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.

Rejoice in the melody you make

Unless you're strung
And you're struck,
You cannot make melody.
So the Master strings you
And strikes you.
Rejoice in the melody you make
For the Master.

Unless you're hollowed,
God's breath cannot fill you,
And you cannot make melody.
So the Master hollows you
And breathes in you.
Rejoice in the melody you make
For the Master.

Are our lives too busy?

I was having a conversation with a friend, who was telling me about her busy schedule and how she was finding it difficult to balance the various aspects of her life. Being a big manga fan, my mind immediately went to various shonen manga, where the sensei says that to be more efficient one needs to cut down unnecessary movements. I tried to apply this to life, where we have a lot of small unnecessary activities which slow us down and eat into our time. This could be as small as checking our instagram feed. But what does the Bible have to say about it? I believe there are two aspects to consider here.

I. The first aspect is discipline.

Why do we need discipline? The Bible more than once employs two metaphors to describe the Christian walk. It is compared to a soldier (Eph 6:10-18; I Tim 6:12; II Tim 2:3; II Tim 4:7), as well as to an athlete (II Tim 2:5; Heb 12:1; I Cor 9:25). Both these roles require a lot of discipline. Athletes have strict dietary restrictions; they wear clothing that allows them to train and perform more efficiently; they have strict schedules; and they cannot slack off in training even a single day if they are to maintain peak performance. Soldiers similarly cannot get involved in civilian affairs (II Tim 2:4); need to maintain their physical fitness; wear the full armour (Eph 6:10-18); and march in files as a mark of their discipline. In fact, during the time Paul wrote the epistles, Roman army was already famous for its superior discipline.

There are two aspects of discipline we can see from these metaphors. One, there are things we must do, and two, there are things we must avoid. Let's look at the athlete. He has to work out every day. He does various drills and exercises as part of his training. If he slacks off, he can not survive in the competitive field for long. He cannot afford to exercise just once a week. It's a daily effort. Similarly, the Christian cannot slack off in his Bible reading or prayer. It's a daily exercise which cannot be compromised. And just like the athlete when he develops disciplined schedules (fixed times for waking up, reading the Word, etc.), he will be more effective in his training (I Tim 4:8).

The athlete also has to avoid various things. For instance, junk food. If he eats junk food and has an unhealthy diet, it will adversely affect his performance. Similarly, the Christian has to avoid things that could slow down his sanctification. He has to be serious about avoiding every unnecessary thing in his life. That could be watching movies or TV shows, getting involved in extra curricular activities at College more than required, hanging out with friends more than required, spending time on social media or other addictions. Do all (whether eating or drinking, playing or talking, sleeping or singing, etc.- all) for the glory of God (I Cor 10:31). That also means: anything that does not bring glory to God needs to go out from my life.

II. The second aspect is being an active Christian.

I know that this could be categorized under the first aspect of discipline. But I felt it necessary to put it in a separate point because there is a lot to say here. In the parable of the talents (Mathew 25:14-30), we see the master is not happy with the third servant. What was his mistake? He certainly did not commit a big sin, such as fraud or murder. He did not steal the money given to him, but dutifully returned it to his master. What then was his mistake? His mistake was that he was not active in his discipleship. He did not make himself busy for the work of the Master.

I fear that a lot of us may often think that avoiding sin, reading my Bible and praying daily, and going to Church regularly is enough. Sadly it is not. One of my mentors says that there is a joy in being worn out for the Lord. Paul says that he was poured out as a drink offering (II Tim 4:6; Phil 2:17)). He says that he beats his body and brings it into subjection (I Cor 9:27). It is very active. In other words, if I am busy because in addition to my work, I have Church activities or other ministries, don't complain about it. That is how it should be.

I have been an utter failure in this regard for many many years. By God's grace, I feel I am growing but have yet a long long way to go. But because I fail, I should in no way reduce the bar. I should instead rely on his grace more and keep striving.

If my life is too busy, there might be a lot of junk activities I need to get rid of. And then when I have gotten rid of them, I still need to be busy for the Lord, actively seeking the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. May we all seek to do so day in and day out for the glory of His name.

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."

I want to meet Jordan Taylor...

I think it was a couple of years ago that I started watching Blimey cow videos on youtube regularly. I became a fan. I also started following Jordan Taylor on his personal channel. Over the course of these two years, my interest in watching his videos have only increased. I know his wedding anniversary (because its a day after my birthday), where he lives, and so on and so forth.

Ever since Youtube vlogging became big, a lot of Youtube celebrities share life with an online community. Often this community spills over into the offline world. The Green brothers conceived the idea of Vidcon, which is now a huge phenomenon in the US. Borrowing the idea, Blimey Cow hosts Blimeycon every year, where patrons (fans who pay) get to meet Jordan and Josh and hang out with them, and have a lot of fun.

I really want to attend Blimey con, and I really want to meet Jordan Taylor.

And that got me thinking.

I have never spoken to this dude. He doesn't know I exist. He probably wouldn't know if I stopped watching his videos. And yet, I want to meet him real bad. And that just from me watching his videos. From listening to him sharing his thoughts on various stuff.

There is however a person who always listens to me when I talk to him. He has revealed his heart to me in a big book, through which he continues to communicate, and in fact he loves me so much that he gave his life for me. Shouldn't I be dying to meet him?

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Do I want to meet Christ as badly as I want to meet certain celebrities? If not, perhaps I need to start hanging out with Christ a little more than I currently do.