Or… My fall from Grace
Or… Why it is difficult to be a Christian in Mizoram
Or… The things that people do that makes you NOT want to do what they do.
A Mizo-centric Post.
December 2006 was the most memorable experience I ever had in my entire life.
I went to a Spiritual Rehab Camp and spent nearly a month there. I was on the verge of becoming an alcoholic back then. What I experienced, changed me forever. I led a new life from then on, quit my immoral lifestyle and had a “NEVER AGAIN” tattooed on my arm to remind me never to go down that lane again. Now I just drink socially only on very special occasions (like my previous post) and am no way going to lead my old life again.
But when my friends and relatives asked me back then, I never used to say I was a born-again. I simply told them I had an amazing born-again-like experience. Because among other reasons, I was still heavily smoking and eating kuhva-hring (our local paan) even after the Camp, which I felt were two of the Worldly temptations people need to give up before they could call themselves Born-agains. A part of me just couldn’t admit that I was spiritually re-born.
I started writing about Christianity-related articles. Stuff that I experienced and believed in. Some of them even appeared on “Jesus Calls” magazine and many Christian websites. It felt really good for a while, to be able to play even a minute role in spreading the name of our good Lord.
But then, being a writer and a reader, certain issues stared clashing in my head. Things that I used to believe in, weren’t exactly in line with what the preacher was talking about.
One such preacher went on the pulpit and sermoned about Hnam-feeling on the topic of Inter-racial relationships! What has Christianity got to do with this? At one point we were taught that our faith in the good Lord comes before anything else. And then suddenly there I was, listening to a person implying that our identity in being a Mizo comes before our identity in being a Christian!!!!!
Frankly speaking, I can understand people who talk about “identity” and isolationism. It happens not only all over India but throughout the World wherever there is a small close-knitted society. But for the love of God, please do not mix that with religion.
What about Christian non-Mizos? Are they “evil” according to this preacher? Believe me, there are a lot of non-Mizos who are wayyyyyy more Christian than many many Mizos. Having written many articles about Interracial relationships and how anti-miscegenists misinterpret the Bible, like "The Curse of Ham" for example, I had the sudden urge to stand up right there in the middle of the Church and debate with the speaker. And then I wondered, had I really done that, would I be branded as a blasphemer or a 666 ?
Well, if they had called me an anti-Christ, it wouldn’t be the first time.
A few fanatics call me a devil worshipper, simply because my arms are covered with tattoos (and I listen to Gothic). They throw verses from the Old Testament at me.
Leviticus 19:28
Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
Funny though, that the same Leviticus chapter, right before this verse states:
Leviticus 19:27
Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
And yet I see a lot of clean shaven Christians among those calling me a devil worshipper.
People say it is easy to be a Christian in Mizoram because it is a Christian majority State. Well, let me tell you the truth. It is HARDER to be a Christian in Mizoram than any other place in the World.
So what if Christians are persecuted in some of the Arab nations and a tiny village in Africa? So what if Christians are hunted in China and North Korea? In Mizoram, your intellection and ability to rationalize things get persecuted.
First of all, there is the community pressure. You either join the bandwagon or become an outcast. So sometimes people don’t really know if they are Christians purely out of what they believe in or because of what their neighbors believe in.
The danger to this is that, people not really sure about their faith, start coming up with their own interpretation of Bible verses. Ridiculous interpretations that magnifies their illiteracy. The Bible is not just our Holy Book. We need to study it deeply. We cannot just modify verses from it so that it benefits us.
Secondly comes the community gossips.
My mom is a good Christian. She has instilled Christianity in all her four children and I am what I am today because of her. She has shown me the love and passion of Jesus Christ. But I heard from my friends who heard it from their mothers that some of the other mothers in our locality ridiculed my mother’s faith in Christianity.
Why? Simply because she never takes part in the daily early Morning Prayer service at our local Church where many mothers come. Unlike most of the other mothers who are housewives, my mom is pushing a highly responsible job as a Reader and senior Lecturer at CTE while looking after my two nieces. With none of her four children at home and a husband who retired way back in 1998, she simply has no time for this daily service, although she never misses the Wednesday night, Saturday night and Sunday services. What rights do those jobless so called “Christian” mothers have, to bitch about my mom?
