As we return to some normalcy after almost a month of holiday, where food and celebration would have obviously been in abundance not to forget the high amount of money spend to make our festive season complete, the time has come to return to reality. This will mean that we get back to less of indulgence and more of work and savings. Coming to the Christmas season, it was very obvious that our celebration was centred on eating a lot of pork and spending our money or savings—some hard earned while others probably easy. Related to this, it was quite disturbing to come across a photo caption in some of the local dailies which showed a young man climbing up a pole to get hold of the prize—yes a chunk of fatty pork and cash—to the cheers and approval of the gathered crowd. Probably this was a Christmas celebration in one of our Naga villages. Nothing wrong to enjoy Christmas and New Year with games and sports; however we seem to be getting obsessed with the lure of that fatty pork and the crisp 500 or 1000 Gandhian inscribed bank note. Again nothing wrong in meat and money only that too much of fatty pork is not good for our physical health and all of us know how easy money is corrupting our morals. The concern that we as a Christian society should note is that we are becoming grossly materialistic and spiritually bankrupt. Is the Church in Nagaland giving legitimacy to this kind of ethos where the only aim is to advance materially and accumulate maximum material gain? As responsible Christians are we doing enough to draw distinction between the power of good and the power of evil?
Our society must become consciously aware that this fatal tendency to accumulate material wealth has led us to a state of spiritual morbidness. Naga people through its various associations including its civil society, governments, church etc must take this as a warning. Where is the nation and people heading to? Palatial buildings, fleets of cars, pot holed roads and the latest kind of vehicles criss-crossing our populated towns especially Kohima and Dimapur do not make human progress. Humanity is not only about material advancement. “Man does not live by bread alone”, is clearly mentioned in the Bible. Accumulation of wealth is not the sole aim of human life. According to John Ruskin, the greatest wealth of a nation is the happiness of its people. Ruskin, in his epoch-making book “Unto This Last”, says that all ills that twist and fragment man’s life, spring from his over-ambitious economic motive. As a Christian people, Nagas will also be well aware of the Biblical truth “money is the root cause of all evil”. There are problems and challenges facing our people—lust for power, wealth; suspicion, fear and divisions etc. We need to get back to life by doing things right. We must rediscover our ethical heritage; our fore-fathers honesty and hard work. Most importantly we will do well in life as a people and nation if we become good practitioners of the teachings of Jesus for which we proudly proclaim ‘Naga-land for Christ”.
