Brothers on the Run

The godmen are on the run in Kerala. It is comical and ludicrous, I am talking of the Christian brothers. Two of the leading ones are under the scanner of the authorities. Isn’t it incomprehensible that this can happen in the ‘most literate state in India’ and more interestingly most of these sects have huge campuses in Tiruvalla, arguably the richest town in India (A study in 2004 said, every resident of Tiruvalla town in Kerala on an average has bank deposits worth Rs 4,61,000). Tiruvalla also has one of the highest concentrations of NRIs and consequently quite progressive and aware yet this happens over here.

I am not generalising, there may be good people amongst these who are genuinely doing great social work. My issue is about the blatant selling of ’Jesus’ and the overall perception that every christian is on some kind of reward system for the number of conversions he effects. And perceptions do matter. Look at a city like Mumbai, there are people there who think that all christians drink, dance and party. Every christian girl is a ‘Sandra from Bandra’, they are all secretaries and have boyfriends named Tony who are courier boys.  

Do people wonder if all christians have conversations like this?

‘Hey John, have you met your monthly conversion targets’?

‘Yes Brother Kuriakose, by the Lord’s Grace I have beaten my numbers. Praise the Lord’.

‘Brother John can you give me some leads? I will remember you and your family in my prayers’. 

It is quite embarassing to be a christian these days thanks to these guys who are ‘harvesting for the Lord’, I mean can’t we move with the times? There are no hidden tribes out there who have not heard about Jesus. Why do you have to embarass the rest of us with your boisterous and loud gatherings, the stickers that you put up on bus stops or the tracts that you force on people on the road? No one is going to ‘accept the Lord as Saviour’ because he saw a sticker that blocked him from seeing the destination on a street sign or because he heard you pulling the neighbourhood down with your cacophony on a Sunday morning.

I did have a few friends who were ‘born again’ (don’t worry if you have wondered what it means, there are several of us who don’t understand it either). S was a friend and a classmate in Kerala, and his group said that watching movies in a theatre was sinful and so he used to watch it on his VCR at home. I mean technically he was doing no wrong. And K never wore gold, but he wore the most expensive Louis Philippe trousers, Ray Ban sunglasses and Hush Puppies. 

Get real brothers.

 PS. I know I will get angry comments on this, bring them on.