The Zou Workshop Forum; Towards a Higher Level

The Zou Workshop Forum;

Towards a Higher Level

(Taken from my writings at the Zou Workshop Forum dated December 05, 2008)

Dear Zou Workshop Forum Patrons and lovers,
Greetings to you all from the humble workspace of the moderator!

It has really been a distinctive pleasure and unique opportunity to moderate a very progressive and great forum. I am so pleased to have humble and passionate lovers of our forum and who would sacrifice their money, time, energy and right effort to make our forum lively, current and accountable. Your sacrifices are healing and your passions are remarkable.

I enjoyed every moment of my times here in the forum and felt the bliss because of our great writers, contributors, commentators, etc. Above all, I ascribe greatness and honor to the Almighty God for everything He has done, is doing and will be doing to take our forum to a higher level as we disseminate our wisdom, knowledge and passion for our forum and for the cause of our community. Moreover, we seek the Almighty's guidance and providence by kneeling down before Him as we endeavor to take our forum to a higher level and as we begin to make our community on the move.

Our current issue (ZOD and ZYO issue) and the last two issues gave me a feeling that the Zou Workshop Forum with its open access to anyone is no longer accountable and secure. “Our issue is the talk of other people (Other tribes)” says one of my friends in Delhi. This shows that our forum can be accessed by any individual with any ID- whether or not he/she is a Zou tribe. Therefore, we are diluting our efficiency and accountability as a community.

We want our forum to be a source of information to the Zou information seekers, advice to the Zou youngsters - students and lay persons alike, to be a Think Tank for the UZO, ZLS, ZYO and ZSP, to disseminate our wisdom, knowledge and passion for our forum and for the cause of our community. Therefore, we feel the need to have a limited access to our forum by restricting unrecognized IDs, other tribes, persons having an intention to dismantle our strength and passion as a community.

We really appreciate the current members of our forum from another tribe(s) and want to thank each one of them for taking part in our community building. We applause their contributions and acknowledge their curiosity to know what has been going on in the forum and the Zou community as well. We want to send them off as friends, not a foe because we now need our privacy and accountability as a community.

The second step that we want to take now is to renew our membership through a very precise and specific channel. This is for our safety and security as the saying goes “Effective by being selective.” I will put my best effort, time and energy to make this happen at the earliest. If you no longer receive mails and are not invited, think twice; and if you feel that you could be a member and belong to the Zou community, apply through the selected persons. Make sure your ID contains your name and be ready to identify yourself before applying.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me at any time. Any honest and progressive comments and complements will be highly appreciated.

God bless you all.

With Warm Regards,


Moderator
Zou Workshop Forum

****************************************************

*****************************************

Yet Another Attack!

Yet Another Attack:

Attack on the President is attack on the community!

(Taken from my message at the Zou Workshop Forum dated Sep. 16, 2008)

Dear friends,
The recent hurling of a hand grenade at the residence of our President has sent a very provocative message to all of us. It is totally unacceptable in the most serious form. It has given us a sense of solidarity and has emboldened our patriotic commitment to our community to face our common enemy. We have been tested time and again to assess our potential and our reaction; they now knew that we are resolute and ready to face challenges in any form and discipline. They presumed we will be intimidated by such heinous act of terrorism, but they failed. We are being organized properly and we love our community more then ever. It also, no doubt, gave a sense of unity among various departments of our community despite our differences in policy and politics. They shook the foundation of the building, but they cannot not shake the foundation of our community or nation. Therefore, they don't have the guts to admit who they are because if they do they will face the consequences which will be something they don't even anticipate.

We don't seek violence and don't anticipate any act of violence against us. We have been peaceful and peace loving community. We have done and will be doing everything to live peacefully and those unwanted elements who want to dismantle our commitment towards our community and peace will be brought to justice. We are living peacefully with every tribes and nations around the region, and the world. Those who did that heinous act of cowardice were some radical gang groups who wanted to disturb our peaceful co-existence with other people. They wanted to send a wave of enmity to our neighbors and polarize our relations with our neighbors. But they were wrong, we are better then ever! They have acted against their communal interest because our neighbors knew who we are.

