Is Christ so Cheap to be Publicized Like this? My Hatred Towards Christianity
They refused to believe and publicly maligned the way – Acts 19:9 (NIV)”
At the same time I had an aversion for Christianity. I had a very strong feeling that Christianity was a foreign religion and Jesus Christ is a foreign God and was meant only for scheduled castes and tribes i.e. low class people of India. Whenever I saw some Evangelists preaching the Gospel at the Bus stand or Railway station or in any public place, I used to confront them with questions “Who are you to call me a sinner? What sin have I committed? Are you a puritan to call me a sinner? Better hold your tongue and never again call anybody a sinner in public”. When I saw someone giving tracts about Christ, I used to make a big scene there by ridiculing them by asking “Is Christ a cheap commodity to sell and publicize like this on road side? Why? Are there no takers for Christ?” My hatred towards Christianity increased multifold when my own sister’s son became a Christian believer and wanted to marry only a Christian girl. It was a great shock for my sister and my brother-in-law. My sister’s son studied in Christian schools since my brother-in-law was working in Khadi department (Govt. of Tamil Nadu) in Nanguneri and Valliyur areas in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu, which was mostly populated by Christians and almost every school in that area was run by the Churches. I
S. THAYAPPAN 11 had a feeling that the children succumbed to the indoctrination of Christianity done subtly, quietly and continuously, on the tender minds of these school going kids by the schools run by these Churches and children fell a prey to Christianity when they grew up unchecked! My sister and her husband tried to bring some sense into their son stating that an inter-religious marriage would only be a disaster and would lead to many problems in the post marital life, in our culture and among our relatives. But he was adamant in his stand. Finally they approached me to advise him as he had lot of respect and regards for me and for my elder brother. I tried my best to advise and convince him that his stand in marrying a Christian girl was nothing but a stupidity which he would regret in his later days. I asked him if he loved any Christian girl? He said ‘No’. I told him that I might even agree to the marriage if he had a love affair with a Christian girl. I tried to convince him that his liking for the Bible, Christ and Christianity has been injected into his blood from childhood in the schools and he had accepted it even without fully knowing well about his own religion, Hinduism. I told him that Hindu religion is the only best religion in the world and that alone can lead us to Mukthi (salvation) and to Heaven. I even threatened him that I may even break his leg and make him permanently handicapped if he were to go against all our wishes. But he never relented from his stand. Any amount of my coaxing, threatening, reasoning and convincing had no effect on him and he finally married a Christian girl whose brother is a Pastor. That further added fuel to my hatred and aversion towards Christianity and I made strict orders in the textile spinning mill where I was working as a Personnel Manager, not to give any job to any Christian and I made sure that it was strictly followed in letter and spirit.. Although my nephew was staying with his family only a mile away from the place of my work, I never went to his house or touched his children despite my sister, brother-in-law, my own elder brother and many of our relatives had later reconciled to his conversion to Christianity.