Report THOMAS AND CHRISTIANITY IN

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REPORT THOMAS AND CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA

According to India’s 2011 census, Christianity is the third largest religion in the country and accounts for 2.3% of the total population. This is thanks to one of the apostles who came to these lands in 52 A.D. to spread the Word.

Isaac Saravanan discovered Christianity almost by chance. The healing of a relative suffering from cancer led him to the path of Christ.

He used to be Hindu and never thought of renouncing his faith until he knew the true Word and his life took an impressive turn.Now he preaches in his native India, where Christians have been persecuted for centuries.Like Isaac, there are 28 million Christians in this huge country of ancient culture. Indians are mostly Hindu. Among other things, Hindus do not eat beef and worship cows as a source of food and life.

Many rural families own a dairy cow that they treat as if it were a member of the family, and it is common to see these animals roam the streets without being disturbed by people.

A LITTLE HISTORY Christianity in India is not recent. When the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1498, he found, to his surprise, that there were several Christian communities.

He did not know that the apostle Thomas had been there first 1,500 years earlier. In the year 52 A.D., the apostle arrived in the exotic lands of India to fulfil the command of Jesus Christ: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature ...” (Mark 16:15-18)

Christianity in India is not recent. When the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrived in India in 1498,he found, to his surprise,that there were several Christian communities. He did not know that the apostle Thomas had been there first 1,500 years earlier.

During his two-decade pilgrimage in the villages of Chennai, on the shores of the Indian Ocean, Thomas suffered persecution, like the others, and he miraculously escaped death several times.

Christian Indians say that the Brahmins, members of the highest-ranking Hindu caste, ordered to kill the apostle.

Therefore, Thomas hid in a cave of a small mount near the ancient Madras (Chennai). The hiding cave is the size of a medium room in solid rock that in ancient times used to have only a small opening. It is said that it was opened by God when the Brahmin envoys were about to catch Thomas.

The apostle spent many hours praying in the cave and drank from the water of a spring that flowed from the rock. The cave and the spring still exist and they are visited by hundreds of tourists.

PERSECUTION Violence against Christians has risen in recent times since the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. The laws “on freedom of religion” present in seven Indian states “deny the rights and freedom of faith” or seem to give permission to strike Christians and their institutions.

Although there is persecution of Christians in this country of 1,339 million inhabitants – the second most populous in the world – Christians do not become intimidated and work hard every day to preach and actively participate in various social aspects. Christian in India manage dozens of educational institutions, hospitals, health centers, rehabilitation centers, homes for the dying and needy elderly, leprosaries, technical and agricultural institutes, social welfare centers and spiritual centers.