I have something to tell you!

Imagine if you were the only person living on a planet.  How would you feel?  The thing is, even though there are seven billion people on earth, most of them live a life marked by isolation.  The cliché “everyone has a story” is true.  The “story” in the cliché is not a fiction.  It is the actual human experience; the truth.  The problem with that truth is; no one knows your story except you.  Even if someone knew your story; they don’t care because they too are busy in navigating through their own stories. 

The other day early in the morning I took a chair and sat by the window overlooking the main street below.  The first person that caught my attention was a rickshaw puller who was barely paddling his means of earning for the day.    He must be in his forties but looked much older and frail.  As I watched him disappear from my sight, I began to ask myself “if I was that man, what would be going through my mind each morning?”

Guwahati is terribly hot and humid a place for rickshaw pulling.  Even to take a walk in the morning would drench your clothes with sweat.  But there are possibly thousands of rickshaw pullers who cannot say “it is too hot”.  They keep stretching their bodies, wiping their sweat and paddling through the dusty streets.  If their bodies give up, should their rickshaws break down or some violent demonstrations take place in the streets; their immediate concern would be for the next meal.  Life itself comes to them as a challenge. 

Every time my wife and I take the rickshaw, my heart aches for the puller.  They would also have hopes and dreams, wishes and wants in life.  But the misery of existence has robbed them off so much that their only dream now is to find the next meal.  This goes for everyone living in abject poverty.  Oh, the curse of poverty is such; it robs the man very dignity accorded to him by God. 

Behind every rickshaw puller, there is a story.  Every one of us has a story.  Should we be given a hearing, we could bring many to tears.  But the world is so busy.  Rich are busy in becoming richer.  Poor are busy in overcoming poverty.  Life is so busy that no one has the time to hear what others have to say.  But then, life was made to be told.  Life was made to be shared.  We are not created to live in isolation and therefore, when the silence becomes unbearable, we just give up living all together.  Of all, a pastor commits suicide, a famous celebrity takes his own life and famer sets himself on fire and so on and so forth. 

The Bible says; “man is made in the image of God” and the God of the Bible is a speaking God.  He is the Logos; the very thought system.  This Logos finds proper expression through speech.  Speech is constructed through the combination of words.  Words are comprised of letters.  Letters are made up of sounds, the voice.  In essence, language is given to us so that we would be able to tell our story to someone who cares.  When there is no one to hear us, we lose the purpose of our existence.

However, there is hope.  There is hope for you even if there is no human being willing to hear your story.  God who made you in his own image longs to hear your voice because he cares for you deeply.  The Bible is God’s invitation to call on him; to tell our stories to him.  The Logos that became human said “come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest”.  You don’t have to allow isolation to take your life.  If you are willing, God is always willing to come into your darkness.  David was such a man who mastered the art of telling his story to God.  Reading through his Psalms will inspire you to enter into the inner sanctuary of God where you can have personal conversation with the creator of the universe.  He never gets tired listening to your story!         

अनुभव गर्न लायक जीवन

मानिसको जीवन एक विचित्र अनुभव हो। सुख-दुखको सङ्गम। समयको घेराबन्दी। प्रकृतिको नियम।  परिस्थितिको कैदी।  वातावरणको उपज।  

यो गजबको अनुभव गर्न मानिस आफै यो संसारमा आएन; आउन सकिने सम्भावना पनि छैन।  कसैले उसलाई यहाँ राखेको हो।  यो संसार मानिसको सुरूवात हो।  त्यसैकारण, यो संसार मानिसले जीवनदातालाई चिन्ने मौका हो।  शिशुले आमालाई आफू जन्मेको दिन देखि चिन्दै गएझैं, यो संसार मानिसको निम्ति शिशुता हो।  सृष्टिकर्ताका औंलाहरू समात्तदै, अनुहार छाम्दै, अँगालोमा खेल्दै उहाँकै स्वरूपमा हुर्किने घर हो यो संसार।  

मृत्यु पछिको जीवनको त हामी कल्पना मात्रै गर्न सक्छौं।  तर यो संसारमा रहँदाको जीवन आफैमा एक अविस्मरणीय र अनन्त अनुभव रहनेछ।  अजम्मरी जीवनमा हुन आउने सम्भावित अनुभवको अग्रिम स्वाद पनि हो।  सृष्टिकर्ताले गल्ती गरेर हामीलाई यहाँ राखेको होइन; चाहेरै राख्‍नुभएको हो।  त्यसैकारण, आउने संसारको तयारीमा लाग्‍नुमा हाम्रो भलाई छ।  “मरे पछि ...मै राजा” भन्ने नेपाली उखान र “अर्को जुनीमा गरौंला” भन्ने नेपाली मानसिकता धोका हो।  यो जुनीमा नै आउने जुनीको निश्चयता गर्न सकिन्छ भनी येशूले प्रमाणित गर्नुभएको कारण उहाँबाहेक अर्को उपाए छैन; “बाटो सत्य र जीवन म नै हुँ”।

