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Dec 23, 2014

The Wars of Gods and Men

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</div>Thousands of years ago, the Earth was a battlefield. These were the wars that would shape man's destiny—terrible conflicts that began lifetimes earlier on another planet.

Parting the mists of time and myth, the internationally renowned scholar Zecharia Sitchin takes us back in this volume to the violent beginnings of the human story, when gods—not men—ruled the Earth.

In a spellbinding reconstruction of epic events preserved in legends and ancient writings, he traces the conflicts that began on another world, continued on Earth, and culminated in the use of nuclear weapons—an event recorded in the Bible as the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The Wars of Gods and Men

Thousands of years ago, the Earth was a battlefield. These were the wars that would shape man's destiny—terrible conflicts that began...

The God Delusion

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The God Delusion is a book that argues against the idea of a personal God and against religion. This bestselling book has been written by Richard Dawkins, the popular author and evolutionary biologist. 
 
Summary Of The Book: 
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Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist, sets out to pull down all the principles that organized religion is based on, arguing against the existence of a personal god who is interested in the lives of each creature in the universe, i.e. a being who can be worshipped. 
 
The book sets forth the argument that the brilliant variety and complexities of life can be explained by the theory of natural selection and evolution rather than by some grand design by an omniscient and all-powerful being. 
 
The God Delusion uses the idea of memes to explain the prevalence of belief in God across all cultural, racial, and geographical divisions. A meme is an idea, or behavior that spreads within a culture. It is viewed as a cultural analogy of a gene - something that replicates itself, mutates, and is passed on. Dawkins asserts that these memes of religious ideas spread across different societies like viruses because of the human mind’s susceptibility to the idea of a God. 
 
The book also delves into the issue of morality. It states that humanity does not need religion to instill moral values. According to the author, morality is the result of altruistic genes. The author asserts that most people still wouldn’t commit murder or other crimes if the existence of God were to be completely disproved. 
 
The God Delusion does not just put forward a defense of atheism, but states that religion is the cause of the many evils in society, and that religion fosters fanaticism and narrow-mindedness. The author takes a strong stance against teaching religious ideas in schools. Dawkins asserts that he does not intend to provide proof against the existence of God. The book puts forward an argument that a universe without God is better than a universe with an all-powerful God. 
 
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About Richard Dawkins: 
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist and an author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford. The publication of his first book, The Selfish Gene, which introduced the term meme, made him a popular personality. 
 
Dawkins’ other books include The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach Of The Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, River Out of Eden, and The Selfish Gene. 
 
Dawkins was born in 1941 in Nairobi, Kenya. He is well known for his atheistic views and his criticism of creationist ideas and the idea of intelligent design that presumes the existence of an intelligent being behind the design.</div>

The God Delusion

The God Delusion is a book that argues against the idea of a personal God and against religion. This bestselling book has been written by R...

Dec 22, 2014

Design Is An Interaction

Design Is An Interaction

To develop a deeper and more meaningful connection with consumers, I believe design must invite them to take part in the conversation. Desi...

I Love To Design

I Love To Design

Design is a language. It talks, interact and build relationship. I don't make sites, I craft web designs with love & passion. That ...

I am Marc P Gangmei

I am Marc P Gangmei

I am a UI/UX Designer from Nagaland. And I craft beautiful user-friendly web designs since 1998 C.E. BAC is an apologetic blog providing FR...

Aug 28, 2014

God Does Things According To His Will, Pleasure and Plan

An important statement of the problem of evil was formulated by the Scottish philosopher David Hume when he asked “Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then is he impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then is he malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence then is evil?”[1] 
 
Since well before Hume's time, the problem has been the basis of a positive argument for atheism: If God exists, then he is omnipotent and perfectly good; a perfectly good being would eliminate evil as far as it could; there is no limit to what an omnipotent being can do; therefore, if God exists, there would be no evil in the world; there is evil in the world; therefore, God does not exist. In this argument and in the problem of evil itself, evil is understood to encompass both moral evil (caused by free human actions) and natural evil (caused by natural phenomena such as disease, earthquakes, and floods).[2] 
 
In logic, the atheist's argument is true; logically there would be no evil in the world if God exist. Theist may have hundreds reasons to support why God allow evil in the world. They may be right in their own senses. But logically it is impossible for God and evil to exist together. But we do believe and know God exist. Therefore it is necessary to assume that God is not exactly what we think of what He is. And I am going to point out two simple reasons why:

The search for ideals: 
Every human has an innate nature of longing and quest for perfection and everybody has the notion of perfect. The greatest dilemma in the history of mankind which includes everyone is the search for ideals.  This notion of ideals in turn turns out to be frustrating one for many post-modern thinkers and scholars. Since the time of yore, utopian concepts such as the Republic and Marx’s concept socialist communism had seems to be an ideal concept but could not be materialized into reality.  Is there any perfect human being today? Is there any perfect Christian, Hindu or Buddhist? The answer is clear, none. A pacifist belief on an ideal concept – the belief that war and violence are always wrong; but it will be hard for anyone to find an ideal pacifist in the world today. If one look at the personal life of a pacifist you may find lot of contradicting elements. Having the belief itself excludes other people, and this can be term as a form of violence. 
 
