CHRISTIAN NEWS MAGAZINE FOR KERALA MALAYALEE CHRISTIANS FROM INDIA AROUND THE WORLD
SEPTEMBER 2003 ARCHIVE
VOL:2ISSUE:P9
DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE


SELFISHNESS : MOTHER OF ALL EVILS

By GHEEVARGHESE MAR OSTHATHIOS
Diocesan Metropolitan of Niranam Diocese, Malankara Orthodox Church

The congenital nature of man, gives way to selfishness. Origin of all other evils are selfishness. Selfishness is a sin by birth. It is a quality of the beasts. If we do not feel compassion we are loveless and egocentric. We can eradiate evils only through the Godly love.



H.G. GHEEVARGESE
MAR
OSTHATHIOS

Greetings to all in the name of Lord Jesus Christ!

On the very onset, I would like to say my own testimony of self-dedication to God. When I was around 12 years old, a Gospel Team had come to the Cherukol Marthoma Church. In the public meeting, many people stood up and talked about their experiences with God. I also stood up there and told, ‘I am giving myself to Lord.’ That day I shared my heart with Lord Christ. If I was not dedicating my heart to Lord that day, I might have become a drunkard, I might have done many evil things abhorrent to God. While I was young, even though my father was an Orthodox and not a Marthomite, he was used to come to Cherukol Marthoma Church to teach Sunday school. Every time when he comes to teach, he was bringing me also with him. This incidence and the place always remain in my memory.

St.Paul give a list of evils in his letter, 2 Timothy 3:2-5. ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ‘

Three out of this big list, are very important to be addressed as they become essence and basics of all other evils:

  1. Self Lovers
  2. Covetous
  3. Boasters

The congenital nature of man, gives way to selfishness. I do not believe that the innate lessons taught to human are of Sex. The woman plucked the fruit, ate herself and given to her husband. Here, man or woman does not expose any disposition to share to anybody other than his or her family. Cain went, married a girl and built a city for himself. It is a big sin, to be exclusively, concerned about one’s own family. It is a vicious attitude of all men to think of ‘Me, my wife and my Children’ only.

Selfishness is the mother of all other evils. The origin of covetousness also is selfishness. Boasting also come out of selfishness. Selfishness is a sin by birth. It is a quality of the beasts. Unless we realize that selfishness is a big sin, we can not attain salvation. Look at the Prophet Jonah. Jonah told ‘it is better for me to die than to live.’ God told to Jonah, 'Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?' 'Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?'

God is feeling compassion to them, why not we? If we do not feel compassion we are loveless. That is egocentrism. Selfish people drink liquor, as they look only of their own happiness. Unless we eradiate the social evils, we cannot live sinless.

The most imperative topic is how the compassion to be conceived in us. Those who cumulate for their self will get into the depth of inferno. The man who piles up millions with out any concern to his co-humans is reprobate. They do not have compassion to others. The compassion is the symbol of love. It is the unselflessness and generosity. It is the sentiment of sympathy. I exhort to the parents that you should love your children. Mothers should breast-feed your infant children instead of bottle-feed. You should kiss the children. They should taste the intimacy of love. Real love can never make them to delude.

Buddhist Religion teaches that the first Guru of a child is the mother. For the initial few years, mother is nurturing the children. If mother cannot up-bring the child in proper track, then school cannot amend it. College cannot correct it. If mother is covetous, children also become covetous. If mother is bland, children also become bland. So we cannot blame the children, only the parents are to be blamed. Parents are sowing the setback.

Modern ladies expose only formal and showcase love to their children. They do not kiss their children. They give bottle-feed for fear they loose their beauty. This is a matter of arrogance. Man and women lapse from the true path.

Many people adopt alcoholism as an ultimate bridge for the hopelessness. More than sixty percent of the alcoholic addicts do not get restored. Even in America this is the case. Many a time the root cause of alcoholism go to family matters. It starts from childhood. They could not get any love in life. They could not get any happiness in life. They could not get any Godly strength in life. So they become drunkards. This all happens due to the lack of the fear of God.

