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Christmas 2007 - Reflections

drchris December 8th, 2007

Jesus is born but have we found Him yet?

Finding Jesus among the masses

Once again we are in the season of Advent indicating that Christmas is just around the corner. Many of us may remember the once popular hymn during this season, “Oh Come Divine Messiah” whose lyrics go like this:

Oh Come Divine Messiah

The world in silence waits the day

When hope shall sing of triumph

And sadness flees away


Yes, those days life was very simple as we waited in silence with full of hope that soon good will triumph over evil thereby ridding our lives of sadness. Those words were so meaningful and bring back pleasant memories of Christmas of the yesteryears.

Christmas is a commemoration of God’s coming to us. He came for all of us – believers and non-believers alike. His birth should bring us hope and triumph which would dispel the sadness from our lives. But after years of celebrating Christmas after Christmas many of us are yet to see that triumph in our lives and our hopes may be giving way to despair. Has the Messiah really come?

The real problem today is that we are waiting for God to literally come to us. We celebrate His birth just like that of any one of us – offering prayers, eating, drinking and making merry. We celebrate his coming into the world but we do not welcome Him into our hearts and lives. Yes, He has come into the world and is very much in our midst but unfortunately we refuse to recognize Him therefore fail to welcome Him.

By being born to poor parents in an environment of extreme poverty Jesus is telling us where He dwells - among the poor and the down-trodden, the sick and dying, the hungry, the oppressed and in those we love and even in those we hate. In short He is among the masses.

Amidst our celebrations this Christmas, let us pause a while to look around us to recognize that Jesus who was born into the world two thousand years ago. He is among us in every person and in every trial and tribulation we encounter in our lives. Let us take a moment to look around to recognize Him in those who do not have joy and peace in their lives. Let us do the little we can to alleviate the pain and misery in their lives. Let us do whatever we can to give them the hope that triumph will one day wipe out the sadness in the hearts.

We too, like Jesus, must have the humility to come down from our positions of comfort and power to meet Him in the people around us. If we isolate ourselves from the masses by building a fortress around us with all our wealth and power together with greed, selfishness and pride, then we can keep waiting for Jesus all our lives but it will only be in vain.

To us then His birth into this world, that is Christmas, will be just another day to celebrate, eat, drink and make merry. It will never become the day when hope shall sing of triumph and sadness flees away.

Dr.Chris Anthony

Why do we need so many formations and retreats?

drchris November 14th, 2007

Do they make us better Christians?

It has become fashionable in our Catholic Church to organize various retreats, formations, recollections, reflections, seminars, rallies, convention and so on for the clergy and laity alike. You may call them by various names but they all more or less refer to the same - gathering of Catholics to discuss and reflect on issues facing us. Most of the time these sessions bring no concrete results whatsoever in the end.

A lot of time, enegy and money are spent to organize these events and as such it may be pertinent here to ponder to see whether they bring any real benefits to us. Do they make us better Christians? 

We are told that these formations are vital to be a good Catholic. There are some who even go on to say that we cannot reach God without attending these formations. Are these really true? Formations are good and are intended to make us better Christians but how better do we become after participating in such activities? There are many among us who attend so many formations and retreats but when we return we continue with our old selfish ways, refusing to talk to others, neglect elderly and indifferent to those in need in our midst. 

The clergy too are involved in their own retreats. They are away 3 days a month on their monthly recollection. In addition to that, they have their retreats, off days and vacation. In most parishes the priests are away on leave one or two days a week. In fact in some smaller parishes there are those who take off as long as 3 days a week. During their absence there is no priest to cater for Eucharistic celebrations, final rites and anointing, confession and counseling. 

When the priests return from their monthly recollections, not a single word is uttered of matters that were discussed. It is as though they had attended some top security meeting of a secret society, which must be kept secret from even their own congregation. Despite the beautiful slogan, “We are the Church”, the laity is left completely in the dark as though they do not exist. Neither are there any positive changes in the attitude of the priests towards their job and the parishioners after every retreat or recollection.

