By Liba Hopeson
Change takes places ceaselessly. Philosophies of great philosophers immensely impinge on and alter the minds of the masses of people. Change of worldviews result in change of lifestyles. For, our actions are the upshot of our thoughts. Mind conditioned with wrong information results in wrong action. The environment, traditions and cultures of a community have massive effect on our thoughts and actions. Students are enormously shaped and influenced by the knowledge they acquire in the class. The books we read indubitably indoctrinate us and change our perspectives. We are inclined to follow the ideas propagated in the books we read. If you read philosophical books, you become philosophical in your thinking. If you read books on social issues and social change, you become interested in the society. The copious information we get from the media such as TV, internet, newspaper, magazine, etc., deeply sway our minds.
Jesus Christ changed the mindset and the lives of many people. Those who genuinely encountered Him amazingly transformed their life. The fishermen gave up fishing and followed Him. The tax collectors, the sick and the sinners repented. They become better persons. Paul, who was a staunch Judaiser, an anti-Christian, was completely transformed after encountering Jesus. Thereafter, he was driven by the ‘mind of Christ’. Jesus continues to transform people’s life. As we read the pages of history we learn that many atheists, skeptics, scientists, philosophers, stubborn, arrogant, rascals, thieves and wicked people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. After changing their life, they impacted others life. This is good change.
Now, let’s ponder about bad change. There are many bad changes, but I would stress one particular type of change. There are certain people who change after joining a new Church or ministry or denomination, or after spending some days or months in prayer center(s). Indeed, they change in many ways. They give up certain bad habits. They become more prayerful and passionate in reading God’s Word and attending Church. They begin to fast. They become more active in certain religious activities. So, you may ask, if they change in these ways, what is bad? The bad change I notice in these people is the development of self-righteousness and spiritual pride. Here, I don’t mean the self-righteousness people have in general, but I allude to only a particular group of people.
For instance, some people, after fasting in a prayer center for few days become more religious. Thereafter, they tend to consider those who do not fast and pray like them or do not pray like the prayer warriors in the prayer center as unspiritual. Some, after attending some new Church begin to deem that all other Churches are deadly and unspiritual. Their understanding of spirituality is purely based on the religious/legalistic activities they do, but not on the Spiritual fruits. They proclaim about the number of days they fast and look down upon others. This is the bad change I promulgate. One day, I was in a Church in Kohima; the Shepherd proudly uttered many words as though his Church is the only spiritual and lively Church in Kohima. I went back home feeling sorry for that Church.
Badly changed people do not become spiritual by praying and fasting more. They rather become more religious, ritualistic and legalistic. They begin to give more to the Church. They begin to love and have concern for one another only within their group. Among them there is no issue of tribalism, gender differences, race, caste – unity prevails in them. They think that they are true Christians and there is peace in them. They begin to opine that other churches and ministries are worldly. They are very inclusive within themselves but exclude all others. . They forget that the world is vast and billions of people exist. They don’t comprehend that the commandment to love one another and to love the neighbors as yourself is not only about a particular group. It is a bad change.
According to me, this bad change occurs mainly because of the teachings of the leader(s) of the group. Their teachings are mostly done with comparisons – comparing their group with other groups. They try to glorify and applaud themselves by defaming others. The notion that all those who are not in their group are not spiritual like them is infused in the mind of the members. Some speakers in some denominations use the method of attracting people by pointing out only other denomination’s weakness and talking about their goodness. This is prevailing in many Churches today. “Many Church leaders sadly have forgotten that we are not competitors but co-workers. The problem lies in the fact that we forget the Church we work for is not our Church; the ministry we do is not ours, but God’s”. A bad teaching leads to bad change. How should we teach these badly changed folks? The bigger question is who would teach their teachers? .
