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christculture
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Name: ChristCulture
Interests: Jesus, International Matters, Prayer, Worship, Missions, India, Middle-east, Anthropology, Church/community growth research, music, piano/guitar, computers, webdesign, graphics.
Expertise: Multimedia. Biblical/Theological Training.
Occupation: Student
Industry: Nonprofit
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Member Since:
7/28/2004
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| Can a Christian find/get the "right" spouse for you through a cultural system that does not involve dating?
Two factors to keep in mind in additions to the questions below, before you post.
- Christians are supposed to be "led by God's Spirit.
- Pop-culture (mostly Western media) and colonialism as well has,
over time, spread dating to countries internationally that previously
did not practice Dating/Courtship.
With those in mind, I pose the following questions:
- Does
involving Christian parents in a culture that believes in "arranged
marriage" or even "partially arranged marriage" (where the person
getting married has a say) violate the idea of a Christian being
"Spirit-led"?
- Does the dating system
support the idea of a Christian being "Spirit-led" when it comes to
picking their own spouse?
My next post will have a
summation of some of the questions and answers/thoughts posed, and I
will include my own along with some thoughts from intercultural
interactions and Biblical scripture.
"Click "comment" "
Note: I
do understand that being a "Christian" implies someone who is led by
the Spirit of God, but this article focuses on that particular aspect
of the Christ with regards to marriage customs. As always, my posts are
not meant to be comprehensive studies or meant to be an article to be
published. If you would like a version of any post that's meant for
publications, please contact me first in comments.
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| It's official and out in the open now (it was just unofficially official before).
Leaving Islam in Iran is by law a capital offense. (translation, you will lose your life if you leave Sharia Islam).
It was approved in the Iranian parliament, "By a vote of 196 to seven, with two abstentions." [Source: ReligiousIntelligence]
If you're male, and you were born in a Muslim family, and you leave the faith, you get the capital punishment.
If you're female though, you get to keep your life, but you'll spend it in jail.
If you're a male that originally came from a non-Muslim family, you'll have 3 extra days to change your mind and gain your freedom, or face capital punishment.
Practitioners of witchcraft will also be condemned to death.
Apparently, publicly published reports of this on Iranian websites were quickly removed.
Sharia law is heavily influenced by leaders from Iran. Effectively, their decisions influence sharia law practitioners globally, perhaps not immediately. Consider though, the international implications: "The law’s reach extends beyond the borders of Iran, and gives the
government the authority to enforce the death penalty on any Muslim
anywhere in the world who leaves the faith." [Source: ReligiousIntelligence]
Earlier this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, came under fire, figuratively speaking, for saying that the adoption of Sharia law in the U.K. (United Kingdom, aka England) seemed unavoidable, and that "adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion". [Source: BBC World News Link1 Link2]
I doubt the kind of social cohesion he's referring to is to allow the destruction of people that suddenly disagree with their Islamic worldview. Ofcourse he did not have that in mind. But with the facts at hand, that's what he's really asking for, without realizing the consequences.
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| Forced Conversion and Attacks by Hindu Fundamentalists
Is the Indian Taleban the Hindu Fundamentalist groups/Hindutva movement?
If you haven't heard already, thousands of Christians have been attacked, a couple of hundred church buildings and Christian non-profit offices have been destroyed or attacked or vandalized, an orphanage was burned down with a priest and a volunteer teacher in it, several people have been forced to kneel in front of Hindu deities or threatened with death or punishment (to them or family) if they refuse to convert back to Hinduism, hundreds (some reports thousands) of Christians' homes have been destroyed, the list goes on. Reports point to the fact that many have already been brutally murdered, and only a fraction of which gets reported in the media. (Partly because much of India is rural). All the above has happened primarily in the state of Orissa within the last month alone!
This all started when a leading VHP activist, who was known to for alleged forced conversions of Christians in rural areas to Hinduism, was killed by a communist group. The group claimed responsibility and police reports point to the same. Hindu Fundamentalists jumped to the opportunity and blamed the Christians, and still do, so that their followers continue the carnage. 
October 4th, 11am, a rally will be held in front of the UN building in New York, protesting India's lack of response to this carnage.
The sponsors of this carnage are Hindu fundamentalist political groups such as :
Vishwa Hindu Parishad [violent Fundamentalist Hindu activist group, heavily influences politics at the local level]
Bajrang Dal [The Youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, same function as  above]
Bharatiya Janata Party ["party" here refers to "political group". The BJP has been in control of the Indian parliament in the past. Interestingly, persecution of Christians spikes up in states where they come to power at the state level.]
Unlike the US electoral system, India has many political groups, some bigger than others. To gain a majority, various political groups has to pledge support for a larger one. The states run by the BJP or its affiliates normally have a higher number of occurences of persecution of Christians.
The Government has responded. But it has been too little, and too late. Hundreds (some reports say thousands, which wouldn't be surprising knowing how VHP works) of Christians are already in shelters or hiding out in forested areas for their lives. Many have been told to not return unless they become Hindus again.
Pray for the persecutors. Pray that the Indian government will hold to its responsibilities and bring justice. Pray for the families who have lost loved ones, lost their homes and livelihood in light of this violence.
I am proud to be a Christian Indian. I choose to not be silent about these gross acts of injustice. Even if you are not a Christian, I urge you to choose to not be silent about this disgraceful behavior by fellow Indians.
 
 
 
  
 
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| Happy Independence Day to India, August 15, 2008
I've posted some thoughts on this topic in the past, so here's a link to that post from 2007.
With all the recent violence against Christians in India because of lies being spread by some religious extremists organizations though, I can't help but wonder if there is yet more independence to be attained.
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