This may seem like a sequel to the last post, but it wasn't intended as a follow-up... This post isn't worthy of even holding up a candle to the sheer brilliance of that one! This was brought on by a completely different set of events...
Prologue: I am a firm believer (wasn't always, though) in the Higher Power thing, and I choose to worship that deity as Jesus. So you could say, I'm an ardent follower of Jesus, but does that make me a devout Christian...? Negative!
Disclaimer: Content that follows is sure to rile up the church-going, God-fearing Christians and probably even my parents the day they read it, but well, I always scored poorly in the "aiming to please" classes :)
I've always had qualms about the way the Church has fallen from being the Temple of the Lord to becoming exactly the kind of place from which Jesus drove out merchants who had turned it into "a hideout for thieves", in Matthew 21:12-13...
I remember this particular time I had been to some church in Trivandrum, when some church elections were going on there... Frankly, it was disconcerting to see alleged men of the faith running around handing out flyers saying "I'm contesting for finance head of the diocese, please vote for me"... And these are the people who are supposed to be shepherds to us lost sheep! What the bleeeep!
Rather than a place where believers gather to sing praises to the Lord, the church has become yet another establishment that takes in money in the name of God and doles out canonization to people who close their eyes, flutter their eyelids and in loud voices claim to have received a vision!
Jesus was born a Jew and in all the prophecies regarding Him, He was also hailed as King of the Jews. Yet He never said that he had come solely to save the Jews, did He? He came to save those who believed in Him. To Him, it did not matter whether the person who came to Him was a Gentile, a Roman, a Samaritan or a charlatan. His love was unconditional. Why then does the church have an ID check installed on it's doorsteps??
Non-Christians who go to church are still looked down upon from the awfully long, high-and-mighty noses of member Christians. Back at the church at home, after the service got over, the priest read out the letter of a non-Christian guy, who had married a Christian and expressed an interest in converting and joining the church. The priest proceeded to royally ridicule the applicant, his intentions, his marriage and his English, and all this from the pulpit of the church.
Such are our evangelists. Those that claim to go-spel the Word of the Lord. Sent to gather the lost sheep, they make fun of those whose only fault were that they were not born into a Christian household. And they make fun of a person's writing, when they themselves cannot put together a grammatically correct sentence in English, using multi-syllable words.
I am as close to attaining salvation as Kabul is to Barbados here. But I think I'll go to Hell knowing that for once I stood up for what He believed in.
Feeling: Distressed
Listening: Rocky Road to Dublin - Young Dubliners
Prologue: I am a firm believer (wasn't always, though) in the Higher Power thing, and I choose to worship that deity as Jesus. So you could say, I'm an ardent follower of Jesus, but does that make me a devout Christian...? Negative!
Disclaimer: Content that follows is sure to rile up the church-going, God-fearing Christians and probably even my parents the day they read it, but well, I always scored poorly in the "aiming to please" classes :)
I've always had qualms about the way the Church has fallen from being the Temple of the Lord to becoming exactly the kind of place from which Jesus drove out merchants who had turned it into "a hideout for thieves", in Matthew 21:12-13...
I remember this particular time I had been to some church in Trivandrum, when some church elections were going on there... Frankly, it was disconcerting to see alleged men of the faith running around handing out flyers saying "I'm contesting for finance head of the diocese, please vote for me"... And these are the people who are supposed to be shepherds to us lost sheep! What the bleeeep!
Rather than a place where believers gather to sing praises to the Lord, the church has become yet another establishment that takes in money in the name of God and doles out canonization to people who close their eyes, flutter their eyelids and in loud voices claim to have received a vision!
Jesus was born a Jew and in all the prophecies regarding Him, He was also hailed as King of the Jews. Yet He never said that he had come solely to save the Jews, did He? He came to save those who believed in Him. To Him, it did not matter whether the person who came to Him was a Gentile, a Roman, a Samaritan or a charlatan. His love was unconditional. Why then does the church have an ID check installed on it's doorsteps??
Non-Christians who go to church are still looked down upon from the awfully long, high-and-mighty noses of member Christians. Back at the church at home, after the service got over, the priest read out the letter of a non-Christian guy, who had married a Christian and expressed an interest in converting and joining the church. The priest proceeded to royally ridicule the applicant, his intentions, his marriage and his English, and all this from the pulpit of the church.
Such are our evangelists. Those that claim to go-spel the Word of the Lord. Sent to gather the lost sheep, they make fun of those whose only fault were that they were not born into a Christian household. And they make fun of a person's writing, when they themselves cannot put together a grammatically correct sentence in English, using multi-syllable words.
I am as close to attaining salvation as Kabul is to Barbados here. But I think I'll go to Hell knowing that for once I stood up for what He believed in.
Feeling: Distressed
Listening: Rocky Road to Dublin - Young Dubliners
It's not just Christianity.
ReplyDeleteThere is a standing rule in The Guruvayoor Temple: those not of the faith aren't to be allowed in, for fear of polluting the sanctity. To this day, I fail to understand the logic behind it.
