Can Christians keep faith among many religions & gods?

being a Christian in South Asia is kind of a wholesome experience because here in the west when when you say believe in one true God you're literally looking around yeah that's just one one context that I have to but there you're looking at a very colorful Myriad of cultures and traditions and millions of God figures that people are talking about and then when you grow up in a household like that the experience becomes wholesome maybe on an altogether different level richer because you you have to wait through the sea and actually experience life as a Christian to feel and embrace faith and you raise an interesting point because it is so diverse there are so many expressions of quote unquote God yeah in the context of South Asian religions how do you make the distinction easily because I say this uh when you're a Christian in a place where it actually is challenging to be one your faith is deeper um and I have referred this many a times sometimes to be a Christian in some parts of the world that by itself is an act of Courage because you are putting on the line uh to The Very extreme your life uh or your friendships and relationships because you are swimming against the tide to be who you are or who you want to be um so I say being a Christian in my context is not like falling in love it is growing in love um and you have different episodes in your life because living in certain context throws for in my case violence in your way to kind of experience God in the truest sense and then you're able to distinct um you know the the grass from the how do you the weed from weed from the grass weed from the grass and and and experience God in it trest sense I love that not necessarily falling in love but growing in love and it really is a a drawing a Line in the Sand decision to be a follower of Christ in that context now as I understand it your dad um did something that was kind of countercultural at the time he quit his job in film in order for your mom to pursue a career not that he stopped working but tell us about that shift in context I think pretty much everything my dad and even mom have done has been radical and that has loved us as uh three of their children to also embrace the radical way of living uh both of them are feminists in uh a Christian sense U that's another show by itself but but when Dad after I was born uh two things struck his heart one was um you know he had a very successful film career but then he was like I'm not doing enough in the ministry space so he chose to quit at the peak of his career to be a stay-at-home father so that we you don't have to come to a locked house but he used his entire time writing Christian radio programs for the Christian Media Center he written about 8,000 plays which has changed lives around the world till the funding stopped but yeah it was it was empowering for me as a daughter in the household to kind of see that this was possible I love that cuz I was going to ask you next how did that change your worldview seeing your dad do that and your mom and dad live that out in the context of their marriage and love for each other respect for each other's work how did it change your world you radically again because that allowed me to see uh or define the role of a woman or a daughter growing up without any definition that I could be and I should be whatever God has created me to be uh and that nobody um could come in the way to kind of all love those gender definitions to break me from what God has called me to so that has set new standards mhm yeah and in setting those new standards you have had this calling on your life to do social justice work yeah you know what was the Catalyst for that I mean you you seen it modeled you seen this Fearless living this radical living in your mom and dad what was the Catalyst for you to tackle this giant called social justice in the world uh it started Young when I was seeing violence outside of my house so when you experience an incredible upbringing when you see that you know marriages and families are not built on violence um and that is actually the exception into the norm that I was seeing outside then you start to question which is what I did and I used uh Street Theater and Street place to kind of bring awareness when I was 15 but what actually brought me to the space of challenging the norm was my personal experience with violence and I was like this is not okay so I needed to show up for those uh who needed someone to show up because I did not experience that when violence was experienced by me can you tell us a little bit maybe just sort of on the surface as to how those attacks affected you because I know you can't tackle soci social justice um perhaps even in the context that you were brought up in without being taking a couple hits you know tackling the giant of social justice means that you're going to be maybe have an x on your back yeah how tell us about those attacks and I know some of them were debilitating for a period of time yeah almost a year I was uh paralyzed and um absolutely living in fear the the you know Seeking Justice or seeking God comes at a cost and uh some of us experience it some of us don't in the western context we may not often times experience the price of Seeking Justice or seeking your faith even uh but uh the price that I had to pay was basically getting beaten up by a few men um uh in a city where not help reached so a year of just staring at the ceiling almost uh trying to come terms with why this happened and what it is that I could do with my life um if I could ever stand up and walk uh so it's not an ending like even today I deal with a fear when I wake up in the morning I say is my leg working all right I is everything okay so it's you live with a sense of urgency um and things changes for you how did God walk you through that healing Journey because I know you said it's a journey you said wake up even some days and say you know wonder about whether or not your leg is functioning properly how did God walk you through that feeling journey and perhaps um through your story how can you can you speak to someone perhaps that's dealing with their own immediate trauma or um you know incident they they've faced recently they're dealing with fear because you mentioned that fear gripped your heart for a period of time joyfully um God met me with joy when I was and