Shall the Meek Inherit the Earth

By P.V. Ariel, published Mar 14, 2008
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Apropos the write-up "Shall the meek inherit the earth" (The Sunday Indian News Weekly New Delhi) made a revealing read. I refute the statements made by R L Francis; He said "60 years ago, we converted from Hinduism to Christianity with the expectation of cast discriminate free existence society. But it was not quite the salvation that was promised."

I was wondering who promised him salvation. Jesus Christ or the Church? If a person changes his religion to another with some expectation and material benefits, no doubt his change is not genuine at all. Jesus Christ never promised his followers a bed of roses; instead it is full of hardships and sufferings. Such situation will show the real color of a genuine Christian. Christ himself suffered a lot, all the while he was on earth. Epistle of Peter writes: "For you have called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. ( I Peter 2:21-22).

Only a real convert can take this cross. Vatican's dealings with its churches all over the world may be an administrative set up for its smooth functioning. Nobody can question that, as it's their internal matter and if anybody has a problem, they can willingly leave the system. No one can deny the Pope and his community's yeomen service to the society. However at the same time, Pope's or Vatican's interference with other religions is not tolerable. These days he (Pope) pokes his nose unnecessarily to the affairs of other religions by making controversial statements. This is not a good practice to such a reputed religious leader like him.

Church Must Stick to Religious Affairs

Church Can't Keep Quiet on Serious Matters

By P.V. Ariel, published Mar 15, 2008
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Apropos of the editorial "Times view/Counter view", I fully disagree with your view, of course as you said, ''Church must stick to religious affairs'' at the same time how can they just close their eyes on the increasing number of road accidents in their country?

It is their bounden duty to warn the countrymen or for that matter their members -a major number of citizens in Vatican are Catholics-about the alarming growth of road accidents. A country like Vatican, the religious head has every right to raise their voice in such situation. Your counter view very clearly brought out the seriousness of this issue.

Road accidents stand in third place which is very preventable. Vatican's initiative is very laudable and will definitely help the traffic police; I can't understand the idea behind your bias view. What is wrong in taking an initiative to save the fellow men from such a calamity? Whoever come forward to save their fellow citizen should get a pat at the back, instead here you condemned them out rightly, very sad indeed.

A report says two-thirds of most of the road fatalities were caused by drivers who were angry. In such situation if the warning comes from a religious head it will have a far reaching effect than from a law forcing agency. As your counter view said not only Church all NGOs should follow Vatican's steps in this matter even in our country not in a Catholic way. It will tremendously reduce many fatal deaths on the road. Let us not look such action with a biased or ill- conceived mind. (For your info. I am not a Roman catholic but a believer follower in Christ Jesus).
pvariel@gmail.com

My Early Experience with My Writings

(A Little Writer is Born)


My Early Experience with my writing carrier. Some pleasant memories of my childhood days and my most valuable moments with my mentor, world renowned evangelist and writer and hymn writer M C Cherian Sir of Madurai. Please read on..

Some of the Web Writers contents at Associatedcontent.com put my memory back to my school days, Yes, it happened when I was in my 6th or 7th grade.

I was an avid reader and whatever comes to hand, I read. Newspapers, weeklies, magazines and books were my favorites. In our village (Valanjavttom, near Thiruvalla) there was a library Called Gandhiji Smaaraka (memorial) Library, I was a regular visitor and borrower of books from this library. I read many of the books novels short stories and poems of many major writers of the Malayalam language.

Malayalam newspaper's Kathukal (letters) column attracted me a lot and I started sending letters to this column. Immediately after sending letters to the newspapers I eagerly wait for the next day's paper to see my letters, but nothing published, again I send nothing published. This continued for days without any result. Days and months passed I could not find any result. I was really frustrated at that but my passion for newspapers and writings did not stop me there, instead with more care I prepared letters and send. One fine morning as usual when I picked up the daily I found my letter printed with my name. I was overjoyed by seeing my name in print that too in one of the major and famous publication called Malayala Manorama. (The largest circulated Malayalam daily in Kerala and also the leading and largest circulated vernacular daily in India).

Though after a good number of rejections, the printed letter made me so happy and it made me to write more. Again I jotted down many things in my note books under the headings short stories, mini stories, poems and prose etc.

About that time I heard about a Christian magazine called "Suviseshakan" (Evangelist) published by a well known evangelist from Madurai (Tamil Nadu State). I thought of sending some of my writings to that magazine and I picked up some of the jottings from my note book and copied it in a paper and send it to the Editor. A week later I received a letter from the editor saying, 'the story which you send is good and will include it in one of the coming issues, but the song is not up to the mark but don't give up, write more ok!! Reading the editor's letter I could not control myself, with joy I jumped up and down. My first story is going to see the light of the day, that too in M E Cherian Sir's Magazine. (A word about M E Cherian, lovingly known or called as M E C or Cherian Sir. (Before becoming an evangelist he was a high school teacher, so most of the known people called him Sir.). Later he become a well known Christian preacher, teacher, song writer and a poet in the Malayalam language. A good number of his Christian melodies are sung by the Malayalee (Keralaites) Christians in their congregations in worships as well as at other occasions all over the world. He published many books on spiritual subjects).

