Banish cynicism, cultivate optimism in the time of elections-2009

[Benjamin P N]

 
BANISH CYNICISM, CULTIVATE OPTIMISM
 
Indian intellectuals and pseudo-secularists must learn to practise the art of banishing cynicism and start learning to cultivate positive thinking within us. We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories in recent times. We are the first in milk production. We are number one in remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Pharmaceutical industry remains a growth story, with revenue growing at over 20 per cent a year. Software remains a stellar growth area with seeming assured revenue growth in the 20-25 per cent range in the next two years, based on continued success in outsourcing. We have made genuine progress in infrastructure — telecom, roads and ports. Five years ago anybody who wanted a telephone installed had to bribe someone to get the matter expedited. Now five service providers are competing for his business. This rise in connectivity must be doing wonders for improving efficiencies and lowering the cost of doing business. There are now 11 million mobile subscribers while tariffs have collapsed by 90 per cent. The progress may be incremental and messy and the procedure infuriating but it is all ultimately quite healthy.

This is despite the scepticism of many of India’s ultra-negative intelligentsia, who have inherited from the British a talent for cultivated cynicism. Why then are the Indian media and intellectuals so negative and embarrassed to acknowledge and recognise our own strengths, our achievements and successes? There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters the reform process in India has gathered critical momentum.
While India remains miles behind China in terms of the latter's propensity for building fancy new infrastructure, and power remains a problem, India's recent achievements are considerable given that they all have to be implemented via a democratic progress with all the resulting parliamentary check and balances. The point about the Indian Republic is that all the problems are known about, as they are well advertised in the noisy media, and therefore discounted. So, "My India, sweet land of liberty/It is of you I sing/Land where my forefathers died/Land of my pride…
 
P.N.BENJAMIN
 


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The new Windows Live Messenger. You don’t want to miss this.

[Paul D'Souza]

Is this really you writing this stuff  Benji?  Banish Cynicism!!!         Quote" This is despite the scepticism of many of India’s ultra-negative intelligentsia, who have inherited from the British a talent for cultivated cynicism"  Is that you?   Man oh man!
Paul.

[Benjamin P N]

Yes, it's I who am writing it, Paul. And I've written it in the same vein in the past too....If in doubt, scan pages of Decccan Herald in the last thirty years.
 
PNB
 

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Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:33:39 +0530
Subject: Re: Banish cynicism, cultivate optimism in the time of elections-2009
From: pgds...@gmail.com
To: bangalor...@googlegroups.com

[Benjamin P N]

