The Church of Christ

(Based on the Word of God; dedicated to the promotion of independence, Indianisation, unity, co-operation, and to the removal of corruption and evil in all forms and in all places.)

Creative Word

“But as many as believed him (Jesus) to them gave he (Jesus) the power to become the children of God who are born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God - John.

“Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” -Jesus.

True and lasting peace can be made only on the basis of truth and not merely on sentimental love, good will or humanity. Greetings of the blessed season to all who love, and sincerely try to follow, Jesus.

A Tragically Self-Defeating Policy

AS general secretary of the World Council of Churches Eugene Carson Blake occupies an unusual, if not a unique, position as an American citizen. His responsibility to the W.C.C. constituency - to say nothing of his Christian faith - requires of him a world rather than a national view of international affairs. Moreover, his office provides him with data and gives him a perspective beyond that possible for most Americans. His role, responsibility and opportunity can be compared with those of two other men, General Secretary U. Thant of the United Nations and Pope Paul VI. This situation, not merely the prestige of Blake’s post, gives his statements on the United States intervention in Vietnam tremendous weight. It is therefore to be hoped that the Johnson administration and the American people in general will pay close attention to the major address Blake gave to approximately 1,000 people gathered at the High School in Norwalk, Connecticut, on April 26.

In an address comparable in forthrightness, statesmanship and Christian faith to addresses made by Martin Luther King, Jr., Blake noted that each escalation of our military force against the Vietcong and North Vietnam increasingly isolates the United States from the rest of the world. “Our course has all the elements of high tragedy,” he said. “Unable to distinguish friend from foe, caught in a dilemma which makes any decision increasingly difficult, the United States seems to be stumbling on towards final disaster.”

By “final disaster” we assume that Blake means either a third world war in which everybody loses or a land war against a China that can put upwards of 80 million men and women on the battlefield and arm them with the most modern weapons, provided by the Soviet Union. From a military viewpoint the Soviet Union would like nothing better than to see China and the U.S. engage in a long war that neither could win in a decisive manner and that would leave both so weakened that neither could challenge the Soviet Union’s international policies. It is already evident, for example, that the more the U.S. becomes involved in Southeast Asia, the more aggressive the Soviet Union becomes in demanding that the U.S. withdraw its military forces from Europe and its Sixth Fleet from the Mediterranean. Our military policy in Vietnam is not only an inhumane, immoral meddling in the internal affairs of a people who have in no way threatened us. Our intervention is also a military and political blunder thrusting us toward what Blake calls a “tragic disaster.”

Blake believes with King that the war must be condemned because it delays the “economic and social development that freedom requires if it is ever to flourish in Vietnam, in the United States and in the whole world.” Further, “The Vietnam War is our excuse not to use our resources to win the war against poverty in our cities, not to establish racial justice in our nation, not to share sufficient resources to establish justice in Africa, Latin America or the rest of Asia. The Vietnam policy diverts us from achieving justice at home and abroad.”

Blake sees - as an increasing number of Americans are beginning to see - the solid practicality of relating a wasteful, needless, barbaric war in Vietnam with this nation’s failure to come to grips with poverty and bigotry at home. King was right in saying that conscientious men cannot pick up one of these burdens without assuming the other also, cannot make war on poverty at home without making war against war abroad.

If what Blake, King and hundreds of other responsible and respected Americans say is true, we must begin facing the horrible truth about the wasteful sacrifice of American life in the escalating war against the Vietnamese. Blake spoke the hard truth when he said: “But when the swamps of the Mekong Delta are filled up with dead Vietnamese and when the power of our youth lies dead with them, what victory will have been won? Force cannot obliterate ideas. The more force we use the weaker become our best ideals. The picture of a great and wealthy nation mobilising each month more and more of its unparalleled technological might to bring a tiny, long-suffering, dark-skinned nation to capitulation means clearly that the more we win, the more we lose and each American soldier dead or wounded is a useless sacrifice.

It may seem cruel to tell Americans who have lost loved ones in Vietnam that the sacrifice was useless or to warn others of us that when our sons go to Vietnam they will fight and die in vain. But the cruelty lies in the fact and not in the revealing of the fact, in the war itself and not in the condemnation of it. We are wasting splendid young lives with all their immense possibilities in a needless, futile war.

Blake appealed to the U.S. government to adopt the following policy. Stop bombing North Vietnam. This escalation has already been proved wrong militarily and psychologically. Make it clear that we will not impose our peace upon Vietnam. No longer is a Korea-type settlement possible. In a short time even a neutralising of Southeast Asia will be impossible. Agree with our allies in Asia and Europe that we will accept any peace that they will develop and agree to. Put our full effort to getting to the negotiating table. These are the opinions of an American who loves his country but who is convinced by his Christian faith and his world view that his country rushes toward “tragic disaster.” There is a way out, but thus far the President and his advisers have had neither the wisdom nor the will to embark on it.

— The Christian Century, May 17, 1967.

Honestly Speaking Again

(After publishing Dr. Baago’s letter “Honestly Speaking” in the July issue I had written to him for certain clarifications regarding his statements. I had asked him. The first major question is that, how do you read the New Testament in this particular context. I would like to know more about your picture of the Early Church, in its transitional stage from Palestinian into the Graeco-Roman world. The similarity between that Church and the present Church in India is of immense importance. And if the Gospel is to be spread over nations as the Early Church did then, the Church in India in particular should assess its position in the strategy of God’s plan. Secondly, the Church in India has come out of the belief that Christianity has no indispensable connection with the Western culture or people. We also do realise that the Christian faith must be taken in the vessel of our cultural heritage and within the context of the traditional religions. But is it really possible to have Hindu-Christianity or Muslim-Christianity or Western Christianity or Indian-Christianity? … Thirdly I do agree with you about the old interpretations of the Christian doctrines not being acceptable so also admire the attempts of people like Bishop Robinson in helping create new symbols. But the question remains, Can we really just throw away the historic past which may not be relevant to us? We all live in the darkness of our own age without realising it, and not necessarily hold the ultimate and the whole truth With our limited vision of the future and the knowledge of the past and the present, can we judge these matters as if on the infinite plane?

Here’s the reply from Dr. Baago which compels us to think anew regarding our faith and its expression.)

Dear Bojwal,

Thanks for your letter of August 7th. I am sorry that various travel as well as the arrangement of the Seminar on the Study of Religion in Indian Universities, made an early reply impossible.

Now, for the points you ask me to clarify, I shall take them in the order they appear in your letter.

1. Your question, “How do you read your New Testament in this context,” I take to mean: “Where in the New Testament do you find your view of Christian mission expressed, and where is the ‘transition’ from the Palestinian to the Greek-Roman mission described?” - or perhaps you had this question in mind: “Do not many words of the New Testament, the Great Commission included, contradict the ideas of mission which you have put forward? Not only the apostles, but Jesus himself seemed to expect and to order a missionary activity which must lead to conversion, to a new faith, to the baptism of the believer and the growth of the kingdom. Did Jesus not send out his disciples? Were they not to go into the world to spread the new religion?”

   One difficulty here is that, when we read about mission in the New Testament; we always do it in the light of the great western missionary activity that has taken place since the Middle Ages. Therefore, we put a meaning into the words of the New Testament which they did not have originally. “Conversion” we associate with the word “convert” and take it to mean a change of religion. “Baptism” we understand primarily as an entrance rite to the institutional Church. “The Kingdom of God” we very easily identify with the Church. The spread of the Church is for us the same as the spread of the Kingdom, although it might very well be that these two have nothing to do with each other. “Sending into the World” we understand in a geographical way, namely as sending missionaries to other countries, whereas the New Testament concept of the “world” applies first and foremost to the forces, that oppose the kingdom of love and justice. To understand what N.T. says about mission, we have to study it with fresh minds and not read our traditional view of mission into it.

   I am convinced that we shall then find that Jesus never anticipated a missionary activity like the one which we have established, and never imagined a church-institution like the one we have set up. For one thing, He never even attempted to make Jews denounce their old faith in order to join His “religion.” Neither did He ever try to convert non-Jews to Judaism. He was not interested in such changes of religious and social community He wanted disciples who followed His teaching and example of love, and it was His conviction that this is the only way of salvation, because man ultimately needs to be saved only from one thing; his own self, his self-assertion and self-centredness, It is this salvation which the gospel offers to Jews as Jews, Greeks as Greeks, Hindus as Hindus.

   As a symbol and sign of this salvation the apostolic church used to baptise people, and if baptism could regain its symbolic power and again become what it was meant to be, I would be a strong supporter of baptism. As it has developed however, baptism, has lost that power, and it will be impossible, I think to restore it and to cleanse it from all the wrong connotations it bears in India today. It is now merely a rite which raises barriers and hinders the spread of the gospel, and ought to be given up.