I had witnessed an incident. One parent who was abroad came to visit their children in a School hostel. The children came, just looked at the parents as strangers and immediately turned back to play. They were interested only to play and score century in their Cricket game. They become the children of immorality. It is the duty of each parent to abstain from liquor and keep his or her Children away from it. Many parents made it customary to offer drinks in the festivals like Christmas, Easter etc. Children make a start from there and they become drunkards later. Alcoholism is only the second evil. Still the Selfish ness is the first.

In our society and in our state, we confront many families with female children of marriageable age and father enslaved to alchoholism. He finds solace in beverage. Negativity is not a solution for hopelessness. We should manifest positive solutions for hopelessness and helplessness. Man is running behind luxuries to find happiness. But he never achieves it. Children are getting proliferated with modern luxuries.

In modern society it is found that children get addicted to TV, just like Alcoholic addiction. They would not be able to come out from this addiction. They cannot find time for prayers. The satisfaction and joy out of Christian prayer life cannot be achieved by any of the modern luxuries. The family, which got the fear of God, will never get addicted to Alcohol or TV or any other modern luxuries.

Church should create a positive environment. The environments lead the man to be a drunkard. So it is the responsibility of the Church to build a positive thinking and to create an environment conducive to elude the addictions. The Hindu Vedic Culture of our country was the most respected religion of the world. When the religion is politicized, its nobility is lost. The fanatic ways are not the basic cult of the Hinduthva. I exhort you very lovingly that we should stage a war against all social evils. We should revolt against alcoholism. We have to create good families. The individualism is capitalism and it is the way of selfishness. We can find a solution for everything only through the Godly love.

May God Bless You!

[Maramon 2003: Original in Malayalam]
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ARTICLE 1


THE GOSPELS IN CHRISTIAN LIFE

By FR. JACOB THOMAS KARAKKAL, KALINA, SANTACRUZ

Without the Gospels, Christian faith would have lacked flesh and blood, vigour and charm. Gospels signifies glad tidings that ever came from heaven to earth. In the Gospels we meet Jesus not just one who lived 2000 years ago, but the Lord living among us.

The most precious books of New Testament are the Gospels, for they are almost our only sources for knowing about Jesus’ life on earth. They narrate in some detail His infancy, the many deeds of His public ministry and the events of His passion, death and resurrection; they pass on to us a large amount of His teaching without the Gospels our Christian faith would have lacked flesh and blood, vigour and charm. That is why Christians from the very beginning valued the Gospels as highly sacred. In the early churches they were the books most often copied, widely circulated and universally used.

Gospels signifies good news or glad tidings; and this history of Christ’s coming into the world to save sinners is, without doubt, the best news that ever came from heaven to earth, the angel gave it this title (Lk. 2:10) I bring the gospel to you. And the prophet foretold it (Isaiah. II) Gospel is an Old Saxon world; it is God’s spell or word. The four books, which contain the history of the Redeemer, we commonly call the four gospels and the inspired penmen of them evangelists, or gospel writers. These four gospel, were early and constantly received by the primitive church, and read in Christian worships, as appears by the writings of Justin Martyr, years after the ascension of Christ.

Harmony of these four evangelists was compiled by Tation about that time which - The gospel out of the four. In the third and fourth centuries some other gospel also cane to popular they an under the name of St. Peter, another of St. Thomas, another of St. Philip. But the Church never owned them.

The Gospels are documents of faith and proclamation. Believers who wanted to share their faith with unbelievers and to confirm and foster the faith of believers wrote them. They contain the proclamation of the message of salvation in Christ, which the early Christian communities believed and lived. The source of this faith and message was the testimony of “eye witnesses and ministers of the world” (Luke. 1:2) namely, the immediate disciples of Jesus and their associates filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost they proclaimed that in Jesus God had finally acted for the salvation of the human race. With the expansion of the Christian mission from Jerusalem to Judea and then to the vast provinces of the Greco - Roman and then to the all world, the good news of Jesus was widely proclaimed, and traditions about Jesus, his words and deeds, were circulating in the various Christian communities of Syria, Asia minor, Greece, Egypt, Rome etc. It is these Jesus’ traditions, which were preserved in writing for future generations under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by the evangelists. The Gospels thus give us access to the earliest preaching of the apostles and their disciples and to the vibrant faith of the early churches as it is the written part of the Church Tradition.

