Who holds your future?

When I am came work this morning before starting I read news that Washington Mutual bank failed like many other banks in USA. I have my account in WaMu. I think my monies are safe but those who had more than $100,000 their money in that bank might have lost significant part of it. This was the first time in this economy crisis I and my family were touched directly. But apart from this I’ve know many who were severely affected by other economy crisis around the world.
First time when I went to South Korea in June 1996 the Korean won was very strong compare to dollar, 700 Won (Equal to 70 Cents) was 1$. When I went back in 1998, just prior to my going back there was such a huge drop of market and economy, which affected many Asians countries, but Korea was in the center of it. So just in few month when I went back now $1 was equal to 1400 Won, and in years to come it settled around 1100 Won. I know a guy from church Mr. Park (Most of the people are Park, Lee and Kim in Korea) very helpful to International students like me. He gave me place to stay in his office in downtown Seoul. Me and other friends have seen him working very joyfully during night selling organic juice making good money that he even helped so many other international students. After these crises he lost his place in the night market. There was no more business and the last time I saw him, because he needed money and I was the one who helped him little bit.
Few years ago India Today magazine ran an article around the palaces in India. It was mostly about what happened to some of the kings who used to be King and used to own their Kingdom in new India only few kings could survive. There was a picture of an old man, looking very poor and had no possession sleeping right in front of the old totally neglected palaces and the caption read…. King of the castle. He used to be the king once upon but now he just a door kipper.
So the question one must ask as individual, family, nation and world. Who holds our future? Is it some economy? Some status? Health? These all will come and go. Yesterday’s king is today’s gatekeeper. Yesterday’s dalit (outcast in India) is today’s minister! In this changing times who holds your future? Can you cling on to someone or something when all hell seems to break right upon our head?
Rajiv Pathik (http://ccm-int.com)

Why does Time Divide at Christmas?

I was just on the threshold of my twenties while the whole world was going crazy behind millennium magic. My questioning and ever curious mind was searching clues in that number 2000! It was the end of another thousand years for human-beings. I traced back for one more thousand years and stopped at the event where whole history collapsed and time had new beginning all together. At that point bookish knowledge of B.C. (i.e. Before Christ) and A.D.(anno Domini-in the year of our Lord) made all the senses to me. I was always fascinated for two things – Time and Space! The very fundamental elements for anybody/anything’s life! No one can get out of the realm of them and still the very little we know about them. Well accepted Oxford dictionary falls short to define Time – http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/time?view=uk
One could easily figure out – how tiny we are to comprehend the brilliance and beauty of Time!
This “Time” – breaks into two with the birth of Jesus!!!!! Why? Why does whole human history cling between the hooks of “Before Christ” and “anno Domini”?

Irrespective of any religions if one can think of ‘The God’, in His identical nature, must be “Timeless”. The reason behind is that if someone is in the clutches of time, he or she must be having some beginning and end too! God can not have the beginning or the end, if ever He claims to be God!

Now with this little and yet very essential background, I want you to have a look around the world and if one can be honest with oneself, look into own heart. At macro and micro level you will find that we are living in a very perverted world. Despite of having spared food for dogs, millions of people die because of starvation everyday. Such an imbalanced world we are living in! We know how wicked thoughts we carry into our minds. Everyday newspapers just display the despair of our state of mind and not a single man has ever escaped from it.

This certainly was not the intention of the Creator of this world. Being the Just God, he knew that there is no one in the human race to take the guilt of each individual and to pay the penalty of the sin. Bible says, "Every man is sinner and falls short to the glory of the Lord". So God himself laid a rescue plan for everyone of us. He decided to come on to this earth in the flesh of human and to pay the penalty of the sin on the cross by sheddding His holy blood. Yes, Jesus is that very God who came into this world. The Bible clearly points it out that "God is Love", and in Jesus it is actualized.

Now, going back in "Time" or for this matter on "Time", What could happen if Creator himself allows his-self to the rules of His creation? To illustrate it, imagine A painter who himself becomes painting and limits his-self to the canvas! Here lies the answer of breaking of the Time into two pieces. Time which is continuous in nature as they call it (refer again Oxford or Wikipedia), pauses on the day of Christmas, because its own creator was submitting Himself to it. Many thinkers have tried to comprehend this brilliance and love of God, out of them all I believe Augustus (one time atheist and then came to Christ!) is very proximate in his expression. He says, "In Christ I see, water becomes thirst, food becomes hunger!" The Bible clearly depicts that we can not guage His love!

So Christmas is about God's love personified in Jesus Christ and two pieces of Time are the strongest witnesses. It also says that His life is verifiable and true, whatever He claimed, He proved. Just explaining one of them, He says "I am the Life and the giver of eternal life." He died on the cross for our sins, what if that was the end of the story?....His claim was wrong then, and his disciples would have slipped away instead of spreading gospel and would have died for their faith.....But that was not end, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and proved that neither time nor death can bind Him and He rules them. He is Timeless and He is God.

Our mental faculties can justify this truth, and still it is very possible to have stubborn heart to follow Christ. He is ever-ready to accept each one with open-stretched arms. He says, "I knock on the door and whoever opens I'll come in and have ever-lasting fellowship with him/her." I knew being a hard-nosed atheist then, I could have escaped from all the rallies of reasons, but how could I've hidden from His love. And that took me to accept Jesus as my personal God and saviour, and I thank God for His love and mercy upon me. I welcome your queries/comments on havejeet@gmail.com Thanks for spending one time-slice of eternity with me!

