May 18, 2001

N. Chandrababu Naidu
Chief Minister
Government of Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, A.P, INDIA

Dear Mr. Naidu,

SUBJECT: Idols--impediments to modernization

Greetings! Let me introduce myself first. I was born in a Hindu family but i was convicted of my sins and have become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I take this occasion to congratulate you for the excellent progress that you have brought about in the state during your tenure as Chief Minister. But what we witness today in India including Andhra Pradesh, is the traditional practice of idolatry. An "idol" refers to a statue or something of human manufacture that people have substituted for the true and living God. With the advent of Jesus Christ who revealed the character of God, much in the way of worship of God has changed. Jesus said, "God is spirit and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth." The Bible records in Acts 17 what an apostle of Jesus Christ had to say to those who worshiped idols. He said to them, "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious... we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." I believe when we reduce God to an image or an idol of our making, we are putting restrictions on our perception of who God is and our minds don't look further. We stop thinking, having got the "darshan" of "God." Indeed the Bible teaches us that idols are a "snare" and we will become like them if we worship them. But it is the invisible yet living God that causes our curious minds to think and imagine. And it is this thinking and imagination that is behind every modern society.

I wish we all stop for a moment and think through this matter. Man has been advancing but his environment has not.

Sincerely yours,

Caleb Suresh Motupalli.