THE SUBLIME TRUTH ( Page 5 ) |
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| The message of Paul about faith must be put back in
its context to make sense. What prompted Paul to say those things
were the undue emphasis put by the Jews as well as the new converts
to Christianity on the meticulous observance of the law. Paul tells
the Christians that following the laws of Moses to the letter is not
sufficient for a Christian. He also needs faith in Jesus. Taken out
of context it would seem that what you believe is more important than
how you live. Some even had gone to the extent of being convinced
that the one who believes in Jesus need not obey any laws or commandments.
To address this issue James had to write a letter in which he emphasised
that faith without actions is dead. The message of James is that what
you do is more important than what you believe. |
| What we often hear from the pulpits, from retreat centres,
from all sorts of evangelical platforms is all about the life and
miracles of Jesus and very little about what he came to teach or what
he wanted to bear witness to. These preachers elaborate on what Jesus
did and have very little to say on what he said. Those who blindly
accept him as a saviour refuse to accept him as a teacher. Those who
speak eloquently on the transfiguration on mount Tabor keep quiet
on the Sermon on the Mount. When they teach about the importance of
the sacraments they forget to teach the importance of love in our
lives. What is the truth that Jesus came to bear witness to? Is it
the fact that he is the Son of God, that he can work miracles, that
he will come again? I do not think so. The truth that he came to witness
is the very lessons that he tried to teach – the lessons of
love, of forgiveness and of peace. |
| To believe in Jesus is to believe the things he taught
us, to be committed to a life of selfless love that shall give us
a foretaste of the Kingdom of heaven on earth or that could make heaven
on earth. Through his teachings Christ has tried to give us a new
revolutionary outlook on life, very different from the then existing
ones, an outlook that could make life worth living, a life of happiness
and contentment. His view of life was man-centred rather than God-centred.
He taught that when you attend to the needs of the hungry, the thirsty,
the downtrodden, you are really serving God. He was the great revolutionary
who stood firmly for the cause of the poor and the destitute. In his
times the general view of the people was that the rich and the powerful
are the ones with God’s blessing while those who suffer from
poverty or ailments like leprosy are the ones cursed by God. The teachings
of Jesus especially the first part of the Sermon on the Mount, the
beatitudes were aimed at overturning these attitudes. Again, it was
Jesus who for the first time gave us the new vision of God as a loving
and caring Father. |
| When he taught us to address God as ‘Our Father’
Jesus was giving us a new vision in human relationship as well. It
is the concept that we all, irrespective of our colour, creed or social
background, are the children of God and thereby brothers and sisters.
When we learn this lesson - if we can learn this lesson - and if we
are able to treat God as our father and love him accordingly and if
we are able to treat every other human being as our own dear brothers
and sisters and love them accordingly, then, and then only, shall
we experience the Kingdom of God here on earth and enjoy this in the
next life. When we love each other and forgive each other’s
failings God also will love us and forgive us. This is the foundation
of true faith. |
| Truth is often hidden from us by the blindfold of prejudices
that we often wear. The most common is the prejudice that I am right
and everyone else is wrong, that my church, my religion, my tribe,
my group only is right and all others are wrong. This prejudice is
what sows the seeds of hatred and evil which grow and blossom into
feuds and wars – wars between Catholics and Protestants, between
conformists and reformists, between Jews and Palestinians, between
Hindus and Muslims. It is this prejudice that prevents us from the
search for truth. ‘Why search when we have the whole truth with
us?’ is the attitude. |
| Carl Lumholts was a Norwegian explorer who in the eighteen
nineties travelled through the Sierra Madre mountain ranges of Mexico
in search of tribes not yet exposed to the modern, western civilization.
He found many cultures that were very primitive. It seems that he
did not try to civilize or convert them. On the other hand he claims
to have been civilized and converted by them. This is what he had
to say; “Primitive people as they are, they taught me a new
philosophy of life, for their ignorance is nearer to truth than our
prejudice”. It would be worth the while to spend a few moments
to think if all the scientific, technical, commercial and all other
forms of skills and learning that we have acquired all these years
have taken us nearer to or further from Truth. |
| Let us also see, what answers can we find to the question,
“What is truth” outside of the Christian context. We may
say that truth is that which is distinct from illusion. According
to many oriental systems of thought the whole visible cosmos and all
that is ephemeral in this universe is Maya or illusion. The only truth
is that which is not ephemeral, the changeless being which is the
Brahman, Atman, Self or in simple English, God. For Gandhi truth was
another name for God. Truth, Goodness and Beauty are the three attributes
of God in Hinduism. Scientifically speaking, we may say that truth
means the absolute reality, that which is not relative. Matter, energy,
space and time are all relative. The only absolute reality is that
from which all this arise, that which is not of matter, that which
is above and beyond space and time, the cosmic spirit or God. |
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