Merry Christmas!

Sorry! No crib this year!

 As Chennai is limping back to normalcy, Churches have asked people to tone down Christmas celebrations and spend the money on something meaningful. So no crib, no cakes, not much decoration and no crackers (crackers have no place in Christmas! Do you want to shake up the sleeping baby Jesus?). Some people even gave up new clothes and donated towards flood relief. Good move indeed. But why don't we do this every year? I think this is a good starting point and expect at least some of the Churches will follow the suit in coming years. After all what those decorations have to do in celebrating the birth of a humble child 2000 years ago? So if anything we can please Jesus with that money is to help out our fellow humans in need. Fine... Let us move on. The intention of this post is to bring out some factual truths about Christmas. Now-a-days many Christians know about what I am going to write. But this is just to put things according to my understanding.

1. Christmas is not Jesus' birthday!

Even though the Church has celebrated December 25th as birthday of Jesus, Bible or any reliable historic sources don't give us the date of birth of Jesus. The possibility of Jesus born on cold winter night is slim as the Biblical account says that the sheperds were out in the fields (Luke 2:8). So there is nothing that points to the date December 25th. There are some theories that a Pagan festival to celebrate winter solicate has been converted by Roman Catholic Church in to Christmas. Whatever! I see no harm in celebrating Christmas on 25th December. But we should be aware that it is not Jesus' birthday but Jesus' birth rememberence day. Another point, December 25th is Isaac Newton's birthday and you can also include the GravMass day in your list of celebrations :)

2. The Wise-men

There are no record that the wise-men visited the manger nor there were any records saying 3 of them were there. So the usual crib scene with the three wise-men is not factually correct. Actually Bible records that the wise-men visited Jesus at his house.

3. Lack of Space! Not Poverty!

There is a common misconception that Jesus' family was so poor that they couldn't afford a lodge and took refuge in manger. There are some people like Paulo Coelho who are comparing Jesus' family with refugee crisis. And this link(thepoke.co.uk) that says that they are squatters who are wasting taxpayers' money.

 

But Joseph seems to be a law abiding citizen who was obeying orders given by government and moved to his native place for sake of registering his census records. Too much for a squatter right? There is a good chance that Joseph paid his taxes as Jesus himself did so and advised his followers to do so. Third, it is not poverty that forced Joseph to take shelter in the manger but lack of space in the inn. It may be correct that Jesus is not so rich but he is not that poor as Joseph had a profession (carpenter) to care for his family. It can be argued that they went to Egypt as refugees. Again, that is only a movement within the then Roman Empire and not illegal immigration.

4. The Santa Claus 

Saint Nicholas was a 4th Century Christian Saint who gave up his wealth and helped poor people. Also some accounts record that he used to place surprise gifts for the needy. This somehow got mixed up with the Pagan Germanic Yuletide celebrations and the Santa Claus legend hence came to life. But this has been cleverly exploited by market forces and there is so much Santa in Christmas that Jesus could not even surface for the entire month of December! Even if it is not for the "Son of God" people should realize, it is Jesus and Saint Nicholas who can influence children in the right direction.

So it is easy to get carried away from the real meaning of Christmas and actual facts behind the festival as well as better way of observing it. In this consumerist world, everything is marketed. We should draw a fine line between acceptable spending on celebrations and excess. By that we can do more good to everyone (including us)! The flood has reinforced our love for fellow humans across stupid barriers like caste and religion. So Christmas this year has become more of celebrating the spirit of giving than filling our bellies with biriyani. Hope this Christmas sets itself as a starting point for coming years of more such resonable Christmas celebrations (of course without floods)! Happy Christmas!

Skillet – Music Review

I like to hear Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Especially Christian Rock and Christian Metal. My favorites CCM artists/bands include Paul Baloche, Delirious, Third Day, Don Moen, Ron Kenoly, Day of Fire and you know, the list never ends :)

But I had missed one of the best Christian Rock bands till recently. They are the Skillet! I bought one of their CDs in 2008 (Comatose) but I misplaced it along with old driver CDs. My bad!! Then one day I happened to hear their song accidentally while watching some CCM videos in Youtube. They were awesome! Then I listened many of their songs and almost all of them are great.

Three days later, I was cleaning my room and stumbled upon the “Comatose” CD. It was like a blessing for me! I really didn't remember that I bought that CD at all. So I added it to my CCM collection in PC and also transferred it to my mobile. With little effort I purchased few more of their albums. Now I hear their songs almost daily and their song “Hero” from their album “Awake” has become my ringtone!

Music Style

The music style of Skillet is a kind of fusion of Hard Rock, Nu Metal, Progressive Rock and some times even Grunge. Especially the songs in Awake album sounds much like Nu Metal. If you are a fan of Linkin Park, then surely you will like Awake! The drummer of the band is a woman. You can't find such fast paced powerful drum beats from a woman usually. But believe me, their songs have such good drums. Guitar and keyboard needs special mention too. The lead male singer is the one who plays Bass. WOW! Only few can manage lead singing along with bass like Sting. The rhythm guitarist also sings a good part of the songs. Together, they put everything they can to treat our ears with great music.