This innate nature in every human being brings in the concept that there is a state of absolute perfect or perfect being. This reasoning is not wrong but when human reason on God and its attributes, they naturally assumed and exclaims that God is this and that. Many of these assumptions are wrong. We cannot just rely and be content with someone’s personal experience and view on God of a particular time and situation. And this is also the case in the biblical record of God and about His attributes. Therefore, we must ask, “Is it God’s direct declaration or exaltation and exclamation of biblical writers?” such as in the Psalms by David. Is God really what we think of Him today? Are we missing any? Or have we added much of our own views springing from the innate ideas of perfect which is in every human? We need to dig deeper on this theologically. 
 
Absolute Justice and Equity: 
One may try to defend that God as someone who looks with everyone with absolute equity and with no partiality. Or that He is not violent. Can anyone buy that after studying God’s dealings and judgments with mankind throughout history recorded in the Bible? 
 
There is a problem to state God as someone who looks with everyone with absolute equity and with no partiality and to say He is not violent. If we study the Old Testament, it is surely not. The Israelites are special chosen people of God, God himself declared them as “My People.” See the exclusive declaration there. Upon reading the story, we know that despite God’s faithful presence and deliverances from many situations, they rebel against God; they even began to worship other gods. Still then God was gracious to them. Now let’s ask this question, why God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites? Some had tried to defend this by saying that the Canaanites were too evil and are needed to be destroyed. But this is not the case. Long ago, God promised Abraham the possession of the Canaan land. Why should God make a covenant with only one people and left the rest? We cannot call that absolute equity, can we? There is some preference, and Israelites enjoys a special status than the rest of mankind. 
 
One may find different views and examples to support their own stand but the real necessity is to know whether God is really what we think of. Many Christian think of Jesus as a kind generous man who willingly suffered at the hand of many men. This nice “Lamb of God” concept is not totally wrong but not all right either. From the perspective of the Pharisees of His time, he was a hostile man, a proud man, a socio-religious rebel. This view cannot be ignored because that was one of the root reason leading to His crucifixion. Same as this, Christians are missing the dot here when it come to some attribute of God. 
 
We cannot ignore or justify the violent act of God theoretically alongside with other idealistic belief and worldviews. Such as destroying the world in Noah’s time, Sodom Gomorrah in Abraham’s time, the 10 plaques in Egypt in Moses’ time and the conquest of Canaanites in Joshua’s time. For God Himself said, “I form the light, and create darkness: I makes peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:7). I am not telling that evil necessarily comes out of Him. But He did allow or use evil people as a tool to bring judgments on others. However, we cannot describe God as evil for the violent act simply that He is the creator. We are created out of nothing for His pleasure and glory. He can do anything for His pleasure and glory. And this act does not make Him something which He is eternally not. 
 
Again, it is stated in the Bible that God is a jealous God, when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to Him (Exodus 20:4-5) which is in regards to people worshipping idols. This type of jealousy is not wrong. Perhaps a practical example will help us understand the difference. If a man sees another man flirting with his wife, he is right to be jealous, for only he has the right to flirt with his wife. If God is a jealous God, then the consequences in the judgment will not be the same. There can be no absolute equity between believers and non-believers. Suppose, if this is wrong, then all human beings must be saved from damnation. Therefore to think of God as the God who looks with everyone with absolute (or ideal) equity will be false. 
 
Conclusions: 
The logical problem of evil has been a topic of debate for centuries.  And the problem of evil is the greatest obstacle to belief in the existence of God. I wouldn’t think of God’s attributes logically as I have only limited knowledge on the being of God. But rather understand God of the person He is from His dealings with mankind. Logically there can be no evil in good. One may have hundreds reasons to support why God acted violently with partiality or allow evil in the world. But logically it is impossible for God to do that. Therefore it is necessary to assume that God is not exactly what we think of what He is. 
 
Christians for ages has believed and has been defending the attributes of God when we really don’t have definite answers on the being of God. Some are human assumptions based on some personal experience of a particular person in a particular time and situation, some of which may be plausible beyond reasonable doubt but some are not. 
 
Looking into the Jewish history and the salvation story manifested in Jesus Christ, we can safely conclude that God is a Creator Monarch who does things deem fit according to his will and plan. And one who laid a salvafic plan for mankind on the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here, the burden of the logical arguments on the problem of evil is lifted at least from the theistic position. 
<hr />
References: 
1. David Hume, Dialogue Concerning Natural Religion: 1979. 
2. Patrick Sheryl, evil, problem of evil. Encyclopaedia Britannica  Ultimate Reference Suite (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2012). (CD-ROM).</div>

God Does Things According To His Will, Pleasure and Plan

An important statement of the problem of evil was formulated by the Scottish philosopher David Hume when he asked “Is [God] willing to pr...

