The situation is changing. Especially in politics. Many are calling for a ceasefire from October 7th, the day HAMAS slaughtered hundreds of Israelites. But a few voices called out to release Israeli hostages taken by HAMAS.

The same day protests carried outside many Israeli embassies, including London. Israelis were the victims but many condemned Israel for their civilian deaths. The left-wing, LGBTQ+ and almost every Muslim are united against Israel and conducted rallies in most Western countries.

How come an LGBTQ+ person holding a placard shows relentless support to HAMAS which executes a Palestinian who identifies as LGBTQ+? This is like someone says 2+2 is 5 not 4. It doesn’t seem to make sense at all.

I am not a political activist. Just an ordinary person who works 37 hours per week, and lives with a wife in a bed semi-detached private rented house. I attend the local church service every week. I don’t want to be involved in politics and I like to read books mostly history and Christian theology books.

Why Jew-hatred is so immense in Western city streets, universities and media? In the last seven months every Saturday, Pro-Palestinian rallies in London’s high streets. London is one of my favourite go-to places on weekends. Not any more.

I am not a Jew. I am terrified when I see and hear antisemitic slogans in the UK streets. Imagine being a jew. Antisemitism has become visibly normal, not to be condemned anymore in the Western world.

Yesterday (10th March 2022), India’s 5 state elections result was released. Without any surprise, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wins 4 out of 5. Most importantly, wins in Uttar Pradesh(UP), a state which holds the most number of parliamentary seats. It concretes Modi’s next term as the prime minister of India. Also firms Ajay Singh Bisht, aka Yogi Adityanath’s pitch as the future of the BJP or future prime ministerial candidate of BJP.

Though UP is not a front-runner state on social welfare development as Niti Aayog index 2021 lists UP at the bottom, the election results show otherwise. Yogi wins comprehensively. Why the people of UP do not consider the state’s administrative skills as a voting consideration? Moreover, the second COVID-19 wave wrecked the state, many lost lives and crematoriums ran out of their capacity. Many dead bodies flew over the Ganges, and its shores became a massive burial ground.

The anti-conversion law is active in UP. Who does it benefit? Clearly, the upper caste Hindus and the BJP party are the ones. But how did the people react to it? Presumably positive. In 2002, J. Jayalalithaa, the former chief minister of Tamilnadu brought anti-conversion law. But it did not go well in the next election. Her party did not win a single seat in the 2004 union poll. The result made her repeal the law of anti-conversion. So the recent state-level election in UP has shown that people accept BJP’s agenda ‘Anti-conversion Law’.

Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Tribals are the main victims of this bill. They are the targets this anti-conversion law affects mostly. Their loyalty has been questioned? Many converts to Islam and Christianity are from the Dalits and Adivasis. And Muslims and Christians have their faith rooted in the Middle East unlike Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism emerged from the Indian sub-continent.

OpenDoors watchlist ranks India ten in the world among persecuted Christians. It is not an assumption but on facts. The Christian population is only less than three per cent of the Indian population of 1.4 billion. Hindus occupy more than 80%. However, projecting minority Christians as a threat to majority Hindus is a conspiracy rather than a reality. But people are facing a dilemma to discern what is real and what is not real? UP election is an example of how people are confused and believe Hindus are in danger under minorities, especially under Muslims.

Not only is anti-conversion law against the Indian Constitution, but it is also against Muslims, Christians, Untouchables and Adivasis. The anti-conversion bill is the anti-minority.

Manisha Valmiki, a 19-year-old Dalit girl was from Hathras, UP was brutally gang-raped and assaulted by four upper-caste Thakur men on 14 September 2020.

2. Found lying on the field bleeding and naked

The incident has happened when she had gone to collect fodder for the cattle. She was found by her family in the fields, naked, bleeding, with multiple fractures and a slash in her tongue.

3. Police took a complaint only after 8 days

The police claimed her tongue was cut because she bit it while her attackers were trying to strangle her. Her family gave a formal statement on 22 September 2020.

4. Died in the hospital after 15 days

She fought for her life in the intensive care unit (ICU) for 15 days and died on 29 September 2020.

5. Cops burned the body against the parents will

On the same day, the UP police cremated the girl’s body amid protests as the family members said they were not allowed “a last look” at the corpse and did not allow to perform the last rituals instead they were under the house arrest.

6. Mourning and scared Father of the victim

“Our daughter’s rape has laid bare the caste inequality and the discrimination that the Thakurs practice in this village. Because of this, we are not safe. We must be given security, or we will have to leave this village for good” – Manisha’s Father.

7. The UP police claims, there was no rape

On 01 October 2020, a Senior Police Officer from Uttar Pradesh declared that a forensic report of Manisha’s viscera had proved she was not raped or gang-raped but died due to her neck injury.

8. The accused high-caste Thakurs

Many reports suggest that the UP police initially did not want to register a case against the four accused, all of whom belong to the “dominant” Thakur caste. At the same time, a member of the ruling party dismissed the existence of caste-based discrimination in the village and denied that the incident of gang-rape had taken place in Hathras.

