Hi, I had to write this message due to the overwhelming misrepresentation and growing hatred towards Christians from the Sanatana Dharma bhakts. I have many wonderful Hindu friends, but have understood that Sanatana Dharma Bhakts have many misconceptions about Christianity. Things are propagated to promote hatred towards Christians. Please humbly read what I share. Thank you.
My family great grandfather was a Brahim priest, and we also had Punjabi and Muslim ancestry. A big mixed family. My ancestors believed in Christ due to their personal faith and experience. No one converted them and no rice bag was offered to them, as is claimed by the Sangh Bhakts today, chanting today that we are rice bag Christians meaning we were bribed to become Christians by the British who offered Indians rice bags to convert! Well for the ones that did convert, it was not primarily for the rice bags, because they could have still taken the bags and not converted, they were considered the “untouchables”, so when the missionaries showed them love and acceptance, would not some convert? If their own upper classes spurned them and kicked them, would they not respond to the love they got from Christian missionaries? Also, for them to convert is a hard price for they would be persecuted, they would need a real faith to sustain them.
Please followers of Sanatana Dharma, do not fear “conversion or evangelism” so much. It cannot happen unless the Holy Spirit touches you and the people who convert have to pay a big price, it is not easy being a Christian, certainly not in India which has always been majoritarian Hindu always and every where. So think, their “conversion” is only sustained if it is spiritual.
No one can convert Hindus unless it is spiritual. So do not fear losing your “culture” and religion. Be rest assured, friends.
Regarding the word “evangelism” it is in the Bible. The word evangelism comes from a Greek word meaning “to proclaim the good news.” Remember, even if an evangelist shares with you, they are not trying to force you to become a Christian, they are to share the “good news” and move on. The Bible says “Shake the dust off your feet and move on if they don’t want to listen.” Also, people are not trying to “covert” anyone because they want Christians to be a majority force in the world. Jesus said, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” The ones who share the Gospel are the least political or ambitious of all. They do it with the goal of Heaven in mind.
Basically, the only people who become Christians have come through a spiritual moving of the soul, which transforms the soul, experiencing His love, His presence, and if they have been healed, all do not convert. Bible: John 3:8: The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Today, do not forget that in USA and UK and other places in Europe, Hindus have the freedom to worship and even propagate Hinduism and no one hurts them for that. In fact, remember, Hinduism is growing fast in Europe and Russia. Yogic centers are all over USA with Krishna Centers and ashrams, temples etc.
Today, we hear from the Sanatana Dharma bhakts that Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma is growing the fastest in Russia, Europe and other countries. Great! But in India, the Hindutva (and as you know Hindus are 80%) accuse the 2% Christians of conversion and abuse them. Of course there are many wonderful Hindus who are supportive of Christians and other minorities and we are grateful for them. But right now, is this not a parody of situation? Or can it even be called a parody, it is so grim. I have seen comments like “Eradicate Christians out of India and ethnic cleansing” on Twitter. Today, March 25th, 2020, I saw the comment on Twitter, “Gole maro sale ko.” Well that phrase is picking up. Do you know how dangerous it is?
Christians are 2% plus, so where is this theory that Muslims and especially Christians forced conversions on Hindus? Does it hold water? The British East India Company (colonial rule) never encouraged “conversions”and the foreign missionaries were servers, and not actively “evangelistic.” There was, however, revival awakenings through the Holy Spirit and these were supernatural waves, which happened periodically in different nations. In fact, the more one tries to force someone to convert, the more they will run away. People could still take the benefits and not convert.
Most of the English-speaking people in India studied in Christian missionary schools and there were hundreds of these missionary schools scattered over India! Did anyone force them to believe in Christ? If that was so, then all would be Christians today, which is not the case. In the 2000s, Christian missions ran 16,500 schools and 6,500 hospitals in India. L. K. Advani ji, late Arun Jaitley and many others studied in missionary schools, and we cannot say that people are converting all over because of these schools or hospitals. Christianity immerses itself in good works as an expression of love for others and God. I myself studied in an American missionary school in Darjeeling, but all my school colleagues, friends, known people are still Hindu, Buddhist or whatever faith they are. They never felt forced to convert, so this is a lie being propagated about conversions.
The woman who is actively instigating the No Conversion movement on social media in India has her children in USA as US citizens. USA gives Hindus the freedom to believe in their faith and many even propagate their faith through ISKCON which is evangelistic in its outreach. Americans have embraced Hinduism, and they sure are not persecuted by their government for it.
Today, in India when Christians gather on Sunday mornings to worship God, their church doors are rammed open, pastors and even congregation in the church are beaten, sometimes so badly that they break their legs, break the churches and the Hindu fundamentalists make reports to the police that these Christians are converting the people to Christ. People gather in a house for a prayer meeting and the Hindu extremist barge in to stop them, declaring they cannot do that, as this is a Hindu country. (India is declared as a secular democratic republic by our constitution. We now ask, “Is not the law protecting Christians anymore? Today, hundreds of churches have been stopped and shut down. The Hindutva group barge in, demanded who is funding them.
Today, pastors are taken to prison, or the lockup for claims of conversion. The violates are never punished for beating and even for killing Christians because most of their reports are not taken by the cops. Recently, a neighbor asked a Christian for Bible, and they gave it, and the neighbor called the cops on them for conversion. It was a set up! This is happening today!