   As for my view that the gospel is to be planted within the religious and cultural framework of the nations, I find support particularly in the book of Acts, but also in the gospels. When talking about “missions” Jesus obviously was thinking in terms of peoples and nations, not individuals. In the great parable in Matthew 25 it is the nations, not individuals, that are judged. Similarly, in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19) which may not be authentic, however, He asks the apostles to make the nations, not individuals, His disciples. He did not, as the Pharisees (Matthew 23:15), try to draw individuals into the nation and people of Israel; all nations, Israel included, were regarded as equal by Him.

   Therefore, also Peter, at the stage where the Christian mission moved from Palestine into the Greek-Roman world, could say, “Truly, I see that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right, is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:30). And Paul could write, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord, of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him” (Romans 10:12). If we want to understand how universal the Christian gospel is, we have to translate it today; “For there is no distinction between Christians and Hindus, Muslims and Jews, white and coloured, caste people and outcastes, - for the same Lord is Lord of all.”

   How the Apostolic church underwent changes due to its transition from Palestine to the Roman Empire, both in liturgy and theology, I have described elsewhere. (International Review of Missions, July 1966). The beginnings of these changes can be found already in the book of Acts, and in the letters, where we see Paul not only fighting for his conviction that the non Jews did not have to become Jews in order to follow Christ, but also trying to relate the gospel to the history, the thought-structures and religious terminology of his non-Jewish audiences.

2. This takes us to your second point, “Whether it is really possible to have a Hindu-Christianity or a Muslim-Christianity, or a Buddhist-Christianity?

   My answer is that it is not only possible but necessary that such types of Christianity develop if the Christian gospel shall become relevant to Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. I know very well that many Christian theologians nowadays emphasise that the gospel does not speak to the man as a Hindu, but speaks to him as “man.” But where on earth do we find any such abstract being called “man!” The great majority of men are naturally rooted in the traditions and structures of thinking of the place where they live The cultural pattern must naturally mould also the Christian theology and worship. I am, of course, here speaking about the living traditions, the existing structures of thinking. For the Indianisation of Christianity in India we should not necessarily look to the classical philosophical systems, of which much seems to be dying, but to the living cultural forms in which Hinduism expresses itself today.

   In your question I also sense a query whether it is possible to have these various types of Christianity without creating confusion in the minds of people. Which of them would be the truth, Hindu-Christianity or Western-Christianity, or Buddhist- Christianity? Here we have to remind ourselves that none of the religions, Christianity included, is the truth. The truth is never a system which we can learn by heart and bind in books and put on shelves. It is a living power that liberates us from the slavery under false ideas, and in particular frees us from the compulsion that we must be religious to save ourselves, - the compulsion which Tillich calls “the yoke of the religion.” it comes into being again and again in different situations and in unexpected ways.

   As a Christian I have found that power first and foremost in Jesus Christ. Not that the historic person Jesus was the truth; I regard much of the worship of the historic Jesus in our churches as idolatry. But the power of truth shone through him in a way and to a degree as I have not found elsewhere. It is this truth which must come to birth again and again in the world’s cultures and religions, for religion and culture cannot be separated. In order to come alive truth has to clothe itself, or “incarnate” itself in many different terms and concept and thought forms, - as also history shows. This does not mean, however, that the truth becomes identical with these forms. There is always and always must be a dialectical tension between the truth and its religious expression in symbols and rites.

   A religion which is true to its “calling” always regards itself as an inadequate but necessary attempt to express the truth in human language and gestures. It knows that it is not in itself the truth, and that it only tries to point to the truth. If a religion (like western Christianity) begins to regard itself as the truth, then it becomes a corruption of truth, Then also truth itself turns against it and condemns it.

   You might ask then: can we not have a “religionless” Christianity, as Bonhoeffer suggests? In my view it is an illusion to imagine that any religion can exist without outward means of expression. Also, the “secularistic” religionless Christianity, which is developing in the West and with which, in its principle, I am much in sympathy, must eventually find words and symbols to express itself. If it does not, it will end in barrenness. However, it is no argument against the “modern” Christianity that it has not yet found the true symbols. Obviously such a development takes time, and in this transitional period we have to be content with a rather “thin” theology.

3. This leads to your third point. You write, “But the question remains. Can we really just throw away the historic past which may not be relevant to us? With our limited vision of the future and the knowledge of the past and the present, can we judge these matters as if on the infinite plane?”

Of course, you are right. Nobody can throw away his past. We are all determined by our heritage, and when the historian a hundred years hence is going to describe our way of expressing the gospel, he will surely find that we were all very much influenced by our past! But this should not cause us to say, either “since we cannot reach the absolute truth anyway, let us give it up,” - or, “Let us keep what we have, one theology can be just as good as another.” If we are not to end in pure indifferentism, our generation, like any other generation before us, has to choose. Even he who wants to keep the old symbols and the old doctrines, must do so according to his own personal choice if they are to be the truth to him. As Kierkegaard has taught us, truth is found only in the existential decision.

There are many people (the humanists) who asked Luther and Calvin how they dared to throw away so much of the established dogma and traditional worship. They agreed with the reformers in their criticism of the organisation of the Roman Church, and they could also see that the formula in which the Christian faith was handed over to them by the priests, were unacceptable; but they shrunk back from the unpleasant, risky task of answering the question. “What is then the truth for me, for us, here and now? But only he who has the courage to face that necessary question will ever find the truth.

In our age of secularism, of science and technology, none of us can escape the question of keeping or discarding a great many of the so-called Christian doctrines and forms of worship. For some of us they no longer hold any power of truth, while for others they are still meaningful symbols. Each will have to decide for himself. But if for a person they have lost the power of expressing the gospel, then he should no longer use them. To continue to do so out of old habit or under the pressure from the community or for fear of what others would say, is a dangerous thing. It affects the very integrity of his personality and drives him into all sorts of hypocrisy.

Surely, it is an unpleasant situation that follows upon the decision to give up these old belief and customs, for one thing because a new set of symbols is not handed out in exchange. One has to live among the ruins of the former system for a long time, before a new building may rise on the old site. But at the same time, the feeling of liberation is so great, and the task of building a new theology is so challenging, that one does not long back for the “safety” of the lingering structures.

I again apologise for the length of my letter and leave it to you to decide whether to publish it or not. In any case, I hope that my answers may be of some help to you personally.

With all good wishes,

Sincerely yours, (Kaj Baago)

-The United Church Review, October 1061.

The Bible Society of India

We rejoice and give special Thanks to God for the beloved treasure of the Bible. We may be thankful not only for having the treasure for ourselves but also because it is being translated and transmitted continually into other languages than our own, and that every year more and more people come to have it in their own dialects. During the past year the Bible Society of India issued first translations of Bible Portions in such languages as Anal, Boro, Dimasa Gangte, Gondi, Kon Rem, Korku, Kuki, Kuprukh, Lambadi, Lotha Naga and Zomi. Perhaps some of us had not even heard of such words before! Nevertheless, we can all rejoice that the people who speak those dialects have now at least a Portion of the Bible in the language they can understand. May God use these means to bring redemption and new life to them.

Behind the production of each new translation there usually lies a thrilling story of untiring zeal and devotion to God’s Word. We invite you to read the story of Bishop Richardson, and of how this man of God persevered at the task of translating the Bible into Nicobarese. One special reason for our publishing this story is that the Bible Society propose to use the Bible Sunday offerings sent to it this year for the publication of the Bible in Nicobarese.

The Nicobar Islands about 700 miles north-east of Madras are beautiful with their golden beaches and coconut palms. About 15,000 people of a Malayan race live there, chiefly in Car Nicobar where the land is good and fresh water plentiful. The Jesuits in the 16th century and Moravians later, tried to preach the Gospel but had to face the deadly Malaria. In 1895, a devout Christian teacher from Madras, Vedappan Solomon, went to Car Nicobar to set up a little school on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He was helped by a missionary in Rangoon. The Islands were then under the Government of Burma. Soon some boys were receiving instruction in the little school, and the local people who were animists gradually grew to respect the schoolmaster and his wife who taught the children their lessons and about the life of Christ. In 1900, 12 of the boys were baptised at the age of about 15. One of them was a particularly lively, well-built lad who was given the name of John Richardson. John went to Rangoon to a bigger school where he longed for the day when his own people could have better schooling. He therefore trained as a teacher went back to serve them. The work grew and so did the infant Church. The Bishop of Rangoon saw that John had a vocation to the sacred ministry and ordained him deacon and then priest. The work went on, and other congregations grew up in Car Nicobar where John was assisted by one priest and a deacon, both Nicobares, The work began of translating the Scriptures, Prayer Book and hymn. The missionary at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands worked on the New Testament assisted by John Richardson. When they got as far as Romans the missionary went away and John Richardson continued with the work single-handed.

