Have you read the Bible?

I don't preach Christianity. I believe in Knowing Jesus because knowing Jesus is knowing God. Jesus is God's love in human form. Vivekananda said, "If I lived in Jesus' era, I would have washed his feet with my blood, and not with water." The word gospel means "the announcement of the good news of an emperor born" in Israel, as God had promised the Hebrew people. The gospels –Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John– answer the question, "Who is Jesus?" and "Why did he come?"

The first question has two parts: Who does Jesus claim to be (Messianic King, Israel's Savior, and God in human form)? And, what do people consider him (Prophet, Teacher, Activist, False Messiah, Liberator)? The second question has many parts, such as, "Did he come to save Israel from Roman oppression or the power of Sin and the Devil?" "Does he save only Israel or other people groups also?" Further, "Is the salvation physical and tangible or is it spiritual and intangible?" "Is it about a Kingdom in this world or in the coming World/Age?"
As with the Ramayana, we need to read the Bible in its historical context to grasp the meaning and significance of Jesus' character. Interestingly, just as the Ramayana communicates values central to Hindu tradition, the Bible, through the life and teachings of Jesus, reflects and expresses core Hindu values such as Ahimsa (nonviolence), Satya (truth), Prem (love), Dheeraj (patience), Daya (compassion), and Shanti (peace). Both texts have shaped the ethical frameworks of their respective cultures and have been sources of moral inspiration and debate. Nobody reads the gospels and leaves unaffected, untouched, unmoved, or untransformed (in a good or bad way).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Resurrection Day: The day God's love and justice defeated the devil's hatred and injustice

In a famous movie dialogue from Dabang, the heroine tells the Robinhood Police officer who proposes to her, "Thappad se darr nahi lagta sahib; pyar se lagta hai." (Sir, I am not scared of beatings. I fear love.) Love is the crucial ingredient of God's character that makes the devil tremble. Many of us assume that the devil fears holiness and loud rebukes. On the contrary, he is not scared of self-righteous people's holiness or loud rebukes of spirit-filled prophets. He fears love, genuine love. Jesus Christ defeated the devil's hatred expressed in people's rejection by his love. He came to his people, but they chose to disown him. Even so, he chose to love them more, so much more that they didn't know what he had accomplished for them upon the cross. Many people must have thought that God punished Jesus. They were right about this first aspect, but little did they know that God had laid their punishment upon him. Like sheep, they had wandered away, but, in...
Read more

Celebrate Jesus Christ, The Light of Life and Love, this Diwali

As we celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, let us remember that the most profound and irreversible darkness is death. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world (John 8:12).” Further, he declared, “I am the resurrection and life... He who believes in me will live even if he dies (John 11:25).” The light of the world came to reverse the darkness of death by his resurrection and a promise of future resurrection for all who believe in him. Resurrection is the only known cure for death. Homoeopathy, Allopathy,  or Ayurveda cannot reverse death. Only resurrection can reverse death. Jesus cured death. He also cured hatred with his love. That is why no religion or philosophy has defeated the gospel even after two thousand years of Jesus' advent. Martin Luther King Jr compared love to light and hatred to darkness. He said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”  [1]   Love is light. Jesus is that loving ...
Read more

Where our Hearts are not Afraid of the Terrorist into such an India lead us Lord...

Lately, a Muslim brother said to me, "Sir, there is no place for terrorism in Islam." I liked his assertion. He is so confident that Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Sikhs, and Atheists did all the terror attacks in the world until now. We must acknowledge such people's knowledge of others' knowledge and their confidence in their ability to convince others of what they believe is true. I wish what he said was true. However, if you take the sheer data of how many Muslims committed Terrorism and what their percentage is in this matter when compared to other religious communities, you would be left astounded. More than ninety-nine percent of all terrorist attacks in the world were the gift of Islam.   Still, he defends the people of his religion brazenly. This conversation happened immediately after a group of terrorists brutally killed twenty-eight people in Kashmir in front of their spouses and c...
Read more