In the Gospels we meet the person of Jesus not just some one who lived 2000 years ago, but the Lord living today among us. The apostles and the early Christians experienced Jesus not as a personality of the post, but as the risen Lord, Emmanuel, living and acting in their very midst, whom they worshipped in their liturgy. They narrated stories about Jesus so that their hearers could experience his presence and saving action in their actual existence.

Today as we read the Gospel the living Lord becomes present in out midst as our Emmanuel, Lord and saviour. While reading the Gospels, the basic Christian confession “Jesus is Lord” should be in our heart and on our lips (Rom. 10:9, Phil 2:11)

In the Gospels are encounter the event of our redemption. We meet God who so loved the world that he gave his only son to give us eternal life (Jn 3:16) who mercifully acted in Christ to reconcile us with himself (2cor 5:19) when we read the Gospels we experience in our depths our very personal reconciliation with God. We experience also peace with our fellow men, the evangelical ‘Shalom’ for “he himself is our peace” (Eph 2:14)

In the Gospels we experience the concrete relating of our salvation. We experience God working through Jesus for us today as he did 2000 year ago in Galilee and Judea. In our multifarious life situations God is acting in Christ healing us from our infirmities cleansing us from the leprosy of mental disorders, liberating us from our slavery to unbridled passions and bad habits… above all mercifully forgiving us our sins.

The Gospels convey to us the spirit of Jesus through his multifarious teachings parables, which unfold the mystery of the kingdom of God as revelation of his unconditional love for us. Beatitudes which proclaim the blessedness of the disciples of Christ, exhortations which urge us to practice unlimited love and on Christian life style warnings which put us on our guard against selfish attachment to wealth, hypocrisy in works of piety, formalism in worship etc By heaving and doing these words of Jesus we hall build our Christian live in the solid rock foundation of a Christ - like attitude towards the world and our fellow men. We shall experience the kingdom of God with its power and its blessings, its graces and its gift and we shall grow in a child - like intimacy with our father in heaven.

To experience all these we should not simply read the Gospels with critical detachment as we. Would read a textbook of history. The Gospels will open up their secrets only if we approach them as disciples and believers and read them in faith, with the attitude of the early Christians and martyrs. We should appropriate personally the original apostolic experience and faith, which the Gospels deliver to us. There words inspired the early Christian communities, moulded their life, gave meaning to their existence because they received them in faith; they will do the same for us, if we read them with faith and with the spirit of Mary at the feet of Jesus (Lk 10:39)

The Gospels challenge us to be converted to become Disciples of Christ. They exhort us to renounce our too human thoughts and to adopt the thoughts of God (Mk. 8:33). They teach us to make our own attitudes and the life-style of Christ. They demand from us a complete transformation an utter change of mind and heart and a total turning towards God and His beloved son, in once word, Radical DISCIPLESHIP.

The Gospel message is inextricably bound to the Gospel text. Every word is a precious pearl illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit. One should beware of adulterating the good news of the Gospels by reading into the text justification for ones own ideas and desires, prejudices and passions. One should rather be sensitive to every nuance, and open to every hint the text wispers to us. It should be for us a labour of love to read and meditate upon the Gospel text and each single world in it, for it is through an encounter with this sacred text we shall meet the mystery of Christ, who is God’s saving word become flesh for us.

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ARTICLE 2


HAS JESUS REALLY DIED ?

By E.S.JOHN- AUSTRALIA

The Holy Trinity consisting of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit exists with the same Godhead. The first Adam, in likeness and image, is the prototype of the second Adam, the Word Incarnate of the Trinitarian God. Jesus also made His exit from the clutches of the body by depositing His Spirit in to the Father’s hands, and man after death is escorted by angels for eternal life or by the agents of death for its everlasting perdition.

The Holy Trinity consisting of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit exists with the same Godhead. I and the Father are one (Jn.10: 30,38). Everything in the gigantic ocean of macrocosm and microcosm emanates and manifests with its intrinsic and synchronising relationship with the Triune God. The assuming death of God is even unimaginable as it creates a limitless lacuna, making no possible glimpse beyond to stretch upon. The death of Immortality even in a peripheral sense is an absurd fallacy for a normal thinking person.

