Need for Christians to revisit Christianity

Ceety Khongsai *

A Choir performing at Tamu - Moreh, Indo-Burma border :: Pix :: Lunminthang Haokip

William Pettigrew, a pioneer Christian missionary came to Manipur one hundred years before and heralded a new message of everlasting love and redemption of the world through Jesus Christ, the begotten son of God. The new religion, however, could not make much headway in the valley as the people had already embraced the Vaishnavism cult of Hinduism since the middle part of the 18th century. Whereas in the hills, Pettigrew was succeeded in baptizing few people into the new faith, who are revered today as 'Christian Pioneers' by the Christian communities in Manipur.

These newly converted tribal Christians multiplied every passing day and within a short span of time the entire hills reverberate with the sounds of the church bells signalling the mass acceptance of the New Gospel; and this brought a New Hope of life through unconditional forgiveness of sinners by the precious blood of Jesus. It may however be poignant to note that the gospel of early Christians compared with present day Christians have a diametrically opposite conceptual disunity in its practical life leading to the mystification about the true meaning of Christianity.

Today, Christianity has disappointingly been reduced to a mere religious fashion with all its moral teachings meant only for pulpit sermons having n.o applicability in practical daily life of its followers. If the cardinal principles love, peace, brotherhood, saintliness, lowliness, contempt for earthly treasures, etc. as enshrine in the Gospel truly ruled the inner hearts of all Christians, the chaotic state of affairs besetting our state and society would have been minimal if not completely abolished.

And, lo! The peculiar charm of the gospel as the source of inspiration about the gracious humanity of Christ with its strong sense of the supernatural manifested in the working of the Holy Spirit, and the ministry of the angels has miserably been reduced to a position where 'Christians,' also called the 'New Israel,' has no difference with other world religions.

In fact, Christianity is being viewed from materialistic perspectives rather than the congregation of the righteous in its mission for redemption of the lost nations. This write up is a humble yet bold attempt to ignite the conscience of the Christian communities entangled and enslaved by unquenchable worldly treasures and pleasures and not aimed at tarnishing the pious image of Christianity.

These days Christian missions, and for that matter, missionary works are considered as the best means of earning social status. In the past, Christian missionaries had the toughest times in wooing youngsters to undergo theological studies albeit lucrative financial assistance to their families. But now, things changed and it changed so rapidly that a career in theology has become an enviable position in the society. In secular education a student with mediocrity has no future as 'survival of the fittest' has become the new mantra in all walks of life.

In theology, conversely from secular studies admissions are based, as per my feeble understanding, on recommendations and not on merit basis or academic records. As such, the pre-requisite for admissions in theological seminaries are church recommendations which can easily be obtained free of cost by church members whosoever willing to go for study in theology irrespective of one's academic records.

No doubt, as a rule, certain minimum educational qualifications are prescribed for all specific, courses but admissions are made basically on denominational criteria rather than academic excellence. In the seminary, apart from studying, one has the good chances of meeting wealthy foreign Christian scholars who, if presented with tactfully schemed projects, straightaway made on the spot sanctions for setting up charitable trusts, orphanage homes etcetera.

It's worth remembering that some western countries even after 100 years of missionary works in this part of the north eastern states generously doled out millions of US dollars, in cash or in kind, for charitable purposes. Therefore, studying theology abroad has dual opportunity of becoming a religious worker in one hand and proprietor of an NGO on the other, by dubbing foreign sponsors.

In the context of our present day hi-fi lifestyles it can be appropriately said that the Hedonistic concept of materialistic life finds its manifestation in the lives of Christians in so far as many people who called themselves as 'God's servant' are more corrupt, deceitful, amoral, selfish and untruthful than the non-Christians. Whatever means, moral or immoral, are unhesitatingly resorted to by the Christians which ensures Hollywood lifestyles, unmindful of God's calling for a life of righteousness.

Indeed, the beauty and holiness of the gospel is everlasting but to many people the sweetness of the gospel has dwindled because priests or pastors could not invigorate the religious mind of the people, and as such, many of the churches are moribund towards sinful deeds. Verily, the gospel remains the same as before but what makes these wonderful and beautiful words dull and un-enticing is the shallowness of ideas of the religious teachers on theology.

It may hurt the sentiments of some church leaders by saying that many of them are half literate about Christian theology. Nevertheless, I am saying this with a reason because a prominent church scholar who have the distinction of being the first tribal in the entire north eastern states to graduate B.D. 1st Class from Serampore University, the highest seat of theological studies in eastern India, and with whom I have the rare privilege of one-to-one conversation told me about the general outlook of the people towards missionary works; the job of the church pastors has now been regarded as the easiest way of getting employment.

