Being a Nominal Christian Versus Being Christ Like

The above heading says it all. Nevertheless let us attempt to scratch the surface and highlight a few important fact-checks in context of life, and living.

Is Nagaland a Christian State? The straightforward answer is ‘No’. The Constitution defines India as a Secular Union of States  “…which is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and avoid preferential treatment for a citizen based on their religious beliefs, affiliation or lack of either over those with other profiles (Wikipedia)”. In light of the above, imposition of the NLTP Act of 1989 by the Government of Nagaland at the behest of certain organisations, particularly those linked to the Church, is unfortunate, to say the least. After more than 3 decades Nagaland today is neither a dry state nor have the citizens turned into teetotalers. The ground reality is fully exposed for everyone to see.

However, as far as religious demographics go Christians make up 87.92% of the total population making it, along with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, as the four Christian-Majority states in India (2011 Census). Nagaland is also known “as the only predominantly Baptist State in the world” and “the most Baptist State in the world” (Wikipedia). Now imagine if this percentage of Naga citizens were Christ-like many government departments would mostly be rendered irrelevant, beginning with the excise department, and including the Prisons and law enforcement agencies to name a few. Alcohol related deaths and crime would generally be unheard of. Elections would be ‘free and fair’, instead of ‘free for all’. Corruption would be absent at all levels of corporate and private life and quality of infrastructure would far outpace the best in the developed world! You get the point.

The sad reality is that we live in a broken world burdened by the darkness of sin, shame and guilt because each individual is broken and lost, no matter how much we try to allude to be otherwise. As Paul says “There is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. The scriptures define Church as the congregation/ body of spiritually transformed Believers who are set apart to carry out the mission to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God and make disciples throughout the world teaching them exactly what Jesus had taught. Spiritual transformation is a journey and unique to every individual. And it is a journey no one can perfect.

It pains me to think that I lost my father in 1994 to a lifestyle disease which included a sustained alcohol culture. And the irony is that he was the then Commissioner of Taxes & Excise when the NLTP Act of 1989 was imposed 5 years earlier. He continued to drink till his last breath and this Prohibition Act couldnot save him. Subsequently I lost my two older brothers prematurely under similar lifestyle issues. I am absolutely lucky to be alive today and writing this. I hit ‘rock bottom’ in all aspects of my life (physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.) before I encountered the ‘Rock of Ages’ and our Living, Loving, Forgiving God. Did I give up my drinking habits because it was slowly poisoning my system? No. I gave up when I began to understand God’s unconditional love and His purpose in my existence. I understand today that life is a battleship, not a cruise ship, and for a disciple every moment is a war against temptation and a constant struggle to live an upright life because Christ did not come to remove temptations and storms from my life but to empower me to be an over comer since He has already won the battle over the enemy, which is eternal death.

Today we have transitioned from Curse to Grace, from darkness to light, and are living in the age of the Good News of Salvation through Jesus Christ. Thank God for Grace. And thank God I am a Sinner saved by Grace. It is my prayer that the Church would take up the core mission of Search and Rescue operations seriously so that there would be many more Sinners saved by Grace, and go beyond statistics to provide hard evidence that Nagaland is genuinely the only predominantly Christian State in the World. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

A Grateful Lost & Found

Arep Changkija