This small but great incident in my life encouraged me much. This made me to write more. Again I send another article, story and a song to Cherian Sir. With in a short span I received his reply saying, 'Your article and story I will publish it in one of the coming issues after a few corrections. It seems you are more talented in writing articles, think on that line and do write more. May God bless." This note of MEC, I read again and again. There was no limit for my happiness.

A few months later I came to know about MEC's arrival to Kumbanad (A Christian convention centre in Kerala) for the annual Brethren Assemblies convention as a preacher. This yearly convention takes place on December last week and goes on to January first week. Every year my parents used to attend these annual conventions. I was so eager to meet Cherian Sir and I expressed this desire to my Dad and he agreed at once. The day came, with my parents I went for the meetings at the centre. We met MEC and my Dad introduced me to Cherian Sir. He recognized the little writer and with much joy he greeted me. I expressed my heartfelt thanks to MEC for his encouragement.

Immediately he took a copy of the current issue of Suviseshakan (January) and handed over to me and said, "one of your articles is published in this issue" then he patted on my shoulder and encouraged me. The loving touch of that famous personality and those joyous moments I can't forget in my life. This was the beginning of my writing life. END

Source:

Women Leadership in Christian Churches - A Rejoinder, A Thought

(A Rejoinder to a Content at Associated.com)

By P.V. Ariel, published Mar 22, 2008

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E Pushpa Lalitha, India's first woman Bishop. Pic Credit NDTV

This refers to an interesting article appeared on the pages of AC under the caption, "What Role Can Women Play in Leading Worship? Under the sub head, 'Exploring What the Bible Says About Women in Leadership Roles' by Nicole L.

The writer by quoting the verses from Luke 8:1-3 ("Not long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples.") Says, "Why would the author take the time to make sure that women were listed, by name, in this particular passage?"

This does not mean that Jesus expected a ministry from women what he expected from men. Of course, Jesus never put forward a second class level to women. Galatians 3:28 is very clear that, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. In first Peter again we read, "... being heirs together of the grace of life; (I Peter 3:7). No doubt He showed the same level of love and salvation to all. No disparity in it. Jesus did not bar them from singing, praying, witnessing prophesying and a lot of other spiritual activities. But notice that Jesus never select or send a women to the mission field. Instead this was entrusted to His disciples (Matthew 28:19,20). His disciples and all the other apostles too were men. If he expected this ministry from women, He would have definitely selected some women to this ministry.

Apostle Paul, while writing to the Corinthians, wrote:

 "Let the women keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them subject themselves, just as the law also says. (I Cor. 14:34.). He continues in verse 35 "... it is improper ('shame' in KJV), ('disgraceful', marginal meaning in New American Standard Bible) for a woman to speak in Church. Later, while writing to Timothy, he said, "Let women quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow woman to teach or exercise authority over man, but to remain quiet (1Timothy 2: 11-12).

A women's position in the church is very obvious from these Bible passages. They are forbidden from teaching in congregations and commanding over men. Ordaining women as clergy or Bishop is purely not scriptural. God's Word cannot be changed according to the age or situations. It never changes or it cannot be changed according to our conveniences, instead, it apples the same for ever. So let the women submit to His Word and restrictions without aspiring for man's portion. They have many other areas of ministry in Christ's kingdom. Let them do that faithfully.

The purpose for which God made the woman was that she might be "an help meet for him." She is neither his master nor his slave. She is part of him, him complement, that which is added to him to make him complete-"An help meet for him" "she will do him good and not evil, all the days of her life." Proverb 31:12)

Woman's Area of Service.

This does not mean that, women are exempted from other Christian services. They are equally important for the smooth functioning of any Church or Assembly.

Here is a fourfold service for women:

1. Homemaking:

1 Timothy 5:14; Timothy 2:3-5 God has ordained the home as the center of family life. The wife is the homemaker. The older women are instructed to teach the younger women the duties and the art of homemaking-to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, to be chaste, to be keeper of home, to be good, and to be obedient to their own husbands. Surely this is a great and noble task.

2. Kindness, and good works: 

1 Timothy 5:10; Rom. 16:1-2' Acts 18:1-3. Besides her duty to her family a Christian woman has many opportunities or serving other relieving the afflicted, doing acts of kindness caring for the servants of the Lord, etc.

