Stories from the Field

January 2004

Indian student encounters Christ's crucifixion aboard overseas flight

By Rapid Advance of South Asia Staff

When "Rahoul"* boarded the airplane to return to his homeland of India, he thought he knew all he needed to know about Christianity.

Rahoul is a 20-year-old engineering student from Pune in the state of Maharashtra. He is intelligent, articulate, well-read and fluent in English. His family is wealthy, highly educated and well-placed in their community. Rahoul currently was returning from a holiday resort in Southeast Asia, but he also has visited Houston, Washington and New York. Still, with all his privileges and opportunities, one important truth about Christianity never had reached Rahoul's ears. That is, until Rahoul sat down in his appointed seat on the airplane.

When "Leah"* boarded the plane for her first flight into India, she was quickly overwhelmed.

"It was full of Indian people," said Leah, 23. "This was my first time around them, and I was nervous about sitting by an Indian man by myself for the next four hours."

Rahoul and Leah began making the obligatory airplane small talk.

"He loved India," Leah said. "He just thought it was the greatest thing ever."

The conversation soon jumped from chitchat to a serious but comfortable discussion about religion. Rahoul is a practicing Hindu, likely from the Brahmin caste, India's highest caste and Hinduism’s priestly caste. According to the India Missions Association, South Asia is home to 64 million Brahmins, many of whom work in the area's highest governmental and professional jobs.

Leah, a Kansas native, is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark. She currently is serving in South Asia as an International Service Corps worker with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

"We started talking about religion. I think I might have asked him if most people in India are Hindu or Muslim," Leah said. "He started telling me a little bit about what he believes. He thinks all religions end up at the same place; they're just different for different cultures."

Leah gently began to point out important variances between Hinduism and Christianity. "The more we talked, the more I shared with him," she said. Leah captured Rahoul's attention, and before long Rahoul realized that he did not know all there was to know about Christianity.

"I started telling him about Jesus," Leah said. "I remember saying, 'And they nailed Him to the cross,' and his face was like, 'Who nailed Him to the cross?' He had this really pained look on his face like he couldn't believe anyone would do that.

"It was amazing to see him hearing this for the first time," Leah said. "He was well-educated and was in college and had a solid family. He had heard of Christianity, and he had heard of Jesus, but he had never heard about the crucifixion.

"The resurrection part was really surprising to him, too," Leah said. "He had never heard anything like that."

Rahoul's next question came naturally: "Why?" Rahoul needed to know why Jesus was crucified. Leah reached for her Bible, opened it to the Gospel of John, and pointed out
passages for Rahoul to read.

As Rahoul read, Leah prayed silently: "As you are talking, Lord, please let your Spirit convince him that this is true."

When Rahoul had finished reading, there was silence momentarily.

"He seemed really stunned and not quite sure how to respond," Leah said, "so he reverted to talking about things he did know.

"I think we talked the entire way," Leah said. "I was pleasantly surprised."

Rahoul did not make a decision to accept Jesus as his Savior during that plane ride. Yet, because Leah made the most of the opportunity God presented her, Rahoul did encounter for the first time the message of Jesus' sacrifice and what Jesus' love and forgiveness could mean for him and his family.

"I remember hearing before that people hear the gospel an average of seven or eight times before they accept it," Leah said. "I prayed, 'Lord, please send those six other people, or however many it takes. Send other people to just keep watering the seeds.'"

*Actual names are not used for security reasons.