Third reason: The fact that people exploit Christianity to get what they want. I am so sick of seeing politicians and officers with shady backgrounds stand on the pulpit to deliver the message of Christ. I’ve seen those same politicians try to use their influence in the Church to get votes during election time!
My dear Mizoram burns slowly, and this pains me so much. When will the people of Mizoram wake up? Church leaders, please do not accept those huge chunk of donations from politicians… it may look generous, but most of it is dirty money from corruption. Corrupt tithe makes the Church corrupt.
The fourth and final reason why it is so difficult to be a Christian in Mizoram?
Ridiculous sermons.
I will put this up in the sequel of this post. It’s about the crazy stuff that I’ve heard people say to the mass. Stuff that makes you cringe on your seat… It’s a pretty long post, so I have divided this into two so as to capture your utmost attention.
The greatest danger to all these is that people can actually lose faith in Christianity because of such rubbish floating around. I have seen my own friends wane away from Christianity because they are fed up of all the absurd bullsh*t that is shoved down their throat. One of my closest friends from Chanmari, a name that I frequently mention on my blog, renounced Christianity a couple of years back, and it really breaks my heart to see that.
More and more people will start voicing their displeasure publicly. Our sad little city where the shit doesn’t stink and The Other Side are just two of them. I know, I cannot change the way such people think and I have no rights to do that either. I respect them for such honest thoughts, but I can definitely try changing the system to prevent others from thinking that way. That is my prerogative.
A prayer, no matter how small, is never lost.
We take pride in sending out so many missionaries all over the World. I agree that is a very noble deed, but I sincerely feel we need to clean up our own backyard first. Random people who “experienced the light” should by no means be allowed to preach. Preaching is not just about what you went through. You should also have the ability to be a good speaker and make the audience listen. Leadership is a must quality here. No wonder politicians make such good preachers.
Hope you will come back to read the second part to this post.
See you, and keep the faith. God bless you and God bless Mizoram.
- Kima.
Or… Why it is difficult to be a Christian in Mizoram
Or… The things that people do that makes you NOT want to do what they do.
A Mizo-centric Post.
December 2006 was the most memorable experience I ever had in my entire life.
I went to a Spiritual Rehab Camp and spent nearly a month there. I was on the verge of becoming an alcoholic back then. What I experienced, changed me forever. I led a new life from then on, quit my immoral lifestyle and had a “NEVER AGAIN” tattooed on my arm to remind me never to go down that lane again. Now I just drink socially only on very special occasions (like my previous post) and am no way going to lead my old life again.
But when my friends and relatives asked me back then, I never used to say I was a born-again. I simply told them I had an amazing born-again-like experience. Because among other reasons, I was still heavily smoking and eating kuhva-hring (our local paan) even after the Camp, which I felt were two of the Worldly temptations people need to give up before they could call themselves Born-agains. A part of me just couldn’t admit that I was spiritually re-born.
That, and a few other reasons.
I started writing about Christianity-related articles. Stuff that I experienced and believed in. Some of them even appeared on “Jesus Calls” magazine and many Christian websites. It felt really good for a while, to be able to play even a minute role in spreading the name of our good Lord.
But then, being a writer and a reader, certain issues stared clashing in my head. Things that I used to believe in, weren’t exactly in line with what the preacher was talking about.
One such preacher went on the pulpit and sermoned about Hnam-feeling on the topic of Inter-racial relationships! What has Christianity got to do with this? At one point we were taught that our faith in the good Lord comes before anything else. And then suddenly there I was, listening to a person implying that our identity in being a Mizo comes before our identity in being a Christian!!!!!
Frankly speaking, I can understand people who talk about “identity” and isolationism. It happens not only all over India but throughout the World wherever there is a small close-knitted society. But for the love of God, please do not mix that with religion.
What about Christian non-Mizos? Are they “evil” according to this preacher? Believe me, there are a lot of non-Mizos who are wayyyyyy more Christian than many many Mizos. Having written many articles about Interracial relationships and how anti-miscegenists misinterpret the Bible, like "The Curse of Ham" for example, I had the sudden urge to stand up right there in the middle of the Church and debate with the speaker. And then I wondered, had I really done that, would I be branded as a blasphemer or a 666 ?
