<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Sep 10 2009, 05:51 AM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Sep 10 2009, 05:51 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Most Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus who are scattered as refugees through out the world have been converted to Christianity through his ministries. Rev. Colin Dye, Senior Pastor of Kensington Temple, London, the largest church in England, interviewed Chellappaa and his story appeared in "The Edge," a leading British Christian magazine, in its May 1996 issue.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is total nonsense, probably exaggeration to get more funds from his gora masters.
In reality most Srilankan Tamils are still Hindu abroad, i would say 80% are Hindu.
[right][snapback]101187[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->From what I understand too, >= 80% are still Hindu, at least in the older generations.
Christians including missionaries always like hyper-bloated numbers and percentages since it makes them think it vindicates their faith - see how they keep declaring that most of Rome was christian by the time Constantine came up, when not even 5% of Rome was christian. It's the same old story. Just like some Indian christian in TN declared in some publication that ~60 million in TN were christian.
Anyway, the point in this case is that missionaries believe the figures of Chellappaa's "miracle" among SL Hindus must be high: for which the indian christonary would have had to produce some example sheep for his higher ups. Else they would not have gushed over him like their favourite pet of the week.
The ridiculous exaggeration is not what is interesting, but the fact that this chellapaa is considered a pivotal character in S Hindu conversions (Sri Lanka, TN) by some christowestern agencies (whether rightly or not), and that he has had whatever amount of 'success' in converting Tamizh Hindus.
(Hmmm. Alternatively, I guess the statement "Most Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus who are scattered as refugees through out the world have been converted to Christianity through his ministries" could merely have been intended to mean that most of the refugee SL ex-Hindu <i>converts</i> were converted through his ministries.)
This is total nonsense, probably exaggeration to get more funds from his gora masters.
In reality most Srilankan Tamils are still Hindu abroad, i would say 80% are Hindu.
[right][snapback]101187[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->From what I understand too, >= 80% are still Hindu, at least in the older generations.
Christians including missionaries always like hyper-bloated numbers and percentages since it makes them think it vindicates their faith - see how they keep declaring that most of Rome was christian by the time Constantine came up, when not even 5% of Rome was christian. It's the same old story. Just like some Indian christian in TN declared in some publication that ~60 million in TN were christian.
Anyway, the point in this case is that missionaries believe the figures of Chellappaa's "miracle" among SL Hindus must be high: for which the indian christonary would have had to produce some example sheep for his higher ups. Else they would not have gushed over him like their favourite pet of the week.
The ridiculous exaggeration is not what is interesting, but the fact that this chellapaa is considered a pivotal character in S Hindu conversions (Sri Lanka, TN) by some christowestern agencies (whether rightly or not), and that he has had whatever amount of 'success' in converting Tamizh Hindus.
(Hmmm. Alternatively, I guess the statement "Most Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus who are scattered as refugees through out the world have been converted to Christianity through his ministries" could merely have been intended to mean that most of the refugee SL ex-Hindu <i>converts</i> were converted through his ministries.)