Crucifixion: Jesus's real crime was he spoke the truth
By P N Benjamin
Deccan Herald – Panaroma – 9th April 2009
Jesuss real crime was simply that he spoke the truth, which is intolerable to all forms of authority but especially ecclesiastical. By what he said and did, he exposed men who, in the name of institutional religion, wielded power without moral sanction. Jesus had to be killed because the truth he said threatened the very foundation of their system of power, privilege and profit.
A Friday noon, almost two thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on Calvary, the hill outside the city of Jerusalem. Being nailed to two pieces of wood and abandoned to the torment of a lingering death was a particularly inhuman form of punishment reserved by the ancient Romans for the worst criminals. Jesus was a carpenter who at 30 had suddenly burst upon the national stage of the then Palestine as the very embodiment of an oppressed people’s liberator. Like rain on parched ground, the poor soaked up all he said and did. The hungry saw in him a kindred soul who would share with them the last crust of bread. To the homeless he was the most homeless of all. Didn’t he say once referring to himself: “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head?” Jesus’s life was a continuous struggle with the powers-that-be, whether religious or political. The challenges he posed before the authority came out clearly in his cleansing of the Temple by driving out the buyers and sellers and overturning the tables of the moneychangers. He accused the authorities of reducing what was meant to be a house of prayer into a den of thieves. In other words, using religion as a means of exploiting the people. In the Temple, Caiaphas was the high priest. Generations of plotting and the disappearance of Jewish monarchy had led to piling up of power in his hands, making him pre-eminent. Wasn’t it preposterous that Jesus should describe the Temple as a ‘den of thieves?’ Was he not ridiculing Caiaphas? Such a direct attack was bound to provoke a counter attack from the guardians of the temple. Hence, they challenged him: “By what authority are you doing these things?” Power when threatened, always ends in violence. In another way too, Jesus posed a threat to the political powers of the chief priest. Equally subversive was his radical criticism of the Jewish Law. And in a society in which religious and political power legitimised each other, any attack on the first was also an attack on the second. The priests formed the core of support to the Roman rule. Any threat therefore to the authority of the Jewish State would have acted against the interests of Rome. And we have seen that both the teachings and practices of Jesus condemned the Jewish authorities. Therefore, all political forces in Palestine had an interest in getting rid of the young prophet from Galilee. Shaking the system Jesus’s real crime was simply that he spoke the truth, which is intolerable to all forms of authority — but especially ecclesiastical. By what he said and did, he exposed men who, in the name of institutional religion, wielded power without moral sanction. Jesus had to be killed because the truth he said threatened the very foundation of their system of power, privilege and profit. What subsequently happened on Calvary was nothing but a cold-blooded political murder. Some of those who later wrote about Jesus would absolve Rome of responsibility for this demonic display of human injustice. Jesus did not know when he lived on earth that before he had been long dead and lip service continued to be paid to him, men would be killing other men in his name, casting themselves as Caiphas of every new generation. Institutional Christianity has brought to the world not peace but a sword. Christianity’s ostensible devotees remain divided. Hostilities and humiliating divisions prevail in Christian churches and institutions, which have become battlegrounds and areas of strife and fratricidal conflicts to consolidate power, in ways often hidden from public view. But, simplicities preached and practiced by Jesus are emulated by some. There are those who serve their fellow humans at much suffering and loss to themselves. Saintliness has not altogether been thrown overboard. It shows itself in some unheard of persons in unheard of places, outwardly unrecognisable, inwardly they have been known to be remade in the image of Jesus. Jesus asks for no sentimental mourning from Christians on this Good Friday — no beating of breasts or strident wailing. “Weep not for me, you daughters of Jerusalem,” he had said then. He says it still: “Wash one another’s feet. Not with the waters of Ganga or Cauvery, but with true human concern and care.” Jesus’s crucifixion has served as a reminder that saviours have to die for their faith and to pay for the sins of their own brethren. Jesus was such a man, and so were Mahaveera and Buddha before him and Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr almost two thousand years later. What binds them, despite the minor differences in their beliefs, is their fearlessness and their peace with those beliefs. Each was far, far ahead of his time. Each had to speak in parable, in allegory, if he hoped to be even understood.

 

 

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Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 23:33:39 +0530
Subject: Re: Banish cynicism, cultivate optimism in the time of elections-2009
From: pgds...@gmail.com
To: bangalor...@googlegroups.com

[Paul D'Souza]

You need to start 'practicing what you preach'  Benji. So far you seem to have only one obsession - Sangliana. Banish Cynicism!

Paul.

[Colin Kyte]

So Mahaveer and budha died for the sins of their followers?where did you get that and martin luther and m gandhi we then have many saviours/isint this the demons doctrine? c.k. --- On Thu, 4/9/09, Benjamin P N <benja...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Benjamin P N]

That's my understanding.
 
Your work among the tribals, in 'area of darkness' ( about which I have read on the net) is suspect.
 
PNB
 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 04:23:09 -0700
From: coli...@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Crucifixion: What was His crime?

[Colin Kyte]

stom talking about christ you are broadcasting falsehood c.k

[Benjamin P N]

I'd like to know from CK whether he the same one (or his organisation ) who is working for BRINGING LIGHT AND LIFE TO INDIA WHERE DARKNESS AND DEATH REIGN?

Here is a nation crying out to God for relief, a people who are hungering and thirsting for the healing and love that only Jesus Christ can provide. We in India, a land of diverse cultures, are challenged to reach across all cultural barriers with the Message of the Cross.

India is the largest democrary in the world living on 2.4% of the world's land surface. Predictions proclaim that India will be the most populous country in the world by 2020. Currently, the country has 1.3 billion people. The great racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity makes a simple sub-divsion of population difficult. A 1991 survey identified 4,635 communities or people groups with 120 languages.

 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 04:56:03 -0700
From: coli...@yahoo.com

[Benjamin P N]

Are you part of the following organisaqtion? "Kingdom harvestors or head-hunters" for Christ?
 
