Random Links 148

Christ, My Bodhisattva

Food for thought …

“… The Christians I met spoke of sin in this life, but that was meaningless to me. Karma was what mattered. So I decided, When they talk about sin, I think of karma, and I believe Jesus died for my karma, so I am going to accept him on those terms.

… As my mother and others in my family challenged my faith, I found that biblical concepts were only helpful if they were properly translated. My mother would say, “Jesus is a swear word. They use it in the shop every day. Why do you follow this man?”

… She had a hard time believing that Jesus would never refuse anybody. But that’s the case, I said, because he’s the sanatan sat guru.

Sanatan is a Sanskrit word meaning “eternal”; sat guru means “true living way.” You can put John 14:6 in brackets after that! He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Guru is a living way. There are lots of sat gurus, but try to find a sanatan sat guru. No guru claims to be sanatan. Then she said, “Tell me more about this guru, who will love everybody.” So I said, “Not only is he a sanatan sat guru, he paid for karma. He paid our karmic debt.”

… We’ve produced a series of books and cds that connect with the South Asian experience. Fortunately, I was able to pay for publication, because in the early days, not many Christian publishers were willing to take on a book that talked about Jesus as the bodhisattva who fulfilled his dharma to pay for my karma to negate samsara and achieve nirvana!”

Hope, depression, hope.

Good to read this post by Dan Kimball. I have fond memories of hanging out with him, Marko and Tony Jones in Singapore some years ago.

American Idol Gives Back

I saw the “delayed” show we get in Malaysia last night where they showed it back to back … the performance as well as the results show. There were some REALLY moving moments. The segment Simon Cowell which Will mentions was one I found memorable too.

Decoding the Apocalypse: What the Left Behind Series never told you

With thanks to Dr. Winn Griffin, looks like a study worth signing up on- and it’s FREE!

PLS 4WARD

I got a shorter SMS … good insight:

“The problem with technology (in this instance, mobile phone messaging) is not just that it has an unintended way of consuming cultures and transforming societies; the ease with which it assimilates into our habits makes us careless, even reckless.”

The Role of Women in Ministry

I’m with John in this one. My mind is thinking how many of the female pastors in our denomination are such wonderful co-workers in ministry. John’s insight is worth some time:

“I am convinced that with the coming of Jesus, with his ministry to and with women, that a defining change took place in how women were viewed in a patriarchal culture. I believe that with the pouring out of the Spirit on the earth all kinds of differences that barred people from full equality with one another in the kingdom were abolished. Paul unpacks this equality in several of his New Testament letters. That equality is not just about equal standing before God, but equal status and function in the believing community. The equality in salvation is demonstrated in actual social change. Salvation opens doors for women, not closes them.”