Aug 25, 2014

How To Interpret The Bible Correctly

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Hermeneutics, the art and science of biblical interpretation has been contributing both right interpretation and wrong interpretation or heresy. Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of the interpretation of the Bible. While Jewish and Christian biblical hermeneutics have some overlap (doctrinal based interpretation), they have distinctly different interpretive traditions. We should look at hermeneutics, homiletic and mission from a holistic perspective and they should go hand in hand. Our job is to understand and interpret the biblical text correctly (hermeneutic) and sensitively present the biblical texts and its relevancy to the present context (homiletic) and set the listeners free (Mission). 
 
We cannot ignore the Historical Critical Methods in interpreting the biblical texts. They are very important and necessary. And we must also understand the assertions of biblical positivism, Christian existentialism and Neo-orthodoxy. Historical Critical Methods are general term for a whole collection of methodologies and strategies for understanding the ancient texts in the Bible. If we can seldom prove the historical accuracy of biblical texts but may sometimes discover inaccuracies in it, then some might reasonably believe that the purpose of historical criticism is to disprove the historical truth of the Bible. We cannot deny that some early researchers may have been motivated in this way. Research on the life of Jesus in the 19th century, for example, was replete with scholars who wanted to prove that the Gospels were fabrications or, at least, exaggerated accounts of the life of a simple Palestinian teacher. The 19th century scholar F. C. Baur[1]  named this approach "negative criticism" and showed the serious limitations of such an agenda. He suggested instead a "positive criticism" whose approach has won the day among biblical scholars.[2] 
 
Proper biblical interpretation is built on the following principles: 
1. Understanding the author, the purpose of the book, Socio-religio-political context, the immediate context, understanding the biblical author's intended meaning and know how the original audience would have understood the text. 
2. Consider the width of the chasm between us and the original audience. 
3. The rule of LOGIC: Interpretation is merely logical reasoning. When interpreting Scripture, the use of reason is everywhere to be assumed. Does the interpretation make sense? The Bible was given to us in the form of human language and therefore appeals to human reason - it invites investigation. It is to be interpreted as we would any other volume: applying the laws of language and grammatical analysis. 
4. Search for "timeless truth." (Any moral command from the Old Testament that is repeated in the New Testament.) 
5. Remember that each passage has one and only one correct interpretation, but can have many applications (some better than others). 
6. Always be humble and don’t forget the role of the Holy Spirit in interpretation. He has promised to lead us into all truth (John 16:13). 
 
The top rule of hermeneutics is context. Before we can tell 21st-century Christians how the Bible applies to them, we must first come to the best possible understanding of what the Bible meant to its original audience. If we come up with an application that would have been foreign to the original audience, there is a very strong possibility that we did not interpret the passage correctly. Once we are confident that we understand what the text meant to its original hearers, we then need to determine the width of the chasm between us and them. In other words, what are the differences in language, time, culture, geography, setting and situation? All of these must be taken into account before application can be made. Once the width of the chasm has been measured, we can then attempt to build the bridge over the chasm by finding the commonalities between the original audience and ourselves. Finally, we can then find application for ourselves in our time and situation. Another important thing to note is that each passage has only one correct interpretation. It can have a range of application, but only one interpretation. 
 
Biblical interpretation is as much an art as it is science. There are rules and principles, but some of the more difficult or controversial passages require more effort than others. Inference does play an important role in testing and validating an interpretation. You can use your knowledge of Jesus and His teaching and see whether the interpretation contradicts with Jesus and His teaching. We should always be open to changing an interpretation if the Spirit convicts and the evidence supports. And our interpretation should never hinder the spread of the gospel nor should it bring discrimination but nourishment. If not it is not gospel at all. 
<hr />
1. Ferdinand Christian Baur was a German Protestant theologian and founder and leader of the Tübingen School of theology.Austin Cline, "Tubingen School" http://atheism.about.com/library/glossary/western/bldef_tubingenschool.htm. (Accessed September, 3, 2013). 
2. http://users.wfu.edu/horton/r102/hc-method.html. (Accessed September, 3, 2013).
</div>

How To Interpret The Bible Correctly

Hermeneutics, the art and science of biblical interpretation has been contributing both right interpretation and wrong interpretation or...

Aug 24, 2014

Encountering The Word of God

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The Bible is the written testimony of the divine revealed Word. The Bible is a salvation history of human kind and the center of our faith. God has revealed himself in history. The Bible testifies to that revelation. The Bible is not revelation in and of itself. Rather, it is a testimony to the revelation that has occurred. The Bible is what we learn from; it is what we abide by; and it is what strengthens our faith.The Bible is something that is far greater than any other book that has ever been written; it contains words, propositions, stories, ideologies, and philosophies, and is written by human and not a total verbatim of God. The Bible is the message of God who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). It is the story of salvation; the story of your redemption and mine through Jesus; the story of life, peace and eternity. This message shed lights on human nature, world problems and human suffering. Beyond that, it clearly reveals the way to God. 
 
