Hope as the antidote to hate in modern political discourse

With increasing usage of internet, there has been an increase in the number of political conversations happening online. This is certainly a good thing. Information can easily be transferred and published. Details about policies, news events, and happenings, all reach people the very same day. And the ability to engage with a huge crowd of people online has increased these conversations.

However, we can also see increasing polarization in the political discourse online. Along with the polarization, there is also a lot of hate in the very language used in political discourse. This is especially true on online platforms. Go to any decisive issue and see the comments on news articles. Tags such as 'fascist,' 'libtard,' 'racist,' 'sexist,' 'bhakt,' 'liberandu,' and so on and so forth, are very common these days. This trend seems extremely troubling. But here is the problem.

How do you ask a victim to not use hateful language against the accused as well as those defending the accused?

A lot of events sparking these debates are extremely traumatic for the victims of the events. Whenever there is violence against minority communities, it is natural for the community across the society to feel threatened. In such circumstances, we cannot expect the community to use loving or politically correct language. Or when there are crimes against women, it is natural to use hateful language against the perpetrators (often men) and those defending them.

How do you ask a person who feels threatened for his survival to not use hateful language against those responsible for the threat?

There is a narrative popular in India that the majority community has been overlooked for long and there is a definite danger to the future of the said community. Discussing the truthfulness of the claim is beyond the scope of this article. But under such circumstances it would be natural for the community to use hateful language. Minority communities have always felt threatened. They continue to use hateful language.

How do we counter the hate?

The easy answer to this question would be 'love.'

But such an answer shows a callousness to the very real issues people face. It fails to assure them with a solution and is basically a trite, meaningless, platitude.

So what then is the answer?

I propose hope as the antidote to hate.

To be more specific, I propose hope as presented in the Christian worldview to be an effective antidote to hateful language. This hope is built on the Biblical belief of regeneration. That is seen in the vision of the apostle John, recorded in Revelation 21:4: "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." In other words, if heaven is real, I don't need to worry about my sufferings so much. Or as the apostle Paul put it, "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us." [Romans 8:18]

If we are certain of this glorious future, we can face our present circumstances with joy. Which is what the early Christians did. The writer to the Hebrews says, "you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one." [Hebrews 10:34]

The example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer for hopeful resistance

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who spoke out against the atrocities of Hitler, even after repeated warnings from the SS. He gave up security in America and went back to Germany in 1939. He was finally hanged by the Nazi Government on 9th April, 1945 for conspiring against Hitler. But was he hopeful, and loving as a result of that hope? Bonhoeffer's response to a small incident when he taught a confirmation class in 1931 may give the answer. Before he entered class, some of the boys threw garbage at him as a prank. "But Bonhoeffer surprised them with his passivity" and eventually won them over. [Dietrich Bonhoeffer: A Life from Beginning to End; Hourly History; Chapter 8] Richard V Pierard writes in Radical Resistance, "from his shining example we learn that spiritual power will surely prevail over the forces of evil - but we must take an active part in that struggle." His part in the struggle was strongly rooted in the hope that evil would be destroyed.

Disclaimer

I realize that such a hope is founded on Christian beliefs, which not all my readers would ascribe to. So I request my Christian readers to be hopeful in the midst of hate (which is very possible in the future considering the present regime), and may that hope translate to love in discourse. That would be the biggest testimony to the reality of our hope.

The religious (Christian) alternative: An apology for faith

The world is going through, what can possibly be called, the most difficult time faced by this generation. A number of people are really suffering and there is a lot of hopelessness. Any attempt to present a religious answer during such times could be condemned as opportunistic or as exploiting the situation and not being sensitive. In spite of that risk, I would still like to present the religious alternative because I believe it offers hope and real answers, something that we all need now more than ever.

The Individual and the Community

A lot of my friends believe in the Marxist ideal of a classless society. And some of them shared posts on social media which talk about how capitalism is a huge problem. That is what got me writing this post. (Interestingly, the political left's preaching would not draw as much flak from the liberals as religious preaching though I digress.)

I personally support leftist policies to an extent. This is because I do agree with Marx that true human freedom can be found positively in our relations with other people; it can be found in community not in isolation. Though this flies in the face of the Western, especially American, liberal ideas of personal property and personal rights, Americans themselves would take pride in precisely those very moments when they sacrificed personal property and personal rights 'for the greater good of the community'. The Second World War is fondly remembered as a time when the nation came together for a noble cause. The soldiers are almost venerated. Sacrifice of personal life for the sake of the community was celebrated.

And so, I think we can agree that the community often brings out the best in us. We humans are, if I may use the expression, 'designed' to live for persons or ideas outside of ourselves. That is what brings out the best in us, and leads to 'the greater good.'

