The Holy Mountain (Zion)
Mount Zion, in the Bible, means any mountain with a temple atop it. The Holy Mountain (Zion) In the 125th Psalm we find the words, "They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever." Mount Zion, in the Bible, means any mountain with a temple atop it. In the East, people feel that the highest place is the best place to build a temple because it is closer to God. Our tradition is that St. Thomas, the doubting Apostle, was the founder of Christianity in India, and built a church outside Madras on a hill. The people regard these mountains as very sacred. People may be seen going up and down the mountain at any time of the day or night, to worship at the temple. Even if there are wild animals on the mountain, the people are not afraid because they believe they will not be harmed on the holy mountain. In the summer, people voluntarily carry water up the mountain to water the trees and grass. Anyone who is hungry is free to eat of the fruit of any of the trees on this mountain, but no one may destroy or deface anything there; not even a stone is moved or touched in an area fifty feet from the base of the mountain, to the very top. I remember once when the British wanted to build a railroad which would destroy part of one of these holy mountains, that the people became desperate. God's holy mountain must not be touched. When the day came for the machinery to move the earth of the mountain, all the people came, even women with little babies in their arms, and children, and laid down in front of the earth-moving equipment. They would rather lay down their lives than to see the sacred mountain defaced. These people believed that God was in the mountain. In the book of John we find an example of the common practice of worshipping in the mountain; this is where Jesus was speaking with the woman of Samaria, who said to him: [John 4:20] "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ou
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Format: Verified Digitized Pages: 2 As a convert to Christianity from Hinduism, Bishop K.C. Pillai came to the Western world on a singular mission: to teach the Eastern culture of the Bible. Although Christianity is generally considered a western religion, the Bible itself was written and set in the Orient, and it must be viewed through the light of that eastern window. The Bible is filled with passages that perplex the Western mind, and yet they were readily understood by the Easterner. When the reader becomes knowledgeable of the oriental idioms, customs, and traditions of the Biblical setting, these Scriptures become clear. God called Bishop K.C. Pillai to reveal these Biblical truths he called Orientalisms. At the time of the Bishop’s early life, his native India had remained an isolated country for thousands of years. Therefore, the customs and manners of the people were still align