9. Ongoing nationwide atrocities against Dalits

“Women of Dalit communities are more vulnerable. They are under tremendous social pressure because of their caste. They hesitate to report rape cases. No one in the police station listens to them in most of the cases, even if they dare to lodge an FIR. This police apathy is mostly because of them being from the lower caste. It is high time to have a gender sensitization drive for police at every level” – Yogita Bhayana, People Against Rapes in India (PARI)

10. Everyday at-least 10 Dalit rape victims in India

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2019, nearly ten Dalit women are raped every day in India with Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are recording among the highest numbers. From the reported rape cases in Uttar Pradesh, 18 percent of victims are Dalit women.

VARIOUS UNTOUCHABLE FACTORS AND A BIBLICAL SOLUTION

Firstly, Hindu sacred-texts clearly portray a tier system or a caste hierarchy among Hindus dividing them into four major sections Brahmin-Kshatriya-Vaishya-Shudra, and Dalits do not fit under any of this. In other words, Dalits are outcastes or avarnas who lie outside the Hindu’s hierarchical design. Moreover, Dalits are Hindus on the one hand, they are untouchables under the Hindu law on the other. One of the famous quotes of Dr. Ambedkar, “Though, I was born a Hindu, I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu” assures that Dalits are never going to receive an upgrade on their status-quo within Hinduism. Ambedkar strongly believed it and justice only possible outside Hinduism. He led many mass conversion rallies of urging his followers from Hinduism to Buddhism.

Secondly, the so-called Untouchables or Dalits who face untouchable treatments and discriminations are most-likely carry a low grade on their socio-economic status. Even though the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities), Act 1989 (“SC/ST Act”) stands beside Dalits to receive justice, many are not aware of it. Still puts them in a vulnerable position since their daily income relies on caste-Hindus (who happened to be their oppressors). Their Meagre salary and uneducated background bring hesitation to fight against injustice. Dalits who live in rural areas and slums certainly need outside help. Without help, atrocities against Dalits leads many students like Rohith Vemula to end their own life. Elite castes mock the reservation system and its recipients rather than learning its reasons and the history behind it.

Thirdly, Indian Christians consist of believers who came largely from the Dalit background. Up to 70% of Indian Christians possess an untouchable backdrop. The question is that becoming Christians improved their status-quo? Some say “Yes”, their image in the society changed enormously. On the other hand, the Dalit liberation theology informs a different story that how Indian Christian theology is an adapted version of Hindu Brahminism and many converts’ socio-economic situation unchanged even after becoming Christians. Many Dalits face an unfairness inside Churches from caste-Hindu converts. Moreover, Dalit Christians lose the privilege of Indian Government reservation schemes upon Christian proselytization.

Finally, so far, being an untouchable within a Hindu or a Christian proselyte, behavior toward Dalits is not changed much. However, from a biblical perspective addressing human creation would shed a light on untouchable treatment. In Genesis 1:26-27, God created both men and women in his image in contrast to Hindu God’s imbalanced human creation. Though animals and humans were created on the same day, humans resemble God and power vested upon every man and woman with equal dignity and respect. When early humans sinned, God promised a savior in Genesis 3:15, became human, and died on the cross for all people. Churches as an agent of Jesus failed to address untouchability many times. However, when the Gospel seed is sown in human hearts, it eradicates hatred, indignity, and disrespect of barren land but creates an oasis of love, dignity, and respect among each other.

Overall, untouchability toward Dalits does exist among Hindus and Christian proselytes. However, only the gospel grace message of Jesus can transform human hearts and abolishes the unfair untouchable treatment on Dalits.

Kanyakumari Agrarian Production

Is there any other tree called as such? No, I don’t think so. South Tamilnadu is known for its green paddy fields, vast banana tree and coconut farms as their main source of agrarian culture. Especially in my home district Kanyakumari, rice, bananas, and coconuts are the main farming products. But farmers don’t call rice or banana as children though they play a vital role in their economy and as a food resource.

Coconut Tree Usage

Firstly, coconut trees have a long life span. It takes at least 5 years to produce their first coconut. Then every three months, it births a new bunch of coconuts starting as flowers. Based on this, every three-month farmers harvest it. Usually, someone has to claim on the coconut tree to pluck or cut the coconuts. Coconut climbing is a skill or a profession identified as “Coconut Climber.” Farmers spend enormous time and care on these growing coconut plants.

Secondly, coconut trees not only useful for their well-known product coconuts, but half-riped coconuts are used as drinks. Their branches with leaves are useful as roofs of a house. For centuries, before tiled rooftops and concrete house culture, coconut branches were used as house covers to protect people from rain, heat, sunlight, and dust. Its long branch with leaves is a good choice.

Common Duty of a Child in South Asia

In South Asian tradition, Parents would expect their children to take care of them when they become older. During the time when they become reliant on others or when their body and mind cannot function enough to support them fully, they expect their children to help and support them. Today, many countries have a health care plan that would cover elderly people and take out the burden from their children such as fully funded elderly homes. But India is not such a country when comes to health care. Majority Indians don’t hold health insurance. Probably don’t even know such options exist. It is a country with a 1.35 billion population. While their struggling financial situation is not enough to meet the basic amenities, health care is unthinkable. It is only becoming thinkable when they face sickness and other fatalities. It is worse when elderly people’s earning halts. The only option and hope left for an ordinary aged Indian that their children will take care of them when they hit the elderly patch.