Religion was supposed to be A Way Of Life, a stepping stone to creating and maintaining Harmony among people, but no, it has now become a badge worn on chests and paraded around with a misguided sense of self-importance.
Faith isn't the enemy. It's the Idiots who're at the helm and drunk on the power of their office, that are.
What the! There's a similar temple in Mysore. I remember not being allowed in there, because I had a cross around my neck... and friend of mine wasn't allowed in, since she was in western attire... Jeez..
ReplyDeleteBut there is hope, because I took a Swiss friend along to the Simhachalam temple- a different matter altogether that he was looked upon as a specimen- but he was blessed and he received the 'prasadam' with grace. If only we could stop proselytizing and proclaiming the superiority of our own religions.
ReplyDeleteOh well, on a lighter note, only one of the honkytonks is missing now :D
ReplyDeleteI was not allowed inside this temple near my place coz I didn't have a bindi !!
ReplyDeleteThe concept of religion is a pretentious mask for all those religious fanatics out there.
'Aathigam pesum adiyaarkellam sivame anbaagum
Naathigam pesum NALLAVARUKO anbe sivamaagum'
P.S. The GReader still shows a few of your deleted posts :-)
Lesson that I learnt from my past experiences: Triple think before you post something on your blog.
kuch bhi likhega tu
ReplyDeleteNando: Kuch bhi kahan hai, all from experience only!
ReplyDeleteSivapriya: Could you translate the Tamil part please? :D My Tamil is rusty! And the PS; the only posts I deleted were of some crappy poems I wrote!
@Eby
ReplyDeletelolzzz....Good ones though. Can't resist myself from saying this 'Heck, you have an attitude man !!'
:Imaginations and Interpretations on the above comment are approved to run haywire ;-) :
And yes, I forgot the translation
This is a lyric from the song 'Yaar yaar sivam'. Movie - 'Anbe Sivam'.
The literal translation
'For all those theistic followers, love is God
For all those atheistic good men, God is love'
That turned out wacky !! Yuccckkk....Never mind !
Got reminded of this lyric when I read your post. The concept of Religion is messy and complicated. Unravelling it will only lead to further complications.
Hehe! Thanks! I have an attitude that usually puts me on the wrong end of multiple curare-coated daggers :P
ReplyDelete"Back at the church at home, after the service got over, the priest read out the letter of a non-Christian guy, who had married a Christian and expressed an interest in converting and joining the church. The priest proceeded to royally ridicule the applicant, his intentions, his marriage and his English, and all this from the pulpit of the church."
ReplyDeleteI haven't come across any such assholes, but yeah, I have heard a lot of shaming instances about them.One fine December-y morning, our school bus halted longer than usual at a routine bus stop and a box of bibles came through in.The conductor passed them on like free magazines and I don't know what happened to the lot - guess no one on that bus knew either(most were looking forward to football on the school grounds dripping in the morning dew- to us our God was there, waiting for us :) ).
I hate the Ipod-generation, when it tries to glamourize the choir and use it as a stage for talent display!
Btw did all the thekkas in Hyderabad shutter down - what prompted this post?
Just call it an aftermath of a trip home :P
ReplyDeleteinstead of pennin it down al in here..y don u jus start preachin the Word..(or pen it down to de church..u cud have jsu replied to atrocious act commited by de priest....)God wil definitely help u there is no doubt in tat..
ReplyDeleteRather than preach the Word, I'd want to show it in what I do. The Bible says forgive your enemies, when they slap you on one cheek, turn the other to them too. Stuff like this I cannot do. I'll always do what I want to do and be very open about it. If I preach the Word, I'll have to live the life of a saint, and me being me doesn't work out then, oes it?
ReplyDeletethere is a reason y God tels us tat..the ten commandments arent the final verdict of life but the way to right way of livin..He tels us not to slap coz He wants us to be tolerant in spirit...but it does not mean tat nebody can keep slappin u al the time..if Jesus can have an outburst wen He saw saw the holy temple used for wrong purposes so there is nothin harm in hittin nebody wen it becomes unbearable..
ReplyDeletepreachin the Word does not mean livin life like a saint..de priest u were talkin abt at ur churhc is definitely not a saint but he "preaches"the Word rite...n God wil be more than happy if nebody preaches wt is right...u say tat u stand up for wts right..so al i was sayin since u got a powerful weapon i.e.,ur words..instead of spillin it out here y cnat u jus write a letter to the concerned priest n unleash it there?let him at least knwo wt he has done is absolutely wron n totally uncalled for..tat is al..u r pretty gud with ur words n it wil no doubt reach his senses..
The priest "preaches" the Word, doesn't practice it right?? I prefer not preaching, thanks!
ReplyDeletewel leave it..u din understnad wt iam sayin..iam not tellin u to go literally abt preachin..al iam askin u is since u have a way with ur words y don u jsu write him a letter n strike him right at his heart...rather make him realise..
ReplyDeleteHe left the church a long time back. This incident was a number of years back.
ReplyDelete@Eby : Life is not all that Jazz.. Welcome to the world of Money Makers :).
ReplyDeleteGo to Tirupati once and you will feel a lot better!