God’s children. Nevertheless, Nagas should not privilege themselves over others (or rather we Nagas should not privilege ourselves over others). Such moves will break God’s heart from whom we Nagas as well as others have been deriving identity.

Death and an old man

An old man, bent double with age and toil, was gathering woods in a forest. Finally he grew so tired that he threw down his woods and cried out, " Oh my! I cannot bear this hard life anymore. I wish Death would come and rescue me from this terrible state!".

Suddenly, Death, a lifeless grisly skeleton appeared and said to him: "What wouldst thou, Mortal? I heard thee call me."

"Please sir," replied the old man, "would you kindly help me in lifting this bundle of woods on to my shoulder?"

Moral of the story: We would often be sorry if our wishes were granted.

SLUMDOG millionaire, human rights and poverty

With eight Oscars in its kitty SLUMDOG millionaire has once again generated much discussion. Having won awards one after another it’s now difficult to sustain any conspiracy theory. Personally I find the movie quite better than so many Bollywood movies that have already been made. I don’t know why some people make an issue out of it when they are silent on those movies that have unwanted scenes. Is it that some people find it insulting because that part of India they want to hide has been exposed? Or is it that their pride has been punctured because what we Indian could not do, a foreigner has been able to do – using our weakness to our advantage. After all making money more than ten times its actual cost is an achievement, and it is even likely to cross that figure.

The most important theme to me, however, is the portrayal of human rights of our nation India. I am not sure if the director had any such motive when the movie was being filmed. The intriguing thing about human right is that it has been used to support different causes. From denouncing military torture to supporting gay rights to fight to take one’s own life etc. The idea of the right to eat, however, is not propagated anchoring upon human right. And quite obviously because those who do not have food to eat are not even aware of any ideological concept as human right.

Human right is that basic right and freedom which every human being in entitled to. If poverty is understood as that which deprives people of food, and chains people to hunger then issue of poverty is very much an issue concerning human rights. Nature has made human being to eat, and when one has no food to eat it is against law of nature. Human right is the recognition of the right of an individual ‘given’ by the law of nature. This right is not given by any government or any state so that it can be taken away whenever government or state demands it. Rather government or state just recognises this right ‘given’ by the law of nature. It is for this reason that I believe poverty is a violation of human rights of those who are poor: who are deprived of food for survival.

It is for this reason that one medieval thinker said something like this: “ ... if the need be so manifest and urgent, that it is evident that the present need must be remedied by whatever means be at hand, then it is lawful for a man to succour (help in time of difficulty) his own need by means of another’s property, by taking it either openly or secretly: nor is this properly speaking theft or robbery”. Because in such situation the right to live of the hungry man trumps over the right to private property of the rich. This is so radical, yet this contains a profound truth. This also calls for radical transformation in the thinking of the rich.
The SLUMDOG millionaire exposes the deprivation of human right of many people of India. I don’t suppose that the producer had motive to portray India in poor light. And even if he had any such motive we should have the heart to accept reality. The wise move for us as Indian is to accept such reality and proceed to rectify such gross violation of human rights. Criticising the movie and refusing to accept reality is to turn blind eye to the gross violation of human rights in India.

Winner of Husband of the Year Award, 2008!

Prayer in Schools

I am a Christian, and I don’t want my children to follow other religion. ( Btw, I am single.) I shall teach them about Jesus Christ whom I worship, but I shall not force them to worship whom I worship. And I am sure everybody can agree with me thus far.

What would you do if your child is forced to worship ‘god’ that you don’t worship? Would it be okay with you if your child is forced to pray to ‘god’ that you don’t believe in? I am sure no one can agree with that. Suppose, BJP comes to power in India, and makes a rule that all the Govt owned schools recite Gayatri Mantra, whether the child is a Christian or Muslim or Hindu or Sikh and so on, what would you say? I shall protest if such a law is passed by any government. If they perform such thing in a school funded by their religious group, I would have no quarrel, but if anyone makes such a law for all even in Govt funded school, I would strongly protest.

How would an atheist feel if their children are forced to pray “Lord’s Prayer” in Govt school in some western countries? Or what would Jewish parents feel if their children are supposed to pray to Lord Jesus in school because the Christians in that country have successfully made prayer to Jesus a law? They don’t want their children being forced to pray Christian prayer. If I don’t want to be forced Gayatri Mantra upon me here in India, I should not want “Lord’s prayer” to be forced upon atheists or Hindu in the West or East. Should I?