3. Private instruction: 

Acts 18:26 Although it was not permitted to Priscilla to teach in the assembly she was permitted to show hospitality to Apollos when he visited Ephesus, and with her husband Aquila to explain to him in their own home "the ways of God are more perfect."

4. Personal Testimony:

 Philippians 4:3. Paul speaks of those women "which labored with me in the Gospel." Though not permitted to preach in the church, women are permitted to tell in other ways what God has done for them, and thus often to win a soul for the Lord. Let men and women never neglect the opportunities that may arise to witness personally for Christ and for the extension of His Kingdom.

END NOTE:

In fact there are a good number of things a Christian woman can do in relation to the church, and its activities.  May God help our women flock to do their duties entrusted to them by the God Almighty.  Let them not seek beyond that. Let us not deviate from the Word of God in any matter even in the leadership issue.

A matter from the archives of Philipscom

Hi All, an Interview with Gentleman Donald Pennington of Texas

By P.V. Ariel, published Mar 26, 2008
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Dear Co-writers/Readers,

I am so happy to inform you all, about my yet another wonderful experience with a fellow writer in Associated Content. The good promoter, writer and producer, Don Pennigton of Ammarillo, Texas.

Please take a few moments to read a bit more about PV the little writer and his feelings. You can find me in the given link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/677509/ladies_and_gentlemen_p_v_ariel.html

Let me take this opportunity to express my thanks to Mr. Pennigton for the time and pain he has taken to present my views.

Thank you Don. Keep going. All the Best.

Philip Verghese 'Ariel',
Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Sorry, a Jumble...In My CP, "A Weekly in 13 Languages: A Unique Happening in the World of Global Media"

(A Small Correction)

This is in reference to my recent write-up here in these pages, A review on The Sunday Indian News Weekly. Under the title: "A Weekly in 13 Languages: A Unique Happening in the World of Global Media".

I am sorry, there is a mix up happened in the second last paragraph. I need to make it clear through this CP.

There is a general tendency in journalism, especially in the print media that the editors always take the First seat (or the "Mukhyasanam") and give the readers a second seat (or the "Ardhasam" (A Half Seat).

Another interesting thing is that every week they publish a special column with a special format and font; this is called "History Mail" here we can read the correspondence done between prominent personalities of the world history.

In short The Sunday Indian Weekly has achieved a lot in the field of journalism in a very short span of time. But there are still miles to go. They must rethink and give some more space to its readers to air their view in a little more elaborate way. By shifting the "history mail" to some other page, that space can accommodate some more reader views. Also the size of the cartoon strip should be increased to a minimum of one forth of the page as the writings in the strips are very difficult to read and sometimes I need to use a magnifying glass.

To make this news magazine little more home friendly, they must include a page for the women and children, then it will be a perfect home friendly magazine. While writing this I am not forgetting the fact that it's a news magazine. Also I am not forgetting the special editions comes out every now and then with more pages and articles for everyone. They have already published many such special issues.

One more encouraging thing to note in connection with the readers is that, every week the weekly offer a prize money of Rs. 3,000.00 to its readers. They offer this honorarium to three best letters of the week. This is continuing since its inception. I am a recipient of this honor four times. This is an encouraging trend by this weekly. Unfortunately many of its counterparts lag behind in such encouragements to its readers.
The only thing I don't like in this weekly is the Astrology column; it's of no importance in this age. I wish this unique weekly a wonderful and revealing reporting ahead. END

PS: I am sorry for the jumble. Thanks for reading.
pvariel@gmail.com

A Weekly in 13 Languages: A Unique Happening in the World of Global Media. An Arindam Chauddhuri Initiative

By Philip Verghese Ariel
The Sunday Indian news weekly. A unique one in its splendor. A weekly stand apart from its counterparts in its vision and style of reporting. An Arindam Choudhury (An IIPM Professor and a Management Guru) initiative started this weekly on 2nd October 2006 with five language editions-English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Gujarti. Just after completing one year of publication it launched out another 8 Indian language editions namely Malayalam, Urdu, Telugu, Kannada Assamese, Marathi, Oriya and Punjabi.

By the publication of 13 different languages this media group obtained a distinctive position of the world's first publication comes out every week in 13 different languages.

I have been a regular reader of The Sunday Indian (TSI) since its inception. Also a regular contributor to (in English and Malayalam) its letters to the editor column-they call it "DEAR EDITOR". Apart from the editorial, the in-depth columns like 'Musings' by its Economic Affairs editor Prasoon Majumdar, 'Typos' column by the Features Editor Prashanto Banerji and cover features are gems that keep them above all its counterparts. The style of editing and telling the story in the bare minimum space is worth mentioning. In this busy world this is the kind of coverage that readers generally opt for. TSI has achieved a lot in the field of Indian journalism in a short span of time.