The Pursuit of Happiness

That leads me to my second point. Almost all political or religious philosophies deal in some way with man's pursuit of happiness. Whether it be Bentham's utilitarianism that seeks to maximize the happiness of the maximum number of people. Or Marx who wrote, "If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people." [1835, Reflections of a young man]

Every human desires happiness. We seek happiness in many things. There are many philosophies that offer happiness. Some philosophies talk about finding happiness within oneself, while some talk about locating it outside of oneself. For instance, the quote by Marx shows that he believed happiness to be found in community and not in isolation. Here again, I tend to agree with him.

Many of us experience happiness (or some form of it) while watching a movie, playing a game, watching a game, listening to music, spending time with a loved one, and so on and so forth. I believe that at the heart of happiness is losing oneself. We experience happiness in movies when we lose ourselves in the story, or in a game, when we become so invested in the game that we forget ourselves, or in a loved one when we give up our very lives for the beloved (Bruno Mars starts singing, I'd catch a grenade for you...)

The Problem of Self

Here is a problem though. From experience I find that the losing of self is not easy. It's eventual end is sacrifice. That is one area where Marxist ideals fail to translate to everyday life. As beautifully brought out by Orwell in Animal Farm, man eventually sacrifices the needs of the community for the needs of self. It becomes a loop. Sacrificing the community for the self creates problems for the self. To deal with the problems, man further sacrifices the community to deal with self.

The root of the problem is man's nature. Rivalry and competition are hindrances to the realization of a classless society. But rivalry can be seen in man even when he is very young. The moment a younger sibling is born, the older sibling sees the sibling as a rival for the attention of the adults. If the very nature of man tries to put self over others, imposing the foreign ideal of community will be resisted by the nature. This causes the problem where the two points we spoke about are in conflict: the pursuit of happiness impeded by the need to put community over self and the need of the community taking a hit due to the pursuit of happiness. If the nature of man seeks to put self over others, it can find happiness only in doing so.

The ideal scenario

The ideal scenario would be one where the pursuit of happiness and the idea of sacrifice (or letting oneself go) for the community converge. Here is where I believe Christianity can offer a solution.

Christianity sees man as inherently flawed as a result of original sin. This sinful nature is what is responsible for the rivalry and competition. The nature causes one to see oneself as God, and thereby deserving of being above others. For the ideal scenario, education is not what is needed, but rather reformation of the very nature. And that is what, according to Christianity, God offers.

Jeremiah 31: 33 says, "But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me..." Not education, but rather reformation of character. And 1st John 4:8 says, "Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." Note the idea of knowing God in the two mentioned verses and the logical inference is this. Knowing God leads one to love others. And knowing God is what God himself promises to do. Reformation of the very nature, or as the Bible puts it, 'being born again.'

Christianity, much like Marxism, believes in a classless society, albeit one ruled by God. Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." And yet, Christianity does not actively pursue a classless society but rather pursues man's ultimate joy, which is found in God. Allow me to demonstrate.

Imagine a wheel. The spokes of the wheel get closer to each other the more they get closer to the hub. Or imagine an orchestra. In an orchestra, the instruments are all in sync only when each of them is tuned to the standard tuning (external) and not merely to each other.

Christian belief sees God as that hub, or the tuning fork. When man draws closer to God, he is able to live in harmony within a society. The classless society thus becomes a by product when man pursues the ultimate joy that is found in God.

But what about sacrifice? We already saw that it is not easy. However, we have many examples through history of people dying for something or someone other than themselves. These are people who valued that something or someone a lot. One could not die for a stranger. But dying for the person who gives me the greatest joy is possible. (People do die for strangers but usually there is always an underlying strong belief in the idea of 'country' or something like that and love for that idea.) And so, if as the Bible says, God gives the greatest joy, sacrifice would not just be possible because it is worth it, but would be something to be desired because it would take one closer to God (Philippians 1: 23)

To conclude

This convergence of (i) the sacrifice of self for the community and (ii) the pursuit of happiness is found in Christianity. And this convergence is what drove the early Christians to have "all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.... they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people." [Acts 2: 44 - 47]

If the Christian message is true, and I believe it is, then I believe it to be a far better alternative.

P.S. I do not claim to be an expert on Marxism or any form of political studies. I am sorry if I have misrepresented any of the ideas.

The inequality in education in India

The context - inequality

I have always known that India is a country of contradictions. We know this to be true in the area of income inequality, social and economic justice and so on. However, in the past six months as a teacher, I have been confronted by the contradictions in India's education system.

On the one hand, we have new age schools coming up incorporating the latest ideas and findings from learning science. And on the other hand, we have more than one lakh schools in India running with only one teacher. Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have 20000, 8000 and 12000 teaching vacancies respectively.