JESUS, THE SON OF MAN AND SON OF GOD:
The first Adam, in likeness and image, is the prototype of the second Adam, the Word Incarnate of the Trinitarian God (Eze.1: 26; 2.Phi.2: 5-11). While Jesus’ birth is an asexual one, it is illogical to call Him as the Son of Man. The Heavenly Son ship of the Most High overshadowed upon St.Mary representing humanity, made Him to be the Son of God and Son of Man, devoid of the sinful nature, at the same time. Therefore, they are commingled together as inseparable, without losing the identity of both and without forming a new Nature by fusion. Jesus thus is a perfect man and a perfect God.

Without making all the theological confusions and attributes let us look at the issue in a different perspective. Man is created in the image and likeness of God. Man is a trinity comprising of body, mind and soul, so also is the Lord. (Jn.5: 37-38; 2.Cor.3: 17-18). Man is also a spirit just as God is. Plants in one sense are deathless because they give life to other plants as fertilizer. In scientific formula also nothing can be created nor destroyed because it is a magnetic revolution of evolution (Ps.148: 5-6). God, man and the devil are deathless as they are spirits. As there is universe in an atom, the spark of God in man makes man a demi-god. Death in a man is only the liberation of his soul from the tentacles of physical bondage, where as his spirit is immortal. Jesus also made His exit from the clutches of the body by depositing His Spirit in to the Father’s hands (Lk.23: 46), and man after death is escorted by angels for eternal life or by the agents of death for its everlasting perdition.

The first man is from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven and is of the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven (1.Cor.15: 47-48). Not only that the heavenly body is imperishable the sinless body of Jesus resurrected after 33 hours (midnight on Saturday) so as to present Himself to the Father for the proclamation of His assigned victory over the death that besieged Adam and his children. The sinful humanity’s resurrection also will take place at an appointed time after the resurrected Jesus prepares a resting place for us (1.Cor.15: 52;Jn.14: 2). Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven (15:49). The process and medium of the spiritual journey of the Shepherd and the flock are the same, but we are called for following the unblemished Lamb, the pioneer and exalted to in everything (1.Pet.2: 21-22). One day we also will be called in our transformed resurrected body to appear before Him to receive the garment of incorruption.

There is nothing unnatural in Jesus’ ministry and mission. He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father (Jn.14: 12). Jesus’ followers are also called for such works of His. All the disciples were able to do the miracles while the Master was alive (Lk.10: 17). St.Peter, Paul, Elijah had raised the dead and healed the sick. But the raising of the buried Lazarus was an exception. Yet the possibility of similar miracles by a servant of Jesus cannot be ruled out. It is a free gift if we go closer to Him, and follow His footprints. As man is God’s agent on earth, he is bestowed with all the spiritual powers for the continuation of His ministry. There have been mystics and ascetics who could perform vivid forms of miracles of telepathy and teletransportation and protect mankind from various plagues imported from other lurid planes. Jesus is not a super man for him who loves Him (Jn.15: 14-15); He is one of us provided we follow his commandments in letter and spirit.

DIVINITY OF JESUS:
Despite Jesus is one of us; He being God is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient (Is.66: 1). While He can constrain Himself in St.Mary’s womb or in the burning bush, He has the power of being anywhere in the celestial universe at the same time. This potentiality of Omnipresence is not given to any of His creations, not even to the angels nor to His mother. While He is on the cross, He can be in Paradise or in hell at the same time. Transporting the robber to Paradise while before or after His death on the cross is not impossible to God. The same Jesus appeared to His disciples after and before His resurrection in different dimensions (Lk.24: 13-31). It doesn’t mean that He has not died while he escorted the thief to Paradise. A clinical death certificate to Jesus who performed countless miracles is an outright blaspheme and sacrilege, and a doctor like the modern one to give a clinician certificate to one’s death was not even in its embryonic stage then.

