Christianity in India is progressively partaking of Indian beliefs and customs, even meditation systems. The trend has been given a name—inculturation

For the love of the Cross

By M.P.K. Kutty

“ Ours was a middle-class Hindu household that followed Hindu rituals as a matter of course. I was educated in Christian institutions, but was never influenced by their religious practices. Yet I believed in a God whose goodwill was necessary for my well-being. Once, during a religious convention I had accidentally landed in, a pastor invited me to attend the Sunday morning prayer meetings at his house. His sermons motivated me to read the Bible more closely. Thus I clearly saw that the human heart is desperately wicked or that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God". There was a quality of divine wisdom in these pronouncements.

“Later I also learnt that some great people disagreed with the concept of sin or accused Christianity of coercing people into believing by the promise of heaven and the threat of hell. But I feel philosophizing about right and wrong only blunts man's capacity of moral distinction. Christ offered us, in his Sermon on the Mount, the mysterious prospect of dying in order to live, and turned all the world's values upside down. The decision to take up the cross is also a decision to consider as "rubbish" what the world trumpets as important.

“ To me, this sermon represents the blueprint for leading a good life. His death and resurrection are central to my faith. Crucifying the self is not easy. I recognize that without His Spirit working in me, I cannot love my enemies. Also, to remain small and poor in a world that worships power and riches is hard. But then, the crux of Christian teaching remains imprinted in my mind: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it...”