How Tree Becomes a Child

A farmer plants and nurtures a coconut tree for a minimum of five years. After 5 years, they can harvest from it. Then it goes on for a lifetime many decades. Initially, a farmer takes care of the tree and the coconut tree will start to benefit the farmer by giving its coconuts, branches, and toddy drinks. The owner of the tree only will be receiving from the coconut tree but no more giving such as watering and fertilizing. Like a grown-up Indian child takes care of their parents, but once the children received nurture and caring from their parents. Now they are giving back and parents are on the receiving end many years. The once recipient coconut tree becomes a giving back coconut child. A coconut tree becomes a coconut child.

In India, things are no so different since it is the same. What I mean is rich people have their Instagram to keep them busy. Posting their day-to-day lives now and then. There are some genuine cases who are raising their voices against injustice. But their peers’ personal life posts get more attention from media. On the other hand, we are seeing peoples such as migrant workers how they are being treated so far.

Migrant workers – most of them work in booming construction sites in megacities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad. They live in tents nearby set up by the construction moguls. When lockdown announced by the prime minister they were abandoned since the work was put on halt. Their landowners stopped providing basic amenities in many cases. No transports made them strapped in a place where they can’t literally practice the social distancing (1.5 meters). Their situation became worse than before. They were abandoned by their landlords and sadly by their ruling state and the central government. I can’t even imagine their situation since I am writing it from a cozy little apartment.

Why the federal government does not give care to support millions of migrant workers? Are they not citizens? They are the backbones of all skyscrapers though they get very-little as their wage. Though some started their journey on foot. Many reached their home walking hundreds of miles and some died on the way amidst the scorching heat and starvation. Became refugees within their own countries. Let down by their landlords and the ruling governments. Their life became no value. Their dignities were stripped off. But they walked, walked, walked, walked and walked. Some gone under sanitizer-spray bath like cockroaches, some hit by a train and died, many lathi-charged by merciless policemen, and many quarantined in spaceless-cramped-camps. Still, they walked and walked until they reached their home. Hope flourishes in a hopeless situation, nothing able to take their hope away. No, wait a minute they were desperate and do not know what to do. So, it is better to apply their situation as hopeless, helpless, betrayed, agony, and frustrated. They became refugees in their own countries, an exodus.

In the year 2009, many celebrated “Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and 150th anniversary of the publication of his Origin of Species.”[1] Especially, among the atheists, the celebration was huge as it was portrayed that religion is an enemy to science, also revived the ‘science vs religion’ debate.[2] “Is science and the Bible contradict one another? If so, should Christians believe the Bible and reject science?” In this essay, we will explore these questions with modern science’s relationship with Christian history and through the lens of morality, evolution theory and the Bible.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MODERN SCIENCE AND CHRISTIANITY

After the Protestant Reformation, Francis Bacon (1561- 1626), potentially the originator of modern science used a metaphor “God’s two books” to seek “God’s mind through His word and His world.”[3] In his book Advancement of Learning, he expresses, “God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.” However, in the same century, the Catholic Church saw a conflict on Galileo’s claim “the sun, not the earth, was the centre of the universe.”[4] An article of faith the Catholic Church proclaims that “just as the earth is the centre of the universe so is the Church the centre of society”, nevertheless, Galileo responded the conflict “as science tells us how the heavens go, so the Bible teaches us how to go to Heaven.”[5]

When Darwin published his evolution theory, it was more sociological than theological. There was a famous debate in Oxford in 1860 called “Huxly vs Wilberforce”, however, many scientists found Darwin’s theories hard to accept and many Christians were happy with his theories in nineteenth century.[6] Even today there are many Bible believing Christians who are also professed to be world-renowned scientists and celebrate their ability such as John Polkinghorne, Arthur Peacocke, Francis S. Collins and Denis Alexander.[7] Not only this, this tradition carried out from the “founding fathers of Physics Newton, Boyle, Faraday and Maxwell,” science and faith were seen as pals not rivals.[8]

EVOLUTION THEORY

Evolution “is a scientific theory and suggests that life developed slowly through the ages as a result of in-built processes and not through big, sudden, inexplicable steps.”[9] Many Christians cannot digest it and I can understand which is an unimaginable concept for them to accept that “God deals with His people in slow, gradual and developmental ways.” On the other hand, chapters from Genesis one and two tell us God created the heavens, earth and species, most importantly, why He created them especially humans. But never laid a path for explaining how it was all executed. Woolnough suggests that “God’s creative act was, and is, a continuous process rather than a series of dramatic interventional acts seems to accord with, rather than challenge, our knowledges of the way that God works.”[10]