They availed of the best test to the robbers, as well as to Jesus who died without His bone being broken so as to fulfil the prophecy. Treating Jesus as a magician also doesn’t hold valid on the ground that the guard could try to grab Him while He appeared to Mary Magdalene. Crucifixion is not a clinical drama or a melodrama; it means a death penalty, a slow death. Logic is not a religion, nor is it spirituality. Weaving mere theories to establish our reasoning by making Jesus as the scapegoat is a sin. The Son of Man who healed hundreds and hundreds who were the toys of Satan didn’t want a team of specialists to heal His wounds. We walk by faith, not by sight. What other evidences other than the proofs given by the Saviour regarding His death are needed in this respect? The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day (Mt.17: 22). ..that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and he was buried, that he was raised on the third day...(1.Cor.15; 3-4).

Notwithstanding, it is well affirmed in the Nicene Creed: “...crucified for us in the days of Pontius Pilate; and suffered, and died, and the third day rose again...”The H.Spirit gives the real death certificates, not by a team of clinical specialists. It is therefore ludicrous to add the word ‘died’ in our daily Trisagion. Jesus ate with His disciples to show that any transformed resurrected body has the capability, avenue and venue to eat from the Tree of Life and drink from the Life giving river (Rev.22).

Hadn’t Jesus met with a bleeding cruel death on the cross, He would have proved Himself as the heinous hypocrite after all allowing to kill millions and millions of unblemished sacrificial animals and birds for the atonement of sins of uncountable number of people and wasting their money and time over a period of 4,000 years. Only His blood shed on the cross and the sacrifice of His life could buy Adam’s and his progeny’s lives from the hands of death imported by Satan in Eden. If it were not a genuine death, all the prophets of old, particularly those three magi who travelled across the terrains of the east, probably for two years, would curse Him perpetually.

All the prophecies of old, including the allusions ascribed to Prajapathy and Janardanan and King David and Isaiah, are in fact fulfilled in the passions of Christ’s bleeding death. There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. John the Baptist did not have to sacrifice his life for the sake of a fake martyr. About 64,000 innocent boys martyred under the age of two by Herod were the real heralds of His coming. Criticism is good provided we don’t encroach into the realm of the Triune God and His saints. It is to be blindly accepted that the creations cannot excel the Creator at any level. Temporal pedagogy, which kills the soul, is neither a science nor spirituality. As soon as Lucifer and his legions “said in your heart ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will set my throne on high;.... (Is.14: 13-19), they were brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the Pit. Tremble, therefore.

IS RESURRECTION A MYTH ?:
If Jesus didn’t die, his resurrection is only a myth. Theologians like Barbara Thiering and many others are of the opinion that Jesus either escaped or was stolen from the cross by His miraculous gimmicks, and led an obscene life in obscurity. The sepulchre in which Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus was sealed and put under guard by the Pilate’s soldiers as they became insecure by the warning given by Jesus about His resurrection before hand. All the disciples except St.John who could witness the final agony on the cross were scattered by the scare that overwhelmed by the unnatural death, which frightened and totally confused their faith in Him (Mk.16: 11-14;Lk.24: 11;Jn.20: 25). Their only option at that juncture was to go back to their old profession of fishing. The theory of stealing Him during that commotion is totally absurd as there were no more followers for Him. If they had any suspicious circumstances on anybody in this regard, certainly Pilate and his cronies would have arrested some of His disciples and women who devotedly followed Him. They did not validate the hypothesis (Mt.27: 44) of theft by the ringleaders because they knew that everything would backfire provided too many lies were conjoined together (Jn.19: 22).

The whole hierarchy of rulers were put under a cloud of fear on account of illegally arresting and condemning Jesus to death during the night in contravention against the law of the land. They would have been doubly cautious to suppress them in order to hide their maliciousness had there been any possibility of an insurgency. His followers also were terrified by the same reprisals that might follow them after the crucifixion. If we are deep rooted in the sensibility of reasoning and deductions, there is no answer for such puzzles. Gamaliel’s astute verdicts always hold valid at any time (Acts.5: 34-39). But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain (1.Cor.15).