God is not primarily concerned with whether we understand astrophysics, botany, and chronology. We go wrong if we try to use it for purposes it was not designed for. The primary purpose of the Bible is its message about salvation, and that is its primary sphere of authority. It is a sufficient guide that tells us how we might be given eternal life with God. The Bible is not actually a book to be question empirically or scientifically with “how, what and why”, nor it is written that way, but to know the message it stored for us. And thank God it is a good one.The Bible is not an amulet, a charm, a fetish, or anything that will work wonders by its very presence alone. The Bible is not a book of heavenly utterances in supernatural language; it is God’s message communicated in the simplest human language possible.[1] 
 
For some Christian, the Bible has become the Church’s idol. They have elevated the Bible to a divine status or equalize it to the sovereignty, infallibility and sanctity of God. They have equated the language of the bible with the messages of God. This has seemingly resulted in the Bible being used as a weapon of power to oppress others. Incredibly, the Church’s oppression has not been limited to the secular world, but has even been used as a weapon to oppress its own people.But, Jesus never oppressed anyone. 
 
I am not against any kind of critical study;but interestingly, some do it right from Genesis 1. They start inquiring on the duration of creation, whether it is 24 hours a day or thousands of years, and miss the message. What the Bible wants to tell us is that God created the heavens and the earth and everything in it. That is the message for us. It is the declaration that He exists and He is the creator, master and sustainer of the universe. 
 
We say that the Bible is inspired by God. But we do not have the original God's inspired and preserved manuscript today. The Bible was completed with the Book of Revelation probably in A.D. 96.[2]   Since then it had gone through many changes and developments, and translation upon translation. Some Christians generally treat the Bible as a perfect, self-contained whole: missing nothing, containing no errors, and every word written by the infallible inspiration and verbatim of God. Naturally, this belief leads them to fight to the bitter end against biology, geology, cosmology, and every other branch of science the findings of which imply that the Bible is not literally true. The ignorance and superstition created by this millennia-long war on human progress are still hobbling us today, so it’s no wonder that atheists, skeptics and other freethinkers have strong motivation to oppose the fundamentalist belief in biblical inerrancy. 
 
The most quoted passage used to justify inspiration is 2 Timothy 3:16: “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” 
But if we read it carefully we will see how much our own interpretation has been added to its words. Also it is worth noting that our current Biblical canon was not established until the fourth century, and that when the New Testament writers wrote of Scripture, they were referring to certain Old Testament scrolls, and probably some other writings that our canon has not preserved. That is to say that Paul, for example, did not refer to his writings as Scripture. 
 
Christian Apologetic writer such as Alan Richardson said that Paul has no consciousness that he is engaged upon the task of writing sacred scripture; he accepts the transmitted words of the Lord as authoritative and carefully distinguishes from them the authority of his own opinions; and yet, even while he does this, he claims in effect to be writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.[3]   The inspiration of the books of the Bible does not imply for us the view that they were produced or written in any manner generically from that of the writing of other great Christian books, such as, for example, The Imitation of Christ or the Pilgrim’s Progress. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the sense in which St. Paul claimed to possess the Spirit’s guidance, did not cease when the New Testament books were all written, or when the canon of the New Testament was finally drawn up; there is a wide range of Christian literature from the second to the twentieth century which can with propriety be describe as inspired by the Holy Spirit in precisely the same formal sense as were the books of the Bible.[4] 
 
Thus, the Christian view has never been and could not be that the biblical books are to be place in a class apart from all other (including Christian) writings and labeled “Holy Scripture” on the grounds that they are “more inspired” than other literature. Does “more inspired”, as the expression has been used by some moderns, mean “more inspiring”? If so, who is to judge whether the Epistle of St. Jude or the Book of Esther is more inspired than The Pilgrim’s Progress. Discussion on the “Degrees of Inspiration” is subjective and unprofitable.[5] 
 
The absolute defend on Inspiration and infallibility by some fundamentalist has caused much strife within the Church and gave room for atheists and skeptics to argue on the validity of the Christian faith. The Bible is the written word of God in the sense that the message comes from God. It is not a total verbatim of God. It is written in human language within human culture by human being. By the very nature of human language the Bible supreme truth are veil in analogical language, that is the absolute truth of scripture are revealed in the human language and culture of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. The freedom of style, art and composition were reserved by each authors and we can obviously see it from the variant letters. The Bible was passed down through the centuries; the manuscripts had to be labouriously recopied by scribes by hand. No doubt, they copied it faithfully but errors are obvious when compared with variant manuscripts. New Testament authors when writing their account, their ultimate goal was to convey a message – the salvation story. The readers are to receive the message and not to take it literally and start a war of words based on the manuscripts. 
 
