The Christian Life and Belief in Eternal After-Life

A Tour of the Holy land in 2013 brought all of its unseen, faraway dreamlands into wonderful reality here and near, and the wonderful stories in the Gospels became clearer in perception and realisation.

The top of Pisgah Mountain became starkly solemn; the enigmatic death story of Moses came face to face, and to stand on the top of Mount Carmel where Elijah stood long ago, felt like something burning inside; Mount of Olive looked more like a well-managed modern Terrace Garden than a place from where Jesus was incredibly received up to heaven. It is the place from where Jesus was arrested and after his crossificion and burial, rose up alive; it is a good vantage high above from where the whole City of Jerusalem is clearly visible, particularly the shinning golden Dome of the Rock.

I asked Adina, our Tour Guide, a lively Israeli girl, in half jest: “if a Lightning bolt strikes the Dome and burn it down, would you smile? She appeared a little hesitant to reply at first and looked at me, but sensing I was just jesting, she said merrily: “yes”! We both laughed in understanding amusement.

The Dead Sea is not that beautiful but it is not something to be missed; to observe tourists from faraway places of the world floating on the water surface, not sinking, is a strangely memorable spectacle. One day, we were taken to a shop said to be in the city of Cana where grape juice is sold as grape wine in bottles. All the tour members bought a bottle or so of the grape wine and brought to Nagaland; the Excise Police didn’t know!

One day, we observed the Lord’s Supper on the ground outside the tomb of Jesus. I think it was a Sunday. Somewhere on the top of the city of Jerusalem, there is a very nice bronze statue of David sited playing a harp. I said: “How is it that the figure of king David is inside the city of Jerusalem when Jews prohibit any art figure inside the walled city”! Adina replied: “some orthodox Jews still object, but the figure is still there. Then I enquired why Jesus preached mostly in the district of Galilee, less in the district of Judea. She said: “because people opposed him in Judea and tried to kill him, so he fled to Galilee for security”.

The tour to the holy land Jesus worked, walked, talked and preached was so enlightening for study of the Gospels; a member of our team went again for a second not long after the first!

This morning, I would like to talk on: CHRISTIAN LIFE. I will speak in simple historical secular perspectives, less in Ecclesiastical Church perspective; I am just a simple layman, with no formal theological qualification. 

In simple (words), Christian life is the acceptance of the divine reality of Jesus Christ, son of God the most high, creator of everything that has been created beyond space and time; and there is nothing that has not been made by him and in the belief in Jesus for an eternal after-life. This is the foundation of Christian life. The foundation is strong, trustworthy, lasting and longsuffering; it is pure, ever true, constituted of everything that is good.

The evil-one of the world knows that is the true one, but it doesn’t have the original pure one. Therefore, the worldly-one makes copies of the true one to bewitch the innocent. The Galatians were bewitched by false gospels after Paul has left and he corrected them again, nonetheless, the Berrien Christians were more careful than the Thessalonians and “searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so”. Christianity is a religion that questions and searches for the truth, not for condemnation.

In America, ‘prosperity preachers’ have increased; Churches in the West have allowed same sex marriage without questioning what the Gospel says- Has not God made man and woman, male and female? Infanticide is taken as a medical necessity for abortion and an organisation has even replaced God the head of the Church. Lack of transparency and silence over evil deeds in the Church is dangerous to Christian life. Questions in search of the truth are most important aspects in preserving pure Christian life.

God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent; of infinite love for every man and woman and all creations. God the Father and his begotten son Jesus work together. He made rain to fall down for 40 days, made fire to fall from sky and burn Sodom and Gomorrah into oblivion; he knew Adam and Eve had violated his commandment; he knew Jonah would be thrown into the ocean; he knew Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus; he appeared to Abraham in three persons at the tree grove of Mamre and had food Abraham gave; he transfigured into a figure of light in the mountain top in mysterious presence of Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John; he got into the room where his disciples were locked in, appeared suddenly to two disciples travelling on the road and walked along with them the whole day to Emmaus, starting early in the morning.                 