येशू हामीलाई अर्को जुनीको निश्चयता मात्रै होइन, यसै जुनीमा पनि उत्तम जीवन जिउन सकिने शक्ति र सामर्थ दिनुहुन्छ।  येशूलाई चिन्ने, येशूको हातका औंला समात्‍ने प्रत्येक मानिसको निम्ति उहाँ गोठालो हुनुहुन्छ।  उहाँले त्यसलाई हरियो खर्कमा सुताउनुहुन्छ, शान्त पानीको छेउमा डोर्‍याउनुहुन्छ, कठिनाइका घाँटिहरूबाट उकास्‍नुहुन्छ, सत्रुको सामु भोज तयार पार्नुहुन्छ, तेलले उसको शिर अभिषेक गर्नुहुन्छ, आशिषले उसको कचौरा पोखिनेगरि भर्नुहुन्छ; करूणा र भलाइद्वारा जीवनभरि उसको सुरक्षा गर्नुहुन्छ।

परिस्थिति र वातावरणले हामीलाई कैदी बनाएको भए पनि।  दुःखले घेरेको भए पनि।  समयले डाँडा काट्नै लागेको भए पनि।  हामीले हार खानुपर्ने कारण छैन कारण यो संसार हाम्रो सुरुवात मात्र हो।  जीवनको सुरूवात जतिनै प्रतिकूल भए पनि येशूमा हाम्रो जीवनलाई अनुकूल बनाउन सकिन्छ।  जब हामी येशूकहाँ जान्छौं तब अनन्त “लोगोस” जसद्वारा उहाँले सबै थोकको सृष्टि गर्नुभयो, त्यसै लोगोसद्वारा यो जीवनमा स्वर्गीय अनुभवको सृजना येशूले गर्न सक्‍नुहुन्छ।  उहाँले भन्नुभयो; “विश्वास गर्नेको निम्ति सबै थोक सम्भव छ” (मर्कूस ९.२३)।  

मानिसका कुरालाई हामीले नसुनेकै राम्रो कारण प्रायः मानिसहरुले भनेका कुराहरूमा हाम्रो भलो भन्दा कुभलो नै लुकेको हुन्छ।  तर येशूका कुरामा सधैं नै हाम्रो भलाई लुकेको हुन्छ।  उहाँका वचनले हाम्रो जीवनको यो विचित्र अनुभवलाई अझ रहरलाग्दो बनाउँछन्। 

Success Without Happiness Is Bill Hybels

Success without a happy life cannot be considered true success.  Jacob Abbott in Alexander the Great (1876) devotes a chapter talking about Alexander’s character flaws that led to his untimely (unhappy) demise.  Having achieved the highest success before reaching 30, Alexander surrendered his life to drinking and beautiful women.  He abandoned the noble qualities that made him great in the beginning and became a reckless person hoping to find happiness in sensual living.  In doing so, he not only destroyed his life, he also left behind him a world in total chaos.  On his deathbed; his generals asked him as who should be his successor.  The great man gave a great answer; “whoever is worthy”.  He knew he had failed to be worthy even to name a successor let alone prepare one.  There went a greatest conqueror but an unhappy man.

Success without a happy life is like sailing in the ocean without water.  You are surrounded by huge body of water but that water cannot quench your thirst; in fact, should you drink it, it will make you thirstier.  Though the water is carrying you along but cannot give life.

Bill Hybels is considered the most successful pastor by far in the world today.  But the man’s life appears to be far from happiness.  In 2012, he and his family were seated on the stage for an interview at an event called “Exponential Conference”.^[1]  This was probably his first public interview together with his family even after becoming a world phenomenon for so long.  Once a while he had talked and written about the unhappy state of his marriage, but no one really thought much about that.  He was always riding the waves of success for anyone to notice the unhappiness.  But when Dave Ferguson, the interviewer at that event, asked his wife the first question, she went on and on and on how things were terrible in their marriage and how she was hurting in the inside in silence.  Ferguson had to interrupt her because it was becoming so gloomy a picture of a marriage of such a celebrity pastor.  Children were blushing and husband was visibly shaken.  Finally when Ferguson turned to Bill for his response, Bill struggled to find his composer.  He was dislodged from his seat either by what she said or by the fear that his well-constructed façade might come down.  Anyone who watches that interview can see how this famous man and his wife were living a life that was far from true happiness in the face of tremendous success.