Talk to any priest today, his main grouse will be that very few parishioners are coming for mass and participating in the various organizations. On the other hand, at the BEC meetings more than 90% of parishioners will complaint that their priests do not visit them. In fact these days many complain that their priests have lost touch with the people and are not interested to know their parishioners.

The people, being more educated and well versed in many fields, are not happy with the lack of dialogue and openness in the management of the parish. Their knowledge and skills are not appreciated let alone utilized. 

It is sad that slowly this indifferent attitude of the clergy towards the people is slowly being accepted as a norm. As the Eucharistic celebration forms the crux of our faith, our priests consider themselves as indispensable. They are happy to say mass, consecrating the bread and wine and nothing more. All other duties are being designated to the laity with the excuse as they do have the time as they are in short supply.

With the rapid scientific and socio-economic changes in the global world today, it is time for our bishops and clergy to review their strategies in building the Kingdom of God in our midst. Are they really serious in their mission to build His Kingdom? How committed are they to this task? 

Recollections, formations and retreats are important but of greater importance is their commitment to mankind in the form of their congregation. Unless they identify themselves with the people there is no way they can build God’s Kingdom. Their retreats and recollections must bring them closer to the people,in whom God dwells, otherwise these retreats and formations would be just waste of time and money. 

Dr.Chris Anthony

 

 

Living by His Word

drchris November 12th, 2007

How Christ-like are we in our lives? 

At a recent Confirmation mass, I was impressed with the homily given by Bishop Anthony Selvanayagam.He reminded those to be confirmed and the congregation in general, of the very depressing situation in the world today. He lamented that the vast majority of those who call themselves Christians do not know Jesus at all. This ignorance of Jesus among his own followers is the greatest challenge to Christianity in the third millennium.

We resort to all sorts of deeds to please God, deeds which God did not ask, attending church and receiving the sacraments diligently without fail, making pilgrimages to all the holy sites and shrines, burning candles and offering prayers, we fast and abstain, but we fail to do what God has really asked us to do – to love our neighbor. 

In fact we need not go round indulging in rituals for God to grant us our petitions as He knows our problems better than we do and He knows what is best for us. According to the bishop,on the final day, God is not going to ask us whether we went to church, received the sacraments, fasted, and burnt candles or how many churches we prayed at. What He will ask us is how we lived by His words during our short stint on earth. 

Bishop Anthony’s sharing should prompt us to reflect on our own actions as Christians. How do we treat the poor and oppressed? How do treat our own children and elderly parents? How do we treat the sick and hungry? How do we treat those who yearn for our love and affection? How do we treat those who sin against us? Are we willing to forgive and forget those who hate and even harm us? How generous are we with our wealth and possessions? In short how do we treat our neighbor?

There are three groups of Christians in the world today. Firstly there is a very large group who do not know Jesus truly for what He is. Sad to say, a large number of us belong to this group. We perform all sorts of rituals to please God to gain His blessings but fail to do what He really wants us to.

The second group consists of those who know Jesus reasonably well as they spend many years of their lives studying his words, but refuse to follow those words in their daily living. They are good preachers but not doers. The words of Jesus is meant for others not them. 

The third group comprises of those who know Jesus and follow Him in a way He wants. They stick by His teachings in everything they do. Unfortunately only a few belong to this group of true followers.

It may timely for us to ponder on our own thoughts and actions to see which of the three groups we belong to. Do we live by the teachings of Jesus? Do we have Christ in our lives? We call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ, but how Christ-like are we in our lives? 

Dr.Chris Anthony

Let’s pray for religious tolerance

drchris November 5th, 2007

The Church must strive for religious rights and freedom

October 31, 2007 was a sad day for the residents of Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam and a black day for religious tolerance in Malaysia. It was the day when the100-year old Sri Maha Mariaman Temple in the village was demolished in a manner that showed total and blatant disrespect for the sensitivities of Hindu Malaysians. 