International schools are all the rage in the cities and metros, where students who may not do great academically still can go abroad for higher education and get an edge on students from rural areas, where even the reading and arithmetic abilities are abysmally low and have in fact deteriorated in the past ten years. In other words, if you are not great academically from a rural area, you have no hope. And academically, you get very little help in terms of infrastructure as well as teachers. Whereas, in the city, even if you are not good academically, you have innumerable opportunities to do well in life. The fluency in English language that is easier obtained in the cities also gives the urban kids an edge over the rural ones. Now, I studied in both a semi urban setup (Bacheli, Chhattisgarh) as well as an urban set up (Bangalore). And I have seen how much more options are afforded to the kids in the cities. And so this is not just inequality. It is a vicious cycle of inequality, where the affluent continue to be so, and the majority of the poor continue to be denied opportunities.

My natural reaction to this inequality is anger. I am angry at the way the world is. I am angry at our education system. I am angry at our country. And I also feel guilty when I see less privileged people. And perhaps this might be some of your feelings too. I have not done anything wrong and I feel guilty. According to this video,

psychologists say that a little bit of guilt feeling is good because it encourages people to act in what they call pro-social ways, where they are concerned about the society, and try to do good and so on.

The responsibility of the privileged

I am not going to focus on the policy possibilities or what the government can do. But rather I want to look at what we as individuals can do.

John Green in the above video asks the question, "what are you going to do with the guilt and the resources you were born with? But do people even feel guilty? Indian cities and especially the corporate world does a brilliant job of keeping you with people like yourself. As the popular adage goes, "ignorance is bliss." This also translates to how people migrate from rural to urban settings but there are extremely rare cases of people migrating from urban to rural settings. Call someone to Bangalore, and it's very easy to get someone to come. Call someone to Balod, Chhattisgarh (where I live now) even for a short visit, and people will hesitate a lot (though funnily, population in the cities is the overwhelming minority). And just so you may not feel guilty about these things and think about quitting your high paying jobs, the mega corporations keep you distracted on netflix, steam gaming, social media, youtube, etc.

But in case one does feel guilty. I believe it is right to take appropriate action. The guilt might just be God given to spur you to do the very thing God gave you those resources and privileges for. One of my friends put up a post on facebook a while back. It was a quote by Jacques Ellul, in 'Money and Power.' I have not read the book myself, but the quote was pretty interesting:

"The wealthy have duties toward others and God. Job lists them: to care for the poor, to consider the needs of people, animals and even things. The rich have a potential that allows them to understand and assist the unfortunate. This is the true price of wealth. This is the only good use they can make of it. Scripture goes even further and speaks of the rights of the poor over the rich...
Thus when when the rich give, they acquire no virtue, no merit; they are only doing their duty. For to give to the poor is only to grant them their rights...whenever they are denied their rights, God's justice must intervene to reestablish them."

It is this Biblical ethic and understanding that spurred the Church through the ages to set up schools, hospitals, and other avenues for societal development. Many missionaries left the safety and comfort of their own home to venture to dangerous and uncomfortable places with the light of the gospel and the burden to help the people there. Much of it was in the past. And much of it still continues on till today, whether we know it or not. But it is vital for each one of us to ask and answer the question: How are we going to fulfill our responsibility towards God and others?

The responsibility of the privileged with respect to education

How does this responsibility apply to the education field? And why do I choose to talk about it now? As a teacher, I want to give my students the best learning experience they can get. And being new to teaching, I try to learn as much as I can about teaching. I read articles, blog posts and find other resources online. Much of it are great resources, but they are all set to the Western context. I find that I cannot implement a lot of it in my classroom. So there is a huge need for good literature and resources to help the Indian student. This is especially true in the 21st century when the world is undergoing massive changes. Kids, even in the villages, grow up familiar with smartphones. At the same time, they are extremely inadequate in their English language capabilities. How do we implement innovative teaching practices in such contexts? Most of the resources online for innovative teaching are not helpful since the context is too different. We teachers need resources (and good training). For this need for resources and literature to be met, we need brilliant minds with good exposure. I don't want to sound elitist and condescending, but from my experience here I can say that cities have more such people than villages generally. And until people from cities are willing to move to semi urban and rural settings, it's going to be difficult.

But I teach in a private school. What about the Government schools? There is a Government school less that 5 kilometers from my house, where 80 to 90 students are there in a general 9th grade classroom. And there are students who cannot write a single word. The Principal was telling us that she is trying to make the kids draw shapes such as triangles to teach them to write letters of the alphabet such as A. So there is a huge need for good policy makers in the Government. Or perhaps one can work even outside the Government through NGOs, like Operation New Hope and their work in Ladakh shows. Even such operations require people with vision who have the ability to think and solve systemic problems.