In 1991, Ricard Dawkins’ lectures on evolution theory made a stir among the audience that he was saying “science leads to atheism.” He tried to convince the youth by indoctrinating the truth of evolution and later to media he expressed, “I can see that a few hours in the science lab is no match for a lifetime of religious indoctrination.” Likewise, I recognize many new-atheists put forward a debate Darwinism Vs Christianity, otherwise they are conveying to the world with a message ‘What is atheism?’ It is Darwinism. However, Michael Poole disagrees with atheists’ stand on depicting their view as a choice between belief in God and evolution.[11] He further introduces the fallacy of the excluded middle, when other choices are logically possible why present a choice between only two positions?[12] Even some ideological abuses of Darwinian evolution cannot hide from history. For instance, Richard Dawkins uses it as an argument for atheism, Herbert Spencer used it for ‘theory of everything’, Karl Marx used it in support of socialism, Rockefeller used it in support of capitalism, Scientists in the 1920’s/30’s used it to support eugenics (breeding humans for racial purity) and Hitler used it to justify the ‘final solution’ of exterminating Jews.[13] Poole debates, “it is coherent to believe both that adaptation occurs through evolution by natural selection and that this process is God’s creative work.”[14]

MORAL LAW

The late famous new-atheist Christopher Hitchens claims, “Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important. Where once it used to be able, by its total command of a worldview, to prevent the emergence of rivals, it can now only impede and retard – or try to turn back – the measurable advances that we have made.”[15] But according to Peter Harrison, “The Bible was an influential and motivational factor in the rise of modern science in seventeenth-century Europe. Christians gave social and cultural support for science. Belief in an ordered Creation led to the necessary assumption of scientific Laws of Nature. Belief in the Fall of humanity led to new methods of scientific investigation (experiment and instruments).”[16]

Though science is not the enemy to Christians as atheists generally portray, science cannot explain the following questions, but the Bible can.[17] The questions and the Biblical answers are: “1. Why does science work? Because both humans and the natural world have the same Creator. 2. What is the purpose of humanity? To live in a covenantal relationship with our Creator and glorify Him.”[18]

GOD’S TWO BOOKS

First, Barbour brings the relationship between religion and science in four models for: 1. Conflict (Religion and science contradict one another, and the only one can be true. For example, Dawkins, some religious fundamentalists, and Scopes trial) 2. Independence (Religion and science are completely different topics, and both can be true) 3. Fusion (Religion and science are really about the same thing, so they are consistent. For instance, interpreting Genesis with geological epochs) 4. Complementarity and Dialogue (Religion and science are complementary to each other and they can learn from each other through dialogue).[19]

Second, ‘God’s Two Books’ is a perfect metaphor to elaborate the relationship between God’s word and nature, in other words, Christianity and science. “God’s two books are Book of Scripture and Book of Nature.”[20] Augustine calls them together the unity of truth as “God reveals himself in complementary ways,” both books cannot contradict each other as they have the same ultimate author.[21] Moreover, an early church father Tertullian (c.160 – c.230) conveys, “God is known through Nature, and then again, more particularly, by doctrine; by Nature in His works, and by doctrine in His revealed word.”[22] Moreover, Ross McKenzie expresses that “just because natural science can explain something without reference to God (e.g. the Big bang, evolution of life) does not mean that God is not involved in the process.”[23]

Third, though models and metaphors are generally helpful in both theological and scientific explanations, however, they can mislead.[24] For instance, Charles Coulson explains that unnecessarily anxious theologians once thought God was being pushed out by an increase in scientific knowledge.[25] So they placed God as a valid replacement for the missing scientific explanations known as God of the gaps.[26] It would lead atheists to think God was squeezed out of the gaps by science.[27] For example, Dawkins says, “Religion can provide only facile, unsatisfying answers. Science is constantly seeking real explanations, reveals the true majesty of our world in all its complexity.”[28]

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, though religion is mostly spread to the today’s world as an opponent to science, in reality, in our case, Christianity is science’s friend. More importantly, Protestant Reformation played a vital role to modern science history. By viewing the Bible as God’s two books, Christianity and science do not go against each other, moreover, they are complementation to one another. Finally, it leads Christians to believe in both the Bible and science. Yes, it is possible through the relationship of science with Christian history and through the lens of origin of morality, theistic evolution and God’s two books.

[1] “Happy 200th Birthday, Darwin!,” Travel, July 7, 2009, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/intelligent-travel/2009/07/07/happy_200th_birthday_darwin/.

[2] Brian E. Woolnough, “Science and Christianity: Friends or Foes?,” Transformation 27, no. 2 (2010): 83–94.

[3] Michael Poole, Exploring Science and Belief (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub, 2007), 9.

[4] Woolnough, “Science and Christianity,” 85.

[5] Woolnough, 85.

[6] John van Wyhe, “Darwin Online and the Evolution of the Darwin Industry,” History of Science 47, no. 4 (December 1, 2009): 459–73, https://doi.org/10.1177/007327530904700407.

[7] Woolnough, “Science and Christianity,” 85.

[8] Woolnough, 85.

[9] Woolnough, 86.

[10] Woolnough, 86.

[11] Michael Poole, The New Atheism: 10 Arguments That Don’t Hold Water, New edition edition (Oxford, England : Chicago, IL: Lion Books, 2009), 28.