Despite agreeing to move out to a new location, enforcement officers from the Majlis Bandaran Shah Alam(MBSA),and police armed with machine guns and knives brutally drove out the devotees and demolished the temple together with scores of houses. It is very disturbing that they did this a week before the Deepavali festival of Lights, an auspicious day in the Hindu calendar.

 In the bloody fracas a number of devotees were injured including the temple priest, some of the residents and four lawyers, who went to volunteer legal aid, were arrested. The latter were intimidated and manhandled at gunpoint without any respect for their profession. This attitude and actions of our enforcement units are unbecoming of a nation that preaches racial and religious moderation and tolerance.

 While all these were happening to our fellow citizens of the Hindu faith, what did we, as Christians do to empathize with them. Most of us continued to go about our daily routine oblivious to the problems faced by those around us. We even attended Sunday service as though nothing had happened. As usual, the plight of our Hindu brethren of Kg.Rimba Jaya, was not even highlighted during our services nor did we offer special prayers for them. We were totally

indifferent to the feelings of those in pain around us. Are we any different from the enforcement officers who unjustly inflicted pain and suffering to fellow humans?

 
Fortunately at least we had our Bishop Paul Tan, deputy president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST), to criticize the high handed actions of the authorities in demolishing the temple and homes. He described this atrocious behavior as “insensitive and intolerant”.

This what Bishop Tan had to say : “The fact that this huge loss is not caused by earthquake, tsunami or any other natural catastrophe but by governmental agencies has compounded the people’s misery and shock many times over. Places of worship are sacred places and the authorities must adhere to strict and proper protocals in taking action on such places”.(Malaysiakini,Nov.3)

The bishop also criticized MBSA for the attack on temple priest Siva Sri Ramalingga Gurukal who was not armed and posed no threat to anyone. We share his views that this arrogant and violent actions by the MBSA in Kg.Rimba Jaya,is unwarranted if not checked, could encourage other local authorities to follow suit in future.  

We must support the MCCBCHST in expressing our deepest regret and dismay over the MBSA’s actions. We call on the government to stop these mob-like actions of the MBSA and other local authorities.Let us also offer our aid in whatever way we can to those organizations that are working to help the affected residents of Kg.Rimba Jaya in rebuilding their temple, their homes and their lives as a whole.

 We are denied our legitimate religious rights and freedom in our own land. We may be helpless in fighting for our rights against the powerful forces arrayed against us. The only way out of our predicament is through peaceful political means. We must strive to make people aware of their responsibilities in the coming general elections.

 The Church has the moral obligation of not only to encourage its congregation to vote but to vote wisely so that we can bring about the necessary changes for a fair and just Malaysia where citizens of various races and religions can live in peace, harmony and mutual respect.

 
Dr.Chris Anthony

 

 

 

 

Christianity’s Image Problem

drchris October 14th, 2007

TIME
Tuesday, Oct. 02, 2007

Christianity’s Image Problem
By David Van Biema

It used to be, says David Kinnaman, that Christianity was both big and beloved in the U.S. — even among its non-adherents. Back in 1996, a poll taken by Kinnaman’s organization, the Barna Group, found that 83% of Americans identified themselves as Christians, and that fewer than 20% of non-Christians held an unfavorable view of Christianity. But, as Kinnaman puts it in his new book (co-authored with Gabe Lyons) UnChristian, “That was then.”

Barna polls conducted between 2004 and this year, sampling 440 non-Christians (and a similar number of Christians) aged 16 to 29, found that 38% had a “bad impression” of present-day Christianity. “It’s not a pretty picture” the authors write. Barna’s clientele is made up primarily of evangelical groups.

