Empowering Consumers: National Portal of India Letter

To provide simple, speedy and inexpensive redressal of consumer disputes Department of Consumer Affairs offers several services.


If you have any grievance against any Brand, Product or Service Provider please refer the following options to raise your voice and exercise your rights:

• File a complaint online with Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment Centre (CORE)
• File an online complaint with National Consumer Helpline (NCH)
• You can call at the CORE toll free number 1800-180-4566
• National Consumer Helpline (NCH) also provides a National Toll Free No-1800-11-4000 (for BSNL/MTNL Users); Other users can dial- 011-27006500 (normal call charges applicable)
• SMS to 8800939717 can also be sent mentioning the name and city
• You can also call on the State Consumer helpline numbers

Consumers can also lodge complaints with the District Consumer Forums, State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions and National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC).

An enlightened consumer is an empowered consumer. Be alert and report the discrepancy to protect your Rights.

Christ the Mediator in All Relationships

Some Principles of Judgment in Relationships
1. Not to make a personal judgment about any person without knowing the person personally. “Do not judge!” (Matt 7:1) We have no reasons to subscribe to any other person’s judgment about any other person.
2. A person is not what he/she was in the past, but what he/she is in the present – we must be reminded of the power of God that can transform a person in the split of a moment; so, the situation of even an hour ago is not proof enough to make a judgment about the present situation. To condemn anyone as a hopeless situation is to deny the love and the power of God.
3. Christ is the Mediator in all relationships for a Christian.

The third principle is central to both 1 and 2 as well. I wish to elaborate my thoughts on 3.

The Vertical-Horizontal Mediatorship of Christ

Christ not only destroyed the wall of separation between God and man, but also brought down the wall of separation between man and man (Eph.2:11-16). Thus, we not only have peace with God through Christ; but, there is also peace among men through Christ. The word “through” is ultra-significant.

The Vertical Mediatorship unites the Horizontal Relationship. This makes possible the Communion of the Spirit. God only indwells an integrated house, not a disintegrated house.

Christ is the Mediator through whom we relate to God as our Father. Christ is the Mediator through whom we relate to our neighbor as neighbor.

Christ is the Mediator through whom we relate to all humanity as the beloved of the Father (John 3:16).

Christ is the Mediator though whom a friend relates to a friend, a husband relates to his wife (and vice versa), a parent relates to his/her child (and vice versa), a boss relates to his/her employee (and vice versa).

Any relationship that is not mediated through Christ is Christless – it bears no fruit (John 15:5).

Any relationship that is not mediated through Christ our High Priest is vulnerable to the enemy’s attack.

When we relate through Christ, the boundaries of the relationship are defined by Christ.
When we relate through Christ, the nature of the relationship is determined by Christ.

Christ as fully God and fully man is the perfect Mediator between God and Man, and Man and Man. The Mediatorship is individual and personal; not corporate – each one has the prerogative of making the choice to submit to His High Priesthood.

Christ’s Ubiquitous Centrality

The centrality of Christ in our relationships with people is not like a dot in the center (Fig 2).
His centrality is ubiquitous intra-relationally and inter-relationally. It spreads over and stands in the gap between every relation of ours, mediating each act and response (Fig 3). He must rule over our thoughts about ourselves and our thoughts about others. While it is possible that one has views and opinions that are disintegrative to the Body; we can affirm that such disintegrative thoughts are neither in Christ nor from Christ nor through Christ. The centrality of Christ in relation to each of us is like the relation of each part of the body to the other through the brain (Eph.4:15,16).

The analogies are physical but Christ’s Mediatorship is personal (intra-personal, Phil 2:5; inter-personal, Rom.15:7).

Christ is central to all relationships. His Lordship covers every avenue of our life.