You may think that it is more of my opinion than a case with evidence when I say that the “Message” is the inspired one. Let us go back to the time of the early apostle. Apostles such as Peter, John and Paul preached the gospel and thousands were added into the Church. But they didn’t hold any 66 books called Bible and preached.  It is the message and the message is inspired and is with power. 
New Testament authors and even Jesus[6] paid no importance to the manuscripts. This is obvious when they quoted the Old Testament passage incorrectly. I am not telling that they paid no regard to the scriptures but what they thought important or wanted to convey was the message and not the passages or letters written in the manuscripts. 
 
Every time I read the New Testament I see biblical authors quoting the Old Testament quite a bit. They were anxious to cite Old Testament prophecy in support of their claims. I will highlight some particular biblical verses and explain that biblical authors intended to convey something more important than what was actually written in the manuscript - the inspired message. 
 
One of the most dazzling examples of the Bible misquoting itself appears in Mark 1:2:As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I am sending my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way.” 
There is no verse like this in the Book of Isaiah. The Old Testament verse whose wording comes closest is in a different prophet, Malachi (Malachi 3:1). 
 
This implies that Mark supposed author of a divinely inspired and inerrant gospel, remembered the quote correctly, but made a mistake and attributed it to the wrong prophet. The next verse, Mark 1:3, is more clearly a quote of Isaiah 40:3, which may explain the confusion – apparently Mark garbled the two prophets together. 
 
If you’ve been following along, you may have noticed that the King James Bible gives this verse differently – it begins “As it is written in the prophets…” – which would encompass Mark’s synthesis of Malachi and Isaiah. 
 
There’s a sensible reason for the variant wording. Before the invention of the printing press,the Bible was passed down through the centuries; the manuscripts had to be labouriously recopied by scribes. Usually they copied it faithfully, including the mistakes. But sometimes, when they noticed a mistake, they were bothered enough to try to correct it. This is one of those cases. Evidently, some medieval scribe tried to cover for Mark’s mistake by changing the inaccurate “Isaiah” to the more general “the prophets”. This “corrected” manuscript was passed on and gave rise to a tradition of variant manuscripts, one of which served as the source for the KJV. 
 
Meanwhile, the original manuscript with the error was recopied exactly as written by a more scrupulous or less observant scribe and passed down in a separate chain of historical transmission, creating two competing wordings for this passage.Although both the “Isaiah” and “the prophets” variants have survived to this day, there can be no doubt that the “Isaiah” wording is the original.[7] 
My point here is that Mark gives more emphasis to the message when recording his gospel. I don’t think Mark wrote his gospel with the availability of several manuscripts as reference on his desk, the way writers and researchers does today. I am not saying Mark has no regard for the scriptures but probably was quoting it from memory, which gave him room for error. Mark’s intention is to present the message to the readers that he thought is more important. 
 
Another blatant example of biblical writers getting it wrong was when Matthew forgets which prophet said what. After Judas throws down his thirty pieces of silver in the temple and commits suicide, Matthew writes in 27:9 that this event “fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.”The verse that Matthew was citing isn’t in Jeremiah, but in Zechariah (11:13). Considering this entry, the previous one, and the next one, Matthew seems to have a bit of a blind spot regarding this book. 
 
Apologists offer several explanations. Some are simply too silly to bother with – such as that the Holy Spirit originally inspired Jeremiah to speak these words, but he didn’t bother to write them down, and then some time later, the Holy Spirit inspired Zechariah to say the same thing again, presumably to make sure it was written down this time. 
In another prophetic misfire, Matthew claims that Jesus’ living in Nazareth “fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” (2:23). There is no such prophecy in the Bible. Generations of Christian apologists have exercised their creativity in trying to figure out what Matthew might have had in mind here but still no concrete explanation can be given.[8] And in John 7:38 shows that Jesus incorrectly quotes a scripture, or quotes a scripture that wasn't included in the canon of the bible, making the bible incomplete.[9] 
 
Now, let us take a look into the book of Acts show Christianity spread and grew in numbers. You will see that it was message behind all the conversion for the message came with power. “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). “…the word of God continued to spread and flourish” (Acts 12:24). “When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord” (Acts 13:12). “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:10). “In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (Acts 19:20). 
 
The very act the disciples were doing was preaching the gospel message and was teaching about the Lord. The message they have seen and heard. The word of God that was spreading was the message - the gospel. It was a verbal form of communication from one person to another. Today, there is a chance for us to think that Christians came to know God through the 66 books of the Bible. But it is totally wrong, for there are no so called 66 books Bible in the early Christian era. It was the inspired message that came with power and many people were converted. It was the message that changed them and it is the message that changed you and me when we believed on the message of the salvation story. 
 
Conclusion: 
We don’t need to go so far afield to show that Christian claims of inerrancy are false; nor do we need to undertake the Herculean task of trying to explain complex epistemology to religious believers who are determined to reject it. 
 