AMOEBIC LIKE DIVISION OF THE CHURCH:
The genesis of the first major division of the church was fertilized by interpreting the Nature of Christ, not without hiding the fact that the theological interpretations mainly are the covering up technology of sectarianism and collectivism whetted out of egoism and selfishness. While the proponents of the two-nature theory (duality of persons of divinity and humanity in Jesus) argued since the 5th century that the divinity and humanity of Christ remained separate when needed, the protagonists of the opposite side maintained the view that the divinity and humanity of Christ remain inseparable as two persons without forming a new Nature by any fusion.

The Triune God remains inseparable from the time of His manifestations even in the days when the Son was not revealed to us (Gen.1: 26; 11:7). The prominent one, with the help of the emperor, persecuted the nick named Monophysites as heretics and automatically the mantle of Biphysites fell on them. The ferocious persecutions and the later crusades dwindled down the minority number of Monophisites to their perdition. The proponents of the two-nature theory thus concluded that the Divinity of Christ was not a participant of His passions on the cross.

The predation of the two-Nature concept upon the minority believers worked since then like a boomerang of exploding from within to make amoeba like divisions with in the church. Each group by throwing mud upon one another divided again and again by misquoting and misinterpreting the scriptures for their own omnivorous tastes, resulting in over 2000 denominations and innumerable number of cults over these years. Each group for their crooked end monopolizes salvation blindly only for themselves. Mind you, there is only Bride, the church, for the Heavenly Bridegroom (Eph.4; 4-6)

However, All these fragmented groups have no other alternative now other than coming to a meeting point on account of a virulent tornado of universal apostasy from within and without confronting as a common enemy. The theologians from both spectrum of the divide now cringe for absolution from the guilt of not trying to seek the true points of view mutually then. “Necessity makes the naked man run”. In any age, the temporal is more important than the spiritual one for all of us. But what remedy is there for the irreparable damage that has already taken place? Christology these days is a global political and religious football propagating an intuitive illusion of Christmas as the birth of Santa Claus and Easter the resurrection of bunny rabbits and sacraments, feasts and festivities as mere ridiculous survival dynamites.

Even my own relatives ask for the proof for the existence of Heaven and hell. Have a good life here on earth, why do we destroy our life here, which even the ecclesiastical hierarchy don’t bother about. Oil and other mineral wealth has eclipsed the Heavenly light and blinded the vast majority to conclude that religion is only a myth propagated for the survival of the clergy. What to talk of the clergy now! The mainstream global clerical hierarchies have challenged the resurrection of Jesus and the virgin birth.

Apart from the infringement of the 7th commandment, the female and gay clergy and the lately formulated doctrines in this regard, the last straw that breaks the camel’s back in some global churches, are the naked realities of the resurrection of the abysmal filths, replacing with the resurrection of Jesus. What other signs are needed for this crooked and adulterous generation for the coming down of the Saviour to collect the remaining believers before they are succumbed to the dragon that eclipsed the celestial halo of Adam? The two-nature theory that multiplied over the years like amoeba to an unaccountable number of natures in Jesus has made a religious anarchy in a disproportional level, which the end does not know the beginning.

The Bible and other scriptural sources have been a refuge and solace for the majority in the bygone times but it has become a thorn in our flesh even to corrupt our souls on account of an ocean of misinterpretations and deliberate torrential currents of Biblical concoctions that we have to swim through. The majority afflicted ones have already left the fold by seeing the green pastures of the flesh outside, whereas those tormented ones who are still inside struggle in making it as a platform for quenching the instinct of their megalomania and converting it as a venue for cultivating commercial and cultural enterprises.

The Bible is the word of God, which embraces the multi dimensional planes of Heavenly truths, shrouded, yet in visible realities. We all have been converted as the Bible bashing bastards, bastards in the sense of embracing the devil as our father (Jn.8; 44). The weapons of mass destruction produced by the misinterpretation of the biblical truths and the perpetual attacks continued against the divinity and humanity of Christ have likely led to the moral turpitude for manufacturing global weapons of mass destructions for the cataclysmic destruction of humanity.

Reverting back the cycle of division may eventually take place, possibly while in a different dimensional plane, when the Shepherd flock together the herd. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Lk.12; 32). Rupture and irreparable damages have already been done; there is no use in crying over the dissipated glory. As we have already crossed the horizon of the point of no return, putting the cart in front of the horse is not a solution to the riddle of these gig jaw puzzles for the fossil Christians.