Kinnaman says non-Christians’ biggest complaints about the faith are not immediately theological: Jesus and the Bible get relatively good marks. Rather, he sees resentment as focused on perceived Christian attitudes. Nine out of ten outsiders found Christians too “anti-homosexual,” and nearly as many perceived it as “hypocritical” and “judgmental.” Seventy-five percent found it “too involved in politics.”

Not only has the decline in non-Christians’ regard for Christianity been severe, but Barna results also show a rapid increase in the number of people describing themselves as non-Christian. One reason may be that the study used a stricter definition of “Christian” that applied to only 73% of Americans. Still, Kinnaman claims that however defined, the number of non-Christians is growing with each succeeding generation: His study found that 23% of Americans over 61 were non-Christians; 27% among people ages 42-60; and 40% among 16-29 year olds. Younger Christians, he concludes, are therefore likely to live in an environment where two out of every five of their peers is not a Christian.

Churchgoers of the same age share several of the non-Christians’ complaints about Christianity. For instance, 80% of the Christians polled picked “anti-homosexual” as a negative adjective describing Christianity today. And the view of 85% of non-Christians aged 16-29 that present day Christianity is “hypocritical — saying one thing doing another,” was, in fact, shared by 52% of Christians of the same age. Fifty percent found their own faith “too involved in politics.” Forty-four percent found it “confusing.”

Christians have always been aware of image problems with non-believers. Says Kinnaman: “The question is whether to care.” But given the increasing non-Christian population and the fact that many of the concerns raised by non-believers are shared by young Christians, he says, there really is no option but to address the crisis.

Lazarus and the rich man

drchris October 6th, 2007

26th. Sunday,30 September 2007

Luke 16:19-31

There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there used to lie a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with what fell from the rich man’s table. Even dogs came and licked his sores.

Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s embrace. The rich man also died and was buried.

In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace. So he cried out, “Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.”

Abraham said, “My son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours.”

So he said, “Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.”

Abraham said, “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.”

The rich man replied, “Ah no, father Abraham, but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.” Then Abraham said to him, “If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.”

Reflection

This Sunday’s readings clearly tell us what we should do to attain eternal life. In today’s world we are all striving to be like the rich man, who lived in luxury – very comfortable mansion, luxurious cars, dining in porch restaurants with famous personalities, good food, wine, music and women. To achieve all these we go all out to accumulate more and more wealth.

In our obsession with trying to make more and more, we forget the poor Lazarus just at the gates of our mansion. We pass by him several times a day but are do not, or more rightly refuseto, see him. He is in front of us, hungry, naked, sick and wounded but we do not see or hear him. We continue to enjoy and satisfy our senses least perturbed by the poverty and misery of those around us. How will God reward us if we ignore Him in the pleas of those in our midst?

In our materialistic world today, we even tend to bribe God to enter His Kingdom.We fast, abstain and diligently receive all the sacraments without fail. We build majestic churches organize mammoth feasts, banquets and mass worship sessions in His name but refuse to acknowledge Him in those in need around us.

We refuse to talk to one another, refuse to smile at those we meet and we harbour so much hatred and jealousy towards those who are better off than us. We refuse to humble ourselves to go down and share our gifts with those less fortunate than us. Is it fair of us to expect God to reward us for holding Him to ransom?

Dr.Chris Anthony

The brave monks of Myanmar

drchris October 1st, 2007

 The brave monks of Myanmar

Wednesday ,September 26 2007 was a sad day for the people of Myanmar, a day of national tragedy and mourning. It was the day when the army opened fire on unarmed civilian protestors and Buddhist monks. Soldiers and police fired tear gas, clubbed protesters and arrested up to 200 monks in an attempt to quash the uprising. A number of deaths were reported.

The ruling military junta did not hesitate to use force even against unarmed, peace promoting modestly robed Buddhist monks. They were kicked and beaten as soldiers rounded them up and shoved them onto trucks. Doors of the monasteries were broken; things were ransacked and taken away.

