September 2008

SPONGE CHRISTIANS

A mother of a new born child likes to play with her child by touching its palm to see how the tender finger slowly closes to grip the mother’s pointing finger.  This gives a warm experience to both the child and mother.  A neonate doctors also check the holding capacity of the infant and to find out the movement of the child. Holding on to something is the nature of human being.  The absorbing / holding on to something are the characteristics of sponge.

These characteristics have penetrated into the lives Christian believers.  Recently, one of the pastors explained how powerfully the Word of God came through Elijah’s miracle (I Kings 17:16 )in the widow’s house and then explained Luke 5 1-7 about the miracle of fish by Jesus’ powerful words.  He abruptly switched over to another incident without explaining remaining verses in Luke 5:8-10.  In the 10^th verse, God’s powerful word was calling Peter to follow Him.  His word operated in His life.  So, he left the fish, net, boat (Profession), parents, relatives, society, place and went after Him.  The pastors are using God’s Word for blessings and not for challenging to follow Him.

Peter took a stand of forsaking the blessings and cleaves to the source of blessing Jesus Christ.  His first love for God had a tremendous testimony.  But in the Matt. 19:27, He asked Jesus about the profit of following Him after leaving behind all the stuff.  The sponge characteristics popped up then and there to affect the Christian’s life.  God gave a reply to him which restored him to the main stream.

At last, Peter became strong after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  In Acts 5^th chapter, people bring their propriety and money and place them under his feet.  He didn’t touch even a single penny for his own use. Instead he constituted a seven member (Acts.6:3) committee to look after this.  He concentrated on preaching and teaching the Gospel.

In Acts 3, Peter testified to the crippled beggar that He has nothing except Jesus Christ which made the beggar to walk.

Today, the church congregation / pastors / lay preachers /T.V. Evangelists have all resources whereas Peter did not have any of them.  But they don’t have what Peter had in his life.

Just like Peter, let us forsake the characteristics of sponge – absorbing only blessings but  lean on to source of blessing Jesus Christ and proclaim Him to this world.

J. Peter Daniel M.E., 76, Living Spring Avenue, Sanjeevipuram, Bagayam,

Vellore 632 – 002, Phone. 0416 2260066, 09443800395.

email: peterpearline@yahoo.co.in, Peterpearline@gmail.com

Global News

Bible with Indian flavour is a hit

Ketki Angre

Wednesday, July 30, 2008, (Mumbai)

Lakhs of Christians in India have been following the teachings of the Bible for generations. But now for the first time, the holy book has made an appearance in an Indian avatar. All this in an attempt to help Indian Christians understand the Bible better.

A prayer service in Marathi at a chapel in Vasai outside Mumbai in an area that has a majority of Christian fisherfolk or ‘kolis’ comes across as a surprise for some, and a routine for others.

These villagers, who converted to Christianity generations ago, are now happy their culture is finding a resonance in the scripture.

“The latest edition of the Bible in India now has a distinctly Indian flavour. The Virgin Mary clad in a sari, or even the flight to Egypt depicted in pictures with clear Indian imprint,” says Cardinal Oswald Gracious, the Archbishop of Mumbai.

There are 27 such typical Indian sketches besides footnotes that refer to the Indian scriptures for easy understanding.  It’s a work that took 18 years to accomplish and has been inspired by similar attempts in countries like the Phillipines. “All our prayer services are in Marathi. Now that Virgin Mary’s picture is also depicted in our clothes, that makes us feel nice,” says Janu Peter Patil, a fisherwoman from Vasai.

Another resident of Vasai, Marisina Jonathan Patil, adds: “We already read the Bible the Marathi, now its like our scriptures are coming closer to us.” The new edition has sold 30,000 copies in its first week and gone in for a reprint.

The Bishop of Vasai, Thomas Dabre, says, “In today’s materialistic world, its not possible to follow the true Christian way of life. The Church here cannot ignore the cultural similarities. This edition is an affirmation of that.

Orthodox Christians are not impressed, though. They feel the Bible should remain untouched. But for villagers like them, efforts like these only reaffirm a way of life they’ve been following for generations.

Tobacco Products:

Ramadoss, too, made this clear recently. “We have seen a recent WHO survey, which shows that 41.2 per cent children in Indian school tend to use tobacco products,” he said

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