Kaka D. Iralu
In his welcome address to the President of the Baptist World Alliance in 1993, Tubu Kevichiisa, the then General Secretary of the NNC wrote the following words:
“We take this opportunity to state that we are deeply indebted to those of our Christian brothers who in the last century, came from across the seas to liberate our souls. But our bodies are now held in bondage by foreign powers. We have no wish to be assimilated into other alien cultures, nor to be preserved like museum specimen to be displayed in the Republic Day parades of foreign powers.”
These poignant words of Tubu have inspired me to write the following thoughts.
In that liberating power of the Gospel of Christ, our souls were indeed liberated from bondage to sin when we experienced the new birth in Christ. Our subsequent status in Christ was nothing less than becoming sons and daughters of the living God through Christ (John 1:12). Our status in Christ also includes- being seated with Christ in the Heavenly places (Ep.2:6); being more than conquerors (Rom.8:37) and also, our bodies becoming the temples of God (1 Cor.6:19).
But what is the point of having such high spiritual positions in Christ, if our bodies are now under political bondage to India? Also, what is so special about our status in God as bearers of his divine image if we can be shot to death even on mere suspicion under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act?
Another question in this connection is: Where do our liberated souls reside in? Do they float in the air or reside in our physical bodies? Surely they reside in our physical bodies that- in turn- reside in the soil of Nagaland. Why must then Nagas be enslaved and imprisoned inside the Constitution of India while residing in our own God given lands? Nagas need liberation of both our souls and our bodies because God created both the entities to live in freedom and liberty here on earth. The point I am trying to state is precisely this: After all, what is the point of being sons of God, if we cannot simultaneously be sons of the lands in which we were born and have our existence?
It can only be the naïve and the ignorant who would insist that it is OK to be bodily in bondage as long as we are spiritually liberated.