Things went calmly on until 1942 when a dreadful thing happened. The islanders were caught up in the Japanese invasion of the Bay of Bengal when the fleet which bombed Ceylon went northward looking for a base which they found at Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, about 170 miles north of Car Nicobar. Car Nicobar was, not left in peace as it lay between Singapore and the east coast of India. Here was the place for an airport from which operations could be carried out against naval establishment in South India and Ceylon. The Nicobarese were put to work, but realising the purpose of the air strip they did not work with any enthusiasm. This led to the crisis. It was obvious that John Richardson who was greatly trusted by the people was at the bottom of a resistance movement. Finally, the Japanese Commander ordered the arrest of 33 persons with John Richardson who found himself in the prisoners-of-war camp where he spent his time comforting his fellow sufferers who had the agonising experience of being called out one each week, to be shot. No one knew whose turn was to come next. It was a war of nerves and John Richardson was the man to whom they turned for comfort and for a blessing before they went out to die. The numbers dwindled, and one day John had to bless his own son who was taken out for execution. The day came when only John Richardson remained in the prison hut. They had kept him for the last. On the appointed day the guard marched in and opened the door. John Richardson stood up to die. To his surprise the commandant bowed to him and said, “This day the Japanese Emperor has given peace to the earth. You are a lucky man. You can now leave the camp.” It was August 15, 1945.

John Richardson walked out of the jail to be given a hero’s welcome by his own people. Hundreds flocked to him for enlightenment and comfort. Little by little his congregation of 600 grew until almost all the Nicobarese of Car Nicobar numbering 10,000 embraced Christianity, It was plain that John Richardson was the apostle of the Nicobarese. He was the man to lead his own people. He was consecrated Bishop in 1950, and built up the flock and ordained the ministry. His headquarters is always Car Nicobar, but he was assisted by the Rev. M.D. Srinivasin, later Archdeacon, who in Port Blair was able to keep in touch with the centre of the Government. So the Bishop went on with his work and took the Gospel message to the other islands South of Car Nicobar where again the Church grew in Katchal, Nankowri and lastly Chowra where the witch doctors made their last stand. The Churches built of coral began to flourish, and the people followed him into the new day in which the islands come into the Indian Republic with new relationships to other people wider than the Nicobarese had ever known. Schools grew up and government hospitals. Visitors from the mainland would come. The Bishop had to go forward preparing his people for a gradually changing life in which they were learning to trade their copra with Calcutta and Madras.

But the main task now was evangelism and one of its greatest instruments was the Holy Scriptures. Bishop Richardson now over 80 is still busy finishing the translation of the Old Testament while the New Testament in Nicobarese is being printed in Car Nicobar with the aid of a small printing machine given by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. This was a profound joy to the aged Bishop who has done so much for the people from the midst of whom God called him to a special responsibility. He resolutely goes on with the work of translation and is now completing work on the Prophets. His one aim is to keep on with his translations and to preach the Word of God to his own folk until God calls him.

Let us specially remember in our intercessions Bishop Richardson and the Nicobarese translation.

Yours in the Service of Christ and His Kingdom,

(Sd.) A.E. INBANATHAN, General Secretary THE BIBLE SOCIETY OF INDIA.

(Sd.) LAKDASA Calcutta, Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan PRESIDENT

Benares United City Mission

(CLOSED IN 1948)

Ram Katora, Benares Cantonment, U.P., India

March 1931.

Dear Friends,

We have had our first baptism that of a Brahmin young man whose story I have written out fully and send along with this letter. We determined to have it in the River Ganges, and on the first Sunday in January at the noon hour, we gathered at a beautiful spot near the Assi Ghat quiet and away from the crowds of bathers. We had a short service in Hindi on the bank when Ram Krishna Misra answered the questions, declaring himself a disciple and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and his faith in Him as Saviour, Then, while we on the bank sang:

Jai Prabhu Yisu, Jai Muktidata
Jai Prabhu jai, Jai sada Bhakti jog
(Glory to Jesus, Wonderful Saviour)

Rajendra Chandra Das and he went down into the beautiful clear water, and he emerged taking the name of KRISTO MITRA (FRIEND OF JESUS), as he wished forever to renounce the Brahmin name. His lock of hair had been cut at our early morning service at home and he himself had broken his Brahmanical thread.

Our only sorrow (and his) was that Saraat Ullah, the Muhammadan youth who had been with us in the Ashram for nearly four months, was not being baptised at the same time. Saraat Ullah was a Pathan, but after his conversion was so thoroughly changed in spirit - so meek and humble and willing to do anything, that no one could believe that he had been a Pathan Muhammadan. He and Ram Krishna Misra had lived together in one room like brothers, praying and reading the Bible together and loving one another like David and Jonathan. Again and again we said “Here is the true solution of the Hindu-Muslim problem.” We had all expected and desired that the Brahmin and Muhammadan would be baptised together, but just a few days beforehand Saraat Ullah’s relatives came and carried him off. He went very sadly. His object was again to see his wife and bring her into the new life along with himself. He knew he was going into great danger but felt it his duty for his wife’s sake. If it meant detention, or death even, he was fully prepared. If he lives, we are sure he will come again.

In the past year we have had several cases of individual conversion and change of life which have not yet ripened into baptism.

As I specially want to introduce Mr. Das, our colleague since July 1930, I am asking him to write a few lines about his experiences in Benares.

Early in March there were terrible riots between Hindus and Muhammadans in Benares, but we have been kept in perfect peace, and personally I had the singular distinction of being voted on to the Peace Committee along with eight Hindus and eight Muhammadans.

Yours sincerely, J. CHADWICK JACKSON.

Jesus Not Buried in Kashmir

Zafrulla’s Theory Challenged

VARANASI, Nov. 2 (PTI) - Mr. Raghunath Singh, Chairman Hindustan Zinc Corporation Limited, former Secretary General of the Congress Parliamentary Party and convener of the Kashmir study centre of Congress Party in Parliament, who visited Kashmir, some 10 years back, has challenged the reported statement of Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan, former president of the United Nations General Assembly and now a judge of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and a reputed Islamic scholar that Jesus Christ was buried in Srinagar.

In a press statement, Mr, Raghunath Singh said that “there is no historical record prior to Sixteenth Century to prove that the grave of Jesus Christ is in Kashmir.”

Mr. Singh, who himself has written a “commentary of Raj Tarangini of Kalhin” running into about 300 pages and now under print said there are some writers, who have compared the life of Sandhiman, a noted Sanyasi with Jesus Christ, but it does not mean that Jesus Christ was buried in Kashmir.

Mr. Singh said he would give a detailed account of it after reaching Delhi.

Challenge by Masihi Samaj

Mr. Miltan Charan, president of the Bhartiya Masihi Sudhir Samaj, has also challenged the statement of Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan saying that the statement of Sir Zafrulla Khan about the burial of Jesus Christ in the City of Srinagar is ‘totally unrealistic and baseless. It is historical and Biblical fact that the Christ was crucified and buried in the city of Jerusalem. His own new discovery about the crucifixion and burial of Jesus Christ is merely a latent political move and a malicious intrigue, Christ never came to India to preach in Kashmir,’ he said

The statement said, The new discovery of Sir Zafrulla Khan that the inhabitants of Kashmir are the descent from the lost tribes of Israel, who could not return to Palestine after captivity in Babylon is politically a baneful move. From this self discovery of Sir Zafrulla Khan it is quite evident that he is virtually executing a pre-settled political move to create chaos in the world.

Apparently he wants that the inhabitants of Kashmir may be looked down upon by the Muslim countries for being the descent of the Israeli tribes at a time when the United Arab countries and Israel are on war path.

— N.I. Patrika.

A Hindu Follower of Christ

(Copy of letter dated 1-9-65 from Rao Sahib K. Subba Rao, B.A., B.T., of Munipalli, Guntur District, to Mr. C.D. Airan, Tirumalagiri, A.P.)

My dear Brother Airan,

I am rough in writing. I use ‘you’ for humanity. Do not be offended I am mannerless. I cannot help. But I love.

What do you mean by the word “God”? Where is His abode? Have you seen God? How do you know that there is a God? What is His form and shape?

Think well and write to me. Most of the so-called knowledge about God is not your knowledge at all. You heard it from someone. Much of it is superstition and nonsense. You believe that what others said is true. You base your arguments upon that supposed Truth. This superstitious nonsense is called religion. So any man of religion must necessarily be a fool to some extent.

God created man. In this God is believed to be a person. Do you agree? Have you seen Him? Then why should you believe? “Someone says so” is no argument at all. I say “Man created God after forgetting himself.” Is there any meaning in it?

I write these things to you in order to give you some mental exercise. Think well and let me know your reactions.

Man learns everything by imitation. There is no other means of learning. The words you use, your talk, your walking and every other behaviour is nothing but imitation and repetition. When once learning takes place, unlearning becomes almost impossible. But unlearning is the first and foremost thing for a man who tries to become “perfect.” You learnt certain foolish things, customs, manners, ceremonies, prayers, worships, religion, etc. To unlearn those things now is rather impossible.

