Twain's Hope for Heaven

After nearly 39 years, Mark Twain returns to Hannibal. Meets an old man and introduces himself as "Smith". Out of curiosity, he asks about his childhood friends. The old man goes on describing how so and so fool failed, died, and lost. Only one seemed to had seen some success. Finally he asked about himself with his real name. The old man goes "Oh, he succeeded well enough - another case of a damned fool. If they'd sent him to St. Louis, he'd have succeeded sooner". Twain learned the lesson of humility; he is still considered "a damned fool" by his village folks.

After this, the name Mark Twain became a very heavy burden for Sam Clemens to match up to. Failures after failures came upon him. Sorrow upon sorrow became his lot. Even his faith in God was shaken. Though he could not deny God's existence, he blamed God for all the misery in the world; all imperfections were God's mistakes. A jolly happy man began to resent the very idea of him being called a "humorist".

Success did come back to him even before he died but the kind of man he would go on becoming was beyond his imagination. As he lay on his sick bed, waiting for the departure, he began to reflect about the afterlife.

In his last work "Etiquette for the Afterlife: Advice to Paine (1995), there is one advice he gave to Albert Paine that sums up his hope for the afterlife. When time will come for Paine to go to heaven, he says "Leave your dog outside. Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and the dog would go in.”

Call him a deist, an agnostic or whatever; he banked his soul in God's favor. Only heaven will tell if he was allowed in or not. But Jesus Christ gives us the assurance that should we not be so worried about our entrance in heaven; we must accept him as our Lord and Savior because he is "The way and the truth and the life".

दुःखमा पनि परमेश्वरको भलाइमा विश्वास गर्नु भन्दा अर्को असल विकल्प छैन।

आजको यो रङ्गीचङ्गी सामाजिक सन्जालमा आफ्ना दुःख र विरहका तस्बिर र चित्कारहरू हामी थोरै भन्दा थोरैले मात्रै प्रसारण गर्न सक्छौं।  “मुटु माथि ढुङ्गा राखी” भनेझैं, दुःखलाई लुकाएर चिल्ला तस्बिर र रमाइला क्षणहरूलाई नै मित्रहरूका सामु पस्किन्छौं।  हो पनि।  बिगतमा हामीसँग क्यामरा थिएन।  वर्षमा संयोग मिलाएर परिवारिक वा सुभअवसरका तस्बिरहरूलाई फोटोएल्बममा सजाएर राख्थ्यौं र साथी-भाइ, इष्टमित्र र पाहुना घरमा आउँदा ती फोटोमा कैद गरिएर राखिएका रमाइला क्षणहरूका एल्बम निकालेर हेर्न दिन्थ्यौं।

तर आज आधुनिक विकासले हाम्रो जीवनका सबै क्षणहरूलाई विश्वसामु छर्लङ्ग पारिदिएको छ।  खुसीका क्षणहरू देखाउनुको सट्टा दुःखका क्षणलाई लुकाउन गार्‍ह भएको छ।  शुभचिन्तकहरूले त हाम्रा दुःखमा सहानुभूति देखाउनु हुनेनै छ तर कतिपय यस्ता मित्रहरूपनि छन् जो हाम्रा दुःखमा खुसीयाली मनाउन पछि पर्दैनन्।  ख्रीष्टीयान भनेर के गर्ने, यस्ता पास्टर प्रचारक पनि देखिए जसले चर्चका सदस्यहरूलाई आफ्ना सत्रुलाई प्रेमको साटो सराप्‍न पनि सिकाइरहेका छन्। 

