Taliakum Pongen
“Christians call others heathen,” remarked one of my lecturers as we got into a talk on faith over tea. She is a Hindu. I got thinking over and over on that remark. Finally, I arrived at the conclusion that that is how Christianity appears outside the Christendom. I think something has to be done here because there seems to be something amiss in the way the Gospel is presented and what the Gospel is about –love, centrally. Or rather, Who the Gospel is centered on, that is, the person Jesus. Otherwise it is just a bag of far-flung ideas which do not make sense at all. Post-moderners would find it crass to accept it. But Christianity is not about it. Considering the fact that it has been through different treatments throughout history, I think Christianity has wider applications which encompass relevance experientially in a given context. For instance, the Bible is still the bestseller. Jesus also said, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mathew 22:21). He couldn’t have said it better. We see a fine line of God’s methodology there –to view the visible world through God’s light or ‘in the light.’ After all, eternity is real or is it? There are things that we don’t comprehend, honestly. We are finite. At least, that’s what people across differing worldviews admit without question. Besides, people still cry when someone dies. Some even make a tragedy out of their dead pets. Super fantastic humans.
Recently I was informed about scientists nearing to a drug that could make people feel free from guilt. We can only imagine the impact it will have on humanity –no guilt; no accountability; everything out of control. This also means that ‘guilt’ is still a big problem that simply cannot be rationalised away by a generation predominantly rational. Progression in thought and reason cannot get rid of it. Therefore, the biblical accusation that we are guilty (of sin) makes sense to me to the core. So, science to the rescue or so through a drug. The Bible says in eternity past that knowledge will increase as end times draw near (Daniel 12:4). And it is, I suppose.
Closer home down here on planet earth, we have erected traffic lights because people still drive their way through. Why bother? Well, there are speed humps and high-end cameras too as if traffic lights are not enough. The contemporary Christendom seems to be jumping the red light often and rolling over the speed humps, leaving a bloody trail. For instance, the ‘emerging church’ (some may not be aware of this term) focusing too much on ‘professionalism’ may cry the proverbial wolf –we all know the boy who cried wolf story. C.S. Lewis finds the missing link here. He said, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.” Lewis was a latecomer to Christ. So, we may consider his remark as a first-hand account of the reality of Christianity as Christians perceive of but how it actually appears on the surface. Elsewhere the Bible reminds us to renew our mind (Romans 12:2). The academy was central to the Romans when Paul wrote this. He challenged if the Romans had learned enough. Being constantly conscious of ‘how’ the Gospel is presented could be the admonishment here. The conscience of both the Christian and the non-Christian has to be pricked. There should be a dual effect simultaneously –the Christian and the non-Christian alike. Otherwise it’s a point-blank fraud. I also read that in Pakistan a statement against Islam may invite a ten-year imprisonment or even a death sentence under their penal code 295 A, B and C. Christianity is not that irrelevant. However, has the ‘saltiness’ (Mathew 5:13) been getting expired of late? For instance, we still find ulterior motives within the Christendom.
Maybe democracy has replaced theocracy. Or a propaganda poster influenced by self-interest has pushed the Gospel’s sovereign application to the back. After ten family funerals in a row and huge property loss, Job crossed beyond opinion to yield to God’s perspective (Job 1:21). So, is there something ultra about the Gospel? Perhaps we accept the Gospel ultra vires yet refuse its power.
