M. Khalenmew Yim
CTC Aolijen
Mokokchung
John H Newman said, " I read my Bible to know what people ought to do and my newspaper to know what they are doing". I, for one do the same and discover each day the similarities and differences. But the discovery is mostly tragic. Everyday I go through the newspapers, the gap between the Bible and Newspaper is widened. In fact, there is a gulf between the two which is created by humanity. What people are doing today is exactly the opposite of what people ought to do. The society today or for that matter, the Naga society today is sick. This automatically amounts and points to the sick Naga church.
Nagaland is known to the world for her Christian populace, but we are witnessing what was and is very foreign to our culture and society. All kinds of violence and evils have found sufficient room in our Naga society. One fresh and alarming signal is that of rape and incest which is really devilish and disgusting. In mid December last year, the satanic act of one so-called church leader in Dimapur was revealed which nicely disgraced the Naga churches and the leaders in particular. Even this time, the height of incest (satanic act) is being brought to light at Wokha Village wherein a father raped his four daughters. Every individual is shocked and finds hard to be taken as true. But what we didn't see even in our wildest dreams have become a reality. Ironically, in both the cases, the wives who should have shouted from the top of their voice wore a zip on their mouth. Also, both have been committing the ghastly act for years, and exactly as Bible says, their own sin found them out (Num.32:23). In the recent one, the relatives are to be blamed equally because when they had enough opportunity to stop it, they didn't. In other words, they have encouraged it. I am afraid that even now some fathers are committing such satanic acts which will be revealed later, and mothers acting as accomplice.
The concern that disturbed me most was, if the children, especially daughters, can not find security in Christian home, where on earth will they find??? Have Naga Christians really so foolishly misunderstood and undermined the Bible on family? The Neoplatonic philosophers looked on marriage with gloomy severity; it was a contradiction to the spiritual nature of man. The most rigid sect of Jesus' day, the Essenes, saw marriage as a hindrance to preparation for the kingdom of heaven. But the Christian family is formed to be the very image of the future kingdom of God, in which the will of the Lord shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. It is not only a school for heaven. In a certain sense, it is the anticipated kingdom of God Itself. The Christian family, therefore, does not exist for its own benefit. It is created to bring glory and honour to God. The Bible exalts the family. We need to understand how prominent the family is in the Bible. God has much to say about marriage, sex, and family in the Bible. Psalm 127 is one superb showing of God's family portrait. One will never pull off the assignment as a Christian parent, as a partner in the dynamic relationship without the Lord. You will never succeed even though you redouble your efforts by getting up earlier and staying up late. You will ache, and there is no hurt comparable to the suffering of a failing parent. No amount of personal or professional success will compensate for parental failure. The Psalmist portrayal also calls children a "reward", not a curse, not a tragedy, not an accident. They are the expressions of God's favour. Though children are the obvious reward of the Lord upon a marriage, it does not follow that if you do not have children, He is not rewarding you. God has many creative means of rewarding His children. Children are also called "arrows" that presupposes that they are to be launched toward a target in the fear of the Lord. One major reason parents fail is they have never sighted the target. One of the greatest joys in this world are brought by children. Without children, this world will be morbid. There is nothing like children who can delight the soul which is an unending joy. The happiness of tomorrow’s world and sanctity and joy depends upon today's children who will be tomorrow's citizens. They can either make the world a heaven or make it a hell. What a huge responsibility today's parents have in bringing up their children in the proper and godly way! As you gather for family prayer tonight, pray that God will make your home a model of home away from that heavenly home. Bible - Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.