Joining with the chorus sung by the unbelievers and non-believers about the duplicities in the divinity and humanity of Christ, we already signed the death warrant of our souls. Unless we believe and participate in the bleeding passions and sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we can’t reap the fruits of resurrection, ascension, Pentecost and the second coming culminating in the eternal life in New Jerusalem. There is no salvation unless one believes that Christ was crucified, died, resurrected and will come again to judge the living and the dead whose kingdom will have no end.

A righteous life together with the faith is the other side of the coin of salvation. Resurrection remains as an illusion without the death of Christ. No salvation for mankind bereft the death and resurrection of the Saviour. O foolish followers! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? (Gal.3: 1). Denying the death of Christ on the cross portrays Christ as a super magician and his followers as mere sinful cowards. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality (1.Cor.15; 53).

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ARTICLE 3


FACING THE REALITIES OF LIFE

By BENOY JOHN VARGHESE, PRASANTH NAGAR, TRIVANDRUM

The foundations of our faith and the roots within our relationships with God and men, keeps us alive in all the storms in our life. An earnest search of God in every walk of life and a mind to thank Him for all His providences, makes God, to surely speak to our inner minds, where ever we are. He will remove the veil of darkness from our conscience and lead us to Light of His wisdom.



Life has always been a bag of uncertainties for all….

None of us has had a smooth sailing as yet in this turbulent episode of our voyage to eternity. But what keeps us alive as we are today is based on the foundations of our faith and the roots within our relationships, which help us through each storm in our life. I’m trying to reflect on certain views running through my mind and I’d like to share these with my dear friends.

Let us take it in the Bible perspective and analyze what God has done. God selected a community of people to be His own and He never repudiated others. God demonstrated the history of Israel for us as a living example. He's what Hagar experienced in the wilderness. Hagar was asked to leave Abram’s fold.. Hagar is a nobody but God makes her as important as his chosen Abraham and Sarah. God promised her and she had faith enough in Him. Many of us go through the Hagar experiences in our lives. It is at these times we hear the call of the Lord who not only sees but listens too.

Hagar says that God is not a seeing God but a Listening God too. She calls the Jehovah by a new name Beer-lahai-roi. (Genesis 16)

God never wants us to run away from our situations and aversions in life. He wants us to face the real truth and we grow in Him with difficulties that come our way. We may take things for granted, I have a good income, secure accounts, good family, my children love me, but what happens incase of Job, that’s where trials and tribulations are put to test. God helps us if we stay by Him. I think there’s not another person than Job who would have stood by God when all these evil befell his household. All of us I bet would have murmured and denied such a cruel God. But this is where such a deep faith comes to work. God steps in when the world steps out. Trust in God and He will act.

See the social point of view in Hagar’s case, she was pregnant and didn’t have a husband. Imagine her situation in today’s society. Wouldn’t it have been worse then!! Won’t she be abused and stoned?

Let us put ourselves in a situation like this. Hagar is being ill treated that’s clear cut here. But just look back and see this ill treatment upon her is from a family having very close ties with God. What would our response be in such a case? These kind of situations do exist today in many of our lives. This is the situation very often when people conclude and doubt the very existence and necessity of God.

Well God intervenes in these situations for people of faith and this is purely divine mercy. This is what Hagar says “God not only sees but Listens too”. Yes, he`s Beer-lahai-roi.

There was a British man who visited India and his guide told him, “This is Kerala God`s Own Country, but Devil’s Own People”. Well these are but the right words to sum up the people of our land. We are responsible for this. Do we nurture the future generations in for our selfish intentions or according to the will of God? There are 65 lakh Christians in kerala! Whats our role in today`s society?

When do we start a God oriented goal search and see God in what we do whatever our profession and situation be giving thanks to Him in all that we do and all what we are. God will surely speak to us to our inner minds. He will remove the veil of darkness from our conscience and lead us to Light of knowledge. Pray to God, Lord show me the realities of life and give me courage to face them, never make me run away from my responsibilities. Have mercy and grant us the wonderful grace to hear your call in our lives.