[12] Poole, 29.

[13] Ross McKenzie, “Class Lectures” (SAIACS).

[14] Poole, The New Atheism, 29.

[15] Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (New York, NY: Twelve, 2009), 282.

[16] McKenzie, “Class Lectures.”

[17] McKenzie.

[18] McKenzie.

[19] McKenzie.

[20] McKenzie.

[21] McKenzie.

[22] Poole, Exploring Science and Belief, 18.

[23] McKenzie, “Class Lectures.”

[24] Poole, The New Atheism, 25.

[25] Poole, 54.

[26] Poole, 55.

[27] Poole, 55.

[28] Neil Riding, The Forbidden Instruction Book (Trafford, 2012), 26.

Globalization changes people’s lives today all around the world in their thinking and lifestyle. In other words, culture is getting changed by globalization. New technologies in the transport medium and communication systems shrink the globe in the way of traveling time and interaction. Today, it is possible to reach London from Bangalore in ten hours. Many universities offer online programs, even it was unthinkable in a human’s mind three decades back. Internet availability changes the traditional way of learning, a decade back, it was mostly pursed by going to the university or school campus. Now, the story is changing. An Indian kid can acquire a Cambridge model school education from India and Westerners able to watch multicast of an Indian spiritual guru over the online media.

The Culture in which we live is changing constantly whether we choose it or not. The experiences among me, my father and my grandfather are not exactly the same. Probably, there is a common layout among us when all three of us lived under one roof. It has never been the same again once I left home for university education. I was transitioning from a village life from southern Tamilnadu to a Chennai city life. The life in the university enabled me to meet people from all over India, especially, the language of communication mostly happened in English, formerly, it was in Tamil. There was a sudden exposure to different foods, transport system, music, and dressing codes. Overall, it was a mouth-watering experience during the first year.

“Culture is the comprehensive and integrated complex of ideas, feelings and values, and the associated patterns of learned behavior and products that characterize a particular society.” In my sophomore year, I was able to recognize the jokes which were thrown at me in the first year since I was carrying a characteristic of the society. It changed rapidly when I started to work, particularly during my years in western Europe. How work and faith have seen separately in the secular West. But in India, the case was different. Always, I enjoyed the work with my personal faith. However, life in the west created opportunities to meet people from various country backgrounds. It was always a learning experience to know something from a different culture.

Moreover, “globalization is the integration of local, regional, and/or national production, exchange, and culture into a global system.” (P.205) I remember going to a Tesco supermarket in the United Kingdom (UK), most of the products’ origin on the shelf were not from the UK. Especially, among the vegetables’ lane, ninety percent of the produces were imported goods. In India, items like sausages, burger patties, and steaks are not alien anymore.

The three theories on globalization will clarify globalization at its best level. First, modernization theory “teaches that all societies move through stages of economic, political, and cultural development toward becoming industrialized, democratic, and ‘modern’ societies.” (P.207) Besides, it suggests that colonized countries are the most benefited party on this subject. But the western countries’ economic growth with industrialization after World Wars I and II did not create societies with “advanced” moral sense. Most importantly, many former colonial countries kept their poverty status unchanged, globalization did no impact on them.

Second, the dependency theory reasons that “the movement of global resources creates permanent relationships of economic dependence between industrial and nonindustrial nations.” (P.208) It is also moving the nation’s system from agricultural to the production mode which creates dependency among countries and encourages economic growth. On the one hand, the dependency theory creates wealth among formerly colonized countries, on the other hand, sustained underdevelopment and poverty creation among those countries inevitable.

Third, the world-systems theory expands from the dependency theory and implies that “globalization may be conceptualized as a system of nations placed in the core, semi-periphery, and periphery of an interconnected global economy.” (P.208) Still, many countries that are providing raw materials remain in an unchanged economic status. Their cheap labor market and corrupt officials do not contribute much to their country’s growth rather they deflate it. But the core nations’ citizens involve more in the services industry such as insurance, health care, and finance. Overall, all theories of globalization inform that the core nations benefit more, but semi-periphery and periphery nations benefit less or not at all.

Until the 1980s, many graduates from South India move to North-Indian cities such as Delhi and Mumbai for jobs. When two times former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced a bill in the early 1990s (He was Finance Minister at that time), which encouraged foreign direct investment and the situation is started to change in Southern India. Especially, South Indian cities Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad benefited more. These cities attracted many multinational companies and became IT and automobile hubs of India. They started to attract people from all parts of India and abroad. Without any surprise, fifty percent of Bangalore’s current population consists of migrants. And it is a similar story on the other two cities Chennai and Hyderabad. In other words, globalization made an impact and brought cultural diversity whether these cities choose it not. 