Christians will say that they are praying to real God. And Muslims will say the same. An atheist will say that no such being is there. We can debate the question in civil public square free and fair on who is right and who is not. But until it is agreed by all the parties that a particular position is right, I don’t think prayer to any particular should be made in Govt. funded school.

ON KNOWING

I don’t think ‘knowing’ is always a blessing. If you are ignorant, you don’t have responsibility. But if you know, you can’t shy away from shouldering responsibility. And if you shy away from responsibility knowing fully well that you have to be there, guilt will come trying to strangle your mind to insanity. Sometime, therefore, I wonder if it’s even more blessed to be insane. Because if one is insane one never knows the ‘painful’ side of life… that suffering which comes through responsibility. A person who is insane never knows suffering nor joy. For him life just is.

Was it not because Alyosha had ‘known’ so much that the Father said he would never be a happy man? ( in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Karamazov Brothers) It’s not just with great power that great responsibility comes, but it’s with great knowledge too that great responsibility comes. And somehow, I fear, that the challenge that comes from within is greater than the challenge that comes from without. The angst that impinges upon one’s soul as one ‘knows’ the reality in greater precision. Ah! But the angst within swells because of the pressure applied from without.

Had I been a Martin Heidegger I would have patted my own back, told myself to be strong, and move to and face death head on. Had I been a Carl Sagan I might have looked up to the stars to send aliens to come and metamorphose me to be able to face the future. But I am more like Immanuel Kant… more like Socrates… more like Paul. Oh yes, I know Jesus, yet I must say I ‘know’ him not. When I KNOW Him I shall never be fearful of being responsible. Till then I pray and wait.

Some forwarded mails

To all those who have shown concern I want to acknowledge that because of your kindness:

1. I stopped drinking Coca-Cola after I found out that it's good only for removing toilet stains.

2 I have stopped going to the movies for fear of sitting on a needle infected with AIDS.

3. I smell like a wet dog since I stopped using deodorants because they cause cancer.

4. I also stopped answering the phone for fear that they may ask me to dial a stupid number and then I get a phone bill from hell with calls to Uganda , Singapore and Tokyo.

5. I also stopped drinking water outside for fear that I will get sick from the rat shit and urine.

6. When I go to parties, I don't look at any girl, no matter how hot she is, for fear that she will take me to a hotel, drug me, then take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

7. My free Nokia phone never arrived and neither did the free passes for a paid vacation to Disneyland.

NB: If you do not send this e-mail to at least 9810572550 people today, you will lose someone so dear to you.

I HAVE RECEIVED SUCH EMAILS, I AM SURE YOU HAVE RECEIVED SOME OF THEM TOO, IF NOT ALL. PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD THESE EMAILS. THEY ARE JUNK MAILS.

Letter to Hindutva fringe group leader

I am greatly appalled by your audacity to moral police our country. We all know that India is a land of great diversity. Each community living in each state has their own set of culture. The components that make up a culture so often overlap with the components that make up other culture. However, sometimes those components may not overlap. Your Hindutva culture is different from Mizo culture in so many respects. And I am sure you won’t say that Mizo’s culture is less Indian, unless you want to destroy that unity of India. Your culture may prohibit women exercising freedom, but Khasi’s culture will give equal freedom to women , if not more. And if you respect India, you will respect Khasi’s culture. (By the way, Khasis are from Meghalaya). It seems to me that when you force your culture upon us all, you are harming the unity of India.
There are other social issues that you can take up. There is the issue of terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, human trafficking, child labour etc which deserve more attention than the issue you are raising. These are issues that affect the entire nation, and no good citizen will fail to agree that they need to be rectified, though I may say that very few are working to get these things rectified. You have time and energy and manpower. If you all start taking these issues seriously I believe India will truly shine. Not only during election campaign!

Finally, I request you to show more respect to others’ sisters. The ones you humiliate are not your sisters. Just as I don’t want my sister to be mistreated, I am sure you don’t want your sister to be mistreated by stranger. Each girl has parents to discipline. At a different level the police force is there too.

Yours faithfully,

An Indian citizen