For Christian apologists, inspiration or infallibility is a “term of art”: a word or phrase used by professionals to convey a specialized meaning, which may be very different from the way the general public understands the term. When the average, scripturally naive Christian layperson hears that the Bible is “inspire” or “infallible”, they doubtless imagine a total verbatim of Godor perfect-in-itself, unassailable book. By these lax standards, a claim of infallibility could be made for the Quran, the Book of Mormon, or indeed, practically any book. Naturally, this is a double standard that Christian apologists show no interest in delving into. 
 
Bibliolatry, faith in sola scriptura or taking bible literally based on the redacted books of the Bible and simply connecting its authority to a lost scripture (the original) is just insensible. Christianity is not a religion but a way to life and a way to God. But for some it is purely religion. Immanuel Kant about two hundred years ago said, "Our ultimate purpose in reading the Bible is to make us better men and women."[10] We should use it for purposes it was designed for.In the simplest form, the Bible is to know Jesus and to be like Him. The Bible is the written testimony of the divine revealed Word – Jesus Christ.  The Bible is a salvation history of human kind and the center of our faith. 
<hr />
1. Dake’sAnnoted Reference Bible, 509. 
2. Wayne Jackson, “When Was the Book of Revelation Written?” (California: www.christiancourier.com, N.D, retrieved 29/11/2013), https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1552-when-was-the-book-of-revelation-written. 
3. Cf. I cor. 7:10, 12, 25, 40. 
4. Alan Richardson, Christian Apologetics (London: SCM Press Ltd), 206-208. 
5. Alan Richardson, Christian Apologetics (London: SCM Press Ltd), 208. 
6. In Mark 2:26, Mark’s record shows Jesus referring incorrectly to Abiathar the high priest where it should have been to Abiathar’s father, Ahimelech (1 Samuel 21:1-6). 
7. John Gill’s Exposition, “Mark 1:2” (Virginia: www.biblestudytools.com, N.D. retrieve 29/11/2013), http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/mark-1-2.html 
8. Paul Copan, “Did New Testament Writers Misquote the Old Testament?” (Missouri: www.enrichmentjournal.ag.org, N.D. retrieved 29/11/20), http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org/201302/201302_026_misquote_OT.cfm 
9. J. Sidlow Baxter, Studies in Problem Text (Grand Rapids: zondervan Publishing House), 11. 
10. Manfred Barthel, What the Bible Really Says (New York: Bell Publishing Company), 11.

</div>

Encountering The Word of God

The Bible is the written testimony of the divine revealed Word. The Bible is a salvation history of human kind and the center of our fait...

Re-imaging the Ekklesia as Community of Communities

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;" trbidi="on">
Introduction: 
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qag68FutcTk/U_xAc3pD2MI/AAAAAAAABO4/gQP9XfTpx5Q/s1600/ekklesia-web-version.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Qag68FutcTk/U_xAc3pD2MI/AAAAAAAABO4/gQP9XfTpx5Q/s320/ekklesia-web-version.png" /></a></div>The word “Ekklesia” is a Greek word, meaning “gathering of those summoned”, which literally means “those called out” and understood as “Church” or “Assembly” or democratically elected parliament, or the political assembly of citizens of an ancient Greek state, or “meeting”, especially a religious congregation. A better translation of “Ekklesia” would be “community”. Hence, “Ekklesia” is a community, a community of chosen people for a purpose. 
 
Ekklesia is the Greek word that has been translated in the Bible as "church," 108 times.The word ekklesia was a political term, not a religious term. Jesus was the King and the Bible used the term ekklesia for a good reason. In classical Greek "ekklesia" meant "an assembly of citizens summoned by the crier, the legislative assembly." 
 
People all over the world see “The Church” not only as the house of God where the presence of the Almighty dwells, but also as the fulcrum of their fellowship life and diaconal intervention in society. Being part of the Church and thus the kingdom experience give meaning and direction to the life of many people. The Church has always existed in context, and the social milieu has always influenced the way the Church find its beings. On the other hand, the Church has also been a strong influence in defining how society sees itself and its responsibility, especially for those living on the margins of society. 
 
In this paper, we shall try to understand the purpose, responsibility and duty of Christian communities: Ekklesia as community of Communities. 
 
The Praxis of Community: 
The concept of community (koinonia) was signified by the pronounce “one another” (allelon) by the post-Easter church, especially in the Pauline mission communities. They stressed the togetherness of Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, man and woman as well as the formula of “build one another up” (1 Thess. 5:11). Paul  uses another concept. “edification” (oikodomia), referring to the building up of the local communities. Paul is aware of the responsibility of all for one another (1 Cor. 14:2-6; 14:26) to build up the community through greeting, encouraging, consoling, admonishing, teaching, caring, and waiting for one another. Paul lists the essential requirement of community life, such as, the need to live in harmony with one another (1 Cor. 12:25), to build up one another (Rom 12:16), to have the same care for one another (1 Cor. 12:25), to build up one another (1 Thess. 5:11) and to admonish one another (Rom 15:14). It also meant that the courage to admonish one another fraternally and the humility to let oneself be corrected are among the most certain signs of the presence and consciousness of authentic community. It is a privilege to be a part of the Church. The called-out community has many responsibilities outside but unless it understand its responsibility within, it cannot be effective in its mission outside. 
 