Those terrorists have to be brought to justice. This is the need of the hour! We have to resolute our commitment to finding them wherever they are and bring them to justice. We have to make sure we don't give a safe heaven to repeat this kind of unwanted act of terrorism. This is seriously unacceptable in a peaceful and free society. Thou un, thou un, thou un; Tuibang luong in lung kituoh in.

Peace to all,

Moderator

*******************************

Zou Workshop Discourses

An Historical Discourses at Zou Workshop:

My Thoughts on Social and Religious Issues

Khai Minthang

Little Rock, Arkansas

Posted on Sun. July 29, 2007
Dear Zou Work shoppers,
I seldom post articles or comment on articles being posted, yet I am an avid reader of the articles being posted. I didn’t find anything irresponsible or awkward when a person joins and leaves our forum with good faith. I guess, all we ought to say is ‘Adios me amigo’ (Goodbye my friend) and we ought not to say or think that he was leaving for a reason beyond his reasons. He’s made it clear why he left. It’s all about TIME. Try reading Ecclesiastics. 3: 1ff

With regards to the “…highly westernized and assimilated” let me take time to jot down what I opined. There cannot be full assimilation with the socio-cultural practices of a very distinct and different community or nation. We are, you know, just being influenced by their culture. Our socio-cultural practices is so nice and intricate for us at the moment. Progress is being made and we are on the verge of going beyond our socio-cultural arena. There will be a time when we will say that our inherent socio-cultural practices is irrelevant to that of today. But, society and culture are never static. We might want to try to see the dynamism of our society and culture with the impact of Indian and Western cultures.

Let me wind up by saying that I really appreciate and congratulate all the creative contributors, thinkers and writers of Zouworkshop.
God bless.

Khai Minthang
***********************************

Posted on July 30, 2007

Dear Muan and Zou workshop patrons,
I am antagonized by the instinct behavior of some of our Zou people that clergymen and clergywomen are the second-class citizen of our society. There is always a feeling on the part of them that they are the puppets of our society. There is always a tendency to manipulate them for our personal gains or ideological gains on the presumption that they are paid for by the people. The administration of the church is not democratic, but it is Theocratic. In fact, if you think that you pay them, it is clear that you don’t pay to the Lord. We called them ‘shepherds’ but, there are some goats among the sheep that they shepherd. That’s the hardest part of the job.

Nobody in our community has been conferred ‘Theologian’ by any board, org. etc. However, there are quite a good number of Theological graduates and students now. It’s not really a functional ideology to opined that a secular man like you have a say in the religious spheres of our community. Do your job where you are professional and the clergymen and clergywomen will do their job. Are you trying to enter the operation theater to operate a patient only when you are a truck driver? Don’t try to bullshit about their job.

Speaking about Biblical heroes, my training of over three years in Theological Seminary told me that David, Samson, Joshua and Gideon sprung from the social background of the nation. The Levites were equal to the pastors and priests of today because they both are ordained and consecrated to the Lord for the liturgical and sacramental services. Looks like you are making a blank fire. You can well be an evangelist who bears the Word of God. But, make sure that they are not officially ordained to perform any liturgical and sacramental aspects of their religion. It’s interesting and there are a lot more to explore if you are interested on the topic. You might be well versed in your chosen field or major, but it would be wise if you could acknowledge that there are lots of Theological Colleges, Seminaries and Universities entirely devoted to studying Theology. It is much bigger than the English Department, Political Science Department, History Department, etc. of a College or University.

I have been brought up by the Eastern culture and there is no wonder why I am pretty much influenced by the Western culture after living with them for a couple of years. I was wondering if you guys could practice our very nice and lovely culture of hospitality, community services, sharing of our properties such as clothes, dishes, utensils or such as voluntary community services and accommodating the poor and needy at your rented or owned houses with everybody in the mainland India. You wrote as if you are not influenced by the mainland culture. You presumed my statement of being influenced by western culture as something like dollar-culture. Well, it could be a part of civilized culture. But, when we talk about civilized culture it would obviously include every aspect of life - politics, society, economy, religion and much more.