Now in her late 60s, Lynne Hybels writes in her blog, “My husband and I have been married for over four decades.  As with many couples, there were times we couldn’t imagine making it through another year, let alone another decade or two.”^[2]  That is a very sad statement for any marriage that has lasted for so long.  Yes, marriage has its fair share of hardships but to go through such marriage year after year would certainly drain any human soul.  She confesses that in her 40s, she even lost all her faith in God and took nearly a decade for her to rediscover the love of Christ.^[3]  Writing her last blog post for 2018 in March, she still appears to be at a crossroad; “I’m not sure where this part of the journey will lead, though I do find myself moved to good tears by the beauty of the simple flowers I arrange into assorted vases and by the truth of the simple words delivered via Audible from my favorite spiritual poets.”  She goes on “The shape of this year is still unfolding, but so far it holds little structure, much quiet, a fair bit of play, my favorite people, and an intentional focus on the beauty of nature.”^[4] 

It is hard to tell if she knew what was coming her way at that time but by now we can only imagine the kind of sadness she is going through.  We can also imagine the agonies Bill is going through and his children and grandchildren who considered their dad and granddad a great hero.  If you look at the Willow Creek Church campus at South Barrington, Illinois and the worldwide impact it had, if you stack all what Bill has written and spoken, if you talk to people who are impacted by this man’s leadership conferences, you can only imagine the kind of finishing Bill would have.  Sadly the final chapter is looking so gloomy, so unhappy. 

Success (whatever that maybe) alone cannot give us happiness.  You can be happy without success but success without happiness leaves behind a trail of destruction in the same scale of success you were chasing after.  Paul the apostle writes from Roman prison to the Philippian church to be happy in the Lord always.  Compared to Bill Hybels, Paul was a failure but he died a happy man leaving behind a trail of life giving letters.  Paul’s secret of happiness was Jesus Christ, not success.  That has not changed for us either.  Don’t be driven for success but run after Christ and he will quench your thirst once and for all! 

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[1] https://youtu.be/x6BoQKBd6WA (Accessed on August 10, 2018).

[2] https://www.lynnehybels.com/about-1/ (Accessed on August 10, 2018).

[3] https://www.lynnehybels.com/blogs/happy-40th-bill-hybels-and-thank-you (Accessed on August 10, 2018).

[4] https://www.lynnehybels.com/blogs/2018/3/18/2018-the-year-of-the-radical-sabbatical (Accessed on August 10, 2018).

Secret of Abundant Life is Generosity (Hospitality)

Taste buds tell us the taste of food; sight reveals us the beauty of scenery, and hearing the sweetness of music.  Someone’s explanation about these things may give us some ideas about them but not the actual experience.  It is in eating, seeing and hearing we acquire the real experience of them.

 

Christian faith is such a thing that loses its flavor, its beauty, and its sweetness when we limit it only to talks.  It is in practicing the faith that makes it a living relationship with God and with one another.  To emphasize this point, Jesus said “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT).  We don’t have to shout out loud to the world about who we are; our lives can become the Bible for the world to read and for the church to be nourished with if we put our faith into action.

Last week I travelled to Aizawl (Mizoram) for one week’s Bible Seminar and stayed the whole week with brother Vanlalchhunga’s family.  He and his wife make a wonderful Christian home with their four amazing children and a kind hearted mother who is about 75 and still very strong.  Every time I happen to meet people like this, I am reminded of the promise the Lord Jesus made when he said “No one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30).  Their hospitality and sincere desire to make my life comfortable while I was there reminded me of what John must have experienced in the house of Gaius in Ephesus.

Gaius was one of the leaders in the church at Ephesus who opened his house not only for John but also for many others who passed through the town.  Travelling ministers of the gospel would come to Ephesus and Gaius would welcome them into the church and also to his home.  He would do everything possible to send them off with some material help for their onward journey as well.  John commends him for such love and hospitality and offers a blessed prayer in his behalf saying, “Beloved, I pray that in every way you may succeed and prosper and be in good health (physically), just as (I know) your soul prospers (spiritually)” (3John 2, AMP).

So many Christians live barren lives because they fail to practice hospitality and generosity.  Much of their faith is limited to talks only and because of that, they neither exhibit the light of the gospel to the world nor enjoy the blessedness John prays for Gaius.  True taste of Christian faith comes to life when we put our words into action.  John says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.  This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence…if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask” (1John 3:18-22, NIV).

The best way to have a joyful Christian life is to put our faith into practice.  Otherwise it is a dead faith because faith without action is dead (James 2:17).  But if we put our faith into action, it becomes a living faith and produces the kind of life Jesus came to give us; “an abundant life” (John 10:10).    

Bible Seminar in Mizoram

Please pray for the flowing Bible Training Seminar in Aizawl, Mizoram.  Pastor Puia has gone ahead to prepare for it and Pastor Bhatta will follow him later.

Thoughts from Hospital

I have been visiting the doctor for sometimes now.  This particular group of hospitals is well known in India.  Comparatively an expensive place, but has somehow earned the reputation of being reliable.  In some notorious places of medical malpractices, patients go for one kind of surgery and come home with some other missing parts in their bodies. 