The cowardly and brutal acts of the ruling military junta should be condemned by the whole international community. Definitely these acts of aggression against unarmed civilians and monks are inhumane and treacherous to the human race. On the other hand the actions of the brave people of Myanmar need to be praised and supported by all.

The protests may have been brutal but in this whole incident, two important lessons came out of it.

Firstly it was the bravery of the people of Myanmar especially the Buddhist monks. The peace-loving and unarmed Buddhist monks, who lead the pro-democracy demonstrations, had shown that they can rise up against all odds to fight against oppression and injustice of fellow men. They were willing to give up the peace and tranquility of their monasteries and risk their lives to confront the mighty junta in defending the rights of fellow citizens.

Secondly the mutual love between the people and the monks was exceptionally captivating. It was touching to see the people forming a human shield around the monks who lead the procession. The people were willing to give their lives to defend their monks.

We witness a situation where two groups of people each willing to even sacrifice their lives for each other. These actions of the monks should be a lesson for not just Buddhists but for all. It puts us to shame when we compare our own clergy-laity relationship.

Injustice and oppression occurs everywhere all the time. It is there in the government, in our offices, in schools, in our families, among friends and even in our Church. Those in positions of power adopt all sorts of tactics and maneuvers to deny the ordinary people their legitimate rights. They become masters of the very people they are supposed to serve.

Dissenting voices are quickly shut up, whistleblowers are punished and freedom of expression denied. The entire government machinery, media, armed forces, police and the judiciary are abused to silence those who speak the truth. Jesus himself was a victim of the rich and the powerful.

As Christians it is our obligation to speak out against injustice and oppression wherever and whenever it occurs. We may not be a position to do great things to change the whole world but we can do little things with great passion and love to change the small world around us.

What are we doing when the government bulldozers through unfair policies that are detrimental to the people? What do we do when people in power in the organizations we are in misuse their power and funds? What do we do when our calls for moderation, accountability and reform are not heeded? Very often, under such pressures, we lose hearts and quit but is quitting the right decision?

Let’s offer special prayers for the brave people of Myanmar. Let’s ask God to grant them the peace and freedom that they yearn for over four decades. As we pray for our fellow men in Myanmar, let us also reflect on what we are doing to oppose the acts of injustice and oppression that we encounter in our own lives.

Dr.Chris Anthony

Reflecting on Mother Teresa’s Crisis of faith

drchris September 26th, 2007

 How strong is our faith? 

The tenth anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa brought to mind some interesting insight into her life which made me reflect on my own faith.

How  strong and unshakable is my faith in Jesus?Will it stand the trials and tribulaions in life?

In Mother Teresa - Crisis of Faith by David Van Biema that was published in the September 3, 2007 edition of Time Magazine, the writer related an incident that revealed Mother Teresa at one time even doubted the existence of God. She was reported to have told Rev.Michael Van Der Peet,

“Jesus has a very special love for you. As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear, the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ….” 

Less than 3 months later on receiving the Nobel Peace Prize she reaffirmed her unshakable faith in God and advised us on the need to see Christ around us.

“It is not enough for us to say, ‘I love God, but I do not love my neighbor’, since in dying on the Cross, God had made himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one.” Jesus’ hunger, she said, is what “you and I must find” and alleviate. Christ is everywhere — Christ in our hearts, Christ in the poor we meet, Christ in the smile we give and in the smile that we receive. 

We all knew Mother Teresa for her unwavering faith and trust in God. Here she was even expressing doubt in the very existence of God himself. This admission by her just goes to show that the Saint of the Gutters, who was beatified on October 19, 2003, was just as human like all of us. The crisis in her faith that Mother Teresa experienced was understandable because of the perpetual challenges she encountered as she lived humbly submitting to the call of God to serve fellow men among the poorest of the poor. 

