The news is interesting, sometimes.

There is a story from India that seems to have caught the attention of the whole country, and remember, India has more people than any other nation. This story has many debates.

So, what is the topic that is causing so much of a stir, in our world?

Religion. 

Specifically, the religious convictions of one person has the potential to change our world. One small thing has become that big.

So, what happened, and what is happening now?

An officer in the Army of India had responsibilities for a unit of soldiers, including many Sikhs. Possibly most of the soldiers in his unit were Sikhs.

You may know, Sikhs are the religious group where many men wear turbans. They are not Hindu, the majority religious community in India, and they are not Muslim, the majority in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

I often meet Sikhs from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. Many of them are involved in transportation. Specifically, the ones that I meet are truck drivers.

I’m a Christian, and I find them friendly and I enjoy working with them.

The officer in India is a Christian, like me, and he was expected to participate in religious ceremonies with the soldiers in his unit. He decided that his strong personal convictions prevented him from participating in religious ceremonies of a different religion. 

That sounds simple, but his refusal to enter a temple of another religion and to participate in ceremonies, cost him his job. He was court martialled and expelled from the army.

Apparently, he appealed his army dismissal all the way to the supreme court, in India, and he lost. The supreme court ruled that the Christian officer was at fault, and the court martial was allowed to stand.

Feel free to choose a side in this argument:

https://www.facebook.com/princejamwall/videos/a-christian-army-officer-was-dismissed-by-indian-army-and-when-he-appealed-to-th/816769557869667

For me, I do not plan to get involved in an argument with any supreme court. I’m sure many lawyers are busy with this debate, and probably millions of other people are forming opinions.

In the article that I referred to, you might want to look at the written comments from the audience. That gives some sense of the debate that is raging.

One thing is clear; one of the most powerful forces in the world is a personal testimony, based on personal convictions. In an Asian culture, where religious identity is usually inherited from the ancestors, and is like an ethnic or tribal membership, one Christian man developed some strong personal convictions, and acted on them.

The explosions followed.

This has happened before in history. Almost two thousand years ago, a leader in an Asian religion, following the traditions of his ancestors, had a vision, as he travelled to the city of Damascus.

He called it his ‘heavenly vision.’ Later, he wrote about his early life:

Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3: 5 and 6).

Into his national and cultural religion, he introduced his personal testimony. He made a personal decision to become a dedicated follower of his worst enemy, a man named Jesus:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. (verses 7 to 10)

This was an amazing shift, based on a personal decision, and that man changed the world, in his time. He travelled to many parts of the Roman Empire, with his testimony.

He also wrote a large part of the Christian New Testament. Some books were written while he was in prison, waiting for his execution. 

I don’t want to take a position in a debate in India, a country where I don’t live, but we clearly have another example of a Christian who developed a personal conviction, and acted on it. I hope all sides can find a peaceful conclusion, to the debate, but I also think we should see the power of a personal testimony, from one Christian. Many of us Christians should know that we have the power, in ourselves, to influence the world around us.

This is a good lesson to learn.