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: (Isaiah 1:18)

Dear Christian friends,
Greetings. I am inviting to you to be part of this online dialogue. Few of my friends have been discussing many theological, moral, social and missional issues for a while and I thought it might be better to open up this forum to many others who might be interested in similar discussion. If you are not interested in joining this forum I understand please discard my email. But if you are then lets sharing our views. In order to generate some dialogue I have posted some past discussions. By the way, I know there needs a lot to be done. I am sure you do note some grammatical and other errors on title page, I’ve just started to work this morning and I am sure in the days to come we will make it much better. Please do invite your friends also to part of this online forum. Feel free to ask questions. Lets remember that we want to keep this as real family and religious place to talk so keep it clean. Again, lets be open to share our lives, views and even prayer requests.
Thanking you in advance.
Rajiv Pathik

Plesae help me.

Recently in Orissa numbers of Christians are killed….their houses burnt….churches attacked etc….. in Manglore 14 churches were attacked…. And all these times where were the Police or the Administration???

Today when in Manglore Christians gathered to protest peacefully we hear that the Police is beating them!!!

I do not understand what my country authorities and police tries to communicate to me??? Does it says Christians give up your peaceful way and you too come up with violence replies….!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you please try to explain me what my country is trying to communicate to me????

I am in Gujarat and till now I didnt have to experience what my fellow brothers and sisters have experienced but than I dont want to seat and wait till this behavior reaches to my doorsetp.

I will be obliged to receive your view….

Thank you very much….

Wilson Jacob

Right of Conversion – A Psychological Perspective

As Sociology provides us insight on the development of society, Psychology provides us insight on the development of an individual.

The fist institute of a child is his family. Either a child goes through religious or sacred rituals or a child in atheist family doesn’t go through religious or sacred rituals but family remains as child’s first institute.

Human development psychological theories (I am deliberately not quoting the titles here) tell us that there are different developmental stages of human life. But in context to our discussion I would divide an individual in only two developmental stages.

First stage wherein an individual mostly receives and acts upon the do’s and don’t he has been told and

Second stage wherein an individual not only receives but starts responding intellectually and analytically to reach to a conclusion either to follow it or not? These process mostly confines individual’s respond to various beliefs, value system, religious traditions etc.

Looking at our individual life too we know that with due respect to our parents we too do not follow religiously what we were told or taught in our childhood.

In Sakshi group forum we have discussed ‘Child Baptism’ and I am of opinion that even if we remove ‘Child Baptism’ and still from the Biblical point of view many Christian families fall in questionable zone regarding the teaching and practice they pass on to their children. And the fact is no one on earth can stop this chain where family as the primary institute of an individual keeps on passing certain beliefs, values and religious traditions.

So when we discuss about ‘right of an individual be it be conversion or anything else’ I would say we discuss about an individual who has legal status to choose anything he likes be it be a religion or something else.

Thank you,

Wilson Jacob

Christian Witness

Many of you must have seen the movie named "The Mission'. The movie narrates a situation where Christian community is facing a threat by army. As the movie reaches to its climax the Christians get divided in two groups...one group decides to accept death peacefully while another group decides to take up weapons!

Most of us undoubtedly will disagree with Christians who took up weapons. It’s similar to our disagreement to what Adam and Eve did in Eden Garden (oh! you know if I would have been there I wouldn't have behaved like this...kind of approach). As Paul confesses in Romans 7 we all have power to wish good and we all wish for same level of ideal to exist in reality. But there is always gap between ideal and real since the time of Eden Garden and therefore we know that God had to incarnate as Christ. Furthermore we also know that even being believer of Christ our complete perfection will only come when we will be with our Lord and master.

Some years back in Nadiad the graveyard that Christians use was taken by the slum dwellers. For the church spirituals this was not an important issue since thousands of souls perishing everyday. Therefore church spirituals remained busy in praying. After a long time some Christian youth took weapons in their hands and attacked on those slum dwellers to gain back the total control of graveyard. So the full control of graveyard was gained and right away a dead body arrived too for burial which was the dead body of Christian testimony! Now could there have been any better way to solve this matter? Answer is ‘Yes, Of course…’ if we the spirituals would have marched out to get it back in Christian way along with spending time in prayer at church.

Just imagine for a minute the following and answer in your heart honestly: If your spouse or children are beaten up in front of your eyes or kidnapped than what will be your response? Will you kneel down and pray? Will you bless those who might be doing this? Well frankly speaking it’s a tough question to answer. If it is so for we the believers than what could be the response of nominal Christians?

To voice out for our brothers and sister in Orissa or in Karnataka is to keep burning the flame of non-violence. We the spirituals if keep quite at this juncture than who knows we may have to come forward to lift the dead body of Christian testimony.

In my previous e-mail “What a way to witness” I had pointed out that persecution is an opportunity for presenting gospel to millions around us. Let’s we the spirituals come forward with right defense against persecution because we doing it will help Christian witness to spread quite effectively. We had just seen it on last Saturday NDTV program. Haven’t we?

Wilson Jacob