Rather you try to drag every fresh knowledge under that. You think that every fresh knowledge is simply an interpretation of that. You learnt to love the world - Mammon. Now you came to know, by hearing, that friendship with the world is enmity with God. So you have now to learn to love the Spirit. So unlearning of “loving Mammon” should precede. First you have to hate Mammon. Then alone “loving the Spirit” is possible. Christ said this - Christ did this. Hence, He is the Teacher and you are the pupil. You must join the school of this great Teacher. And you are His pupil. The only qualification for admission is unlearning of loving the Mammon - Renounce, hate, avoid the world. You should and must renounce the world in word, thought and deed. Christ laid down this condition without any exemption. It is rebirth. Nothing short of this (let alone the madness of Baptism and foolishness of a religion) can qualify you for admission into the School of Christ.

You can become a Christian by religion and baptism. But, as He said, to the children of Zebedee. He does not know you. The entire teaching and practice of Jesus is this, nothing else. A reborn man can no longer love this dust and his body is part of the dust. This rebirth takes place in the mind. Brainwashing must be done. Calling Rama by the name of Joseph is not rebirth. Calling a dog Tiger does not make it a tiger.

Imperfection is matter, perfection is Christ. This change, this process is not seen with eyes. It happens in the twinkling of the eye. It is an internal revolution. Only a man who has become perfect (Christ) can help you also to become perfect (Christ)/ The perfection of Christ made the Word of Jesus perfectly powerful. When He said, “Woman, sin no more,” the woman could no longer sin.

How to renounce - how to deny self - how to hate the world - is the only problem for a seeker after Truth. And if you can solve the problem you too will become Christ. For this you have to learn and imitate and live just as He lived. Renounce like Him, annihilate the self like Him, live and die for others like Him. That is the WAY; that is the only WAY. That is TRUTH. That is LIFE everlasting. Mind nothing else. Religion, Baptism and all the rest do not come into the picture.

So you cannot but imitate Christ. You cannot but learn from Him. To live like Him, you have to know Him and His life. To know Him you have to love Him - complete Love excluding everything else. You have to go into His mind. You have to assume His nature. You have to conquer yourself like Him. All this effort is called worship and prayer. When your worship is fruitful you will become one with Him and you will thereafter have no independent existence. Your mind is a part of His mind. Your life is a part of His life. You are saved. You become part and parcel of Christ. In such a state, whether I ask you or not, “You don’t worship, you don’t pray.” The worshipper and the worshipped are one - only one.

The very purpose of prayer and worship is to become one with Christ. Prayer and worship are just the means. You are praying and worshipping the means. You have not yet become Christ, or you misunderstood the meaning of prayer and worship. The meaning, the aim and object of worship and prayer, took an ugly shape called Baptism. And lost in the wilderness of religion beyond recovery. Poor people, lost the goal, the aim and ideal and became slaves of religion and baptism. Religion and Baptism are mistaken to be the end, not the means. Instead of imitating (worshipping) Jesus Christ, they are worshipping Religion. And they beg and beg days and night, and call this begging by that meaningless word “prayer.”

Armies of preachers there are in this world. Every fellow teaches. No one lives. No fellow asks us to live like Christ and die like Christ. Instead, every fool asks us to embrace Religion and take Baptism. It is high time that these preachers (slaves of the belly) should stop all that nonsense called preaching. Fools have the guts to teach as things which they do not know.

Bible is translated into almost all languages. But why did they not translate the word “Baptism?” Is it for the purpose of deceiving - a trade trick in the market of religion? It is like the “Mantram” of Hindu Brahmins.

Ceremonials are useless. They are harmful. They mislead. Prayer and worship, without being Christ-filled, are the worst form of ceremonials. It is a pity. Salvation - giving life of Jesus - has been watered down into worship and prayer. Dear Brother Airan, let the so-called Christians do those foolish things. Do not mind it. But you. Get yourself detached from the world and our body which is a part of it. Conquer your self. Imitate Jesus so that you too may become perfect. Love Jesus to know Him. Love Him so that your self may be gone. Then alone you can live for others. Living for others is worshipping Christ. Living for others itself is freedom from bondage of the body. It is Salvation. Living for yourself is dreadful hell. You become a Christian; now you must become Christ. This effort to become a Christ is Prayer, Worship, and all that. In one word - Live like Him, die like Him. Let worship and prayer go their own way. Don’t mind them. Take courage. Be brave. Do not be timid about prayer and worship. Be brave. Prayer is practical living like Christ. If it means anything else, it is not for us. Do not delay. Be brave. Be sensible. Your religion will not save you. Your worship will not save you. Christ does not need your worship, but showed you the Way to wash the feet of His disciples in all humility.

Live like Him, Die like Him. That is the essence of all philosophies.

Yours in Him, Sd/- K. Subba Rao, 1-0-1965

Comments

(Bro-Subba Rao is exalting half-truths to a superlative degree and denouncing over much certain falsehoods).

1. We always know by hearing. The simple man can never learn of God aright in a direct way except through the mediation of somebody because God is all righteous. Sin cannot directly contact the Good - the Shivam-Apapibidhwam. The important matter is what is the man like from whom we hear? The best definition of God is that he is like Jesus. “He that hath seen me (Jesus) hath seen the Father.”

2. Yes, man has created God in his own image everywhere except in the biblical history. There in the Bible, God reveals himself to man, almost thrusts himself to man’s attention, he calls and leads his, he commands him and reigns over him. The God of the Bible is an active aggressive God. Man listens and obeys.

3. “Ceremonies, prayers, worships and religions are not entirely ‘foolish’ things, though they are of secondary importance.

   Brother Rao’s remarks are too sweeping “Madness of Baptism,” “foolishness of religion.” These are too strong words abusive and derisive. Ordinary decency would refrain from using such language. The Christ, his apostles, his saints through the centuries are all fools and mad as they have themselves practised these mad and foolish things and taught them to others. An ugly shape called Baptism must be inconvenient to Brother Rao because it tests one’s sincerity of faith and life as nothing else does. Because it is the most effective means of confessing Christ before men, as long as a man is not baptised in the name of Jesus Christ or of the Holy Trinity he can safely hide himself under the catholic canopy of Hinduism or simply anonymity or nondescript. It is a safe haven for all those who want to be at peace with the world without struggle that truth involves. Jesus Christ himself assumed this ugly shape and taught his disciples to present it to the whole world. Jesus Christ thus became a lunatic Fool. And this is true.

   Yes, ceremonies by themselves are useless and harmful, and they also mislead. But it is men who really mislead and spoil their usefulness. The misleading principle is in the human heart-sin-impurity, selfishness, disobedience.

4. “Even fresh knowledge” will have to be learnt by hearing from others. Veda is Shruti. The Rishis uttered into the ears of the disciples who heard. Even Jesus did so. But his disciples also saw the Word walking in the way of Truth and Love.

5. “Renunciation, hatred, avoidance, detachment of the world and the body.” Such language is not helpful to understand the Christian truth. Our Lord never taught the disciples to hate or renounce the world or the body but asked them, through his grace, to sublimate the body and rise above the world by regulating them by the spirit. God and his righteousness are primary and these things (world, matter, body, wealth, etc.) are secondary but necessary for the fuller life. All those in India who through the ages have renounced and avoided the world have become parasites doing little for others - consequences are 7 crores of untouchables and many more crores of lower castes and Tribals who are submerged in the under world. India must awake to her sense of responsibility for this outcome of her wrong spiritual teaching of renunciation, hatred and avoidance of the world, matter and body.

6. A reborn man will love the more ‘this dust and his body’ in order to redeem it. This dust and body are God’s creation and are not meant to be discarded but purified and used by his soul. We cannot separate mind and matter, body and soul. They are inseparable. If sin in the soul is removed it ought to have its healthful effect on the mind and body. Then salvation is complete. Salvation is health. It is the wrong teaching of the Hindus and the Greeks that matter is evil and entices the soul. Rather it is the sinful, crooked, twisted and wilful spirit of man that leads the mind to error and makes the body sick with disease. This is the Christian teaching. Matter is neutral. Soul is active and creative.

7. “Armies of preachers in the world are all fools and slaves of the belly.” God forgive Brother Rao for his crass ignorance. The very language disqualifies him to be a preacher himself. He claims to be the only one whose preaching is not nonsense? Height of spiritual egoism.

8. The word “Baptism” has been translated in many versions of the Bible as ‘Abagahan’ (immersion), ‘Snanadiksha’ (initiation by bathing), Dikshaspana (Do.) etc. The Greek word ‘Baptitzio’ means “to wash.” As translation in different languages, including English, often leads to misconstruction, controversy and unhealthy division it has been thought wise to retain the original word intact.

9. However, we appreciate and commend to our readers the last words of Brother Rao’s letter to Brother Airan. “Live like Him (Jesus). Die like Him, That is the essence of all philosophies.” Excellent preaching, but how to do it? Can weak and sinful man, do it by his own effort? Or does he need the uplifting power of the grace of Jesus, which is available through faith in Him? Who dares to die like Him without being washed by His precious blood?