Cross Cultural Ministries India commenced its work in the early year of 2000 with a vision for reaching the unreached tribal areas initially from South India. Jesus Christ being the head of our Mission-Oriented Church-Planting Ministry has also been the cornerstone to lead us thus far. In the progress of the Ministry work, our Lord has also guided us to have the Ministry registered as a "Trust", in the year 2007. The Trust is named "Cross Cultural Ministries India Trust". In the same context, the Mission activities has been supported by our committed Partners and Contributors to contribute to the Trust. The Trust is headed and lead by brother Colin Kyte who is the Founder President of Cross Cultural Ministries India (CCM-I).

To be more transparent, the Mission funds flow into the "Cross Cultural Ministries India Trust" and later used for the purposes of Mission activities from this Registered Entity. The donations given to the Trust will be provided to setup and build the Cross Cultural Ministry, which acts and fulfills our Lords Great Commision to mankind. We as Royal Priests and Kingdom Builders request each and everyone, to be a part of this Kingdom building activity on the Foundation that our Lord Jesus Christ has provided.

Our first Mission Activity was started by planting a Church in the tribal belt of Northern Karnataka, INDIA. The Church was christened as "Almatti Church" in 2000 and annointed a Pastor to the Church. This tribal Church currently has 50+ members. The Church has been a spiritual blessing to the society and to the fabric of Almatti village. The tribal people has welcomed the Church and its activities are focussed on long lasting relation of Trust and brotherly Love.

Support has been provided with a trained and discipled Pastor, Church amenities, infrastructure and ongoing financial support. The Church is bound to sustain itself independently in the coming years.

We would like people to help the Kingdom Harvestors to be effective in the Mission field with your faithful support in this activity. Your pledged support and commitment to the ministry will not only make you a supporter, but an Eternal Investor in the Kingdom of Christ for which every saved soul longs for.

 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 04:23:09 -0700
From: coli...@yahoo.com

Subject: Re: Crucifixion: What was His crime?

[Colin Kyte]

the message of the cross is foolishness to those who perish butto us it is the power of God   we preach christ crucified not budha or martin luther

[Colin Kyte]

i am happy i have diverted you off sanglianas back you need to believe on the lord jesus and be saved go and read the bible it will bless you more than this gossip activity.

[Benjamin P N]

I do not belong to the recent convert to Christianity- not the product of the Portugues, Dutch or British colonial Christianity - Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war...I belong to the oldest/ the first Christian community in the world. Go learn your Church history- if at all you have history.
 
PNB
 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 09:02:11 -0700
From: coli...@yahoo.com

[Benjamin P N]

You have not answered my question. Do you belong to the group whose aim is is to bring  light and life to India, where darkness and death reign? Are you NOT ashamed?
 
Secondly, do not carry coal to New Castle, Mr. Kite,  and stop flying your 'kite'!!!!!
 
P.N.BENJAMIN
 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 08:56:27 -0700

[Colin Kyte]

I am only answerable to God i dont have to answer you You know who i am and so does god but what are your credentials? we donot cast pearls before swine.   this is a word for you. all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god.   the wages of sin is death but the gift of god is eternal life

[Colin Kyte]

the deciples were first called christians at Antioch.just how do you connect to them it will be intersting to know.   a word for you. he who has the son has life he who does not have the son does not have life.   unless you are born again you cannot see the kingdom of God. unless you are born again you cannot enter the kingdom of god.

[Benjamin P N]

Mr. Kite,
 
Please do not use this forum for faith-marketing. It is despicable. You are evading straight answers to my questions. It's not Christ's way.
 
P.N.BENJAMIN
 

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Date: Thu, 9 Apr 2009 19:38:29 -0700

[P N Benjamin]

SANGLIANA WILL LOSE

"Sangliana appears confident getting votes on the strength of his image". (The Hindu, Good Friday, 10 April). Poor chap, he has ears, but doesn’t hear. He doesn’t keep his ears to the ground. He has eyes, but doesn’t see. Far removed is he from realities! It’s because of his inflated ego and an image larger than his size his friends have created. It’s all hollow.

"He has said: "Last time the votes I got were not solely because of the BJP, but also because of my image". Yes, it is true to an certain extent. But, the well-disciplined BJP/RSS/VHP and even Bajarang Dal cadres worked overtime with dedication for his success, despite their early reservation about his candidature. And there were some foolish Christians like me too, worked openly or behind the scene for his success.

However, it is safe to say that his success in 2004 was not because of these factors, but the Muslim votes were divided between two senior leaders, the veteran Jaffer Sharief and C.M.Ibrahim. It is safe to say Sangliana did not get any solid support from the Muslim community who by and large do not support a Christian candidate anywhere and waste their votes.