Well, if they had called me an anti-Christ, it wouldn’t be the first time.
A few fanatics call me a devil worshipper, simply because my arms are covered with tattoos (and I listen to Gothic). They throw verses from the Old Testament at me.
Leviticus 19:28
Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
Funny though, that the same Leviticus chapter, right before this verse states:
Leviticus 19:27
Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
And yet I see a lot of clean shaven Christians among those calling me a devil worshipper.
People say it is easy to be a Christian in Mizoram because it is a Christian majority State. Well, let me tell you the truth. It is HARDER to be a Christian in Mizoram than any other place in the World.
So what if Christians are persecuted in some of the Arab nations and a tiny village in Africa? So what if Christians are hunted in China and North Korea? In Mizoram, your intellection and ability to rationalize things get persecuted.
First of all, there is the community pressure. You either join the bandwagon or become an outcast. So sometimes people don’t really know if they are Christians purely out of what they believe in or because of what their neighbors believe in.
The danger to this is that, people not really sure about their faith, start coming up with their own interpretation of Bible verses. Ridiculous interpretations that magnifies their illiteracy. The Bible is not just our Holy Book. We need to study it deeply. We cannot just modify verses from it so that it benefits us.
Secondly comes the community gossips.
My mom is a good Christian. She has instilled Christianity in all her four children and I am what I am today because of her. She has shown me the love and passion of Jesus Christ. But I heard from my friends who heard it from their mothers that some of the other mothers in our locality ridiculed my mother’s faith in Christianity.
Why? Simply because she never takes part in the daily early Morning Prayer service at our local Church where many mothers come. Unlike most of the other mothers who are housewives, my mom is pushing a highly responsible job as a Reader and senior Lecturer at CTE while looking after my two nieces. With none of her four children at home and a husband who retired way back in 1998, she simply has no time for this daily service, although she never misses the Wednesday night, Saturday night and Sunday services. What rights do those jobless so called “Christian” mothers have, to bitch about my mom?
Third reason: The fact that people exploit Christianity to get what they want. I am so sick of seeing politicians and officers with shady backgrounds stand on the pulpit to deliver the message of Christ. I’ve seen those same politicians try to use their influence in the Church to get votes during election time!
My dear Mizoram burns slowly, and this pains me so much. When will the people of Mizoram wake up? Church leaders, please do not accept those huge chunk of donations from politicians… it may look generous, but most of it is dirty money from corruption. Corrupt tithe makes the Church corrupt.
The fourth and final reason why it is so difficult to be a Christian in Mizoram?
Ridiculous sermons.
I will put this up in the sequel of this post. It’s about the crazy stuff that I’ve heard people say to the mass. Stuff that makes you cringe on your seat… It’s a pretty long post, so I have divided this into two so as to capture your utmost attention.
The greatest danger to all these is that people can actually lose faith in Christianity because of such rubbish floating around. I have seen my own friends wane away from Christianity because they are fed up of all the absurd bullsh*t that is shoved down their throat. One of my closest friends from Chanmari, a name that I frequently mention on my blog, renounced Christianity a couple of years back, and it really breaks my heart to see that.
More and more people will start voicing their displeasure publicly. Our sad little city where the shit doesn’t stink and The Other Side are just two of them. I know, I cannot change the way such people think and I have no rights to do that either. I respect them for such honest thoughts, but I can definitely try changing the system to prevent others from thinking that way. That is my prerogative.
A prayer, no matter how small, is never lost.
We take pride in sending out so many missionaries all over the World. I agree that is a very noble deed, but I sincerely feel we need to clean up our own backyard first. Random people who “experienced the light” should by no means be allowed to preach. Preaching is not just about what you went through. You should also have the ability to be a good speaker and make the audience listen. Leadership is a must quality here. No wonder politicians make such good preachers.
Hope you will come back to read the second part to this post.
See you, and keep the faith. God bless you and God bless Mizoram.
- Kima.