Related Quotes

"... the God-given reality of the neighbour with whom I live is given me through Christ; if not, my relation to him is on a wholly wrong basis. All our attempts to bridge the gulf between our neighbours and ourselves by means of natural or spiritual affinities are bound to come to grief. There is an unbridgeable gulf, and “otherness” and strangeness between us. No way of his own can lead one man to another. However loving and sympathetic we try to be, however sound our psychology, however frank and open our behaviour, we cannot penetrate the incognito of the other man, for there are no direct relationships, not even between soul and soul. Christ stands between us, and we can only get into touch with our neighbours through Him. That is why intercession is the most promising way to reach our neighbours" - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

"But the same Mediator who makes us individuals is also the founder of a new fellowship. He stands in the centre between my neighbour and myself. He divides, but He also unites. Thus although the direct way to our neighbour is barred, we now find the new and only real way to him—the way which passes through the Mediator." - Bonhoeffer

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"When God Himself is between a husband and wife, where each person and partner in the marriage seeks to put the Lord first in their personal life, you know what will happen? They will be glued together. God is the greatest binding force in the universe. When He holds two people together, it is impossible for anybody to separate them; not the devil, not demons, not the whole world, not circumstances, not poverty, not even death. And if God is not there to hold people together, then people are held together by other forces. And the other forces are not as strong. I don't know whether you have seen an advertisement for this adhesive called Fevicol. One of the advertisements I've seen, it is pictured in some of the bottles of Fevicol that they sell where two things are stuck together and on each side an elephant is trying to pull it. And they can't separate it. When a husband and wife are joined together by God, it's even greater than that. No elephants can separate them. No demons can separate them. No human beings can separate them. But they must have God in the middle. God is a greater joiner than Fevicol, or Araldite, or anything, or superglue. God in-between a husband and a wife will join them both together in such a way that nothing can separate them.... The way God did it from the beginning is the way a marriage is held together, where the Lord is first, and where each person has a relationship with God, which is greater than their relationship with each other. In other words, if you're a husband, you must not seek to be first in your wife's affection. The Lord must be first in her affections. And if you're a wife, the Lord must be first in your husband's affection, and you must be second. And those who put the Lord first and walk in the light, the Bible says in 1 John 1:7, "If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another..." And the two are held together. - Zac Poonen, Word for the Week (August 31, 2014)

GOSPEL

The Purpose, Task, and Rule of the Church

-The purpose of the Church is the glory of God (Eph 1:6; 5:27)
-The task of the Church is evangelization - making disciples (Matt 28:19,20)
-The rule of the Church is love - the command to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, which is true piety and religion (Matt 22:37-40; James 1:27).

The purpose will be fulfilled, the task will be completed, but the rule of love will abide forever.

The purpose must not be confused with the task. The task must not be confused with the rule. The Great Commission is to preach the goodnews to all people. The Great Commandment is to love God with our entire being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Social justice, liberation, mercy, and caring for the poor is an expression of who we are; salvation of souls, spiritual transformation, and discipleship is the reason why we are here on earth.

The Glory of the Lord - A Theological Overview

The Hebrew word for "Glory" used in the Old Testament is kabod and it signifies "glory, honour, glorious, abundance, riches honour, splendour, glory, dignity, reputation, reverence". The New Testament Greek word is doxa and signifies "splendour, brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace, majesty".

The Bible talks about the glory of the sun, the moon, and the stars.
"There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory." (1Co 15:40-41 NKJ)

It mentions a woman's hair as being her glory (1Cor.11:15) and says that the "glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of old men is their gray head." (Pro 20:29 NKJ)

However, all glory of creation is momentary and fleeting. But, God's glory is eternal, immutable, and absolute.

God's glory is revealed in His:
1. General Revelation (Psalm 19:1; Rom.1:20ff). His creation declares His glory.
2. Special Revelation. God's Propositional Word (The Inscribed Word) reveals His Glory. God's Personal Word (The Incarnated Word, Jesus Christ) is the final revelation of God's Glory.

In the Bible, we find at least two aspects of the Glory of God:
1. The Essential and Intrinsic Glory of God. This is God's Glory as He is in Himself. Generally, we know it as part of the Mystery of God and the Glory that is hidden; but, revealed in the last days in the person of God's Son Jesus Christ who is the brightness of God's glory (Heb.1:3).
2. The Manifested Glory of God. This is recurrently found  in the Bible in the form of the various Theophanies in which God's glory appears as cloud, pillar of fire, and smoke.

With regard to Christ's glory Himself, we know of at least:
1. Christ's glory with the Father during His preexistence, before the Incarnation (John 17:5)
2. Christ's glory revealed in the Incarnation as the glory of God's only begotten Son (John 1:14).
3. Glories that were to follow after His passion (1Peter 1:11)
4. Christ's ascension into glory (1Tim.3:16)
5. God's glory in the Church through Christ Jesus (Eph.3:21)
6. Christ return in the glory of the Father (Matt. 16:27).
7. Christ's glory in the New Jerusalem (Rev.21:23).