During the 2008 massacre of Christians done by the Hindu radicals, a friend’s friend wife was pregnant and they cut open her stomach, killed her and her baby. In fact, today, I saw comments of asking revenge for Swami’s death, who was not killed by the Christians, but was an internal dispute among them, as confessed by them later. However, a few Christians are still locked in prison, professing their innocence and that inside story will never be told because they got a good scapegoat in the Christians, I mean 2% of the population, why would anyone care what they think or feel!
My other friend’s husband was burned alive for no fault of his own, he was called to a place, and they locked in six men in a room and burned them alive – a pre-planned murder because he was a pastor. When this lady’s husband was burned alive by Hindu extremists, he had no funeral, no candlelight vigils, no media publicity, no sympathy from the public.
Today Hindutva DJS leader vows to free India of Muslims and Christians by 2021:however American Indian Hindutva supporters enjoy minority rights in USA but advocate fascism and minority suppression back in India. I am learning that they are even financing minority suppression back here in India!
Firstly, we gotta remember that all our origins are from elsewhere. The North Indians moved into India from Mesopotamia, which is present day Iran. The first Indians to come to present India were the Adivasis..so to tell Christians to get out of India would mean telling the whole world, go back to Genesis!
Incidentally, the Keralites converted to Christianity at the time the Apostle Thomas came to India over 2000 years back. Ironical, because the British were here from the 1800s when the rice bag theory arose, so most of the people accusing Christians of being rice bag Christians don’t know their facts or history. (Today, history is being replaced by other theories, but history cannot be changed so easily when hundreds of historians took centuries of hard work to solidify their findings and get it approved with great difficulty, can we wipe out history with a stroke of another person’s claims?)
Please know that people are Christian by choice and not “converted”. Many It is their spiritual quest with Christ. Meet them and talk to them, you will find out! If you really want to meet them, ask me, I will help you meet them.
If there is ever a case where there is a Christian converting others by force, it can be prosecuted by law and certainly, the whole nation would know about it because it would be in the rarest of rare cases because Christianity is never for force or violence by conversion. Again, not all humans are perfect and there will be some bad apples in the basket, but it is incorrect to generalize a whole community because of that or ridicule them.
I have seen a Twitter handle (you all know who this is – No Conversion) is devoted to ridiculing and misrepresenting Christians in a very distorted way. This way of thinking promotes more hatred towards Christians. Such a nucleus of hate from powerful people influencing and organizing events enable violence that is taken out on poor pastors in villages in their house gatherings. These pastors were not “converting” anyone, just having a prayer meeting at home, or gathering for church, but beaten until bones are broken and also taken to prison, happening more regularly every Sunday.. This behavior is very similar to ISIS. They used to barge into Christian churches and attack them. We are leading to another 2008 again very soon if courts and cops, and government are silent about this.
In the villages, most of the pastors are poor, and there is no outside funding. Many raise self sufficient methods, some hold two jobs, but reports of Christians flourishing because of western funds keep floating around. To take the call of a missionary to serve others calls for sacrifice and even danger, so unless someone is called by God, they cannot do it. It is not easy. And tell me why Hindus would “convert” to Christianity for benefit? It is far easier being a Hindu in India. It is only because of a spiritual breakthrough in their lives that Hindus and others turn to Christ. Listen to their testimonies, talk to them and you will know! It was not a “rice bag” movement. In fact, these men and women had no money! Nothing! These revival movements happened after the British left!
As Ashok Swain (Associate Professor and Director of the Programme of International Studies, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, from Sweden) said, “Diaspora politics is seductive & populist. It is a dangerous game for both homeland & host country. Pampering to diaspora can make political leaders compromise national interest for the sake of political opportunism. #HowdyModi is good for Trump & Modi but bad for USA & India. And “Indian American Hindutva groups, largely upper caste Indians, are advocates of minority rights in the U.S., but simultaneously and contradictorily supportive or uncritical of cultural supremacism and majoritarianism in India.” This is so absolutely true and harming the nation.
In history, conversions by force were political movements, not spiritual. Politicized religion is toxic for the world. We have a God-given design to express ourselves. Nations that hated fell by their own sword. All the world dictatorship governments never did well and their nations never prospered, think about it…We must not propagate hate movements against another one’s faith. Its easy to destroy but the consequences are forever. It is far more difficult to be a peace-maker, but peacemakers are the greater and more spiritual ones!
If we mix our faith too with hatred, it is no longer a sanctified faith. Violence begets violence. An eye for an eye will turn the world blind, Mahatma Gandhi.
I have to also add that there are many wonderful Hindus who are supportive, wonderful, and kind and do not spew this hatred, or “castism”and many too are my friends and am grateful for them.
I hope we realize that life is not forever and we cannot hold on to our earthly identities, our properties.
We don’t have to protect God, dharma…He and it will protect us. Fear is the Biggest force driving the world today, which is why people do what they do. Nations are now trying to move the democratic secular way because this is the natural design of creation and God’s natural design for humans. He never made us robots nor did He rule us in dictatorships.
I have one more request. I trust those reading are of a higher understanding..I request you to look at this website and see the violence done to Christians in India over the last few years…If you really want your Dharma not to be associated with this kind of violence, please educate those who are violent. Please!? See this link http://persecutionrelief.org/
Thank you for reading.
Rita Farhat Kurian
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