May God work wonders in your life?
God bless you

Benoy

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SATIRE

Long time ago, before Christ, there was a Rabbi in ancient Judia by the name Solomon who was very famous for his wisdom, honesty and generosity. Every day of Sabbath many youngsters, both man and woman of Judia, after worshipping Yahweh, gathered in the shade of the trees of Synagogue, to hear and discuss with Solomon whose wisdom they appraised as comparable to that of Wise King Solomon. Rabbi Solomon was so scholastic to answer any questions of the Youngsters with reference to the Holy Scriptures. Yohanes, Martha, Ezekiel, Esther, and Ahaz were some of the active participants of the group discussions with Rabbi. Esther, an young girl, of the group recorded all the sweet discussions with Rabbi day to day As:


QUESTIONS OF LIFE AND DEATH

ESTHER RECORDED ON THE THIRD DAY:
ARE WE SUPERIOR TO OTHERS ?
Authored By: JOHN D. KUNNATHU

Today our discussion was about the different ways of life at different places in the world. Ahaz narrated his experiences:

Ahaz: Rabbi, I have had a chance to see a large part of the world as I have been working with some people engaged in international trade. I have visited most of the places around the Mediterranean Ocean and the Red Sea. I have found that the people living at different places have their own ways of life. They speak different languages, dress differently, eat different kinds of food, and they are different even in their physical appearance. None of these peoples share our religious faith. They have not even heard about Yahweh, or about our Holy Scriptures. I don't understand why there are such wide differences among the people of the world.

Rabbi:Well, you have brought an interesting topic for discussion from your experience. Though I haven't traveled from place to place as you have done, I have had a chance to meet several foreigners in our land. As soon as we meet some foreigners, we realize that they are different from us in a number of ways. We may not understand even a word they utter. What we call good might be bad, and what we call bad might be good in their eyes. Thus we begin with utter disagreement and misunderstanding. If we can't overcome the misunderstandings, it can even lead to bloodshed. Most of the fights and bloodshed in the world are caused by misunderstandings and lack of communication. Hence, overcoming misunderstandings is essential to the well being of the human race.

Our ancestors also have faced this problem, and they have suggested a solution. We find it in the second chapter of Genesis. There we read that God made a man and a woman at the beginning and they became the parents of all people in the world. Hence the whole of human race is a family though its members differ from one another in numerous ways. Thus the story of Adam and Eve provides a basis for the unity of the human race. It affirms that the human race is one at a deep level in spite of all the superficial differences that separate people from people.

The differences exist only at the surface. By going deep, we see harmony and unity. Let us consider the example of language. If you learn one or two languages in addition to your native language, you will understand that all languages have much in common in spite of all the superficial differences. That is why it is possible to translate from one language to another. All languages serve the same function of communication, and all are made of sounds produced from our mouth. This is true in the case of all aspects of culture.

Ahaz:But rabbi, how can we accept them as our brothers and sisters as long as they do not accept our Yahweh and our scriptures?

Rabbi:Suppose you have a brother who refuses to believe in Yahweh. Will your relationship vanish just because he has a different faith? Nothing can affect blood-relationship. Yahweh is a name we call in our language. Others have their own words in their languages to speak of Yahweh. Our scriptures record the faith, experiences, and wisdom of our ancestors. Others may have their own scriptures in their languages recording the experiences and wisdom of their ancestors.

Ahaz:Our ancestors have believed that we, Hebrews, are the chosen people of God. If it is true, aren't we superior to others?

Rabbi:What you said first is true. Our ancestors believed that we are chosen by God. But it doesn't make us superior to others. Are we sure that God hasn't chosen others as well? I shall explain this idea with an example. Suppose your father sends you somewhere to deliver a message. Does it make you superior to your brother? Just as you were chosen for that job, your brother might have been chosen for some other job. We have to believe that God is like a loving parent, and that he loves all people in the world equally without any partiality to any particular caste or race. Any race or nation has the right to believe that they are chosen by God. This faith gives them a sense of purpose for existing. But, if this faith makes them feel superior to others, it is certainly a harmful faith.

It was a long discussion. We were all convinced of the need to be open to the others and to get rid of the kind of faith that makes people unable to live together peacefully.

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