The editorial of this weekly is much talked about subject in the Indian media from the week one. The Chief Editor Arindam Choudhury wrote different edits which drew the attention of the Indian administration. The dare devil attitude in his writing is really praiseworthy. With plain and simple words he brought out many of the injustice meted out to the general public, the middle class and the downtrodden of India.

They entered in the arena where most of the Indian media dare to drive in. With much concern and zeal his team brought out many chilling and shocking stories over the months. With plain but strong words they criticized the politicians, administrators and even the judiciary.

Let me quote here some of his editorial titles, "It's Not Democracy Sir, It Is Demonocracy All Around. Hope The New Year Ushers In A Real Change" is an editorial written in response to the Prime Minister's statement: "Despite tremendous diversities, we have emerged as a successful functioning democracy". Another title goes like this: All We Have Successfully Created Is A Spineless Police Force" this is written on the inaction of the police force in many cases, He says, I quote, " Though every time all the fingers point at the khaki (Police Uniform) but the real villains of peace have been the politicians and State governments who have always treated the police force as their personal fiefdom for their self serving interests. "... It is most unfortunate that a profession, which is looked upon with respect in other parts of the world, has been made to become the most vulnerable and disrespected in our country".

Another important edits headline read, "To make India Democratic & Politics De-criminalized, Allow Election Voting Through SMS". This is one of the editorials which received tremendous responses from the readers. The reader's reaction to this piece continued in the following issues. Apart from the usual letter page they published a four page column of letters from the readers.

Few more title on this line are:

1. Mafia Political Parties Have Completely Robbed Indian Democracy of Everything, Including Its Moral Legitimacy!!"

2. "Even After Sixty Years, An Indian Remains Alien In His Own Country!!".

3. "Honorable Minister For Agriculture - Sir, Rather Than Cutting The Subsides From The Midday Meal Scheme, Please Arrest The Existing Corruption In The Public Distribution System!" These Editorial pages can be read online: www.thesundayindian.com click the button below: Arindam Chaudhuri and then click "His article and thoughts"

While launching out the new 8 editions he wrote in its editorial.

"The big issue about this expansion is not the satisfaction with the numbers, in case you are mistaken. I have no fascination with extra editions just for the heck of being different. When we started Business & Economy, we wanted to pick up issues of burning importance, which are marginalized and ignored by mainstream media; issues like the dysfunctional judiciary of India, issues relating to human development in India, issues like the true extent of poverty in India (talking about which is boring and non glamorous in today's media). We wanted to take such issues to the masses in a sharp and incisive manner with pertinent solutions... solutions being our forte, thanks to the intellectual bent of our core group due to its academic association with The Indian Institute of Planning and Management and its Think Tank. As we succeeded in doing that, we also realized that it would be a far bigger challenge to take the same issues in a more easy-to-understand manner to the general masses, instead of just to the Economist reading business community.

The challenge always is in de-intellectualizing matters of public concern and taking them to the public and making them realize the truth in a manner that they feel compelled and motivated to become a part of the process of change themselves. That's why we started The Sunday Indian and it's the same reason we are now in 13 different editions - because we want to reach out to all Indians, regardless of their education, language, caste or level of income. We believe every Indian has the right to a new way of thinking. And that is our mission!". www.thesundayindian.com Editorial head- Lucky 13! It's never happened before in the world of global media " [24/06/2007]

Over the months they carried out this vision through their weekly editions, and they stick to their words by reducing its price to a minimum of Rs.10. which is very much affordable to an average Indian reader. By keeping the minimum price rate they fulfilled the vision reaching out to all level of people in spite of their level of income.

Another important thing to say about this unique publication is that, they respect its reader's views and gives them a prominent place in its pages and three pages are allotted to the readers to air their views. Generally publications give one or maximum two pages to its readers. In most publications this space will be given after the editorial, and some keep them in to the last page or some other corner of the publication, but here in this weekly we can notice a special thing that the readers are given the first priority and are given them the first place and editor took his seat next to them that is a second place.

There is a general tendency in journalism, especially in the print media that the editors always take the First seat (or the Mukhyasanam) and give the readers a second seat (or the ardhasam (A Half Seat). Another interest thing is that every week they publish a special column with a special format and font; this is called "History to go. They must re think and give one there are still miles more page to its readers to air their view in a more elaborate way. By shifting the history mail to some other page, that space can accommodate some more readers views. Also the size of the cartoon strip should be increased to one forth of the page as the writings in the strips are very difficult to read.

The only thing I don't like in this weekly is the Astrology column; it's of no importance in this age. I wish this unique weekly a wonderful and revealing reporting ahead. END

Source: www.thesundayindian.com
www.iipm.com
Chief Editor. Arindam Chaudhury
Editor: A Sandeep

(The writer can be reached at: pvariel@gmail.com)