Once while a priest was giving a speech in the altar a person stood up and asked a question, ‘if a person does good deeds but does not believe in god will he go to heaven?’ This made the priest very confused. The priest said that I will give the answer to your question in the next week. During the whole week the priest read all the holy books the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, the Guru Granth Sahib in a quest to find the answer to the question. But he was unable to find an appropriate answer to this question. At last that Sunday came when the priest had to give an answer to that person’s question. After entering the church the priest sat near the altar on a chair and started thinking about it once again, slowly his eyes got closed and he fell into sleep. While he was asleep he saw a dream, in which he saw that ‘he was travelling with some strangers in a car he asked the driver that where were they going, the driver answered that we are going to hell. After sometime the car stopped and all stepped out and he saw a board written welcome to hell after reading it when the priest saw the whole place he was amazed to see that the place was just like a paradise, flowers were blossoming, the birds were taking their flight in a very mesmerizing manner, the air was very fresh and the atmosphere very peaceful. Then the priest when to a counter and asked the beautiful lady to confirm ‘whether this was heaven or hell?’ The receptionist replied that this is Hell, heari
Just like Indian Muslims, Christians in the country are also victims of a persistent questioning of their patriotism.
While suspicion of Christian groups has existed since the formation of the Indian state in 1947, this issue has gained in dimension with the election to power of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has support from Hindu groups working to make India a Hindu nation.
The BJP’s electoral victory in 2014 has not only emboldened Hindu nationalist groups to dismiss as unpatriotic all actions and ideas that fail to conform to the aims of Hindu nationalist groups but has also led to increasing anti-Catholic violence, particularly in central India.
It seems this crisis facing Christians was very much on the mind of Cardinal Oswald Gracias when speaking at the conference of Latin rite bishops in Bangalore in February. He reportedly told the gathering: “The Catholic Church needs our nation, and India needs the Church… We will be asking our people also to become better Indian Christians. This is the call of today to be fully Indian, fully Christian.”
In making such statements, bishops are making a profound analytical mistake not dissimilar to that made by the European Jews from the mid-18th century onwards.
Assuming that it was their external difference from Christian Europeans that was the reason for anti-Semitic hostility,
Since ‘it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it’ (Mt. 7:14) anyone who takes death seriously will wonder ‘will I be saved?’ Besides, there is the warning that ‘you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny’ (Lk.12:59), and there is the advice to ‘work for your salvation in fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12). Besides, there are preachers frightening people with the burden of having to do penance for the sins of forebears!This makes many, in an effort to save themselves, depend on fast and penance, novenas and pilgrimages, all sorts of devotional practices and rites of purification. Others turn to God; depend on God. Job finds peace in the knowledge that he has a Saviour (Job 19:25). The Bible is filled with the conviction that God Himself is the Saviour (Is. 41:14, 43:14, 49:26, 44:6, 54:8, 63:16, Ps. 3:8, 35:9, 68:20, Job 2:9, Rm. 1:16). Israel’s founding experience is that of a God who heard their cry, defeated their enemies, and effectively led them to a land flowing with milk and honey.God gave them rules for harmonious and prosperous living. But when, ignoring God and yielding to temptations, they were living self-destructively, God sent them prophets to lead them back to life-giving ways. Not satisfied with the results, ‘the kindness and love of God our Saviour’ (Tit. 3:4) became a human being for the salvation of all (1Tim. 4:10). This man, Jesus, like a mighty prophet, taught in word and de
Peace is not a substitute for transparency and truth. If it were, the mission of Jesus would have been irrelevant. Christianity is what it is because it had the courage to stand up for truth and justice, no matter how hard and costly it turned out to be. Jesus spoke up very strongly even when it would have been most convenient to keep quiet and maintain the comfort zone of peace. The church is becoming a pawn in the hands of media planners and consultants who are in the business of “CONSTRUCTING THE TRUTH.”The church is called upon to transcend this “15wisdom of the worldly.” It has to abandon this desperate media game and stop using the huge church machinery and thousands of pulpits for a show down. The church has the power to speak loud. But what matters is the inner strength and integrity to speak the truth, however feeble your voice is. The church should examine it’s own conscience to check whether prayer and penance are being misused as powerful media messages in the above mentioned exercise of “constructing the truth.”Dr George Kaliaden, Psycholgist Posted in FB, Dubai
Our beloved motherland is facing a grave crisis due to the new policies adopted by the divisive forces that are in power and the Constitution of our country is in danger. These new policies emerge from a divisive, exclusive and patriarchal mindset that goes against the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. Statements made by some members of the ruling party at the centre prove that the Constitution is a hindrance to the making of a Hindu Rashtra.Hindutva fundamentalism, saffronization of educational system in India, orchestrated attacks on Dalits and minority communities, denial of the freedom of expression, depriving the land rights of Tribals and Dalits, infiltration of RSS people into judiciary, bureaucracy and even army, uprooting of Tribals from their land through new projects like ‘Animal Corridor,’ ‘Industrial Corridor’ and ‘Land Bank’ are some examples of these dangerous policies which shake the very foundation of this nation.As disciples of Jesus and as responsible citizens of India, we, Christians, have a duty to safeguard the Indian Constitution and promote its noble and liberal values. The Forum for Justice and Peace (FORUM), a body of Catholic Religious women and men who are in social action, in its national convention held from 17 to 19 February 2018 at Jharna Spirituality Centre, Namkum, Ranchi has resolved to spread awareness on the Pluralistic, Socialistic, Democratic and Secular values enshrined in the Constitution.It is desira