Lyrical Style

Their lyrics have very deeper meaning and each sentence echoes the Christian beliefs and values. The lyrics for most part lack explicit mention of God or Christ and it lacks Christian jargons too. But the theme is Christian to the core and without explicit reference, they have delivered the Christian message right to our hearts. None of the songs are self-centered and glorify men. Mostly the songs talk about the inabilities and shortfalls of human nature and our need for Divine help to set things right. The lyrics make the songs suitable for hearing any time, any place.

My Favorite Songs

1. Hero

This song is from the album Awake. It is a nice song with Nu Metal like music. Its lyrics talks about we are not super humans and special, just another ordinary person who needs a saving hand in everything we do.

2. Awake and Alive

This song is also from the Awake album. The music is rich with violin and keyboard along with usual rock instruments (guitar, bass and drums). The song is like slipping in to sleep/unconsciousness in a state of inability and to wake up with full life and kicking.

3. Live Free or Let Me Die

This is song is from Comatose. With very heavy guitar power chords and awesome riffs, this song packs the message of freedom. Without freedom, what is the use of living like a cyborg? With fast paced drum rolls, the song will make you bang your head for sure.

4. Rebirthing

This song is also from Comatose album. This song talks about the rebirth in to a new life. Dying to the old self and the first breath we take in Christ. Like a butterfly waiting to come out of the cocoon, everyone of us are living a life inside shells we ourselves have created. We should realize that we are not made just to stay dormant inside that shell but to fly and enjoy the world like a butterfly! The video of the song is also very nice.

5. Comatose

This song, is obviously from the album Comatose. The song has very good music with touch of fast paced piano notes and heavy guitar riffs. “I don't wanna breath, I don't want to live” This is the usual mindset we go in to when we face tough situations. This song talks about How realizing Christ is with us will make us feel comfortable and give us strength to go on with life.

There are lot many songs I like from other albums like Alien Youth and Rise. If you want to try some songs, just go to Youtube and listen to some of their songs. If you like their music and their themes, you can buy their CDs too. If you are a Skillet fan, please share your favorite songs and your experience in comments. Thanks for reading.

Can Christians Get Interest for Money

First, Christians should take Christian faith as a guiding light in this world, not a blinding dark glass that distorts every view. Some people take everything in Bible literally and cause so much pain to themselves and others. Can Christians get interest for money? If so how and by what measure? Here is my personal opinion on the same.

Is There Love in Interest?

When we are going to lend someone money, then we should follow the three principles below:

1. We should try not to lend but gift the money. i.e. You should not lend the money expecting your friend to pay it back, instead you can give it to him as a gift. I know it will be hard if the amount is larger. So this rule can be suitable for small amounts. For example, your friend may come and ask, "I need Rs. 200 to visit doctor. As this is month end, can you help?" In such cases, just give the money and assure your friend that as a brother you are helping him and not expecting the money back. The small amount is dependent on your economic status, and the decision is up to you.

2. We should lend the money without interest. This can be done even for large amounts. But be extra cautious. Don't lend large amount of money to people you don't trust or you know for sure that they can't pay you back. It is better not to give and allow that money to create hatred or spoil your peace of mind. This option is better than lending money for interest in short term. For example, if someone asks Rs. 50,000 for a major event like marriage or buying a home, give them and tell them that you need the money as soon as possible. It is ok to set a deadline too. For durations within a year, there is no need to think about interest is what I feel.

3. Lending money for interest(some sort of interest, not the conventional one) in case of long term loans involving huge sum of money. Here comes the actual problem. It may seem to be breaking Biblical rule for some people. But let me explain. For example, a person gives Rs. 1,00,000 for another person's son's education. The money is returned after 8 years without interest. Is that acceptable? Bible was written in a time when there was no inflation and value of money and price of goods rarely changed for years or even in a lifetime. So it was usually unethical to get interest on those days. But today, imagine, what Rs. 1,00,000 can buy 8 years before and now? For simple standard, let us take gold. It was Rs. 840 per gram back in 2006. Now, after 8 years it is around Rs. 3,000 per gram. That is more than 3 times the value. Consider the person who gave the money also has a son, can he count on the money to spend for his son's marriage?

So what can Christians do to evade money loss in such scenarios? First option is to not to lend the money. This can be simple. But what if when you have lot of surplus money and want to help the other person? You can make an agreement over some commodity. For example, you can tell the person that you are lending money equal to so and so quantity of gold or rice or land or anything whose price can be easily agreed upon. When he returns, he should return money equivalent to the same quantity of same commodity. By this, we are not taking interest but getting what we deserve honestly. Even simple terms like nett change in national inflation or gold sometimes result in negative returns. Remember gold prices suddenly fell in 2013. In such cases, we should assume that we have bought the gold and the loss is ours and should not accuse the person for paying back less. These type of deals can even be made as legal bonds. I don't know about exact nature and ways of doing that though. You may need to seek a lawyer for help.

Can We Get Interest from Banks?