Conclusion

I could go on, but I think I have made my point. There is a lot of need, when it comes to education. And I'm sure the need is also in other areas such as rural community development, urban slum community development, healthcare and so on and so forth. Perhaps, you could come down to Balod where I live (please come here 😛) or go elsewhere. Or maybe stay where you are. But the question does remain. What are we doing with the resources we have been given? After all, to whom much was given, of him much will be required [Luke 12:48]

P.S.

This entire post may have been motivated by a desire to see some of my friends come down to Balod. (I'm lonely here 😐 Just kidding 😅). I see a great need here, both in the school and elsewhere. And for some reason, people are too reluctant to make such a commitment to come here. But I do also want people to think more on such issues.

Send revival.... Start with me...

For my fifteenth birthday which was six years back (there I've revealed my age), I was gifted a book. It was the autobiography of Selwyn Hughes, author of the popular devotional, Every Day with Jesus. Hughes always longed and prayed for a revival in his land. Ever since reading the book, I got this desire to pray for a revival in my own land. In my involvement with Bangalore Evangelical Union, I longed for a revival in Bangalore, and subsequently in the whole country. The band Petra had a song titled, 'send revival, start with me.' The song became a sort of prayer in my life for many years. But I never paid much attention to the rest of the lyrics I guess.

Recently I have been listening to some messages by Nate Bramsen, who was a speaker at the Church camp of Calvary Bible Fellowship, Bangalore. He frequently asks the question, "Is prayer a part of my life or is it the very vehicle driving my life?" The question really convicted me and continues to convict me. Another of his statements that really convicts me is, "Don't pray till you're done. Pray till God is done with you."

As I was typing out this blog post, I played Petra's song, send revival, and was struck by the first few lines of the song: 

"We're looking to your promise of old

That if we pray and humble ourselves

You will come and heal our land..."

I want to try this out. I want to pray till God is done with me. And I am becoming convinced that the revival can only be seen on our knees.

How often have I stayed up all night reading a story book, or reading manga online, or binge watching TV shows? I've had all night movie marathons with my friends and so on. And I know some of my friends have gaming sleepovers. Why then can't we stay up a night praying?

So I invite my dear young brethren in Christ (young only in heart is also fine). Let's pray together till God is done with us. Let's do it at my place? I'm thinking either 29th night into 30th morning. Or 30th night into 31st morning. Or 31st night (after most of us get done with the watch night service. Wouldn't it be the ideal way to start a new year? Let me know if you're interested and which day works for you. Reach me at 8105684558 (I'm not on whatsapp by the way).

Edit: We're doing this on 30th night into 31st morning. The venue might change slightly, but it will be around Kothanur. Will keep you posted.

Edit #2: The venue is not around Kothanur. We are having it in Kanakapura road. Do contact me for further details.

Fitting in as a Third Culture Kid (or a Missionary Kid)

This post is aimed at the Third Culture Kids out there. And possibly, even the diasporic ones. But anyone can read it. To start off, let me tell you a little bit about myself. My parents are basically Tamil, but I grew up in a small town called Bacheli, in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh. I grew up speaking Tamil at home, Hindi outside with my friends, and English at school. At least we were supposed to speak in English, though we mostly didn't follow that rule.

Having studied in a boarding school for the first five months of my school life, I picked up some good English. Further, due to my parents being fluent in English, fluency in English came easy for me, unlike many of my classmates. Over time, I began reading story books. Most of these story books were set in the West (like most English books are). I also read quite a few biographies of missionaries, who were mostly Western.

The reason for my growing up in Chhattisgarh was that my parents are missionaries. And so growing up, I realized that I was different from the rest of my classmates. My religion was different than most, my parents' work was different, and our language was different. Perhaps that's one of the reasons I found the characters in my books more relate able than my own classmates. Just before my tenth grade, we moved to Bangalore, and I made better friends, mostly during College. But the idea of me not fitting in with my peers always remained. Another factor that played into me not fitting in at Bangalore was that my parents were highly educated and yet we were sort of not in the upper middle class category. So culturally I related to the upper middle class folks but I couldn't relate to them financially (hanging out where they do and so on).

All this isn't to say that I had a horrible childhood. I always realized my parents had a special call and that required sacrifice. I was proud of them and related with them. It was after the move to Bangalore that the dissonance became pronounced. And since then I dreamed of going to the US (or something like that) cos I might relate better to the people there, or that I might fit in better there.

Moreover, the idea of not fitting in created this mad desire in me to try really hard to get an identity. I tried hard to become a really good guitarist. I tried playing football. And I tried reading a lot and becoming extremely intelligent. Or at least pretending to be. But none of it really worked. There was always someone better. I realized that I did not particularly play the guitar or football or read purely because I loved it. And that was sort of the difference between the ones who were really good at it and myself. Yes, I did grow to love it, but it was a mild love, not a wild passion. And that made a big difference.