We also know the Mission of Christ to be at least two-fold:
1. To glorify the Father by completing the work He gave Him to do (John 17:4)
2. To bring many sons to glory (Heb.2:10; Rom.8:18-21)

The Old and the New
We also see that the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God within us surpasses the glory revealed in the Old Covenant (2Cor.3). This doesn't mean that the glory underwent progression; but, we only saw the true glory in the face of Jesus Christ now shining in our hearts through the Spirit of God (2Cor.3:18; 4:6). Thus, it is important for one to turn to the Lord so that the veil will be removed. It is also important to seek the Lord so that our eyes be opened to know the hope of our calling and the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Eph 1:18,19) The Old was only a shadow that pointed to the New.

1. In the OT, the glory of God had to be seen; in the NT, it has been seen, revealed already in Jesus Christ.
2. In the OT, the glory was external; in the NT, it is internal - Christ in us, the hope of glory.
3. In the OT, the glory was geographical, it filled the temple, a place; in the NT, the glory is spiritual - we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth and the glory is manifest inside of us.
4. In the OT, the glory was distant - they saw it afar off and feared to draw near; in the NT, it is closer than our breath.
5. In the OT, it was out there; in the NT, it is in here.
6. In the OT, the glory of God was a stranger - it evoked fear; in the NT, the glory of God is our friend - grounded in love.

The Manifestational Glory of God is often seen as manifested in Volume (filling the temple, and likewise) and/or Motion (moving in/out, standing), and Power (Rev.15:8; 2Thess 1;7).

We can find at least 12 distinctives of the Glory of God in the Church of the New Testament (2Corinthians 3,4):
1. Surpassing Glory (3:10)
2. Unfading Glory(3:11)
3. Open, Uncovered, Unveiled Glory (3:18; 4:3)
4. Transforming Glory (3:18)
5. Englightening Glory (4:6)
6. Humble Glory (4:7) - dwelling in earthen vessels
7. Precious Glory (4:7) - treasure
8. Invisible Glory (4:8-12) - cannot be crushed.
9. Adorable (4:15)
10. Magnificent - far outweighing (4:17)
11. Eternal (4:17)
12. Invisible (4:18)

Now, this glory is in relation to the Christian; which means that it also involves the subjective response of the Christian towards the Absolute Glory of God.

We find three aspects of God's Glory operating in the life of the believer:
1. Glory that cannot be worked for - it is a gift (John 17:22)
2. Glory that works upon us, to transform us (2Cor.3:18)
3. Glory that is worked out of us (2Cor.4:17). When we are crushed (in suffering), His glory is squeezed out.

We can classify it into the three aspects of the Salvation table:
1. Positional Glory (Gift)
2. Progressive Glory (Changed from Glory to Glory)
3. Perfect Glory (Glorification of the Saints and Manifestation of the Sons of God)

Courage (2Timothy 1): Reasons to Be Fearless

2 Tim.1:3-7

Fear is the mega killer. Fear cripples, paralyses, torments, kills.

Gary Whetstone: False Evidence Appearing Real

Roosevelt: The most fearful thing to fear is fear itself.

Timothy might have been a timid person (1Cor.16:10-11; 1Tim.4:12)

Reasons to be Fearful
1. Background: Acts 16 (Cf. Judges 6. Gideon had the same problem)
2. Age: Timothy was a youth (1Tim.4:12). Such was the problem also of Jeremiah.
3. Loneliness: Timothy was alone in Ephesus. (Cp. Elijah’s loneliness, Moses’ loneliness)
4. Context: Ephesus was a big city. There was the huge Diana’s Temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the world. Timothy was from a small town.

Reasons to be Fearless
1. A Legacy of Faith (2Tim.1:4-5). He had the heritage of saints. He was surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (Heb.12:1).
2. Gift of God Inside (2Tim.1:6).
3. Spirit of Power, Love, and Self-Disciplines (2Tim.1:7).

Enemies of Courage
1. Immediate Perception. What we see, hear, sense. Threat, Panic. (e.g. The Anakites)
Conditional Association. Sensation overtakes and amnesia results. (e.g. Israelites at Red Sea)
2. Imagination. What we visualize. Pictures, images. Worry, Anxiety.
3. Intimidations. Threatening (e.g. Goliath, Rabshekeh..)