Ekklesia as Congregation, Community and Church: 
Congregation means both actual process of congregating and the congregated community itself. The community is the constant source of the constantly repeated event of congregating. In many languages the word “church” is still used today in the sense of the act of coming together. “Congregation”, “Community” and “Church” are not mutually exclusive terms, but should be seen as interconnected. The undeniable fact that the New Testament itself always uses the same word “Ekklesis” where we would say “Congregation”, “Community” or “Church”. The three words are not in competition, but complement one another in translating the very rich and many-faceted “Ekklesia”. 
 
“Congregation” expresses the fact that the Ekklesis is never merely a static institution, but one that exist through the repeated event of a concrete coming together.“Community” emphasizes that the Ekklesia is never merely an abstract and distant superorganization of functionaries set above the concretely congregated community, but is a fellowship of people who meet regularly at a given place and a given time for a given purpose.“Church”makes it plain that Ekklesia is never merely a disconnected jumble of isolated and self-sufficient religious groups, but the members, united through their individual service, of an embracing fellowship. 
 
Ekklesia as a Movement: 
Ekklesia as a community is also an institution that practices and promotes democracy, justice and equality among the people. It negates all manifestation of dominion and exclusion. But it does not mean that Ekklesia should be or its movement is in agitating form like other social movements. It is a movement started by God and its principle is solely based on God’s will revealed through His word. 
 
C. Gene Wilkes entitled his book as, “Ekklesia:The Unstoppable Movement of God”. The Church is the local and global body of believers founded on God’s Son, Jesus Christ, and commissioned to proclaim His true identity to the world. As Ekklesia is a community, We must not think of “church ministry" as belonging only to preachers and notable Christian leaders. Its movement should be involved by every member. 
 
Ultimately, The Church is God's Plan for taking the gospel to the entire world. By building up its members in Christ’s likeness through the instruction of God's Word, fellowship, service, worship, and prayer, the Church becomes an unstoppable force when it comes to glorifying God. It is crucial to look at it not just as a local institution (church) but as the global body made up of all believers (Church). Only with Christ as the foundation can a church and the Church be effective. 
 
Ekklesia: The need for community: 
Marginal people in community have very particular needs. They are wounded and lack self-confidence; they are often despairing. They can be buffeted by terrible anguish, which drives them to attack others or themselves in ways that even they cannot understand. If they are to refind hope, marginal people have to feel loved and accepted. It is not simply through being welcome that they will rediscover their own value and capacities for positive action.They need people who will listen to them, with all their wound and needs, and sense what they really want. This demands time and patience, because they are afraid of revealing themselves and won’t open up to just anyone. 
 
There are so many people who live alone, crushed by their loneliness. It is obvious that so much solitude can drive people off the rails,to depression or alcoholism. More and more people seem to have lost their balance because their family life has been unhappy. There are so many who are lost, taking drugs, turning to delinquency or just hiding themselves in a world of rock music, films and distractions; there are so many who are looking for a sense of belonging and a meaning to their lives. In years to come, we are going to need many small communities which will welcome lost and lonely people and who are excluded base on caste, race or language, offering them a new form of family and a sense of belonging. In the past, Christians who wanted follow Jesus opened hospitals and schools. Now that there are so many of these Christians must commit themselves to the new communities of welcome, to live with people who have no other family, and to show them that they are loved and can grow to greater freedom and that they, inturn, can love and give life to others. 
 
In this regards, every Christian as a part of a community has a very important role to play. We must not think of “ministry" as belonging only to preachers and notable Christian leaders.Every Christian in the entire church of Jesus Christ has a ministry, and the church of Jesus will not reach maturity until the entire church is playing a part in building the church up in love. There are two aspects to the matters which we must consider: 1. Every Christian has gift and abilities from God for the service of the Church or community. 2. The second aspect is that the preaching ministers are trainers of the entire church of Jesus Christ. 
 
We must focus our sights on the calling of the Church. It is a calling to maturity, a maturity of faith, a maturity of great love. It is important to see that the final goal is love or charity. The whole body “builds itself up in love”. This is the nature of the final vision: it is a call to be loving everyone everywhere. Using the analogy of the body (1 Corinthians 12:12-31), Paul emphasizes the importance of each church member. If a seemingly insignificant part is taken away, the whole body becomes less effective. Thinking that your gift is more important than someone else’s is spiritual pride. We should not look down on those who seem unimportant, and we should not be jealous of others who have impressive gifts. Instead, we should use the gifts we have been given and encourage others to use theirs. If we don’t, the body of believers will be less effective. 
 Ekklesia as community of Communities: 
The union of Churches achieved (in India) so far is the result of the basic unity reached in doctrinal matters. However, the question remains whether the united Churches achieved any success in overcoming barriers based on caste, race or language, which threatened the unity of the Church life. 
One of the Church’s important goal and mission should now be to build an inclusive liberative community. Inclusiveness should not end within the boundary of the local Church and community. But it should rather be borderless and serve as a community of communities. It other words the responsibility, function, policy andvision of the local community or church should be for communities outside the Church – A community for the communities. 
 