Eventually, this desire for acceptance went too far. Do people find me funny? Do they think I'm smart enough? Do they think I try too hard? Do they genuinely enjoy my company? Would they miss me if I'm not there? And I started becoming jealous of the guys who seemed to get all the attention. Not to say I did not get my fair deal of attention. But it was never enough. All because I felt I did not fit in.

Back to some information about myself. I identify as a Christian. Not because 'Caleb' is a name found in the Bible. But because I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross to redeem me and make me right with God. And because I chose to follow him as his disciple. Now, my faith was a constant struggle in itself. Even the practice of my faith (or the living out of it) often became more about the performance, about how people would view me. Would they think I loved God? Would they think I was a self sacrificing Christian? This caused me further distress because in addition to being a desperate attention seeker I realized I was also a hypocrite.

During my College years I got a few friends who I shared many similarities with. Christians struggling with identity. That helped. Having friends in difficult places is comforting (as sad as that sounds). But in the past few months, I believe I am seeing some improvement in my struggle with identity. And I want to share with you some things that have helped, hoping it might help ya'll too.

Firstly, I realized that it is alright to feel that I don't fit in. Because I wasn't meant to. As a Christian, the Bible says I am an alien and a stranger. And often times, my feelings don't align with my thought convictions. But I need to first know the truths and then keep reminding myself of it, so that eventually I start feeling feelings appropriate to the truths I believe in. I need to know and then remind myself that I don't belong here in this world. And I will never fit in. And that's okay. Because Christianity has this great hope that eventually I will be home. And there I will fit in.

Secondly, I realized that I am already loved and adored more than most people in this world. If I'm accused of pride or a superiority complex for this belief, so be it. It is not that I deserved this love. On the contrary, I completely do not deserve it. However, Christ loved me so much that he died for me. So I don't need to feel threatened about my performance. That I need to keep up my performance or I'll lose this love.

Thirdly, I realized that as a Christian I belong to a family. The family of God as the Bible puts it. And this family consists of all genuine Christians in the world. And if a particular Christian I come across has the right understanding of the Scriptures, the person already loves me not for what I do or for how impressive my performance is but because of what Christ has done for the both of us.

These three points helped me gradually develop an identity in Christ. The ramifications of being a Christian are far and deep. I still often crave the attention of people around me. And that's why it requires a constant reminding of who I am in Christ. And trust me, it is really liberating to find my identity in Christ rather than in what I do. Cos I can enjoy the company of people just for the joy and fun we have without worrying constantly about what they think of me. I can enjoy playing music without worrying about how my music skills would be rated by another person. And so on and so forth. And that is my encouragement to all people who feel they can relate with my struggles. Remind yourself of these truths and believe it. It just might help.

For those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, but have read this blog post till here, here are some lines written by C S Lewis in 'Mere Christianity.' Maybe it might serve as some food for thought.

"The Christian says, Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing."

Please.... Pray for me... Pray for us!

Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. [Deut 6: 4,5; NET]

My dear dear friends! This is a very personal blog post. I will not name the people I am writing to, because I want it to apply to every believer in Christ Jesus.

Growing up, I did not have a lot of close friends. It had always been my prayer that I have good close friends. God, in His abundant mercy, gave me such friends. Friends, for whose company I literally cried when I had to part with them. Many such groups of friends. Friends who love the Lord just like I do. But, I wonder do we, truly love the Lord with all our being? Like truly truly love the Lord with all our whole being?

I currently live in a town in Chhattisgarh. I am part of a Church where the majority of the members are first generation believers from other faith backgrounds. They truly love the Lord. The Church is also connected to various other Churches in this State, where the work of the Lord is really growing and thriving. This is amazing, right? Like, I could claim this is in some ways, a mini revival of sorts. God is moving, and its thrilling to watch!

But here's the catch. This movement, can, in a large way be traced back to one group of friends around a couple of decades ago, who decided to take a stand for God. Trust me, the story is that simple! One generation of friends, who loved the Lord, decided to obey Him! And the way the Lord is using them is simply thrilling to watch.

What does it mean to love the Lord? What does it mean to truly love Him with all my being? Like, love Him so much that I count everything else as rubbish (Phil 3: 8)? Is it just feeding my ego by watching videos of atheists getting owned in arguments? Is it to praise God through music surrounded by people who will all say Amen? Is it to get together in cozy little Bible study groups which are really fun? Is it barbecue nights and going to inspiring camps?

I am seriously doubting whether I love my Lord! You see, I talk. And I love my comforts. If I truly believed the Word of God, I'd be seriously living for Him. Offering myself as a living sacrifice. Does anyone of us really understand the implication of that word? Like, it's not sacrificing phone or internet or something silly like that. It is sacrificing the authority over my own life, where my dreams, my interests, my attachments to this world all are considered as hatred compared to my love for God. Where my feelings towards poetry, or music, or puns, or reading, all are like hatred compared to my love for God! For all my talk, I seriously doubt my devotion to God!