We too face all sorts of challenges in our own ways. We fulfill all our religious duties diligently and therefore believe that God will never forsake us under all circumstances. We never have the slightest doubt in our trust and faith in Him. This may be so when things go right but very often life does not seem to go the way we want it to be. It is in times of these challenges and tragedies that our faith is put to the test. Despite all our earnest prayers, our petitions never seem to be answered. It is during these extreme trying times we begin to doubt the existence of God.

Some of these challenges to our faith today are:

1.      Death of loved ones ,terminal illness, permanent disability

2.      Divorce and failures in love

3.      Failures in examinations and unemployment when our future appears doomed

4.      Extreme poverty and hunger

5.      Natural disasters

6.      Persecution and torture for standing up for truth and justice

7.      Loneliness

When we are inflicted by these tragedies and God does not seem to intervene to help us, many of us give up hope and may even leave Him. We are taught that God is so loving, kind and merciful, then why does he forsake us? Why doesn’t he come down to get us out of the misery that had inflicted us.

This is the time we need all the faith and trust in Him like Mother Teresa. Many among us expect God to come down in person and work miracles to help us overcome our problems. We fail to realize that God come to us in forms we do not recognize thereby fail to welcome him into our lives. If we are waiting for him to come in majesty  and glamour then we will be sadly  mistaken. He will instead come in the form of the poor and destitute. Unless we welcome these downtrodden people into our hearts, we will never experience God in our lives.

Mother Teresa identified Jesus in her “poorest of the poor” Unless we too recognize Him in the downtrodden and despised and welcome them into our hearts, we will  never experience God in our lives.

We must be convinced that God will never fail us if we do His will. It is in times of trial that we should reflect on ourselves to see where we have gone wrong. When God does not come to our aid then there must be something wrong with us and not with God. We should reflect on our relationship with God and our neighbor. There must be something wrong in the way we interpret and practice his teachings. To many of us it is easy to love God, whom we can’t see, hear or feel but difficult to love our neighbor who is physically there in our midst.

As Mother Teresa said we cannot possibly love God if we do not love fellow humans, which is very true. Emerging fundamentalism in the Church has given rise to a situation where we are meaninglessly worshipping God without loving men. We spend many hours to be with Him in prayer and meditation but not willing to spare a fraction of that time to attend to those in need.  

With our obsession with “worshipping” God, we ignore the plea of those who yearn for our love and care. How can we expect God to listen to us when we ignore Jesus in our neighbor? How can we expect God to answer our prayers when they are all meant to seek favors for us and our loved ones?

The good, God will try them repeatedly but will never forsake them, whereas the bad, he may shower with all the fortunes in life but in times of need will forsake them.

Dr.Chris Anthony

Clergy Scandal

drchris September 14th, 2007

Tablet
The Tablet

Church in the World
15 September 2007

Ncube steps down over adultery allegations

Pius Ncube has resigned as Archbishop of Bulawayo two months after being accused of adultery.

In a statement issued on Tuesday he vowed to remain in church leadership and to continue speaking out against the suffering caused by President Robert Mugabe’s regime. He said that his resignation was tendered to the Vatican in July, but made public only when it had been accepted. He is standing down because he fears the Church’s image would otherwise suffer when he appears in court in connection with the adultery accusation.

“Today the Vatican will publicise their acceptance of an offer I tendered to them in July,” the statement read. “I wrote to the Pope about a state-driven attack not only on myself but also the Church in Zimbabwe. It is important that I must face this case in court as Pius Ncube and avoid having the Church’s image tarnished. I remain a Catholic bishop and will continue speaking on issues that sadly become more acute by the day in our country.”

The statement was read out at a press conference in Bulawayo by Essie Ncube (no relation), chairman of the Archbishop Pius Ncube Solidarity Coalition. Neither Bishop Ncube nor his lawyer attended the event; the bishop is reported to be out of the country, possibly in South Africa. He has kept a low profile since allegations against him were made by Onesimus Sibanda, a man aligned to the ruling Zanu-PF party, of an affair with his wife Rosemary. Mr Sibanda is suing Bishop Ncube in the civil courts, alleging that he committed adultery with his wife, who worked in Archbishop’s House. Bishop Ncube has said that he cannot comment directly on the allegation because the matter is sub judice.