Visiting a doctor is simply a risk one has to take as a last resort in a culture where there is no moral ground for honesty, trust and service.  Though there is a strong belief in reaping the consequences of a bad Karma in the next life but who cares about the next life.  In fact, the person whose organs are being stolen by the doctor may be reaping the consequences of his or her own Karma in previous life.  Therefore, when you cheat, steal, and kill, you are simply playing the part in this never ending cycle of Karma; you are doing nothing wrong.  In fact, I learned from a taxi driver, alleviating someone’s suffering can be dangerous for those who believe in the law of Karma.  While waiting at a red light, an old beggar approached our taxi.  But the driver chased her away.  When we asked as why he was rude to her, he said; “she is reaping the consequences of her bad karma in her previous life and no one should prevent her from doing so.  If I reduce her suffering, then whatever is reduced from her lot will come to me.”  Didn’t argue with him much but only imagined what he would think if she was his mother or wife.    

Now, about the hospital; every time I visit the doctor, I sit in a crowded lobby, waiting for my turn.  Several doctors’ offices are situated around the lobby.  The waiting time to see the doctor, even after making the appointment, can go up to three hours and gives you the ample opportunity to watch the crowd of hundreds if not thousands of people who come and go.     

Sitting there for hours, you get to see and study all types of people.  Some well-built and good looking while others not so blessed by the nature.  Some overweight and hardly able to walk; even the sitting chairs in the lobby are not wide enough to contain them.  Others so skinny you could feel as if their bones were crackling with every move they make.  Young and old, boys and girls, and all ages rushing through the unknown on their way to see their doctors with the hope of securing better health, a better future by leaving behind whatever the maladies they were struggling with.  With the exception of few smiling faces, almost everyone carried a gloomy and anxious look.   Some were in serious pains; some were carried into the doctor’s office on stretchers and wheelchairs. 

Having sat there for a number of times now, it is not difficult for me to conclude that people will pay whatever the cost within their power if they can get their health back.  We all want to live long; none of us want to die soon.  In fact, we all long for immortality.  Yet, one day everyone will embrace death.  The good looking bodies, the well-built frames and even the healthy genes will come to an end.  Some will be cremated; some buried and so on and so forth.  No amount of treatment will secure an immortal life in this body. 

Sadly, so long as our bodies are healthy, we never think about life.  We make ourselves busy in the rat race of existence for acquiring a few perishable things.  A grocery store keeper gets up early in the morning and begins to think about the day’s business; he won’t mind to cheat, defraud and even mix some harmful and poisonous chemicals in the edibles so that he can get more profit out of his goods.  A milkman adds as much water to his milk as possible.  A butcher selling chicken pumps his meat with water so that it weighs him more in the scale.  A fisherman applies harmful chemicals to his fish so that they can remain fresh for weeks.  Same thing goes for the vegetable and fruit sellers.  The basic necessities of life are poisoned by people who are supposed to be keepers of their brothers.  The people who run government agencies to monitor the quality of food and drugs can be easily bought with the profit people make by destroying the health of general public.  Life is so cheap; everyone wants to make a few more bucks by destroying it. 

Money has become our master, and we have become its obedient slaves.  We will serve this master even at the expense of our own wellbeing.  We will keep earning this money so long as our health is okay or our age allows.  But then, should a terrible sickness visit us or an old age welcomes us, all our money is useless.  It cannot save; neither can we enjoy life because by then life would be gone. 

I have always lived as though I was on a borrowed time.  I was supposed to be killed at birth, but was spared.  I should have been dead before I turned one because of a terrible tumor, but I survived.  Constant suicidal thoughts until the age of 18 could have been actualized, but I failed to act on them and kept living for another day.  But it is only after I met Jesus of Nazareth that life took on a different rhythm.  Everyday became an exciting adventure.  Every opportunity to do good to others became a fulfilling pleasure.  Tomorrow no longer bothered me and yesterday did not matter.  Today became the center of my life and have since lived it to the fullest of God-given ability.

Even then, when this present sickness weakened my body, I began to feel as if I could have done more when my health was robust.  I could have written more, spoken more, helped more, done this and done that kind of feelings surround me when I lie on bed.  I thank God for the medical miracles which give me hope but much more than that, I thank God for the divine healing and health that has carried me thus far.  And God willing, I shall do more before my time is up.

How about you?  Do you take good health for granted and waste your time?  Have you prepared to meet your God?  Have you put your house in order?  Or will you start thinking about such things only when your health begins to give up?

So, my dear reader, believe in a God who loves you instead of the money that enslaves you.  Love your neighbor as yourself and life will simply become a wonderful adventure and a beautiful journey!          

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!