Who dares to imitate Him without the power and virtue of his sacrificed death and vicarious suffering on the Cross? Only puny proud man may think so and will soon be frustrated.

Brother Rao’s advice and preaching to Mr. Airan are full of truths, half-truths, as well as falsehoods and inconsistencies. Such lopsided and oversized teaching must mislead the unwary. Brother Rao never mentions the Cross or the Resurrection or the need of divine grace for sinners. He does not think of sin at all. Can the natural man be united with God or be Christ like simply by meditation? It is a delusion.

— Editor Church of Christ.

Some Letters

On the High Seas Towards Cape of Good Hope

September 4, 1967

S.S. Laos

My dear revered Brother, It has been my desire to write to you all I feel, think, and strive about the responsibilities seekers like us have to fulfil in our lives without hesitation and reservation. I meditate on this, at a stage of my life’s pilgrimage when I have had opportunities to come into direct contact with Christians of the west and have worked hand in hand with my brethren there. I know that my coming to the lotus feet of our Lord - the glorious Christ and my merging myself in Him and in his everlasting kingdom have a special significance. This truth I have been realising more and more now than in the past. This has also enabled me to behold the Indian spiritual world - yes, I will not hesitate to say, the Hindu world - with the Christian eyes of toleration and understanding by which I have gained an understanding, in its natural and true perspective - an insight which we either reject through our fanatic attitudes or do not pay much attention to it for this or that reason.

No use blaming the past which has done its wonders when we had no idea of the real picture of the Christian way of life. It has helped us to come into direct touch with the positive side of it and thus enabled us to go deeper into the Christian mysteries and transformed our life itself. Let people quarrel over this doctrine or that dogma, but for us these are secondary; for have we not merged ourselves into the heart and soul of the Lord Himself? Man-made barriers cannot separate us. This we can understand better than those born and brought up midst traditions for generations in the western world.

This makes me think of that great Christian messenger - Manilal C. Parekh - whom we have lost just a few weeks ago as I see from the letter I got from his daughter just before I left Jena University. A noble soul he was. In the world’s estimation he is dead. But when we think of the source of his experiences, he is still alive with more power than he could uphold when he was in the physical plane. I owe him so much for my firm footing on the Christian path. I came into contact with Parekh. It was in 1933, just a few weeks after my conversion on the European soil. I knew the step I had taken without fear or favour was the right one. It was His Call - the Inner call that prepared the way to merge myself with Him and in His Call. I knew many of my countrymen, and in particular, heroic men and women from the highest strata of Hindu society, responded to His Call the moment our Lord was presented to us from the right perspective. These great seekers and discoverers inspired me so much - indirectly and unconsciously that even in my school days as a young boy. I was proud of them, and they had become my preceptors. But Parekh attracted my special attention.

So also Appasamy. For, their writings, which I was privileged to read, strengthened my step and enabled me to go deeper into the truths and meanings of Christ and his work. He also, a noble soul, has guided me in finding what good things we can utilise from the Hindu Religion and Philosophy for inner enrichment as Christians born and brought up on the Hindu soil. As a churchman Appasamy is very cautious in what he expresses in this direction. But Parekh is a fearless man. He has found in Christ a mighty personality who is the heart and soul of the Hindu spirituality as well. It has been his conviction that a Hindu Seeker drawn to Christ need not wage a war - as the converts have been taught by the Christian preceptors - against the Hindu society, Hindu Culture, or Hindu tradition. It is the responsibility of the convert to behold the Light, nothing but the Light, and illumine his new life and new Path with that eternal Light. This approach of Parekh enriched my life all these years and in his physical death I have lost a great leader and a good friend. I never met him personally but the correspondence I had the privilege to have with him has been a great source of inspiration and guidance. I do hope and am confident, that one of these days I can prepare a monograph of his life and work with the material he has left with his family in Rajkot.

The other noble and dynamic soul who helped me in upholding my faith is Chenchiah whom you know (Shri P. Chenchiah) a Brahmin convert - was a lawyer of the Madras High Court and for a time chief Judge of Paducotah State, also Editor of the Pilgrim - representative magazine of the “Christian Society for the study of Hinduism” Varanasi, for 3 years. Chenchiah was one of the most penetrating thinkers among Christians. Just recently the Christian Institute for the study of Religion and society,” Bangalore, 17 Millers Road, and the National Council of the Y.M.C.A’s of India, 5 Russell Street, Calcutta 10 have jointly published “The Theology of Ohenchiah” by Prof. D.A. Thangasamy - as No. 1 under the series of “Confessing the Faith in India” (R.C. Das).

“Bharat Khrist Sangh” - this great organisation and Church Fellowship - the creation of your genius and loyal attachment to the Christian Faith on the Indian soil - can do much in upholding our distinctive approach to our Lord with the Indian background. To some extent we have tried to develop this phase in our “Nava Kristu Sangh” in the south. In our objects we have clearly indicated that non-Christians - this clearly means the children of the Hindu Faith - are welcome as members of the Sangh, so long as they understand our approach to Christ and are willing to extend their support as devotees of Christ. Through such fellowship and brotherhood, I am one who feels and dreams that Christians and Hindus can live and work together for preserving, deepening and communicating the faith of Christ at the indigenous level. There may be theological differences, but we need not pay too much attention to them so long as our Christian integrity and loyalty to the Person of Christ as Saviour and God are intact, and the strain of his life flows in our veins and the wonderful Light of the world guides us from the Unreal to the Real, from the Darkness to the Light and from the Death to the Immortality.”

Some weeks go I wrote a long letter to you. This I forwarded to Dr. Appasamy with a request that he should kindly go through it and pass it on to you.

I am also in touch with my successor to the office of President, B.K.S., through letters. I am hoping to meet him after I am back home and strengthen his hands in the work.

We need you and your guidance to have a firm footing for the Christian Faith on the Indian soil. For Christ and India are inseparable for us. Do not you think so? With all my Praname to you.

Yours in His work,

JOHN NARAYAN (Dr. Venksta Narayan Sharma, Ph.D.)

(B)

37 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010, November 2, 1967.

Dear Friends,

You will be glad to hear of the great improvement in the health of Archbishop Modak. The recent cardiograms show Archbishop’s heart being quite normal. He is up several hours each day but is still extremely weak.

The important report in this letter is that Bishop R.S. Modak was elevated to the position of Archbishop of the Indian Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church on October 28th 1967, by Archbishop K.C. Pillai, of the same Church, assisted by Archbishop Gladstone Nurse and Bishop William Miller of the African Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. Mr. R.S. Modak, Bishop Miller, Miss Ethel Young sang the hymns. Mr. Sudheer Tiwari acted as Bishop Modak’s Chaplain, carrying the Crozier (Bishop’s staff) before him. The service was held in the Chapel at 37 Madison Avenue, NYC, as Archbishop Modak’s health did not allow us to hold the service in a distant place. Several persons, including the clerk, made short speeches expressing their satisfaction at being present when so godly a man as Ramkrishna Modak was recognised with the title and position of Archbishop in so ancient a Church with succession of Bishops from the first Christian Church, that of the Patriarchate of Antioch.

The Degree of Doctor of Literature was presented by Archbishop Pillai to Archbishop Modak, having been sent from England where the Patriarch of Antioch resides, Basilios Abdullsh III. This Degree was given to Archbishop Modak in recognition of his understanding of and contribution to Oriental Studies, Comparative Religion, Christian literature, and his service to the Church in the East and West.

Twenty-nine persons were present, Indian Christians and Hindus and Americans. The size of the Chapel precluded a larger audience. Dinner was served to the Bishops and refreshments to the guests after the service.

The evening was inspiring and uplifting to all present, especially as part of the service was in Thanksgiving for the recovery of health of Archbishop Modak. Prayers were offered for God’s blessing on his future service to the Church in co-operation with its present leaders. God’s Blessing was sought for his projected return to India. The date of our departure for India depends upon Archbishop’s full recovery from his illness. He was able to sit through about four hours of the dinner and service. His full strength must be restored before he undertakes the strenuous journey home.

Acharya R.C. Das -

Your life full of activity at your age is a great encouragement and assurance to Bishop Modak. He sends his respectful regard to you. On his return to India be will certainly collaborate with you. He and I hope to meet you face to face and jointly plan and work for the glory of Jesus the Christ.

(Mrs.) M.R. Modak, Dictated by Bishop Modak.

(C)

Miss Veema Parekh, M.A., B. Ed., B.T., (Wardha), Lady Superintendent and Principal, Shri Lohana Sthapic Mahila Vikas Gruna Honorary Magistrate, Children’s Court, RJT. DISTRICT.

Harmony House, Rajkot (Gujarat) Date 14th September 1967.