And that begs the question. Do I really know the Gospel? And that is my prayer. That I truly know the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Because if I truly knew the gospel, things would be truly different. And if all of us truly believed in the words of God - nay, if even a few of us believed in the word of God, and took him at his word - I shudder to think what God would do through us. Because now I am seeing first hand what he is doing because a few people took God at his Word twenty years ago.

My brothers and sisters, please pray that I truly know God! And I will pray that you know Him. When I see 95% of believers going into high paying corporate jobs without a 'special call' for it, but ask for a special call when asked to consider missions, I doubt we take God at his Word. When I see that we are comfortable within our Churches, where everyone agrees with us, and don't go to public secular platforms, where we will be called bigots, outdated, and various other names, where we will be the minority, I doubt we truly seek to be His disciple. When we read Jesus telling the rich young man to sell everything and give the money to the poor, and I say it's easy to say that but in the real world you need money, I doubt I trust the Lord. Do I trust Him when He says seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you [Mathew 6:33]? I long for revival and I know I am severely severely lacking in my love for Christ! I hardly make time to pray, to read His Word, and to serve Him wholeheartedly. And so I request you to pray that there will be revival in my life, and in this country of ours!

I know this is not my best blog post. The writing is all over the place, and I apologize for it. But I am speaking from the bottom of my heart, and I will not apologize for that.

I wish that we - a few of us at least - might turly truly decide to love the Lord with our whole being, gladly paying the cost, even if it is our lives that is asked of us! Soli Deo Gloria!

Contemporary Christian Music (?)

Hello people!

Hope you are doing great. Because I'm not (not to be taken too seriously, I'm actually doing pretty good). And here's why. I'm a little disappointed with not being able to find too many good Christian music artists.

Now I do know the old argument that we shouldn't make a sacred-secular divide, and that there is no such thing as Christian music, blah blah blah... And I kinda agree with that too. But recently I've been granted extra grace by God, which has enabled me to really enjoy spending time with Him. And so I was in the mood to listen to some music which talk about God, and His wondrous works.

But the sad thing is that I couldn't find a lot of music that talk about God in the right way (right as in according to the Scripture) and are also good musically. There are the hymns of course, which I just love. Those old songs that are sung in the traditional Churches, you know? Like, "A Mighty Fortress is our God," "Just As I am," "Be Thou my vision," and so on. But if I want something newer, I don't know.

There is a lot of debate surrounding Contemporary Christian Music. There are a fair number of critics, and quite a few who defend it. The former say that it is vain repetition or that it is not Scripturally solid. There are a number of arguments used by the latter, but I'm going to focus on one in particular. "Why should the devil have all the good music?" That's a famous quote, by (I don't know who). And I guess it makes sense. What doesn't make sense is that it is used to defend music that is not actually all that good. Like, what happened to good song writing.

I know being Scripturally correct is the most important thing. I totally agree. But there are enough people talking about it. So let's talk about song-writing. Like, why don't we get Simon and Garfunkel quality songwriting both lyrically and musically. Or Bob Dylan quality lyrically. I don't want to come across as an elitist. But let's face it. The song writing in CCM gets tedious pretty soon. Which is why CCM songs don't last long. They come in waves. Whereas 'Sound of Silence'. That lasts. Or 'Blowing in the Wind'. Tremendous lyrics. No wonder he won the Nobel (though I know there's a fair bit of controversy with that and I don't want to go there.) And that's part of the reason why the great hymns have lasted too. I'm sure there were a number of Scripturally good hymns that are sort of forgotten today because of poor songwriting. And what about plagiarism in CCM. Let's be honest here. There's way too much plagiarism which is just annoying.

Petra is one good band that had great songwriting, and amazing music. And were Scripturally very good. I'm not saying there aren't any more examples. In fact, there are a lot. Southern Gospel music is really good. I grew up with the Gaither Homecoming CDs and I think they are great. I do sort of like Tenth Avenue North too. And I've heard there are some great rap artists in the Christian community. I've also heard there are some good heavy rock / metal bands that write music with Christian lyrics.

This blog post is somewhere between a rant and a plea for song / artist suggestions. I'm guessing there is a lot of good Christian music out there, and I don't know about it. So, if you guys know of any such artists, do let me know. I don't want artists in the rap, heavy rock / heavy metal, country, or CCM genres. I'm looking at more along the genres of classic rock, soft rock, alternative, Indie, jazz/blues, or some sort of fusion. Or even Celtic I guess. In fact if it's really good country music I don't mind. And what genre does Enya's music come under? Even that kind would be great. And I'm looking for good songwriting. Also, if you know of any good Indian music with Christian lyrics. In Hindi or Tamil, let me know. Like Keerthana songs are old Tamil songs written with Tamil tunes. Is there any such contemporary music?