त्यसकारण मित्र, येशूमा विश्वास गर्दा पनि जीवनमा दुःख आउने छ।  परिस्थितिहरू हाम्रो वश भन्दा बाहिर जानेछन्।  हामी एकलो, असहाय र निरास पनि हुनेछौं।  तर यस्तो परिस्थितिमा पनि परमेश्वरको भलाइमा विश्वास गर्नु भन्दा अर्को असल विकल्प छैन।  शरीरमा रोग लाग्दा निरास भएर मृत्यु पर्खिनु भन्दा येशूको रगतको शक्तिमा भएको चङ्गाइमा विश्वास गर्दै निको हुने आशा गर्नु असल हुनेछ।  गरिबीले पेलेको बेलामा पनि हिनतावोधले भरिनुभन्दा येशूले दिने प्रशस्तताको जीवनलाई विश्वासका साथ स्वीकार गर्नु असल हुनेछ।  सत्रुले घेरेको बेला पनि ती सबैलाई क्षमा दिँदै परमेश्वरले गर्नसक्‍ने महान उद्धारमा भरोसा राख्‍नु असल हुनेछ।  परिक्षामा परेर शैतानको दोष र आत्मग्लानिले गाँजिनुभन्दा येशूको क्रूसको छहारीमा गएर उहाँको क्षमादानलाई स्वीकार गर्दै उहाँकै हात समात्नु असल हुनेछ।

येशू प्रभु यति प्रेमिलो हुनुहुन्छ कि उहाँले हाम्रालागि आफ्नो प्राण दिनुभयो र आज उहाँ मुर्दाबाट बौरीउठेको जीवित परमेश्वर हुनुहुन्छ र अँझ बढी हामीलाई सम्हाल्न चाहनुहुन्छ।  उहाँको भलाइमा विश्वास गरेर हामी विजयी जीवनका भागीदार बनेको उहाँ चहानुहुन्छ।

त्यसकारण दुःखसँग डराएर त्यसैका दास बनेर नबसौं तर त्यो दुःखमा पनि हामीलाई विजय दिने प्रभुको शक्तिमा विश्वास गरेर विजयको प्रतिक्षामा बसौं।  यर्मियालाई परमेश्वरले दिएको प्रतिज्ञालाई स्वीकार गर्दै परमेश्वरमा पुकारौं र उहाँले हामीलाई जवाफ दिनुहुनेछ।  “मलाई पुकार्, र म तँलाई जवाफ दिनेछु र तैंले नजानेका गहिरा र गुप्‍त कुराहरू म तँलाई बताउनेछु” (यर्मिया ३३.३)। 

Trump, Atheism, and Emotional Breakdown of America

First published over a year ago at:

https://hcmasia.wordpress.com/2017/04/12/trump-atheism-and-emotional-meltdown/

The emotional breakdown of America after the Trump victory baffled me thousands of miles away in India.  I live in a small hamlet in the outskirt of Guwahati in the state of Assam.  Half of the time, we have no power to watch TV.  Yet, CNN didn’t disappoint us by ceaselessly broadcasting the emotional debacle of America in the aftermath of the tragedy known as Trump victory.

Until I met Mark Twain, I wasn’t interested in America.  But once he fooled me to join him in the world of Huckleberry Finn and the mighty Mississippi; no sooner, I was hooked in watching those western classics that transported me into the world of the Prairie and the Oregon Trail.  Indeed, it was a brave new world back then.  Teaching a course on Puritan settlement of America at a university in Korea had heightened my desire to actually visit the US.  But thanks to a Nepali pastor friend, I was denied a visa few months before 911 in 2001 and had not applied since then. 

So, my knowledge of America is purely academic and literary; only supplemented with a median visit to New England a couple of years ago.  It so happened, and to my delight, I was surprisingly granted a visa to visit the US in 2014.  During my two weeks of travel through New England, my interest was in the historical narratives of the brave new world and my hosts didn’t disappoint me.  Like Chesterton in “What I Saw in America”, I wanted to feel the spirit of this great nation by visiting important places in the first colonies.  Standing upon those shores, banks, gorges, plains and the mountain tops, it wasn’t difficult to enter into the world of the Puritan pilgrims, frontier settlers and the American independence.  Unlike in the pages of the books and the screens of the movies, I could actually feel the formidable spirit of America all around me.

Coming to New York, however, was different.  With its colossal concrete jungle touching the sky, the human spirit seemed to be unable to break free from its weight pressing it to the ground.  Walking downtown Manhattan, there was this sense of fragility as if everyone was living on the emotional edges.  Slightest miscalculation could send everyone crashing down.

