A case study detailing a dilemma
It was Diwali time in India and dusk was settling over the village of Dipri in Uttar Pradesh. Victor Pakraj, a Christian missionary from Madras, walked along the street to his home. Lights twinkled merrily from the little clay-pot lamps decorating most of the homes but they did nothing to lighten his mood. Actually, those lamps were part of his problem!
He was looking for an answer to a question 14-year-old Dhuwarak Prasad had asked the night before. As always, Dhuwarak’s voice had been respectful. His eyes, however, had a pleading look as he asked, “Why can’t we light our house with beautiful little lamps and decorate our rooms at Diwali? Or, if we can’t do it at our Hindu festival, could we do it at Christmas time?”
Faith in Christ
Pakraj had moved with his wife from Tamilnadu to Dipri a few years ago. They began their missionary ministry by holding a Vacation Bible School. A handful of boys and girls had showed up, all of them from the Harijan community (considered an ‘untouchable’ group that ranked at the bottom of society). During that summer, a number of those boys and girls had accepted Christ as Savior and Lord. Among them was twelve -year-old Dhuwarak. Because they could see some real changes in their son’s life, Dhuwarak’s parents had been happy at his conversion. Mr and Mrs. Prasad eventually decided that they, too, would become Christians. So, they had come to the missionaries and were led to faith in Jesus Christ.
Krishna conquers
This had happened a few months before the annual Hindu festival of Diwali, which celebrates the victory of the god Lord Krishna over the evil Narkasura. The missionaries were encouraged by the conversion of Prasad and his wife and did their best to strengthen them in the faith. They visited the Prasads often and had them over to their own home as well. When the Prasads had become Christians, they had been socially ostracised by other Harijans. Thus, the fellowship of the missionaries filled a void.
As Diwali approached, the villagers began to decorate their homes, preparing all the lamps they would place around them. To celebrate the festival, many of them thatched their huts with new grass and bought new clothing. As this particular festival approached, however, the Prasads were depressed. For the first time they could remember at Diwali time, their home was dark and undecorated. It didn’t help their mood that Mr and Mrs Pakraj were away visiting a neighboring village.
Finally, the evening before Diwali was to begin, the missionaries returned. The Prasad family had immediately gone over to welcome them back. It was while they were sitting together and Mrs Pakraj was preparing the evening meal that Dhuwarak had asked his disturbing question. Mr Pakraj had said he needed a little time to think and pray about his response. So, he invited the Prasad family to come again the following evening when they would discuss it some more.
As Mr Pakraj neared his own home the next evening, he still was not sure exactly what he would say to the Prasads. He did remember hearing that the first Christians in Europe had begun to celebrate the birth of Christ during a pagan Winter Festival. They had picked that time because they were servants and their masters gave them holidays during that festival. It was his understanding that Christians had taken the pagan symbol of an evergreen tree decorated with lights and turned it into a symbol of their own evergreen hope for eternal life because of Jesus’ coming into the world.
A Reinterpretation
Could a similar reinterpretation be applied to the Hindu festival of Diwali which also celebrates the victory of good over evil? Perhaps Victor Pakraj felt it was important for new converts to make a clean break with Hinduism. If they did not keep clear distinctions between Hinduism and Christianity, the Christian community could wind up being absorbed under Hinduism’s inclusive umbrella. If that began to happen, Christianity’s distinctiveness and its evangelical witness would be quickly blurred and lost.
On the other hand, Mr Pakraj also knew that he must help the Prasad family find a way to restore the joy of their salvation. He wondered how he could do that. Finally, he decided what was the best under the circumstances.
(The rest is for the reader to decide).
This case study is an edited version of one by Simon P. David which appeared in Case
Studies in Missions, edited by Paul and Frances Hiebert, Baker Book House, 1987 and reproduced by courtesy of Open-Sez-Me Books