this is where the concept of growing in love made absolute sense to me because people often times so when was the moment that you truly became a Christian uh being bornn as in a Christian household um does very little to your faith Journey even if you're surrounded by these conversations in your household but experiencing these hard things all loved me to truly come to terms with what God was doing with my life and the calling that he put in my heart because I was having an excellent corporate career before that and it was on that bed um that I realized that I needed to completely put an end to that and redirect my journey to where I could experience and see God in the people that we were leading out of slavery so then with in my journey with International Justice Mission I was seeing God every single day in the lives of these people so when a person who's struggling with their day-to-day I would say um this also what Mahatma Gandhi quoted um look into the eyes of the poorest man the person who does not have any of what you have and then you will be able to lean into the blessings that you have received and decide what it is that you can do with your faith and everything that you have so look at your hands look at all that you have right now and see how that can play into your life and in the lives of others so when we stop obsessing over where we are in those dark days and realize where God has put us and where God is going to be meeting us it's a lot more easier to walk that journey and it might sound you know uh rather hoty but I'm saying this in all humility when I stopped thinking about me and my journey and my pain uh it became so much more beautiful to meet God and others what a challenge I knew um you know just what I keep hearing from you uh just to to to paraphrase is just it's a it's a heart posture and giving back to God what what he is entrusted to us and sometimes that's even our hurt and our pain and what he can do with that um you returned from a beautiful visit home recently yes received as somewhat of a celebrity I understand embarassing no you shouldn't be embarrassed because you come from this Rich Heritage of Godly leaders yeah uh you know your your like father's and grandfa your father's dad and your grandfather and your mom's side like talk to us a little bit about that Heritage yes I was overwhelmed uh when I went to this this um town it was fascinating because I was kind of received like a celebrity people were kind of thronging to come and say we need to see the granddaughter of uh you know uh James kinum uh James kum's granddaughter I was like why me why do you why are you people so nice to me and then this happened because I was overwhelmed I was like this is unreal I don't know why you know people are being so nice and really you know desperate to come and have a conversation so then this man was taking us in the car and he was like he stopped the car and he was like well to know why we are like this to you you need to know who your dad is you need to know who your granddad is and yes he did set up the first church in that part of the town he was one of the four uh from the Lutheran missionary uh Ministry who was trained but that was also where I learned that my story did not start with me it started with you know this incredible Legacy that my ancestors have left behind he was almost toned to death but he continued to pursue what was the right right think that he needed to be pursuing at that point that entire Village at that point survived colera because he pedal 40 kilm every single day to bring that homeopathic medicine to that Village there was only one person who died simply because he did he did not follow uh you know what the medication expected him to do but that entire Village came to Christ because of this single man's persistence he hid the fact that he was from a cast uh a higher cast so that he would be welcome in a place where inequality was the norm so uh I was humbled and and and also part ashamed with the kind of Legacy that I'm carrying I'm not doing enough this man put his life on the line remarkable remarkable and I know the impact you know you couldn't possibly know the impact that the sacrifice no that your grandfather sacrifices that he made and other family members made have had in the lives of those that are living around the world to this day having witnessed what you did just in our last minute together how does this Rich Legacy of faith that has been laid before you you continue to work toward how does that inform the way you want to live your life I think it's a Relentless Pursuit uh and and I what what what I thought of when I got on that plane back uh after that trip was the shouldn't stop not with me not with my children not with my grandchildren in fact it should be infectious enough to draw everyone else into this Relentless pursuit of Seeking Justice and seeking God and inviting people into this space that is so beautiful remarkable thank you Anu I've have been hearing wonderful things about you for for a long time now and I can't tell you how grateful I am that we've had this opportunity to talk today and for our viewers to get to know you a little bit better and of course we're going to have you back in the future just to talk a little bit more extensively about what you're doing with International Justice Mission such important work and you know I can't I can't just I can't put it into words but you certainly are the one of the finest examples of people living the purpose-driven life so God bless you for all that you're doing may God continue to bless you and your family uh through every Endeavor that you're a part of thank you for being with us today thank you the admiration is super Mutual so blessed to be here thank you [Music]

Channel: 100huntley

Views: 40,946

Keywords: 100Huntley, Crossroads, Christians, Jesus, Christian Testimony, Christian Testimonies 2021, ChristianFaith, ReligiousDiversity, StayingChristian, FaithUnderFire, UnityInDiversity, ChristianPerseverance, SpiritualJourney, FaithAndCulture, InterfaithDialogue, ChristiansWorldwide, BelieveInChrist, DefendYourFaith, FaithChallenges, ResilientFaith, SpiritualResilience, AmongManyGods, GlobalChristianity, FaithInAction, ChristianTestimony, DiverseFaiths, south east asia, asian christians, christian asians

Id: JT7Y_yIfTFg

Length: 13min 14sec (794 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 16 2024