A Real Humanitarian
I was talking to Shalini, Jess and Shalini's friends after work yesterday... And they were joking about my being a Christian and being very religious... (My not drinking or smoking didn't help one bit...) They even said I would use holy water and the cross to exorcise ghosts and such... I wasn't offended or anything... But I just realized how clueless they were... (fyi... holy water and the crucifix are for catholics.. I'm a protestant... )
Really... Christianity is not about rituals or routines… It is about a relationship and restoration…I dun believe in holy bread or holy water (no offence to my catholic frens)… I dun believe in making a picture or a statue out of my impression of God... Because He is so big! He cannot and would not be fitted into a fixed item... I feel these things are man made….Man's creations... To make us religious and to distract us from having a very personal relationship…. Can the creation really recreate the Creator? I doubt it... Perhaps some can have these symbols around and not be distracted... But that's not me....
I believe God doesn't want us to be distracted from Him… I mean... Which person would like their frens to talk to them routinely… like the conversations I have with the security guard at drik… ami pathshala jabo (i'm going pathshala)…or tomi kamon achen (how are you?)… bhalo achi(i'm good). God is a person… like us… and he wants a lively and interesting conversations with us... like the kind we have with our best friends and loved ones... The most interesting part is... Even if you are not Christian… He still hears you… cos He loves all of us... When you know Him, we are placed at a higher position than angels! (That's biblical btw...)
A relationship with God (I realized) is never boring or routine… but ever changing and interesting…. I really learnt to see more and more of that as I came here... Cos I had more time to talk to Him... And because I am far from home, He is my source of familiarity... Just last night, I (surprisingly), I did not feel homesick... Instead, I felt a joy in being able to feel secure in a foreign place... That security was not by accident... I knew that people at home were praying for me and I too was constantly spending time talking to God... That made all the difference....
But to some, this might be abit over the top... Like it's hard to understand... Then perhaps we can talk about Jesus... The man who was on Earth and did great things... He was known as the Son of God... Not because people said it... But because God from heaven said that this is His Son... In who He is well pleased...
What was Jesus like?
Jessica (the other girl with me in Dhaka) is very interested about helping the less fortunate… She’s quite a human rights activist… Got the humanitarian blood… Many people are like her… But they all dunno that the one person they are emulating is Jesus… the real Human Rights activist…
In the 3 years of Jesus’ ministry… He did everything that NGOs and volunteers attempt to do now for the third world countries or war torn countries: bring food, bring medical care, look for justice. He fed the less fortunate people… like the poor and the widowed and the young… He did not despise anyone, not even the ones that the people themselves despised… except those who were abusing their power… The Pharisees etc… He came to heal the lame, the blind, the sick…. He brought restoration to people who were miserable or discouraged… like counseling… only better…. These incidents were all described in detail in the bible...
And He did even more! He died for us….Took away the consequence of sin… So that for eternity we would be taken cared of too…. Can any NGO promise that? The promise of not having to suffer the consequences of our own wrong doings... I doubt it….
What is most unfair... is that many of these NGOs and volunteer groups are getting the recognition for all they are doing... Yet no one is willing to acknowledge the one who started it all... Instead they just brush Him aside as another religion....
Being a christian is not in anyway an excuse to not do anything for the needy... (Just cos everyone is going to heaven... or wat not)... Instead, it is a discipline to be like Jesus in the way He served people... met their needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually... But rather than take credit for myself for the things that I do... I want Jesus, the one who first loved us and did all this for us, to have all the credit...
Really... Christianity is not about rituals or routines… It is about a relationship and restoration…I dun believe in holy bread or holy water (no offence to my catholic frens)… I dun believe in making a picture or a statue out of my impression of God... Because He is so big! He cannot and would not be fitted into a fixed item... I feel these things are man made….Man's creations... To make us religious and to distract us from having a very personal relationship…. Can the creation really recreate the Creator? I doubt it... Perhaps some can have these symbols around and not be distracted... But that's not me....
I believe God doesn't want us to be distracted from Him… I mean... Which person would like their frens to talk to them routinely… like the conversations I have with the security guard at drik… ami pathshala jabo (i'm going pathshala)…or tomi kamon achen (how are you?)… bhalo achi(i'm good). God is a person… like us… and he wants a lively and interesting conversations with us... like the kind we have with our best friends and loved ones... The most interesting part is... Even if you are not Christian… He still hears you… cos He loves all of us... When you know Him, we are placed at a higher position than angels! (That's biblical btw...)
A relationship with God (I realized) is never boring or routine… but ever changing and interesting…. I really learnt to see more and more of that as I came here... Cos I had more time to talk to Him... And because I am far from home, He is my source of familiarity... Just last night, I (surprisingly), I did not feel homesick... Instead, I felt a joy in being able to feel secure in a foreign place... That security was not by accident... I knew that people at home were praying for me and I too was constantly spending time talking to God... That made all the difference....
But to some, this might be abit over the top... Like it's hard to understand... Then perhaps we can talk about Jesus... The man who was on Earth and did great things... He was known as the Son of God... Not because people said it... But because God from heaven said that this is His Son... In who He is well pleased...
What was Jesus like?
Jessica (the other girl with me in Dhaka) is very interested about helping the less fortunate… She’s quite a human rights activist… Got the humanitarian blood… Many people are like her… But they all dunno that the one person they are emulating is Jesus… the real Human Rights activist…
In the 3 years of Jesus’ ministry… He did everything that NGOs and volunteers attempt to do now for the third world countries or war torn countries: bring food, bring medical care, look for justice. He fed the less fortunate people… like the poor and the widowed and the young… He did not despise anyone, not even the ones that the people themselves despised… except those who were abusing their power… The Pharisees etc… He came to heal the lame, the blind, the sick…. He brought restoration to people who were miserable or discouraged… like counseling… only better…. These incidents were all described in detail in the bible...
And He did even more! He died for us….Took away the consequence of sin… So that for eternity we would be taken cared of too…. Can any NGO promise that? The promise of not having to suffer the consequences of our own wrong doings... I doubt it….
What is most unfair... is that many of these NGOs and volunteer groups are getting the recognition for all they are doing... Yet no one is willing to acknowledge the one who started it all... Instead they just brush Him aside as another religion....
Being a christian is not in anyway an excuse to not do anything for the needy... (Just cos everyone is going to heaven... or wat not)... Instead, it is a discipline to be like Jesus in the way He served people... met their needs physically, emotionally, and spiritually... But rather than take credit for myself for the things that I do... I want Jesus, the one who first loved us and did all this for us, to have all the credit...
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 8:46 AM
1 Comments:
thanx man.. I like your comments too... You're the only one who gives them...
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