Respected Shri Uncle,

Two days back I read a small note of yours asking about my father’s health etc. I am very sorry to say that my father expired on 17-6-1967. He died very peacefully at our residence at the age of 81. I am his youngest daughter working in an institution for discarded women and widows. My father was very active till the last day of his life. He was a patient of T.B. for the last 60 years. Through God’s Grace alone he lived a very happy and a pious life. We are trying to publish his books and Mss. Please write to me. I like to be in touch with my father’s friends.

With kind regards,

Yours Sincerely,

(VEEMA PAREKH)

(Bhai Mondal was a valued and beloved friend. He and I of about the same age, we found our saviour and Lord in Jesus Christ, he in 1915 and I in 1908. We soon became fast friends as in 1919 he lived with me in St. John’s College, Agra, for a while, where I was teaching at the time. He not only taught and preached in different churches and among other groups in India but also in many other countries of the world. He was a cosmopolitan Christian, a true member of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic church. We shared many ideas and convictions as regards the Christian faith and its role in the context of the spiritual and social culture of India. It was a misfortune and a first class blunder on the part of the church missionary ridden and western oriented, that such a humble, devout and loving soul a dhoti wearing and vegetarian Jain = a practical disciple and follower of Christ, could not be fully integrated in the visible Fellowship of Christ and had to confine himself in his generous and loving family group of the eminent qualifications of head and heart of a convert who had been a missionary of the Brahmo Samaj could not be utilised for the widening and humanising of the lives of Christian leaders who have been living in narrow theological and cultural grooves. The loser is the church and not he. He has left behind him a host of personal friends of fame and faith both within and outside the church in this country and overseas. With an aching sense of temporary separation I offer my tribute of appreciation and love to the memory of a true friend and brother. May God, our Heavenly Father, the God of all comfort and peace, console and guide the bereaved survivors - in particular Srimati Veema who is engaged in such noble and sacred service of humanity.

Rajendra Chantra - an unworthy disciple of the Lord)

(D)

To: The Rev. R.C. Das, M.A., Shastri, Vidyaranjan, Acharya - Khristpanthi Ashram, Varanasi.

Our Dearest Acharyajee,

We the members of the B.K.S. (Bharat Khrist Sangh) take great pleasure in presenting, today the 10th September 1967 - This little address on this 80th birthday of yours - our beloved Palak Pramuth.

In the world men come and go like other natural things or beings. They leave remembrance in particular to successors. But the best creation of the world, human beings, was bestowed with knowledge, freedom, wisdom, power and judgement to prove its superiority so that they may leave something behind them.

The Lord gave talents to each and every, individual according to one’s capacity and faithfulness.

To our great satisfaction we find in you - our Acharya - one, whom God entrusted with colossal power and responsibility, and you have judiciously, and happily discharged all your duties throughout your life.

We know of the event when after your conversion you were caught by a perilous river storm during a journey by steamer in the river Padma. The captain of the boat offered life buoys to the passengers as the steamer was about to sink. You caught two life buoys in your two arms to be saved. The next moment you realised that it is Christ who can save you and not the buoys, at once you threw away the buoys and kneeled down and prayed to the Lord saying “Oh Lord! Here is a man whom thou hast saved and chosen, now if thou wantest me to do some work for thee, do pacify the storm as thou didst in Galilee and save me, the boat, and the inmates.” To the surprise of all concerned the storm abated in a minute.

The Lord did hear your prayer and gave you a long life to do His ministry.

All through in your life you have reflected a childlike simplicity, imparted true and correct interpretation of the Bible and never did fear to speak the truth however unpleasant it might be and gave straight forward guidance to the soldiers of the Cross.

Perhaps in their selfish interest or because of some prejudice the leaders of Churches did not reward your scholarly genius, and they kept aloof from you for their racial prejudice. If they could have adapted themselves and utilised your talents in a Christian spirit great achievements would have been made in the Christian enterprise.

We fervently hope and believe that your lifelong labour will not go in vain. The seed of independence and indigenisation of Churches that you have sown will yield its fruits in due course of time, though one may discern signs of improvement already manifested in the life of the Church and in the policies of the foreign missions due to your selfless - service in this regard.

We pray to our dear Lord that this 80th Birthday of yours may add to you many more returns of the same with the showers of His richest blessings. May good health, happiness and the glory of the Lord be your constant companion.

Yours affectionately and loyally,

S.K. SARKAR, BOLPUR (W.P.)

(E)

37 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. December 2, 1967

My dear Friend,

Mrs. Modak and I have finally decided to arrive in Bombay at 5 A.M. by Air India on December 21st. We will stay at our son, Shaburao’s house on the 21st and 22nd and leave for Ahmednagar on the morning of the 23rd, arriving there the same day. We will spend Christmas in Ahmednagar and return to Bombay later. At present, we think that it should be possible for us to spend New Year’s Day in Bombay.

My health is much better, by the Grace of God.

Mrs. Modak and I hope to see you sometime after our arrival in India.

We wish you well and request you to convey our blessings to your family and your congregations. So many people prayed for me earnestly in India and the United States, and I am very grateful to them all. I pray to Jesus the Christ, our Saviour God that He grant you and your family and congregation the best of everything.

With affectionate regards and blessings from

Mrs. Modak and myself,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/ Archbishop R.S. Modak.

(F)

From: Sadhu A.N. Sircar, 22-11-67.

Gospel Team, Katpadi Township, Vellore, N.A.

Revered Dada,

Please accept Pranama from both of us. It is a long time we have had no news of you. How are you and where at present? Please write and give your good news. We shall be happy. Through the Lord’s grace we are at present fairly well. But recently my wife’s health was bad. She had to be in the C.M.C. Hospital for 2 months. She suffered from an attack of the jaundice. Her eyes and body became yellow. Even now she is weak and doctors have advised rest and only part-time work (She is a doctor herself - Editor). There have been no crops this year on account of drought. We do not know what is the Lord’s will.

For some time I have formed a Gospel Team with the help of ten young men. Two of them have become my disciples. They live with us in our home, and we bear all their expenses. The rest live and work outside.

On Saturday afternoons we go out to a village and carry on preaching and healing work till about 2 or 3 A.M. in the night. In the mornings on Sundays from 8 A.M. to 2 P.M. the same. Then on Sunday evenings - 6 to 8 P.M. there is a Gospel meeting for which many may turn up. God is using us wonderfully. The work is autonomous and self-supporting. There is no dependence on church or mission help. The villagers themselves print the hand bills and distribute them.

Dada, you have many old copies of valuable and important books in the Ashram Library. It is not clear who will maintain your Ashram and Library after you. If you will kindly sell me some of your books I will open and keep a Library here with care. (A box full of books will soon be sent to Sadhu Sircar - Editor).

Who is in the Ashram at present? How is Shefali’s mother (the sister - sevika - Editor)? Please remember us in your prayers - the work, and my wife’s health in particular. Our son - Samar - is in Class V in English school. Why not come and stay with us for a while? Yours affectionately,

— Seviek Amar

(G)

Thyregodvej 47, Brande, Denmark, Oct, 20, 1967.

Dear Christian Brother,

From my friend K. Baago of Bangalore I have come to know of you and your ashram. From my years in India and my travels there (1923-27) I became very interested in the development of a genuine Indian form of Christianity. In Madras, I partook in the meetings of the Christo Samaj in V. Chakkarai’s house, where I met P. Chenchiah, Kandasamy Chetty and others, One year I attended the Bangalore Conference, I was an intimate friend of Manilal C. Parekh. We exchanged many letters, in 1926 we even travelled together in parts of India, and after my return to Denmark he used to send me the books he published. I visited B.C. Sircar’s ashram at Puri, but have had no connection with him since, and I do not know whether the ashram still exists.

From Baago you will probably know that I agree with him in his views as he has expressed them in writings and lectures. I am fully aware of the necessity of spreading these views both in Denmark and in India. For many years I have contributed to our Nordish Missions Fidsskuft (Northern Missionary Review) and I am supporting Baago in his views. It is also important that we that are one in the Christian endeavour in India should be linked together in written word and in the spirit. Would you kindly send me your paper “Church of Christ” that would help me to an understanding of your work and your practical problems.

With my best wishes for your ashram and your work for the Church of Christ in India.

Yours in Him, Aksel J. Knudsen.

In the Fellowship of Faith and Work

A. We offer our warm felicitations to the Rt. Rev. Ram Krishna Sahu Modak, M.A., D.D., on his consecration to arch-bishopric under the auspices of the Patriarchate of Antioch (Syria) the most ancient apostolic and orthodox Gentile church. We hope on his return to his homeland we shall be able to unify and reinforce the independent and indigenous churches and groups of Christians scattered throughout the country under one inclusive and synthetic constitution. Let us pray in this regard and for the recovery of Bishop Modak to full health and strength.

B. We welcome back home Dr. V.N. Sharma, Ph.D., after a years absence in Europe for cultural and literary work especially in the Universities of Germany and Switzerland. He, with his devoted German wife, is the Principal of the Children’s Garden School, Madras. Dr. Sharma was President of the “Bharat Khrist Sangha” for over 4 years and retired only recently. He is also the chief organiser of the ‘Nava Sangha’ and its representative magazine in Telugu. Let us hope that he will still inspire and guide us with the light of his extensive experience.

