Friendship and faith

I have at last touched base with one of my good old friends from US....Dawn Griesbach . I had met her 18 years ago in US where i post doc..ed but later when she migrated to Scotland in '90 we kept in touch for sometime, then lost touch and then years later I met her briefly in 2000 when I was in US on a short visit ..but we have a lot of great memories that go way back...Dawn is a ardent mountaineer , she has climbed all the munroes of Scotland - i suspect that the mountains of Scotland made her a permanent settler there. We hiked a lot in US when we were together in Philadelphia - she a stubborn 10mile hiker, I a reluctant one , always 10 paces behind her like a hindu bride. I loved view points - places that looked outward to the wide spaces , she couldn't care less only loved walking through the lush, mountainous land . Also she knew gardening like noone did- preparing her own compost etc. I learnt making cream cheese, baked chicken, manna burgers from her among other things...I cant wait to catch up with her..that also brought a lot of thoughts of the faith
.. we did a lot of bible studies together..The way I understand my faith now is a lot different than the earlier years esp when I was India.I wondered why? I grew up in a Christian home and according to me the worst way to understand the Bible is through religious eyes/ we received Christ multiple times ...yes like vaccination for the stomach flu , because unfortunately we christians have reduced the beauty of the scriptures to a few choice words and phrases. Secretly i had many of the doubts the Hindus have..why was Jesus born without sin such a big thing.. Oh yes sure His sinless sacrifice redeemed the world... whatever that meant... It was many years later that I understood it as ...there has to be a standard -- say the Garden of Eden before sin was the standard -- how does one have access to that standard without violating the standard itself...it would be through the sacrifice (costly) of a pure and blameless life.. If there is no standard , then anyone can access it anytime - the sacrifice of Jesus was not required. But because God the Father had a standard for humanity - if the standard was violated ..a price had to be paid... by one sinless .. Then in States when I visited places like Boston - where the great forefathers like John Adams lived and saw the many roles they had- baker, printer, constitution framer, leader etc..I had some inkling into this great standard for humanity.. here were true men of substance... without sin (or sin forgiven) a lot of good things can be accomplished and enjoyed in this world.. So then I started to think perhaps Jesus Christ is relevant to US because there we are closer to God's high (achievable) standard...material and emotional and social prosperity was what God desired. For a time I thought Christ may be irrelevant to India..then the picture of the shepherds being the first one to hear the angels sing and announce the coming of Christ came to my mind ..if you look closely shepherds were lowly yet they were professional, minding their sheep and steeped in their cultures( they had community life and culture ).. The angels didnt come to the temple of God and herald Christ - no because I am convinced that without good community you cannot understand the Gospel unless you have sinned terribly and the spirit of God convicts you..there are sins and there are sins..I mean deadly sins and other sins...but only when we look at the high standard of God -- who God was ( as we are created in His image) can we understand all have sinned .. without GOd'sstandard we cannot understand that.. so back to my previous argument...is God's standard relevant to India... Thankfully you see God intended 2000 years of OT before NT ... was, if one slaps you on one cheek .. turn the other one possible in OT ? No, so also not possible India. If someone slaps you on one cheek in India you slap him right back,,, it is what a good person should do...can I hear the brick bats... it is only when you achieve a certain standard you treat others differently than what you have been treated... but we christians tend to put the NT before the OT.( the cart before the horse/donkey) So yes I think Christ is relevant to India provided good Indian culture is maintained.. like good education, family bonds, good Indian food etc.. then we understand scripture better ( not IMHO through religious eyes). But then when you think of the deadly sins only the blood of Christ can cleanse..(it runs deeper that the waters of the Ganges)so in that sense He is much more relevant or equally relevant in India ...so since a person who is forgiven of his past sins and has repented has greater access to doing a lot more in life and enjoy it too ... in that sense to make India prosperous, Christ is the Answer. What do You think?