Now, here I was in Assam, India, watching the emotional breakdown of so many Americans, including Hillary Clinton, who just could not accept the resounding defeat as if something unimaginable had happened.  In a sensible world, it is natural for one to win and the other to lose; especially if you have a two party system, both can’t win.  But this time, there was some strange sense of hopelessness in losing.  People appeared to be disoriented which the critics call the “Trump Derangement”.  I think it was more than Trump.

During Obama’s presidency, the spirit of Atheism reigned supreme.  Young people grew into adulthood by mocking at truth, at morality and God.  They felt in total control of the American spirit; they proudly declared themselves as Social Justice Warriors!  Anyone who disagreed with them would have to be vanquished once and for all.  Obama’s cult surely appeared undefeatable; one could feel the air of arrogance from Obama’s own mouth when he mocked Trump from the corridors of power in the White House.

Sadly, this Obama cult was made of air.  Since Atheism believes in nothing, when power is taken away from its grip, there remains nothing for it to stand upon.  When Trump victory punctured it, the bubble simply caved in.  How much they mocked everything Trump voters represented, they could not be comforted.

A people who managed to forge the greatest nation on earth suddenly appeared so vulnerable; critics had to invent the phrase “snowflakes” to describe these SJWs.  Without the moral fiber and the confidence in divine providence to care for us, defeat is painful.  Even more painful when it happens against a person like Trump who holds no bars; makes morality a thing to be used and abused depending on its profitability.  During the days of slavery, the blacks could grind through their unimaginable suffering with their undying hope in God by humming “Someday, we shall be free”.  But the people going through the emotional breakdown after the last American election seem to have no such place to put their hopes in.

Never Lose Hope

“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies” says Andy Dufresne in the movie Shawshank Redemption. 

I am a late comer to modern world, let alone the postmodern.  Until I was sixteen, I had never set my foot in any types of automobile, never seen a telephone or a television.  I had seen the radio in the village but could never figure it out how people could get inside that little box and sing and talk. 

I tell you, the Bible is a wonderful book.  It will not only open the door to eternal life; it will open every available door to life one can imagine.  An illiterate, abandoned, and mentally ill village boy found this book and in no time began to soar on wings like eagles. 

I was told that much of the world read this book in English.  I didn’t want to be left behind.  So, at the age of 20, I began to learn this beautiful language so that I could get all the knowledge I could lay my hands on about this amazing book called The Bible.  I bought a small pocket radio and was hooked in listening to BBC.  The news, the documentaries, the stories began to fascinate me, and in no time I could understand what the people were talking about in the radio.

 

It was in 1998 that I got to watch Shawshank Redemption.  Prior to that, I was told in Nepal that a Christian should not watch any movies; it was an unpardonable sin.  But after Shawshank Redemption; just like I had devoured all the biographies of great men and women of God that I could find in a Bible College library in Bangalore, my appetite for western movies was greatly heightened by this masterpiece.  Books and movies pulled me from the dark ages to the modern age and now I wonder what age we are living in.

“Hope is a good thing” says Dufresne to Red who had grown weary of deferred hope. Red had no idea that that would be the last time he would be talking to his friend inside that prison.  Eventually, after spending 40 years in prison, Red was released and makes to the Atlantic to meet his already escaped friend.  There in the Mexican beach, Red acknowledges that Hope is indeed a good thing to have in life.

Long before I knew about Hollywood movies, I had witnessed the power of hope in my life.  Hope had kept me alive throughout my troubled childhood and teenage years.  When my wife and I began our first church, we called it Hope Church. 

Movies and human stories may inspire us to hope in life.  But without experiencing the divine grace of God, we can lose that hope at any time.  People like Anthony Bourdain, Robin Williams, Marilyn Monroe, and the likes could not hang on to that hope.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in the developed world are taking their own lives.  Material possessions and spreading fame do not appear to be sufficient for us to hang on in life.  We need a God who can fill our emptiness the way he knows how. And the Bible is the book that leads us to this God.

Isaiah says, “Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (40:31).

  

Therefore, my friends, if you feel tired and weary, listen to Jesus who says “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”.  Ask God to give you the hope and the ability to hang on to that hope.  If a boy like me could find hope and enjoy life; you can do much more!