RELIGIONS OF THE
WORLD ( Page 3) |
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| “To believe in God” is a higher rung in
the ladder of faith than “to believe that there is a God”
The former involves an element of trust in the Providence while the
latter is purely academic acceptance of His existence that implies
no relationship. It is better to say that “I know that there
is a God” than to say that “I believe that there is a
God”. Faith of an even much higher level is the ability to say,
“I know God” implying an element of acquaintance. This
becomes intimate when we realise that the acquaintance is mutual.
I know the president of the country but he does not know me. This
is not like that. I can say with conviction that God knows me also.
In fact he knows me much better than I know him. |
| Living in the presence of God is the next phase of
faith, that of spiritual life. This also has several levels. The academic
acceptance of the omnipresence of God that provides you with the realisation
that He is around is the first level. The second is the realisation
that God is watching you. Here God is seen as a judge or a detective.
The resulting ‘fear’ of God is the basis of morality and
ethics for some people. The next level is the feeling that God is
watching over you. Here he is the loving and caring Father or Mother
in whom you can put your absolute trust. You are a child of God and
all those you come across, are also His children and as such your
brothers and sisters. Such faith becomes ‘alive’ when
this knowledge is supported by actions. Your life, the way you treat
others, should show this conviction, this faith. |
| The Son of God |
| Many educated people, even some Christians, find it
hard to accept that Jesus is the Son of God. They consider him a prophet
or reformer. Not only the Gospels in the Bible but even the Quran
accept the fact of Virgin Birth. In the eyes of the rationalist the
concept of virgin birth may be an impossibility. But then they do
not know the meaning of the word almighty. Nothing is impossible to
the Almighty. Mary the mother of Jesus was a virgin and she conceived
by the power of God. Hence Joseph or any other man is not his father.
It follows then that God is his father and so Jesus is the Son of
God. |
| To me, a Christian, Jesus is not just the Son of God;
he is God. How can this be? If God was walking around on the earth
as a man, who was up there in heaven? Are there three Gods, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit? The three persons of the trinity must be considered
as the three manifestations of the same God. As creator He is the
Father. As our saviour and beloved friend He is the Son. As a teacher
who inspired the prophets and still inspires us He is the Holy Spirit.
These three are aspects or manifestations of one and the same one
God. This is the Christian faith, as I understand it. Some may ask
if each person of the trinity is infinite. According to the Hindu
philosophy, God is infinite and the universe is infinite and this
infinite universe has originated from the infinite God. This apparent
contradiction is explained by one verse of Upanishad. It may be translated
like this; “That there is infinite; this here is infinite. After
this infinite is removed from that infinite what remains is still
infinite.” Mathematically speaking: infinity minus infinity
equals infinity. If this is in reference to God and the universe we
may make the following mathematical sentence regarding the trinity:
Infinity + infinity+ infinity = infinity. |
| Children of God |
| Jesus taught his disciples and through them the whole
humanity, to call God as Father. Does it mean that each of us can
call ourselves as the son of God or the daughter of God? I do not
think that would be right. The title of ‘son of God’ is
reserved for Jesus. I am not a son of God, only a child of God. The
difference is in the level of maturity and dependence. Let me put
it this way. The relationship between my thirty-year-old son and myself
is the father-son relationship. We are both independent, now. My relationship
to God is more like the relationship of my toddler grandson to his
father, one of total dependence. A toddler holding on to his father’s
hand will not be afraid to walk in the dark or through a busy city
or through a jungle. With such absolute trust we must put our lives
in the hand of our Divine Father. If we try to grow up and try to
be independent of God, the burden on our shoulders may be too much
to bear and we may fall prey to the common maladies of the day such
as anxiety, depression, fear and worry. It is far better to be dependant
on God and feel safe than otherwise. This is the meaning of faith.
Faith is not just acknowledging the existence of God and worshipping
Him or praying to him. True faith is accepting Him as your father
or mother and putting your absolute trust in Him/Her. This is the
easiest way to happiness, and peace: to salvation. This could be what
Jesus meant when He said, “Unless you become like little children,
you may not enter the kingdom of heaven.” |
| In ‘revelation’ God is coming down to man
to reveal himself. Christians, Muslims and the Jews consider themselves
as the chosen people of God. God has spoken to them directly, through
angels or prophets, giving them the laws and taboos. Before the advent
of Christianity, Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilizations had their
own religions. Some other individual cultures also had some religions
though not as well known as these three. |
| Inspiration |
| “East is east and west is west and the twain
never meet”. So runs the adage. This is most true in the matter
of religions and the way they evolved through millennia. In the west,
God came down to reveal himself to man. In the east man went up to
find God. This is the inspiration received as a result of meditations
or deep reflections. In the west one religion replaces another as
if two or more cannot coexist. In the east new religious ideas are
accepted and incorporated forming coalitions or allowing peaceful
coexistence. In place of the personal God of the western philosophy
there is an impersonal God in the Eastern philosophy. |
| The major Eastern religions have no known founders,
being as old as the people themselves. These are: Hinduism of India,
Taoism of China and Shintoism of Japan. Buddhism that started, as
a reformation of Hindu religion in India and Confucianism in China
are the two major religions with founders. Buddhism has spread to
most of the rest of Asia though it has lost a lot of ground in India.
But Buddhism has left its mark on Hinduism and the Indian way of life.
Some Hindu scholars accept Buddha as one of the incarnations of God
and respect his teachings. In China it is said that it is difficult
to label a person as Buddhist, Taoist or Confucian. A person can be
Confucian on a socio-political level, Buddhist on an ascetic level
and Taoist in a spiritual level. |
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