Yes, Sangliana became the "giant killer" then. It is naïve to believe that Jaffer Sharief will not try to avenge the humiliation at the hands of a political pigmy five years ago. Mr. Sharief is an old war horse. He has many tricks up his sleeves. Wait and see. The Muslims will vote for JD(S) this time. In a triangular contest, the chances of BJP running away with the trophy are looking bright.

Christians must stop canvassing for Sangliana in the name of his/our religion. And it’s a losing battle for Sangliana and Congress

P.N.BENJAMIN

[Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah]

PNB

Why have you turned silent about your fake-fact-finding document?

Arul
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Ta'fxkz
http://provoke.co.in/tafxkz

"Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!"

Martin Luther (1483–1546)
Speech at the Diet of Worms.

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"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."~ Robert Wilensky

[Benjamin P N]

because of your shallow knowledge of indian society, christianity etc.
 

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Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:46:31 +0530

Subject: Re: Crucifixion: What was His crime?

From: ta....@gmail.com
To: bangalor...@googlegroups.com

[Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah]

Please educate me sir if my knowledge of indian society and christianity is shallow- at least tell me where it is shallow :D

i mean if you have sufficient depth to do so!

[Benjamin P N]

When did Christianity arrive on the shores of India? Did it come along with the British colonialists?:D
 

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Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:20:16 +0530

[Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah]

I see that you are now off on a tangent totally unrelated with your fake fact finding report - are you avoiding the topic to escape having your falsehoods exposed ???

why does a learned man like you lack basic intellectual integrity ???

why do you spout so much blether about Sangliana not answering your questions when you fail to answer answer for your own arrogance?

The discussion is not about when Christianity came to india - and that was not the focus of your fact-finding team either, to all public information your fact finding was to look into the violence!

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Ta'fxkz

http://tafxkz.tripod.com

"Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!"

Martin Luther (1483–1546)
Speech at the Diet of Worms.

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       \_)      ) /
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"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."~ Robert Wilensky

[Benjamin P N]

Please read the attachment you sent me carefully. It exposes your ignorace about Indian Christianity in one sentence.. Yes, I am arrogant: D
 

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Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:53:54 +0530

[Benjamin P N]

Dear Moderator,
 
This forum is NOT meant for people like me. There's no mature debate or discussions on serious issues.There are despicable characters- nincompoos - too who continue questioning my intellectual integrity and honesty. One of them has given the impression that I have no other forum to express my 'frustrations'. I do not want to be a part of this group any longer.
 
Thank you for suffering me so long..
 
P.N.BENJAMIN
 

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From: benja...@hotmail.com
To: bangalor...@googlegroups.com

Subject: RE: Crucifixion: What was His crime?

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 19:00:45 +0530

</html

[Benjamin P N]

WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS GROUP.

 
P.N.BENJAMIN
 

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From: benja...@hotmail.com
To: bangalor...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: Crucifixion: What was His crime?

Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 23:14:42 +0530

</html

[Paul D'Souza]

Benji, Benjiii.....Plleeeasssee  stay with us. What will we do without you - the pearls thrown our way.  I was begining to love being called a  'despicable nincompoo'..   Paul.
 

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 11:14 PM, Benjamin P N <benja...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Dear Moderator,
 
This forum is NOT meant for people like me. There's no mature debate or discussions on serious issues.There are despicable characters- nincompoos - too who continue questioning my intellectual integrity and honesty. One of them has given the impression that I have no other forum to express my 'frustrations'. I do not want to be a part of this group any longer.
 

Thank you for suffering me so long....

[vikram ka]

thank god, one headache called benjamin left... lets celebrate happily this easter vikram --- On Fri, 10/4/09, Paul D'Souza <pgds...@gmail.com> wrote:

</html

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Share files, take polls, and make new friends - all under one roof. Click here.

[Arul (Ta'fxkz) Baliah]

i thought you had enough and left the group!

Please point out the sentences that betray my ignorance oh leaned one 

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        ( | (.) (.) |)
-----o00o--(_)--o00o-----------------
Ta'fxkz
http://tafxkz.tripod.com

"Here I stand; I can do no otherwise. God help me. Amen!"

Martin Luther (1483–1546)
Speech at the Diet of Worms.

------ooo0-------------------------------
     (   )     0ooo
      \ (      (   )
       \_)      ) /
               (_/

"We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."~ Robert Wilensky