Because the hope of getting government jobs in the highly competitive , world is being shattered by poor academic records, theology virtually offers succour to academically mediocre people a new lease of life. However, people still expects beautiful gospel words from educationally incompetent people knowing fully well that the Bible is the most vexatious book wherein lies the 'living words of God', and, in order to fully understand and make the gospel more interesting and lively, we need brilliant yet intelligent minds to become servants of the lord by taking the ordination title known commonly as pastors.

The job of the pastors should not be equated with other professional/commercial jobs because the servants of Caesar are insignificant as compared to the servants of the lord. However, being not able to know what they necessarily ought to know many church leaders are easily tempted towards earthly pleasures. It's not uncommon to see many so-called pastors or church leaders frequenting the government offices with files in their hands as if an ordinary man pursuing contract works; and prayers and offerings in the Ministers' and MLA's Quarters seem to invocate more of the divine blessings as more alms are offered at the alters.

However, God, the everlasting one, simply demands our sincere hearts' complete submission unto His merciful hands in prayers and not the amount of money we offered at the alters. Had the lord been so demanding, the silver coins of the widow would not have been accepted altogether! The Pharisees of Jesus' times would have been far better than present day Christians inclusive of all pastors and laymen because Zacchaeus, the Pharisee and tax collector was willing to repay in three fourths with compound interests which he collected from the public through illegal means but are the Christian officers willing to return the money which they embezzled through secret deals in their offices? Pastors and church leaders remain mute on the issue because apart from their salary many more alms come from the corrupt officers.

Over and above, nothing is more disappointing than to know about majority of Christians silently moving towards the ravenous hell fire. Will there be any person in Manipur worth the name Christian? This indifference attitude to the principles of morality and righteousness has rocked the bottom of the deepest ocean that today people hardly bother if the sources of their incomes conforms to morality or not but whatever means that ensures luxury life are adopted knowingly or unknowingly.

Now-a-days, many Christians are infatuated with material possessions that the church has become a refuge for the corrupt people to atone their secret official misdeeds by offering certain amount of the ill-gotten gains which they procured through illegal means as donations to the church; and the church unwittingly accepts such donations without affirming the source of the income. Eventually, such sinful money that creeps into the midst of Christians in the form of unholy tithes, offerings, donations etc. creates schism within the church and finally led to disintegration of the church.

Furthermore, the corrupt officials being given a clean sheet by the church in accepting their tithes and offerings got further encouragement to undertake a higher level of corrupt practices at the expense of the general public to gratify their selfish interests. Is this the Christian way of life? If we rememberthe 'Ten Commandments' read with the Sermon on the Mount', Jesus implicitly taught us "Do not steal". Christians are the followers of Jesus Christ, and by faith, we are His children.

Then, will it be right to indulge in corrupt practices if we called ourselves Christians? Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross at Calvary for our sins but today Christians crucified him everyday in government offices! "When at evening the sun goeth down, will our sinful tithes serves as stars in our crown?" Mahatma Gandhi had said, "If you want to change the world, you must change yourself'. In the same vein, if Christians want to change the world, they must revisit Christianity and change themselves.

To sum up this thought provoking arguments regarding the validity of Christian community calling themselves as' Christians' in spite of anti-Christian activities in their daily life, a time has come for one and all to revisit the Gospel teachings in its true spirit and introspect oneself to see things in spiritual plane as the Christian world is not of this present world. Christians are sojourn in this wodd, preparing for the future world and its realisation will be manifested in the second coming of Jesus Christ with all His glory.

This Second Coming is a prelude to Final Judgement Day where all human beings created in the image of God will reveal all their works, good or bad, before the Lord Jesus who shall then be seated in the right hand side of his Father to judge all nations according to their own deeds. Are we all Christians ready to meet the Lord for the judgement?

The beautiful words of the Gospel; the wonderful life- transforming words of Jesus which has been defamed and debeautified by proxy Christians in the guise of priests, reverends, pastors, church leaders etc need revitalisation into the inner hearts of all Christians whether one is a pastor or a layman, a missionary worker or an office goers, for in the ministry of Jesus everyone irrespective of one's profession and position in the society, has a role to play.

Noting this irreplaceable position of Christians a lyricist has vividly wrote "you, in your station, me in mine". Accordingly, restoration of God's kingdom is the responsibility of all Christians and, this will be possible only when the so-called Christians mend their sinful hearts by turning towards the Lord with sincere heart to be worthy of the name Christians.