God of Bible is God of Creation. After creating all things, He declared all of them, “good” (Genesis1:31). Being the Creator, He loves and cares for His entire creation; we can find His loving and caring heart throughout the scriptures. God is with His people and favoring them. God made from one root all mankind and blessed them, in their forefathers to be fruitful and multiply. He provided them the good things in the Eden garden. He continued to show his care for His people by sending rain and sunlight, without favoring anyone. Indeed, in Him, we find the pictures of loving, caring, and approachable God, the Father.
The Bible reveals that God is concerned about his people. He specially pays attention to the suffering and oppressed people. This we see when He sent His servant, Moses to free the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and oppression. The Egyptian had made the Israelites life as hell. We find that God frees them, so that they might worship Him. God showed His concern by performing many miracles for His people and by bringing them to a land of honey and milk. The picture of promise land for the Israelites, show that they enjoyed freedom and dignity under God’s rule.
Dalits too, are God’s people and a wonderful part of His supreme work, created in His own image (Genesis 2:27) God knows Dalits poor condition too. Being as a caring Father, He can not see them in physical and spiritual oppression. So He wants them to see free like the Israelites, so that they too, worship and bring glory to Him. He wants Dalits yoke of slavery and captivity to be broken. He has Good News for them. And the good news is that, He is their Creator. He has come to the earth in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ to show that love and care. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cares for his (sheep) followers. He does not want any one to wander and to perish. The Lord does not delight in the destruction of men. Jesus is the Messiah who does not punish but gives life. Jesus has come to “preach the Good News and to set the captives free” (Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4:18-19). The God of universe is concerned about poor, widows, marginalized, and the oppressed. Dalits as the suffering people of God have been waiting for message of Hope and Liberation. God has finished the work of saving and liberating people in His Son, when He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
The Good News of Jesus’ message is the only hope for the Dalits in Indian subcontinent. The Researcher believes, it is the Message of Christ that will set the Dalits free and will give them the dignity as human being. The message of Messiah has to be shared and be shown in practical ways to the oppressed by the Christian Missions.
When we see God’s righteous and just heart for his creation, it must encouraged, His believers to do the same, for their neighbor and oppressed. The followers of God can not remain cold and mute spectators rather they should make His justice to rule the injustice of this world everywhere. And bring comfort and hope for the victims of injustice and oppression. The Bible says that, “the creation groans” for liberty (Rom.8:22), and it’s true of the Dalits of India. It is a community, which has been oppressed physically and spiritually. It needs the love, care, liberation, and transformation in view of God’s people.
It is sin and Satan actually which inspires people to make, others suffer. Satan from the very beginning had not been at peace with God and his wonderful creation, which bears his image. Satan caused our forefather to sin and brought them under suffering of many kinds.
What Hindu scriptures teach and high caste Hindu practice today is the consequences of sin and its impact, “therefore they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).” Therefore, it is Christian Missions duty, now to bring these people, to the true knowledge of our Lord. The researcher believe if people know the True God and his Word, then the whole life of individuals and distorted society is going to be totally different. The distorted picture of our life and society will be changed and people will be transformed and will live at peace. Yes, there is hope for the betterment of Dalits. When they will come to the true knowledge of our Lord, then, they will be changed, inwardly and outwardly.
As God’s people, we can not be mute spectator of Dalits situation. “The Church must accept a new paradigm of the Mission of Dalit Liberation. The Dalit issue must be on the Christian Missions priority. The Missionaries must… join hands with all forces that enable Dalit Liberation: oppose all forces that perpetuate Dalit slavery. Church must be committed to liberate the Dalits from the age-old Hindu oppressors.”
As we live together, we have to show our love in action for them as God did it by sending His only Son for us. The Bible says, “Speak for the voiceless.” Therefore, the role of mission is to be voice of the voiceless and bring hope to hopeless. The missionaries need to tell that God loves the Dalits and cares for them. And that they too, have the right to life, dignity, education and employment. The role of Christian missions is important to bring, the holistic transformation for the Dalits
And now, The Christian Missionaries duty is to make people know that God loves and cares for his creation. Dalits have hope in the present world and the world to come. And that God has entered in the human society in the form of Christ Jesus, the God-man. He has come as the Messiah of the oppressed people. He has broken the walls between Jews and Samaritans, clean and unclean, servant and Lord, male and female, Greek and Jew. And He wants to become the Messiah of Dalits, The Christian missions need to take this message to the concerned people and show their Christian love in actions, so that their lives will no longer be the same as it is today but will experience the social and spiritual transformation.