C. Rao Sahib Subba Rao is an unbaptised Hindu believer of Christ. He has been gifted by the Holy Spirit with the power of healing in the name of Jesus. He has been dealing with hundreds and thousands troubled with diverse diseases and sicknesses through faith and prayer in Andhra Pradesh. Let us thank God for his life and work and pray that he may be guided through love into ever revealing and fuller truth.

D. Pastor David Dutt of Calcutta together with his good wife, and Dr. Cambell of U.S.A. with two other preaching sisters have recently (in October) visited Varanasi. The fine big tent which his late father and our Brother Nahol Dutt had made and used was set up in the Cantonment area where for full 8 days assisted by Pastor E. and Mrs. Mull and members of their congregation, hundreds of Christians, and non-Christians heard every night the full and mighty Gospel of Jesus Christ. The services were impressive, though a bit too much repeated and too long extended. Many have been convicted of sin, have promised to believe and follow Christ, and some have received forgiveness and salvation.

E. Shri Santosh Kumar Sarkar - a Representative of the Standard Literature Company - Secretary of the “Khrist Mandali” of Bolbor-Shantiniketan, a constituent of “Bharat Khrist Sangh” stayed in the Ashram for nearly two months, and we had good fellowship in Bible reading and prayer. Brother Santosh is not very well, suffering from a painful arm and weakened teeth and his good wife, Treasurer of the Church, has been suffering from eye trouble. Let us remember both of them.

F. Acharya Das received his sister and a nephew for a while and together went to the Punjab via Allahabad, Agra, Delhi, visiting his several children and grand children. The visit of the Rev. S.K. Mundle of Howrah, St. Thomas Church for 10 days gave us great pleasure. Fr. Mundle intends to study the principles and ideals of Ashram life and hopes to come back in next March extending his tour to other parts of India.

— Executive Secretary - B.K.S.

East Pak Wants Ties With India

New Delhi, Nov. 26 (UNI) - While West Pakistan newspapers continue their bitter tirade against India, comment in East Pakistan has openly come out in favour of India-Pakistan co-operation.

The Pakistan Observer, pointing out that it is East Pakistan and not India that has suffered economically because of suspension of trade between the two countries, says: “We are now importing coal from some countries at much higher rates than Indian coal.”

“With trade policy revised, we could have saved a major chunk of about Rs. 35 million and over Rs. 10 million which East Pakistan and West Pakistan spend respectively on import of this commodity between July 1966 and June 1967.

Jute

The ‘Purbadesh’ pleading for resumption of trade between India and Pakistan says, “If an agreement could be arrived at between the two countries, Pakistanis could get a good price for their jute; the Indian jute mills could work three shifts and India would not have to grow jute in place of paddy.”

The paper says that the closure of East Pakistan waterways to Indian shipping for transit between West Bengal and Assam has not hurt India because of alternative routes like the Assam rail link.

But Pakistan has to spend a large amount on the upkeep of these waterways which are no longer in use, and in addition has to suffer a loss of over Rs. 20 million annually which it used to earn from Indian shipping.

The paper adds: “If Pakistan extend transit facilities to India, we could get coal from Ranigani and Asansol at one third of the price at which it is being imported currently from Australia and China.

“We could also meet shortage of limestone for the cement factory at Chhatak. We would no longer be required to buy bricks Rs. 125 per thousand instead of Rs. 70 per thousand.

“Bamboos and thatching material frow Tripura could also be readily available and all this could help Pakistan to save a lot of foreign exchange.”

The paper says if arrangements could be made for international use of the Ganges-Brahmaputra waters it would solve East Pakistan’s irrigation problems in North Bengal and at the same time India would not face the present problems with regard to the Calcutta port.

"Northern India Patrika."

(This is the right and wise attitude, nothing will please Indian Government and the people more than this sort of friendly and neighbourly co-operation. For political reasons, the people of both the countries are suffering. - Editor)

Notes

1. Aggression Pays

It has paid in the past, it is paying in the present, and it will pay in the future. But whom does it pay? It pays the aggressor. Yes, it pays the rich, the mighty, the tyrant, and the wicked. Yes, it pays the autocrats, the monarchs, the Emperors, the Feudal Lords, the War Lords, the Dictators, the military, the oligarchical bureaucratic systems miscalled Democracies, the capitalist and colonialist usurpers misnamed humanitarians and servants of God and society.

It has paid in Korea, in Kashmir, on the Himalayan border, in Hungary, in Congo, in Palestine (Arab land), Suez (it almost did), in South Africa; it is paying in Vietnam. It has paid U.S.A., USSR, China, U.K., Portugal, the Boers, and Pakistan. It has paid the mighty, the civilised, the religious. The consequences have been slavery, exploitation, oppression, poverty, squalor, debt and death of billions of human beings - the great majority the workers, labourers, peasants, artisans, craftsmen of scores of underdeveloped and submerged countries of Asia and Africa. Innocent men, women, children, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques and temples have been ruthlessly destroyed.

The U.N.O. have been looking on in impotency and frustration. They have no effective power except persuasion. The organisation has more than once come to the breaking point. A Hammerskoldt, a Kennedy has been sacrificed at the altar of Peace. U. Thant has been frustrated almost to neutralisation. The League of Nations came to an end for more or less similar reason. Why do not the advanced and intelligent nations do the right? Because of selfishness. The big nations monopolise power, make and dictate policies in their own self-interest, not in the interest of the world’s general welfare and prosperity; though some of them throw large alms at the needy peoples out of their superfluity with political strings attached. Yet, we should not allow the U.N.O. to disappear. It is a forum for grievances, complaints, and needs to be displayed and discussed, and it provides an opportunity to create a world conscience. Why is it so, that tyranny, oppression, and violence are rampant in the world today? It has been so from the beginning from the days of Cain. If anything proves the depravity of man, the world situation does. The Prince of the world is ruling and will rule till the Judgement. We must struggle against injustice and violence with patience and present the Saviour to the whole world.

2. Floor-Crossing

Floor-crossing in Legislatures is immoral, dishonest and defiant. It is the root cause of the fall of some of the Governments in the states. If the game is allowed to go on, it may one day overtake the centre. The whole thing is motivated by selfish gain. None of the Governments has had time to look after administration parties and oppositions, have been indulging in this indecent pastime of power politics and betrayal.

In nine States Leftist Governments have been installed after the general elections only six months ago. How can they be toppled? Except by unfair means and conspiracies? If a member honestly changes his views, the straight forward course for him is to resign and face the electorate on a fresh ticket. There has been some talk about the unsatisfactoriness of this situation, but the Congress Party seems to be complacent about it and is conniving at the antics of some ministers and legislators. Probably, they think that by allowing and even encouraging such dishonest manoeuvres they will succeed in getting back their control in all the States.

One of the reasons given by the Bengal Governor in dismissing the popular ministry there is that Ajoy Mukherjee (the C.M.) wanted to gain time by putting the date of calling the Assembly for a trial of strength as late as the 18th December so that he might woo the disgruntled members back to his Party again. Why should he not be allowed to do it? Other Governments and other Parties are continually at the game back and forth, but that has not aroused the ire of the Centre! Why are they so partial to Bengal and Leftist Governments? Would 2/3 weeks, delay have made much difference? If the Governor is so afraid that Dr. P.C. Ghosh and his obliging followers might be tempted or cajoled to go back again, it is quite clear that such persons are fit neither to rule nor to legislate.

Clear injustice has been done to W.B. out of some motive. But the people have the ultimate say. They must pass their verdict in a midterm election to remedy the situation. Much valuable time of our ministers and legislators and huge good money of the people are being wasted to satisfy the passions and whims of a few in the name of Democracy. Let the evil of floor-crossing be stopped for good all over India. Let members of all legislatures honour their pledges to the electorate. Otherwise, consequences will be dangerous for the country.

3. Food Problem

For many years past we have only had promises, assurances, sermons, pledges and even bravado’s from our food ministers both in the Centre and in the States that they will check the prices of foodstuff and other essential commodities from going up. But every month and week in every year they have been spiralling bigger and bigger. As a result, millions of people have been starving, half-starving, have had no homes and no clothes. Is this the national fruit of political freedom? The fruits are there but are monopolised by a few classes and individuals. Food ministers have had no national or rational policy. They have filled the country with all sorts of control, Zonal restrictions, rationing system, but they cannot supply the needed amount of food. They have not been able to root out corruption and black-marketing in their own administrations and departments and smuggling on the border. This shows that they are either inexperienced, or inefficient, or just holding the portfolios for personal gain of power, position and pelt. They have no idea of serving the people nor of doing their bare duty for the salt they eat. While people starve they enjoy feasts and pleasant and costly trips. Government have never admitted starvation deaths. Of course hardly anybody dies of simple starvation which is forced fasting. It is a long process. But thousands die of the effects of starvation and malnutrition on the stomach, liver or the whole body. They acquire deadly diseases. Is that not starvation death? Our Governments have been quibbling over an accurate definition of starvation sitting in easy chairs in an academic fashion, while thousands of stomachs burn of hunger.

