‘NEW-AGE’ CHRISTIAN GROUPS
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| There are over 6 billion people in the world today.
Of these about 2 billion are Christians. Of these how many have ‘received
Christ’ or are ‘born again’? 10 000, one million?
Is heaven only for these people? Wonder where Abraham, Moses and the
like belong. God is the creator and father of all the 6 billion people
of today and of all the people who ever lived. He loves all of them
equally. He does not, in my opinion look at the label on you, Christian,
Hindu, born again, what not. He judges you on the way you live- not
on what you believe or what you say. I wonder if some of our friends
reaching heaven will not try to convert God when they find Him receiving
the worship and adorations of the Hindu faithful. I am sure they will
ban Him from going to a temple to receive the prayers of Hindus. They
will surely quarrel with St. Peter for opening the gate for the ‘pagans
and Catholics.’ |
| Most fundamentalists go by what Paul says and not what
Christ taught. The teaching of Christ is simple but profound. ‘LOVE’,
‘do to others what you want others to do to you’, ‘whatever
you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me’. As simple
as that. Mathew 25 is a chapter many preachers don’t like to
read. Here Jesus says clearly that you will be judged on the basis
of your relationship with others. He taught us a man–centered
religion not a God-centered one. |
| No adverse remarks could be made against the individuals
who opt to join such a group, especially if this ‘conversion’
changed them into better individuals. And often this is the case.
It is all right for as person to believe what he/she feels is right
and live accordingly. The trouble starts when they proclaim that ‘we
are right and all others are wrong’. One can say: ‘my
path will lead me to heaven’, but should never say ‘your
path will lead you to hell’ to any one. Let God be the judge
of it. |
| “But it is our duty to preach the gospel and
‘convert’ the nations”, they might say. Of course,
go ahead and preach just what Jesus taught us – to love every
one. Conversion is not jumping from one religion to another, from
one church to anther, from one label to another. Conversion is manasantharam
(change of mind or attitude), not mathaparivarthanam (change of religion).
We need to convert people, starting from ourselves, to change from
a materialistic to a spiritual way of life, from a life of hatred
and/or envy to one of love, from a life of indifference to the plight
of others to one of empathy. |
| When you evaluate and criticize yourself and change
your life style it is conversion as change of mind. When you evaluate
and criticize the leaders of your religion or church, find fault with
them and leave your group to join another it is conversion as change
of religion. Here one must remember that in this world of ours there
is no single religion, church or group that is perfect. The imperfections
arise not out of the fault in the system or of the founder but from
the human element involved in the present leadership. In this connection
one must also remember that even as all rivers lead to the ocean so
also all religions or churches provide clear path for those who are
in search of the way to salvation. |
| Christ and salvation. |
| The uniqueness of Christ is not just the simplicity
and profundity of his teaching but mainly his salvific act of the
supreme sacrifice of Calvary. Even as God is the loving father of
all mankind, the salvation that Christ has bought at infinite cost
is not just for a minority in the world who has this particular label
or that. Christ by his sacrifice on the cross has earned salvation
for all humanity, past, present and future – from Adam to the
last human on earth. To share the grace of this salvific act it is
not enough to shout some slogans like: ‘I have been saved’,
‘I have received Christ’, ‘I am born again’
or that ‘I believe in Jesus’. It is by your life that
you have to show if you believe in Jesus. “To believe in Jesus”
should mean a commitment to live according to his teaching. It is
not enough to proclaim that Jesus is Son of God and he rose from the
dead. To put this in another way: a Christian is not any one who had
been baptized or belongs to a particular group. A Christian is one
who lives according to the teachings of Christ, a follower of Christ.
That is why we could consider Gandhi as one of the greatest of Christians,
though he was never baptized and was a true Hindu. |
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