--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa
http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Fr. Ivo, I have no intention in getting argumentative over scripture. My art practice looks at religion, sexuality and consciousness; as such certain things/ideas/notions interest me. I would like to point something out in all humility. The example you chose to show Jesus not resorting to violence against his "fellowmen"is perhaps not the most appropriate considering that in Jn 8 10-11, Jesus was making it clear to Peter, and making sure that "prophecy" would be fulfilled. That could not be jeopardised at any cost. 10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? The words, "the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" suggest to put it mildly but unequivocally that nothing was supposed to come in between his fate/deliverance and Peter acting on his mind. Yet remember it was Jesus who drove the money changers out of the temple. There must have been trepidation fear truly amongst the traders at being chased out. Luke 9:52-55 would be more appropriate to make your point: And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. As Shusaku Endo says in his Preface to the American Ed., of his book, A Life of Jesus (written in 1973, Eng trans 1978 by Richard A Schuhert), which I presume is what you are pointing towards---"Jesus as I depict him is a person who lived for love and still more love, and yet he was put to death, for he chose to live without violent resistance. My way of depicting Jesus is rooted in my being a Japanese novelist. I wrote this book for the benefit of Japanese readers who have no Christian tradition of their own and who know almost nothing about Jesus. What is more, I was determined to highlight the particular aspect of love in his personality precisely in order to make Jesus understandable in terms of the religious psychology of my non-Christian countrymen and thus to demonstrate that Jesus is not alien to their religious sensibilities." Others books by Endo are Silence; and The Final Martyrs (pub just before his death in 1996) If time permits something on the Zealots later. I am juggling a lot but had to respond to this. venantius j pinto > Message: 9 > Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 13:07:33 -0800 > From: "Ivo da C.Souza" <icso...@bsnl.in> > Subject: Re: [Goanet] Agony of God > > THE AGONY OF CHRIST TODAY > > *Dr.Ivo da Concei??o Souza > (DEL) > Jesus of Nazareth was a "revolutionary" in the true sense of the word, as > can be seen from his manifesto (cf.Lk 4:16-21). Jesus came to the world to > proclaim the "good news" to the poor, freedom to the oppressed, to announce > the "acceptable year" of the Lord. He was to usher in a new era of renewal, > a new social order, God's Kingdom/Reign/Lordship on earth. Jesus sharply > criticized the rich oppressors and political rulers of his day. But he never > supported the use of physical violence against his fellowmen. Rather, Jesus > consistently rejected the urges of some of his followers to employ such > methods of violence (Jn 18:10-11).