Bishop Ncube hopes to find fresh opportunities to work with the poor either “within the Church” or “within the civic movement”. A brief statement from the Vatican said Pope Benedict XVI had accepted Bishop Ncube’s resignation under the article of church law that says a bishop should retire if he is ill or if “some other grave reason” has made him unable to fulfil his office. The Pope has appointed Fr Martin Schupp, an ex-provincial of the Missionaries of Mariannhill, as diocesan administrator for the time being.

Sources close to Bishop Ncube say he has funding from donors to cater for his welfare as well as costs for his legal battle. It is understood that he is under no immediate pressure to leave the archbishop’s residence although he is expected to do so in due course.

Suspicion surrounds video footage that appears to show the bishop in compromising positions with Rosemary Sibanda, as well as other women. Supporters of the bishop say the footage was put together by the state media, the intelligence service and Mugabe’s office.

Over the years the Vatican has seemed reluctant to support the archbishop openly in his fierce criticism of President Mugabe, who is a Catholic. Just nine days before publicly accepting the church leader’s resignation, the Pope transferred his nuncio in Zimbabwe - Archbishop Edward Adams - to the nunciature in the Philippines. Archbishop Adams’ reassignment after five years in the African post was not abnormal, although the timing saved him from being brought into the fray surrounding Archbishop Ncube’s departure. There is currently no nuncio in Zimbabwe.

One God many religions

drchris September 3rd, 2007

    Work to make better humans in their own faith

The nineteen South Korean Christian volunteers held hostage by the Taliban in
Afghanistan for six weeks were finally freed. It brought great relief not only to the hostages but to the whole international community. It is deeply distressing that two people lost their lives in the ordeal.According to the Taliban, they were paid $20 million for the release of the hostages, a claim which the South Korean government denies vehemently.

Encouraged by the “reward”, the Taliban have wowed to continue their struggle with more such kidnappings ransom and possibly more killings as well. Meanwhile the Christian workers say that they went to the Muslim country to spread God’s love and carry out his wishes and their Afghan ordeal had only strengthened their resolve to send more missionaries there. According to some of the hostages they had been tortured for refusing to embrace Islam.

We have a strange situation where the Christian workers went to
Afghanistan to “convert” people there but in the process they were kidnapped and persuaded to embrace Islam instead. Where do all these going to lead – where one religious group is trying to convert another to its own faith, both acting in the name of God?

While both groups claim to be out to do the work of God, it is ironical that, in the final outcome, only money and not goodwill and prayer, could free both of them from their predicament.
As Christians we are asked to evangelise, which was traditionally trying to persuade people to become Christians. This was what the South Korean missionaries tried to do in
Afghanistan.

Today many religions have attained a significant presence all over, even in countries once predominantly Christian. It would be morally wrong and a disaster if we continue to practice evangelization in the traditional way.

In a world plagued with so much hate and violence for fellow humans, we need religion to direct mankind to peace, compassion and love. It is sad that the very religions that were instituted to serve such a noble purpose are being misused for reasons contrary to its aims.

So what should evangelism mean to us today? Evangelism today should be more tailored to share Christ’s love to those in need around us, not convert them by the rituals of our faith. For the true followers of any religion, their faith is not in the rituals that they perform but rather it is God’s love deeply rooted in their hearts and lives. It can never be surrendered by persuasion or force unless they willingly give it up themselves.

As Christians we should first convert ourselves and align our lives in keeping with the teachings of Christ. Instead of trying to convert others to our own religion, it would be a great service to mankind if we can convert them, by our examples, to become better humans in their own faith, as finally all religions lead us to the same God, whom we call by different names.

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