I could not figure out what were you talking about when you said ‘secret exodus.’ You looked like you are concerned about our literature. Well, how many books, journals, magazines, etc. have been published each year by the church and the society? How many religious related books and societal related books have been published each year? What backgrounds did the authors, writers, translators and compilers have? Do you ever have any comparative studies on this issue? Do you have any slightest comprehension of what you are talking about? Don’t you think that our socio-cultural practices has gone a transition? I was talking about the Zou socio-cultural practices, not the American Zous.

I am a creationist.

It is interesting to note that you have a good sense of community passion. A man like you is hard to find. I would humbly and honestly request you to complete your studies with a high GPA and return to our land because our community needs you. Devote your life and visit every nook and corner of our land and try to discover what needs to be done. Tell us if you find any village that has never been visited by our clergymen and clergywomen. You will make a good social reformer if you make your statement alive and put them into practice.

We are debating for good.

Khai Minthang
******************************************

Posted on Mon. July 30, 2007

Dear S. Thangbawi and friends,
Let me take some time to elaborate my statement of “we are on the verge of going beyond our socio-cultural arena.”

First of all, it would be wise to know the differences between culture and custom. I think culture, in its nature, is dynamic and elastic whereas, custom is much more about ‘tradition like law’ and lacks elasticity. We have quite a lot of priceless and matchless customary practices that have been inherited from our progenitors. That is our inherent culture and custom for being an ethnic group.

Look, let’s go back to a couple of decades and see what our progenitors’ socio-cultural practices looked like. Their occupation and profession were confined to agriculture and its allied occupations. It’s undeniable that almost everything was agro-based. Young folks were trained for the same occupation.

Rochunga Pudaite, in his book entitled “The Education of the Hmar People” has observed, “He learns to share, to play, to co-operate and to conduct himself before he is called upon to shoulder public responsibility. He cannot be selfish in such a family setup, and corporate life of the most congenial type is cultivated. From sunrise to sundown he is surrounded by educational activities and processes.” “The girls received training for one purpose, to become wife and mother. The very little girl had to learn to cook and help her mother. In her own home, she took part in all the other household tasks and learned to sew, knit, spin, weave, husk grain, prepare food, sweep and clean the house, and take care of the younger children so that, by the time she reached marriageable age, she was fully equipped with skills to handle a household of her own” says T. Liankhohau, in his book entitled “Social Cultural Economic and Religious Life of a Transformed Community.”

Transitional Era:
In course of time, the weave of the Gospel hit our land and impacted entirely in terms of our social, economic, political and religious practices. The Gospel bearers brought the Gospel with their culture. They might not essentially impart their culture but, we received their culture in addition to the Gospel. Eventually, the Western culture set a deep root in our land. The weave of the Gospel swept our land and saw a seed of Western socio-cultural practices. A new system of education, literature, social values, economy, politics and religion have been set up. We just began to have a Primary, Secondary and Tertiary occupations with the impact of the Gospel. That’s the reason why I said “we are on the verge of going beyond our socio-cultural arena.” I made this statement as a Zou in general, not pointing my arrow to the Zous living in America or elsewhere in the developed countries. Don’t just try to stick to a single sentence. Try looking at the preceding and the following sentences. You might also came across the statement “There cannot be full assimilation with the socio-cultural practices of a very distinct and different community or nation.”

Coming to the Theocratic set up of the church government, I strongly believe in the Theocratic system of the church government. As I said I am creationist, I believe in the creation of humankind in the likeness of God. Time and again, heretics tried to create God in their own image. They wanted God to say or opine what they said or opined. Nevertheless, I believe in the invisible Theocratic system and its catholicity in its nature. The law is the Bible and the key to access the King is prayer. We know we ascribe greatness and honor to the King when we say, "Thy will be done." We know we are not perfect or divine but, we also know that we are imputed His righteousness given the fact the Jesus Christ has died for all of us. This is not a Mormonistic view of the Kingdom of God. It’s not a political kingdom. We also know that God punished the Israelites over and over and over again when the Israelites turned away from God and followed their secular leaders. We need God fearing leaders in our community - religious, social, economic and political realms.

I knew our debates and discussions are progressive and vital for the development of our community and will eventually have an impact on our community. Thanks for taking time to read.

God bless.

Khai Minthang
********************************

Ref: http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/drgw007.html