The Church should be both a theological expression and a sociological reality. It is a community of people in concrete situations of life. Thus, there is a need to continually search for authenticity, credibility, constant reformation and reformulation within and outside the Church in the light of the contemporary situations. The collaboration with other religions is filled with some theological question and practical suggestion. Theological question are: Can religions encounter one another? Is there are common base for them to work together? If so, with what goal? Do the religions practiced by the followers of other faiths reflect the values of the kingdom of God? Answers to these questions will help the bishops and the Christians to seek a common basis and goal for collaboration. 
 
Looking from the Christological point of view the two level have one common meeting point in the Reign of God. In the New Testament, we understand that these two levels are very harmoniously blended and dynamically active in the life of Jesus in whom the Reign of God has its beginning. Jesus had, on the one hand the “mountain experience” – “his prayer” (Mt 14:23; Mk 6:46; Jn 6:15) – “his helplessness” (Mk 14:36), in which, he experienced God as ABBA, Father; and on the other hand, the “market experience” – “the helplessness of the people” (mt 9:36), for whom he has universal compassion. It is in their helplessness that he hears the call of his father to save them.  As a response, he preached and practiced compassion – the love of neighbor. Although he himself was a master and lord, he served others. He took the role of a humble servant and opted to serve the downtrodden of the society which brought him accusations, condemnation, suffering and lastly death. He, who integrates both the mountain and market experiences can be a basis for all religions to come together, work and serve together. 
 Conclusion: 
Our paper has explored various processes related to Ekklesia and its milieu. In this process, we have tried to explore the consciousness and self-understanding of Ekklesia as a community of communities. We have propose Ekklesia as an unlimited community without borders, cross-culture, which is inclusive and not exclusive in its nature. Nevertheless, being inclusive doesn’t mean we should compromise with our faith and belief. It is solely for the purpose and preservation of the Body of Christ to dwell in unity and in oneness and voluntarily enforcing ourselves to the unstoppable movement of God. 
<hr />
Bibliography: 
1.    Devadoss, Richard J, eds., Ecclesiology: The continuing Possibility of Renewal. New Delhi: ISPCK, 2012. 
2.    Devakadasham, G, eds.,Ecclesiology: The continuing Possibility of Renewal . New Delhi: ISPCK, 2012. 
3.    Valiamangalam, Joseph. Community in Mission: Mission Consciousness of Christian Communities, A Contextual Missiological Study. New Delhi: ISPCK, 2008. 
4.    Kung, Hans. The Church. New York: Image Books, 1976. 
5.    Vanier, Jean. Community and Growth. Bombay: St. Paul Publication, 1991. 
6.    Eaton, Micheal. How to Enjoy God’s Worldwide Church. England: Sovereign World, 1195. 
7.    Paul, Victor, ed., Ecclesiology: The continuing Possibility of Renewal. New Delhi: 
ISCPK, 2012. 
8. Alangaram, A. Religons for Societal Transformation. Bangalore: Asian Trading 
    Corporation, 2006. 
9. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite (CD-ROM). 
10.    Ilumina Animated Bible, (CD-ROM).</div>

Re-imaging the Ekklesia as Community of Communities

Introduction: The word “Ekklesia” is a Greek word, meaning “gathering of those summoned”, which literally means “those called out” and und...

Aug 23, 2014

A Naga Woman In The Indian National Football Team

<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bla8Tl6Shtc/U_iIjSysQuI/AAAAAAAABMU/3o2EhlsOZpQ/s1600/grace%2Bdangmei.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bla8Tl6Shtc/U_iIjSysQuI/AAAAAAAABMU/3o2EhlsOZpQ/s1600/grace%2Bdangmei.jpg" /></a>
Grace Dangmei is a striker from Manipur. She was born in 5th February, 1996. She played for the senior National Team for the first time in January 2013 against a combined Dutch team in two friendlies. She was the captain and has been a part of the U-19 in the Asian Football confederation qualifiers, Malaysia 2012. 
 
India women’s football national team coach Tarun Roy on Saturday named a 22-member squad for the exposure tour to China ahead of the Incheon Asian Games next month. The initial list of 31 players has been trimmed to 22 for 15-day exposure tour from 25 August till September 19. The two-time SAFF champions are expected to play three practice matches against the top teams of the Chinese women’s Super League –Jiangsu Huatai and Shanghai SVT. 
 
In the Incheon Asian Games India are in Group A along with the last Games’ bronze medalist South Korea, Thailand and Maldives. 
<hr />
Sources: All India Football Federation and Times of India.

</div>

A Naga Woman In The Indian National Football Team

Grace Dangmei is a striker from Manipur. She was born in 5th February, 1996. She played for the senior National Team for the first time i...

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