Christian Life is a Journey, constantly on the move today for tomorrow; everyone, young and old, rich and poor, great or small, active any time of life or immobile, on an ever onward journey towards God. Every person carries a burden of his or her own- some light, others heavy; but no one can unload the burden except the Lord of the journey; no other god or lord or angel, can; only the Lord of the journey can unburden the load and open the gate to eternal life.

[Mt.11:28-30] The Lord is inviting everyone all the time: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The Lord is forgiving and humble in heart though the Most High God. The call is without conditions, to any religion, creed or organisation, without compulsion, without repercussion and without reparation; everything is free and on your own free will. No other God has ever made such invitation- call to love, peace, justice and truth; not for photo copy of peace, for man-made rules of religious worship or from false organisation for unity or for power.

Today, tens of thousands of Chinese, thousands of Muslims from various Muslim countries of the Middle East, from Africa, and from Asia: Iranians, Afghans, Turks, Pakistanis, Hindus -- Christians of every race with heavily burdened hearts; even orthodox Jews, are responding to the call every day. Nobody can stop it; nothing can replace it, not with the Law of Moses nor with the Ten Commandments or in copied name of God. It is the greatest call of all calls for every man and woman: Whoever has ears listens to the call.

Mathew, the former Tax Collector turned disciple of Jesus, is acknowledged as the first to have composed the Gospel of Jesus in a book of his name in 28 Chapters. It contains 65% of the stories of the Gospel of Jesus found in the three other Gospels; and 40% of the material in Mathew’s Gospel are not found in the other Gospel Books. Jesus spent most of his teaching ministry in the district of Galilee; they are recorded in the Gospel of Mathew from chapter 1 to chapter 19, the remaining 9 chapters only of the Gospel are of the district of Judea.

Mathew’s Gospel in the 19th chapter, he recorded: “When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea.” As the days of his ministry were ending, Jesus for the last time, withdrew from his home town to the region of Tyre and Sidon, remote northern Israel. It is surprising Jesus took the difficulty of traveling to distant Tyre and Sidon near the end of his ministry. The area today is in deep trouble of fighting between the Lebanese terrorist Hezbollah and the State of Israel.

And as Jesus entered the region, he was accosted by a Greek woman, shouting and praying to cure her daughter who was suffering from Demon possession. Jesus refused to talk to the woman saying: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” It is surprising Jesus did not talk to the woman of Tyre and Sidon Region; they were Philistine Territory. The Christian life has sometimes difficult things to understand, and better left to the Lord.  

In the case of the woman at the pool of Jacob near the Samaritan city of Sychar; the disciples found Jesus surprisingly talking to a Samaritan woman. The woman also was utterly surprised that Jesus talked to her. She said: “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman, how can you ask me for a drink?” But to the Greek woman in Tyre and Sidon area, Jesus told: “It is not right to take the Children’s food and toss it to the dogs.” “Yes, it is, Lord,” the woman said: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Jesus said: “Woman you have great faith! Your request is granted.”          

Often, Jesus planned his ministry unknown even to his disciples: And at the beginning of his ministry, he insisted to go through Samaria on his way from Jerusalem to his home town in Galilee. Strict religious Jews traveling between Galilee and Judea districts normally follow the one and half times longer road on the east coast of the Sea of Galilee along the Jordan River and avoid passing through Samaria in between the two Jewish districts. Unknown to his disciples, Jesus took the Good News to the Samaritans through the woman of Samaria, apparently for the first time.

After the wedding feast at Cana, Jesus would go to the city of Nain; his disciples did not know why they were on the way to Nain City, some 15 miles to the south of the city of Cana. On the way a group of mourners were carrying the dead body of a widow’s son for burial in the cemetery, Jesus stopped the group, touched the carriage and called out to the dead boy to get up. The boy rose up alive and Jesus gave him to the mother.

Jesus came for the lost sheep of Israel, after his death; he commissioned his deadliest opponent Paul to be his Shepherd for the ninety nine sheep at home: Jesus selected Paul to bring the Christian message of salvation of life to the pagan Greeks and the Romans, the rulers and most dominant people of the vast empire covering the whole Europe and the whole of middle East:

And Paul galvanised the Gospel of Jesus into a worldwide Religion: THAT IS CHRISTIAN LIFE.

Thepfulhouvi Solo, IFS [RR-68]