Banks usually offer very less interest and most of the times the interest will be lesser than inflation and rise in price of food or other essential commodities. So we can get interest from banks without guilt. Also most banks invest in market and hence business profits are 100% clean, we can get the interest without feeling bad. It is actually the bank that gets profits from our investments.

What Are The Other Options?

The best way to invest money is to diversify your investment. That is what Bible says. So if you have lot of money, buy lands or houses (don't buy apartments). If you have even more money, start a new business. If you have relatively lesser, go for gold or long-term investments or insurances. If you have even lesser, allow the money to stay as liquid cash in you savings account. If you have not much money, Praise God for not giving you the burden to mange it and ensure that you just earn money in good ways and meet your ends in a honest way. Investing in shares, joining hands as a sleeping partner in businesses are also clean options. While investing in business, try to avoid businesses that contradict Christian values. For example, go for food business even though you know that a wine-shop can earn you more profit.

 When We Need Money?

If you are in need of money prayerfully get government bank loans or get loan against land or gold from government banks ONLY! Never get money from private banks or from bankers. That is going to pull you in to an economic black hole. Also don't take loans for luxuries. For example, taking education loan, agricultural loan, for medical reasons etc are acceptable. But taking car loan or for a foreign tour is unethical. Such loans increase overall economic burden and makes your life more miserable.

Conclusion:

Whatever I have written here are my own understanding and ideas. We live in an ever changing world. So we can't say anything black or white as there are lot of gray areas. What we can say for sure is that God loves us and provides us so that we can love others and help them. So ask yourself in whatever you are doing whether it will be acceptable in God's sight. Again, never lend money to others so that it becomes a burden for the person who takes or creates enmity in a beautiful friendship or spoil your peace of mind. Also don't compare your lending with those bankers and money lenders who extract money by tormenting innocents and taking possession of their properties. Also don't get tempted in investing in illegal businesses, private chit funds, money doubling, pyramid schemes etc. They may sound great options, but will make you regret for a lifetime at best and cost your life itself at worst.

Good Quotes from St. Augustine of Hippo

• Love the sinner and hate the sin      
• Nothing conquers except truth and the victory of truth is love      
• To sing once is to pray twice      
• Hear the other side      
• To many, total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation      
• Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are      
• The violence which assails good men to test them, to cleanse and purify them, effects in the wicked their condemnation, ruin, and annihilation      
• Anger is a weed; hate is the tree      
• He who created you without you will not justify you without you      
• Singing is loving      
• Charity is no substitute for justice withheld      
• For what is faith unless it is to believe what you do not see      
• God had one Son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering      
• God judged it better to bring good out of evil than to suffer no evil to exist      
• God loves each of us as if there were only one of us      
• God provides the wind, but man must raise the sails      
• He who is filled with love is filled with God himself      
• I want my friend to miss me as long as I miss him      
• Love is the beauty of the soul.      
• Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature      
• Patience is the companion of wisdom

Noah's Ark Wager

There are lot of people who take a literal interpretation of Bible, especially the first book, Genesis. I have seen lot of educated people believing in creation legends as literal truth, word for word. There are lot of refutations on this subject available on the Internet. But here I am presenting a wager that "If you take Noah's story literally, then you must believe in evolution"

First, to give an overview, there are more than 3,500 species of mosquito, more than 6,000 species of lizards and more than 43,000 species of spiders. After the level of species, we have sub-species in many animals/insects and at last, we have lot of breeds. For example, there are around 400 breeds of dogs and nearly 100 breeds of cat.

There are 6,000+ lizard species identified as of now

According to science, formation of one species from another takes millions of years, let us assume, at least ten thousand years. But the problem with ark advocates is, they claim that the ark is just 4,500 years old. So for example, if we consider Noah took one pair of spider with him, then each year, there should be 10 new species of spider evolving to match the number of species identified today. If some one claims that Noah took a pair of all the 43,000+ species with him, then there should be 86,000+ spiders alone on the ark, which will result in lack of space when we extrapolate this to all animals.

Feeding 86,000+ spiders needs another 100,000 insects at least!

The ark will have space and "float" only if the argument is one of each "kind", not one of each species. If ark advocates are to say that it is only one of each "kind", then, there are other problems like how polar bears and grisly bears came in to existence as polar bears can't live in temperate climate and grisly bears can't live in polar climate. So, the only logical solution for the arkeologists is to accept either Noah's ark is practically impossible or there was evolution of species after the flood.

There are some religions and sects which try to escape arguments say that the flood is local. But then we have to laugh at them that, why God didn't advise Noah and his family to move to some other safe place instead of ordering him to build a ship/ark? So this argument is nothing but a lame face saver for their interpretation of religious texts.

Noah's story can be a good bed time story or a theme for Sunday school skit. But not as a hard fact historical lesson! Finally, my intention is not to hurt sentiments of any religious group or individual. My intention is to tell others what I understand and encourage critical thinking. So, instead of believing literally what religious texts say, it is better to use God given common sense to understand things properly. God is not glorified by blind faith, but by good understanding.

Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.  Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. -Proverbs 4:6-7 (Holy Bible)

Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion. -Saint Augustine (A.D. 354-430)