Alright. That's it, I guess. Thanks in advance! :D Here's a meme I found on the internet to end it on a lighter note (did you note the pun I squeezed in there? Did it hit a chord with you? Okay I'm going to give it a rest...)

The Light Meets the Dark: the gospel in the context of hard questions

Today I had an interesting conversation with a friend. We were talking about the hard questions of life. And I'm guessing that if we are honest, each of us faces moments when we are confronted with hard questions. Questions that makes us uncomfortable. We are confronted with answers that don't feel good. And much too often, the natural tendency is to ignore such questions. Vinoth Ramachandra in his blog post, ""Deconstructing Equality", talks about the question of intrinsic and equal worth of human beings being side stepped or shouted out of view in our contemporary polarized discourse of equality, since it is a hard question.

When I came back home after the conversation, I started listening to an album by Tenth Avenue North, "The Light Meets the Dark." And for the first time, I noticed how the band does not shy away from asking tough questions. I have not been a big fan of contemporary Christian music due to many reasons, out of which one is that CCM often does not deal with hard questions, and just writes feel good inspirational music.

The third song of the album, 'you are more,' is one of the band's highly successful songs both critically as well as on the charts. The song talks about questions of self worth, and in quite unflattering tones claims that self worth cannot be drawn from the choices one has made in life. In a concert, lead singer and frontman, Mike Donehey says about the song, "We preach something like this, 'the choices you make make you who you are.' You know, only proud people say that, only people who've made good choices say that... Well, here's the gospel, you gotta admit you are a bum, and you don't need to prove a thing to anybody because He did it for you."

The first song of the album, 'healing begins,' makes an appeal to let down one's walls. The second verse says, Afraid to let your secrets out / Everything that you hide / Can come crashing through the door now / But too scared to face all your fear / So you hide but you find / That the shame won't disappear. And then the pre-chorus kicks in, So let it fall down / There's freedom waiting in the sound / When you let your walls fall to the ground / We're here now.

The last song of the album, 'Oh my dear', closes out the questions raised by "healing begins," in a very satisfactory manner by telling the story of a person opening up and talking about some of their deepest secrets: You said, 'I just don't think that you'll understand / You'll never look at me that way again / If you knew what I did.' // And so your tears fell and melted the snow / You told me secrets nobody had known / But I never loved you more, even though / Now I knew what you did. // Oh my dear, I'll wait for you / And grace tonight will pull us through / Until the tears have left your eyes / Until the fears can sleep at night / Until the demons that you're scared of disappear inside / Until this guilt begins to crack / And the weight falls from your back / Oh, my dear, I'll keep you in my arms tonight.

Each of the song in the album deals with heavy questions. The band deals with defeat, feelings of inferiority, fear, hurt, and the various challenges one faces while living the Christian faith, in a very succinct manner. And it is only in the context of asking the real tough questions that the hope and appeal of the gospel (the word gospel literally means 'good news') really stands out.

I experienced the album to be quite inspirational. But it does not inspire by ignoring and shying away from the difficult questions, but rather talks about hope in the midst of the ugly reality that we have to live in everyday.

Disclaimer: I am not good at critically analyzing music, and hence this is not so much an album review as much as a closer look at the message of the album from a purely lyrical perspective. I must also admit that I really love Tenth Avenue North and encourage all you readers to check out their music. The Light Meets the Dark is a good place to start, and here's the third song of the album, you are more. Cheers!

Why recent events have got me troubled.

Deathnote is probably one of the most well known manga/anime out there that deals with questions of morality. For those of you who have not read/watched the said comic/show, the story deals with a genius protagonist who is given a book of the shinigami (god of death) by which he can kill people by writing their name on it. Light Yagami, the said protagonist proceeds to cleanse the world, beginning with criminals.

Eventually, the world takes notice that someone is killing criminals and though in public they say he is a criminal (since the Governments have declared him one), on the internet under anonymity many hail him as a god, and call him Kira (Killer). Kira catches the interest of famous investigator L, and what follows is one of the best wars of intellect in modern storytelling.

What is interesting throughout the story, is the many questions of morality and justice that the story raises. Crime rate drastically reduces as a result of Kira and eventually even Governments develop a neutral attitude towards Kira. But L, and later on Mello and Near continue to fight him, and the audience is left to wonder who is truly justice in the story. The whole philosophy is well captured by Light Yagami, "If we catch Kira, he is evil. If he wins and rules the world, then he is justice." And L himself states, "it's not a sense of justice. Figuring out difficult cases is my hobby."