Netflix, Amazon, Prime, IMAX theatres, Spotify, Apple TV, Uber, and CrossFit are global brands now. They have no boundaries. The e-commerce giant Amazon makes a product available for an Indian to buy from the USA and vice versa. Many Hollywood movies release on the same day as it releases in the USA, noticeably, they release a day before in places like Singapore due to the advanced time zone. Movie critics fly to Singapore or Tokyo to get hold of a new movie review a day earlier. American food chains such as KFC, Burger King, McDonald, Domino, Pizza hut and Starbucks are becoming local Bangalorean landmarks. Now, for a young American moving to Bangalore from San Francisco won’t be a difficult situation as it was two decades back. He/She can still watch her favorite entertainment channels, almost experience the same food, commute using Uber and importantly no need to learn a new language.

So far, I was talking about Metropolitan life. Yes, globalization did a humongous impact on Indian megacities. No further arguments required to prove it. What about rural areas? Last summer, as per SAIACS requirements four of us went on a mission trip in Bihar for the intercultural experience. We were involved with a missionary organization called GEMS-Bihar and their main focus is on unreached rural areas. Many villages do not have a proper road and electricity, but their hospitality was amazing. In the end, we had a surprise waiting for us. There was a common practice, after serving food we were given sweets with tea and a glass of beverage Sprite (a Coca-Cola owned beverage). Coca-Cola knows the way how to reach people’s houses where there is no proper road connection, electricity, and no gospel message proclaimed so far. When does serving Sprite become part of their culture? Many of them can’t read and write their local language and this carbonized sugary water somehow became part of their household. Initially, we doubted that the villagers are only bringing sprite since they know we are coming from Bangalore but later we realized that it was not the case as we assumed.

There is a scenario situates in the global arena if some countries do not want them to identify or take part in the globalization system then those countries seen as aliens to globalization or one world community. But India is part of the global community and somehow it affects or changes or preserves or protects the Indian culture.

Missiological Implications and Practical Applications

I am an intern with a local church, and I can see the diversity in our church, especially among youths. There is a common element among them is that they call themselves a Bangalorean, but most of their parents are migrants from different parts of India and some are from overseas countries. Moreover, Bangalore is the number one destination for students to pursue higher education in India and for many West-African nationals. So, our young adult group consists of peoples from various backgrounds. One end it makes the Great Commission simpler as we don’t want to go to nations to make disciples, but the nations are coming to us. On the other end, the approach to evangelism becomes more complexed. As we are experiencing today that one method cannot be applied to all students. In our church, we call it a Bangalorean formula. Usually, our youth ministry team spend one-to-one time with students if they are non-Christians. It helps to understand their cultural beliefs, values, practices, and so on. The openness showed by us to know them better generally gets appreciated by them.

Second, associating the Church with concerns such as social justice, human rights, environment/creation care and so on is paving a way to establish His kingdom wider. As Mother Teresa insisted “Christians have a responsibility to reject unsustainably consumptive lifestyles and a growth-oriented economic model in favor of simple and sustainable living.” (P.219) In contrast, contemporary globalization contributed to technological growth and economic growth. The global media plays an important role to spread the good news of the gospel throughout the world. Many believers debate that the Church must play a leading role to make use of the growing multimedia rather than undermining it.

Third, “globalization is not ending, it’s changing” and it regularly alters the culture too. It forces the need for contextual churches. The gospel needs to be interpreted in a way it reaches and makes sense to Urbanites. Also, providing practical implications on how Christians keep their practice not only inside the walls of the church also outside the walls of the church while still partaking in business and finance, the world of the arts and theatre, learning and scholarship, and the public and government structure. Finally, Christians “must ask difficult questions and be willing to make changes where appropriate and anthropology contributes insight into how globalization affects people and their way of life.” (P.220)

Bibliography

“Introducing Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective.” Brian M. Howell and Jenell Williams Paris, 2011, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, Pp. 25-42, 203-220

A few years back, I initiated a conversation on the topic of ‘pornography’ with my father. Immediately, he asked me “What is pornography?”. Then I have to explain about the internet, websites, mobile applications and so on. He was really surprised how easy the X-rated content access became available to the world. In his adolescent years, the only way to access nude content was through adult magazines, X-rated theatres and video cassettes. To be sure, many people did – at first with hearts pounding and sweaty palms and then, of course, it became easier and easier. But the predictable shame of it all limited the pool of those who would be drawn in.

For pornography, the dynamic has changed in our culture. Though the temptation to pornography is the same in every age, the rise of digital technology has weaponized pornography.[i] Russel Moore says,

It promises to guarantee anonymity. More than that, digital pornography now exists in such a way that a person can easily feel as though he or she is “accidentally” arriving there. The anonymity and ease of this technology have contributed to its ubiquity, a ubiquity shored up by a popular culture in which characters in film and television often joke about porn as a routine matter of life.[ii]

“More than any other railway station in the country, where free Wi-Fi service was launched, the Patna railway station is on the top in the country for using internet search, particularly search for porn sites,” an unnamed official of RailTel.[iii] I was not surprised by it. The leading porn site lists Indians are its third largest visitors.[iv]

Porn Addiction

Porn addiction is “considered a reliance on pornography that results in extreme cravings and urges to watch pornography.”[v] People with porn addiction may also see a sharp or gradual increase in the amount of porn they consume – they may also end up wanting to view increasingly graphic material.[vi] This can end up altering the types of sexual interest that an individual has.[vii] Just as drugs reprogram the brain to crave and rely on drugs, it appears porn can often ensure that people rely on the graphic material to feel sexual satisfaction.[viii]