According to statistics nearly 10% of our food grains are destroyed for sheer negligence of our administrative officials. There is mal-distribution of food. There is corruption from top to bottom. No law or rule is faithfully obeyed. What is the hope of the country when our supply officers are involved? The strict eye and the care of the British I.C.S. and the Governors kept the whole administrative system in perfect trim. Some of us remember those days of justice and fair play, honesty and faithfulness, reliability and integrity. Do you not think that we need something of that firmness and efficiency of the hated British?

One wishes that all restrictions were gone, we had an open market; and consumers, producers (cultivators and workers) and traders met face to face.

That would be more tolerable. Controls have produced monopolies, induced corruptions, and have placed the masses of the people at the mercy of big business and Government. Fer God’s sake, let us have some relaxation and freedom and heave a sigh of relief.

4. The Trouble With the Hill Tribes

We think all sane and farseeing people in India will agree that Delhi and Shillong have both erred in dealing with our brethren in the hills of Assam. The Centre in particular has been vacillating, procrastinating and lacking in foresight and political wisdom. The present situation seems almost out of control. Some well-meant warnings have not been heeded by the Government. Immediately after the Chinese attack or at least since Pakistani war upon India our leaders and rulers ought to have sealed the borders with Pakistan, Burma and Nepal. How all these years the rebels have had a free and easy passage to Pak or Burma passes one’s understanding. Some lame excuses have been trotted out by ministers that the terrain area is difficult to guard. We are always told that our Jawans are very brave and tough and moreover we have the Hill Regiments. Have they defected. Some sort of arrangement ought to have been made as soon as we attained freedom, because we knew Pakistan was not friendly. Undoubtedly there has been military negligence. Though there has been some repression of the Nagas and in NEFA in the past. But military solution alone is not enough.

What about the economic, social, educational health projects for the Tribes? Have they been treated equally with the rest of India? Immediately after freedom adequate schemes for communication in NEFA, Naga Hills, Manipur, Mizo areas, and Lushai Hills ought to have been implemented. That NEFA is a strategic area dawned on our rulers understanding after the Chinese threat. There ought to have been plans for road making for motor vehicles and caravans, schemes for airport and air services, hospitals, village dispensaries, schools, colleges, even a university, as well as cultural centres in all the towns. The Centre has had large funds for such work. Quite a few world organisations would be ready to lend a helping hand. Is it true that some funds for works of amelioration were given and not utilised properly? Has the wrong been righted? Measures can even now be undertaken to ease the situation.

These tribes are a determined, freedom loving and courageous people and would be a great asset to India as a whole. They have a highly developed culture and a racial ethos. Most of them are Christians though some still remain animists. But the tribes have certain common features. Racially they are akin to the Chinese or the Burmese, so they ought to be handled carefully, and an emphatic insurance be given that their cultural and social life would not be touched. And politically also they ought to be assured of full autonomy under the constitution. Or they may be treated as Union subjects rather than allied to Assam. For their own reasons they are frankly suspicious of plains people and Hindu civilisation. It is good that some members of the Fellowship of Reconciliation have started conciliation work on the border areas of Kacchhar and Sylhet. The N.C.C. ought to have a team of workers there on behalf of the Indian Church. We are frankly of opinion that any Hindu Sadhu or Sanyasi or Hindi enthusiast going there will help make a mess of the political situation which ought to be tackled promptly and strongly.

5. Foreign Missionaries Asked to Leave India?

There has been much furor over this matter in the daily papers and among Indian Christians. But there is no authentic pronouncement by the Government up to date (24-11-67). It is all newspaper reports that the visas of missionaries will not be renewed so that in 5 years time there will be very few, if any, missionaries left in India. Possibly the Government is thinking along this line, but there has been denial that they have adopted any now policy. They may act in this way as there are groups among Hindus who are against all foreign missionaries. They may have to be placated. Then, there are far too many Christian missionaries in India than there are Hindu missionaries in America or England to justify the former’s continuation here. Moreover, security reasons against all foreigners have always been an urgent consideration especially after Independence. It is a fact that missionaries, who have, in recent years converged on border areas adjoining China, Pakistan, Nepal, have been asked to withdraw. Especially the Assam Government have claimed that they have found some missionaries guilty of subversion and sympathy with the enemy and the rebel hill men. As missionaries preponderate in number over other foreigners in these strategic areas it is no wonder that they have been asked to quit under the Foreigners Act and not simply because they are missionaries. Christians have unjustified suspicion of governmental discrimination. It is to be noted that despite certain organisations and representative bodies in existence to take up their cause, missionaries themselves have not made any great fuss over this matter. As a matter of fact it is Indian Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, strangely enough the laymen more than the affected clergy and mission servants, who have been carrying on sensational agitation through the Press and on the platform. The result is that the Indian Christian public as a whole have been panic-stricken, as if their homes and churches have been burnt, and they have been ordered to the concentration camp. Now this sort of pleading and active agitation on the part of Indian Christians in behalf of the foreign missionaries clearly puts the former in a compromising position. There will be more suspicion now than ever before that Indian Christians are not loyal to the country of their birth and do not depend on it, but they look to the west for sympathy and support. There are many communities in India, but why should the Christian community be getting generous foreign helps for nearly two centuries in north India? Is this not sheer favouritism and discrimination in national life? By getting a lion’s share of this unsolicited charity the Hindus do benefit from the mission conducted hospitals, dispensaries, schools, colleges, leprosarium, T.B. Sanitaria, welfare schemes, church aid food and medicines, various kinds of Ashrams and Homes for the care of widows and the aged etc. In the case of Hindus there are, and there can be, no strings attached. But conditions placed upon national Christians are mostly unwritten conventions or unconscious influences. For example, native Christians feel they must imitate and follow the manners and customs, and culture of their spiritual fathers. So they dress like them, eat like them and live and move like them. The writer of these notes has lived in U.P. for over 10 years and has hardly seen any considerable number of urban Indian Christians wearing any local dress. Their personal names are mainly foreign. In councils, synods, and conference, all members wear even today matchless American or English dress. They know nothing about Indian culture nor have any sympathy for it. Acharya Das of Varanasi has been hooted out from meetings of the so-called independent and layman’s organisation - the I.C.A. because of his Indian dress and patriotic attitudes. This is a direct result of the close social religious and financial relationship of Indian Christians with missionaries. Then they must follow the theology, church tradition, methods of worship of the sect or country of the missionary. This is much more damaging. There is no hope of Christianity and Christian life being related to the culture of India. This position is being reinforced by the church union movement. The foreignness of the church through its missionary trained Indian leadership will be tougher. The church and its religion and thought life have been and will remain an exotic shadow and a close houseplant. It will be an irritating thorn in the flesh of the body politic of India like Islam. What is the hope of a united nation of India?

Apart from the political aspect of the question, it will be good for the Church if missionaries took their hands off from the building up of its life and work, from teaching its western theology and from directing its religious life through their own western system of worship and pattern of preaching. Foreign missions have developed about 30 theological colleges, schools, seminaries and have stuffed the brain of young Christian Indians with the missionaries own national thinking - doctrines, traditions, ideas - most of which remain undigested and unreconciled with the thought patterns and life features of India. The Church here can develop its own powers of leadership - original and creative - its talent and genius, only when missionaries and their regulated grants of money are withdrawn from Church development work. Missionaries are ambassadors of the Gospel and Peace of Christ. Let them preach in the proper way by disclosing and presenting Christ in the biblical and apostolic way. Let the Church be relieved from the twin burdens of foreign money and interference by missionaries in building the church on indigenous lines which rightfully belongs to Indians under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They need not quit India where they have large scope for preaching, teaching, dealing and relieving human suffering. That will be good for both the Church and the country.

An Apology

On account of depleted staff and illness among workers in the Press the publication of this issue of ‘Church of Christ’ is considerably delayed. Trust the readers will excuse the delay. - Editor.

Fellowship of Reconciliation

A Christmas Meditation

Members of the Fellowship throughout the world believe that as disciples of Jesus they are forbidden to wage war, and are called instead to a life service for the enthronement of love in personal, social, commercial and national life.

Their programme has only one focus - love as revealed and interpreted in the life and death of Jesus. Nothing less will serve. Nothing more is needed.

May this be our focus this Christmas, and inspire our work throughout 1968.

— Marjorie Sykes.

Edited and Published by:

Rev. R.C. Das, M.A.,
Khristpanthi Ashram,
129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi, India

Printed at:

Evangelical Press,
“CHRIST NAGAR MISSION”,
Badagayedapadavu Post, Mangalore Taluk, S. India