It is good to ponder on these questions raised by Deathnote. We are so used to the existing ethical and moral values surrounding us that we may not be aware that our society may not always have held the same values. For example, the Western world derives a lot of its thought from the Greek tradition. And ancient Greek thought did not always value pity. E A Judge observes of the ancient time, “Pity was a defect of character unworthy of the wise and excusable only in those who have not yet grown up. It was an impulsive response based on ignorance. Plato had removed the problem of beggars from his ideal state by dumping them over its borders” [“The Quest for Mercy in Late Antiquity,” 107]. However, we today celebrate celebrities who give for charities and consider empathy to be a very important trait to have to be even considered human.

But if our ethical and moral values are not so constant and universal and must be seen as arising from within a spatial and temporal space, then that puts us in a tricky spot when violations of our values take place. Recently, a community that I have been associated with for a while was shocked at the behaviour of one its most prominent faces. The said prominent face violated one of the most sacred values on which the community was built - that of being against violence against women - by himself having engaged in predatory behaviour against women. The community itself was enraged, and quite rightly so. But without a fixed point of view for our viewing of moral values, we are going to be in a problem like that of Deathnote. On what basis can I blame a person for the transgression of a moral value, which I cannot defend objectively? On what basis do I say, "till here and no more?" On what basis can I draw my lines?

I myself am deeply troubled by the incident, and that is because the worldview I hold on to considers human life to be very valuable and of high worth. My worldview moreover considers love as the highest virtue, and this value has been perverted by the incident. And my worldview has an objective stand because it proceeds from an objective ultimate reality - that of God.

P.S. I don't want people thinking I've actually read EA Judge (though I'd like to be that well read someday). I got the quote from another blog post. And I've borrowed some ideas from him as well. And here's the link:
https://varughesejohnblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/05/a-haunting-ethic-that-refuses-to-go-away/

Is my faith even real if I'm not moved to action?

Hello, all you readers!

I know that I haven't been very active here and I apologize for that. (Please don't read the post-script of my previous post on this blog).

Anyway, on 29th I attended an event commemorating the birthday of Gauri Lankesh, a journalist who was murdered on September 5, 2017. I must admit here that I wasn't aware of her before her death. Eventually I came to know that she was an outspoken critic of right-wing ideology in the country. And in commemoration of her life, young emerging leaders of this country vowed to fight fascist forces in the country.

Here's the deal. I am a Christian, and one of the things that comes with being a Christian is the conviction that the Bible is God's Word and is authoritative for all matters of life and conduct. There are quite a few people in this country who would claim to be the same. But days like today make me skeptical of whether there are as many true followers as they say there are.

The Bible has nearly a third of its contents talking about social justice. The God of the Christians according to the Bible is clearly concerned with social concerns. 

I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

    your assemblies are a stench to me.

22 

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

    I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,

    I will have no regard for them.

23 

Away with the noise of your songs!

    I will not listen to the music of your harps.

24 

But let justice roll on like a river,

    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

The above lines are from Amos 5, where God is angry at the people of Israel. And why is he angry? The following lines are from the same chapter a little before the previous lines:

you levy a straw tax on the poor

and impose a straw tax on their grain

....

there are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes

and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Today our society may not be very different from the Israel of Amos' day. The poor are largely ignored; farmers are committing suicide due to rising debt while rich industrialists are getting foreign holidays while defaulting on loans; large segments of the population live in fear every day for what they believe and what they eat; people who stand for the truth are killed, beaten up, or are slapped with sedition charges; history is being rewritten according to the whims and fancies of those in power; and even the people in the judiciary are not clearly impartial.

And if God is angry at these things at Israel, wouldn't he be equally angry at the same things here? And if God is angry, clearly those who claim to worship him must be equally outraged at the injustice? But why are my Christian brothers and sisters largely silent on these issues? Is it the same God that we worship? Is it the same Jesus we claim as our master? Or are there no Christians at all in the Universities of our land?

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Christian preacher who was outraged at social inequality and injustice. He fought for civil rights for all. He said "we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like a river, and righteousness like a mighty stream." His study of the Bible moved him to fight for social justice. I wish Christian students in the universities of our country would study the Scriptures, and truly be the salt and the light to this society that seems to be decaying and falling into darkness!

I am sad that I was not aware of Gauri Lankesh before her death. And what saddens me more is that there are many of my Christian brothers and sisters especially in our Universities who may not still be aware of her. Further more, many of us Christians in comfortable places may not even be aware of the recent Bhima Koregaon violence, the murder of Junaid Khan under suspicion of carrying beef, and similar such tragedies that have rocked the country in the past two years. In the event I attended on 29th, Kavita Lankesh, sister of the deceased Gauri Lankesh said, "ignorance is bliss, but today we cannot afford to be ignorant." And that is the line I want to leave my Christian brothers and sisters with.