What porn does to our brains and bodies

“Because the human brain is the biological anchor of our psychological experience, it is helpful to understand how it operates. Knowing how it is wired together and where it is sensitive can help us understand why pornography affects people the way it does.” says William M. Struthers, associate professor of psychology at Wheaton College.[ix]

1. It becomes addictive. Overstimulation of the brain system that releases the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine (which internet porn spurs in massive amounts) results in the build-up of the molecular switch protein called deltaFosB, an ingredient common in most addictions.[x]
2. It impairs memory and concentration.
3. It numbs you to other pleasures of life and real sex in marriage (called desensitization). You develop a tolerance and need for greater and greater stimulation because real sex has become dull.[xi]
4. Sensitization. Because your reward system has been hammered, you have an amped up attraction to porn that can tempt you to view it through even simple cues like seeing your computer monitor. Your brain goes into autopilot and your reward circuit says, “Do it now!”[xii]
5. It diminishes impulse control and willpower. The fight between clear thinking and temptation is heightened and you have less willpower to say, “No!”[xiii]
6. It increases sensitivity to stress. Even minor stresses can lead to cravings and relapse because they activate powerful sensitized pathways.[xiv]
7. It literally shrinks your brain. Studies actually show that even moderate amounts of porn can shrink grey matter in areas associated with cognitive function related to our ability to focus. Porn users report pervasive brain fog.[xv]
8. It causes depression and low energy because it interferes with normal dopamine production and signaling.[xvi]
9. You become more susceptible to risky behavior. Since porn addicts need a bigger and bigger hit they gravitate to more degrading kinds of porn and risky behavior to get that hit with diminished fears of experiencing negative consequences (i.e., getting caught).[xvii]
10. Erectile dysfunction. Porn users become less sensitive to real sex with their spouses and need more and more stimulation to get aroused. Ex-porn addicts report that porn created significant sexual problems, specifically ED.[xviii]

How to overcome

Seeking help and admitting that you are battling a porn addiction can feel embarrassing or humiliating, but to overcome the addiction, you must choose to take that first step toward recovery anyway.[xix] When someone has an incredible struggle with pornography, they should open up their life to their spouse, friend or pastor to get help. Also, they can get help from certified professionals. The people that aren’t talking, those are the people who are destroying their ministry, future ministry, marriage and family, future marriage and family.[xx] “I’ll do this little thing over here and it’s nasty and it’s ugly, but I get finished with it now, cover it up and I’ll go back to the rest of my life.”[xxi] The problem is that sin doesn’t stay covered up. The ones that are stored up over a long amount of time are sipping on a poison that is eventually going to kill their ministry efforts and their efforts at marriage and family, they’re literally destroying their lives and their effectiveness for Christ and they don’t even understand it.[xxii]

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul condemns “if you are sexually immoral you will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Thankfully, Paul moves toward confidence in Redeemer, Jesus. He loves to cleanse sinners and He loves to give addicts power to change.[xxiii] Our only hope is in a risen Savior who has the power to bring us out of the pit of pornography.[xxiv] More importantly, South-Asian pulpits need to offer more help than condemnation.

Conclusion

As a person of faith, I believe that pornography is a medium that degrades both men and women while offering the lie of on-demand sexual fulfilment, primarily to men. Pornography dishonours the image of God in an individual by treating him or her as a sexual object to be consumed directly or indirectly. Though various studies reveal that porn addiction affects human brains and bodies, admitting and seeking help will lead to recovery. However, Jesus’ forgiving and transforming power of grace can save us.

Book recommended

[i] Russell D. Moore and Andrew T. Walker, The Gospel & Pornography (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Books, 2017), 40.

[ii] Moore and Walker, 41.

[iii] “Patna Tops Wi-Fi Use At Railway Stations. Mostly For Porn, Says Official,” NDTV.com, n.d., https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/wi-fi-used-most-at-patna-railway-station-mostly-to-watch-pornography-1475214.

[iv] “Porn Ban: Has Blocking 827 Websites Decreased Porn Consumption in India? – IBTimes India,” accessed September 18, 2019, https://www.ibtimes.co.in/porn-ban-has-blocking-827-websites-decreased-porn-consumption-india-790311.

[v] “Porn Addiction Recovery Help: How to Stop & Break Free Now,” accessed September 18, 2019, https://pornaddiction.com/.

[vi] Porn On The Brain, accessed September 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iWY_Q3pqlI.

[vii] Porn On The Brain.

[viii] Porn On The Brain.

[ix] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain,” Christian Research Institute, accessed September 20, 2019, https://www.equip.org/article/the-effects-of-porn-on-the-male-brain-3/.

[x] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain”; “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone,” accessed September 21, 2019, https://charlesstone.com/porn-damages-brain/.

[xi] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain”; “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xii] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain”; “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xiii] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain”; “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xiv] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain.” “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xv] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain.” “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xvi] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain.” “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xvii] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain.” “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xviii] “The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain.” “10 Ways Pornography Damages Your Brain – Charles Stone.”

[xix] Heath Lambert, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2013), 166.

[xx] Author Interview:  “Finally Free” Part 1, accessed September 15, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CLYOKwvhhI.

[xxi] Author Interview.

[xxii] Author Interview.

[xxiii] Lambert, Finally Free: Fighting for Purity with the Power of Grace, 19.

[xxiv] Lambert, 19.

WHY CHRISTIANS CONSIDER THE REVELATION OF GOD IS GOOD NEWS

Firstly, we are creatures. “In the beginning, God created…man in his own image…male and female he created them” (Gen 1:1, 27). These words of the Bible show the difference between God and Human. God’s knowledge includes our self-knowledge (Ps. 139:2f.) since He is the creator and Lord of humankind, however, our self-knowledge does not include God’s self-knowledge. Secondly, we cannot attain a true and satisfactory knowledge of God using our intellectual and moral perception since the fall has affected every aspect of our being. Therefore, revelation is necessary to know God. In the words of John Stott, “Since He is all-holy God, while we are fallen, sinful and under his just judgement, there is a chasm between him and us which we from our side could never bridge. We could never know him (unless he should take the initiative to make himself known).”

Generally, theologians classify revelation into two main forms: ‘general’ and ‘special.’ ‘General revelation’ is available to all people everywhere, it also called ‘natural’ because it is performed through nature and conscience.[8] Paul states that this revelation accessible from the ‘creation of the world’ (Romans 1:20). Though general revelation disclosed something of His nature, not sufficient to know God fully. But special revelation surpasses general revelation in two forms. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is the supreme self-disclosure of God and the Holy Scripture is another form of special revelation. However, these forms cannot be separated. Milne states, “Christ, the incarnate Word, is known through the written Word of God, the Bible. Conversely, the written Word cannot be separated from the incarnate Word.” Therefore, God’s revelation is clearly good news to Christians, as J.I. Packer depicts:

Revelation is our personal Creator and Upholder addressing us in order to make friends with us. We do not find Him; rather, He finds us. He sees us as rebels against Him, with our minds blinded and our characters twisted by sin, actively dishonouring Him by stifling His truth and serving false gods. But His Word addressed to us in Christ, though it begins as bad news, with a disclosure to us of the judgement under which we stand, is essentially good news; for it is a word of pardon and peace, a message of reconciliation by the death of Jesus and of ‘a way back to God from the dark path of sin.’

– J. I. Packer, God Has Spoken, P60-61.

WHY GOD’S SELF-DISCLOSURE IN JESUS CHRIST IS GOOD NEWS TO HINDUS?

Hindu teaching has been progressively developed from the Hindu Scriptures and categorised into two kinds of inspiration. The four Vedas (Rig, Sama, Yajur, Atharva) embody the highest form of revelation in Hinduism, also known as sruti. Other sacred texts such as Sutras, the Law Books, the Puranas and Bhagavad Gita form a second-tier body of texts. Salvation in Hinduism is principally interceded through works, partially ethical, but mainly sacrificial. That is, merit is accomplished through the offering of sacrifices and is in proportion to their nature and costliness. For instance, devotees of a Tamil God Murugan perform many physical rituals on a Thaipusam festival every year. Such sacraments include carrying a kavadi (two curved pieces of wood or steel attached to a cross structure which can weigh up to 30 kg) and piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel (metal pin) skewers, most importantly, they walk in a barefoot from long distances. However, as Packer states that “The Bible reveals non-Christian religion to be as we said, a poignant kind of tragedy in which salvation is sought to be where salvation is not to be found” and here it is Hinduism.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, the divine self-disclosure act of God in Jesus Christ is indeed good news to Christians since God finished all the work in the cross through His Son. And He revealed Himself to mankind through His Son and Scriptures. At the same time, the good news to Christians also good news to Hindus since Hindu doctrine tells them to discover God by their own effort and gives no proof of salvation. I think the self-disclosure initiation from God to reveal Himself to mankind surpasses the self-effort act of humanity to know God by discovery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

“By 2050, India to Have World’s Largest Populations of Hindus and Muslims.” Pew Research Center (blog). Accessed November 8, 2018. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/21/by-2050-india-to-have-worlds-largest-populations-of-hindus-and-muslims/.

“India Population (2018) – Worldometers.” Accessed November 8, 2018. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/india-population/.

Milne, Bruce. Know the Truth. First Edition edition. IVP India, 2017.

Packer, J. I. God Has Spoken. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000.

Sproul, R. C. Essential Truths of the Christian Faith. London: Tyndale Momentum, 1998.

Stillwell, J R. “The Doctrine of Salvation in Non-Christain Religions as Illustrated by Hinduism.” Review & Expositor 11, no. 3 (July 1914): 351–73.

Stott, John. Evangelical Truth: A Personal Plea for Unity, Integrity & Faithfulness. Revised edition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2005.

Tennent, Timothy C. Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 2007.

“World Population Clock: 7.7 Billion People (2018) – Worldometers.” Accessed November 8, 2018. http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/.