Gandhi was walking along the road. He was thinking how to find his journey of truth. Along the traffic junction he met his friends and he brought them together to discuss about his longing of finding the truth and other religions. PH, Tess and Lanai trooped in to his house and shared their view...
The Plymouth Brethen said " You cannot understand the beauty of our religion. From what you say it appears that you must be brooding over your transgressions every moment of your life, always mending them and atoning for them. How can this ceaseless cycle of action bring you redemption? You can never have peace. You admit that we all sinners. Now look at the perfection of our belief. Our attempts at improvement and atonement are futile. And yet redemption we must have. How can we bear the burden of sin? We can but throw it on Jesus. He is the only sinless Son of God. His word that those who believe in Him shall have everlasting life. Therein lies God's infinite mercy. And as we believe in the atonement of Jesus our own sins do not bind us. Sin we must. It is impossible to live in this world sinless. And therefore Jesus suffered and atoned for all the sins of mankind. Only he who accepts His great redemption can have eternal peace. Think what a life of restlessness is yours and what a promise of peace we have "
Gandhi replied " If this be the Christianity acknowledged by all Christians I cannot accept it. I do not seek redemption from the consequences of my sin. I seek to be redeemed from sin itself or rather from the very thought of sin. Until I have attained that end, I shall be content to be restless."
Gandhi continued " All Christians did not believe in such a theory of atonement."
Gandhi said " It was impossible for me to believe that I could go to heaven or attain salvation only be becoming a Christian. "
Lanai concurred " Salvation is on each individual path. How he is going to attain it depended on his journey to the kingdom of God. Surely God doesnt want a person to commit sin and ask for forgiveness every time without learning the process "
Gandhi continued " Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which, thought easy enough to understand, is rarely practised and that it why the poison of hatred spreads in the world "
Plymouth Bethren said " Love Jesus. He makes you free!"
Lanai chipped in " Only God grants our spiritual freedom. He is the One who decides not any prophet or messenger "
Gandhi looked at me said " The ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. For we are all tarred with the same brush, and are children of one and same Creator and as such the divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to slight those divine powers and thus to harm not only that being but with him the whole world."
Tess came to participate said " I am an agnostic. I can only see what's in front of me. The future is just a blurring story. The Bible is a story of blinded souls who couldnt make it to anywhere. what ills the world? What we believe in? The Christians always say in the name of Jesus or Lord Jesus please save us mortals who have committed sins...Is Jesus the one to salvage our souls? Or it is some one grand story telling to fool many souls? Look the forces of good and evil is everywhere...and who makes it happen? God? Jesus?"
Gandhi put his specs aside said " You have to find your own truth..."
Plymouth Bethren said " The truth is with Jesus. Whoever believes in Him will find salvation."
Lanai looked around said " God decides one's salvation. You can't possible commit many sins and ask for redemption. You can't possibly do that. Jesus said go and sin no more! But what do the Christians do? Here I should add Jesus didnt start Christianity. It is not his intention at all. Muhammad is the one who brought Allah's religion to the world. And so is Jesus! "
Gandhi concurred " True. You can't ask for redemption all the times. I am looking for my atonement and find the message of Truth."
Tess stared at us said " You are bullshit! You can't even see tomorrow. Not even the future. So what God do? Let the demons plundered our souls. Even that I can't see. So what's new guys? Even the religious books are long stories to sweep off our feet and mind. Faith when you get nothing? Atonement? Redemption? Tell me can you see tomorrow man?!"
Plymouth Bethren shifted his chair looked at Tess " Her outburst isnt over. By damning herself she has damned God. Cursed of all creation. Denied it. Disfigured it for the rest of us. A selfish woman! You should come to Jesus. He makes you free!"
Lanai gestured with his hands " It is her view. Right now Tess may be right. Why dont you look around the world and see what's happening? It isnt a good picture to take home. Is it testing our faith? For someone who we dont see at all? Like Job who had suffered so much but his faith pulled him through. So I should say the God's religion still helps...from the beginning till the end
Islam the way for peace and atonement...."
Tess flashed her eyes " You people are stoned death! Walk on the road you get killed. Stayed at home get clobbered. Go to office get raped. Hey...make it real will you?!"
Gandhi looked pain in his seat "A mind consciously unclean can not be cleansed by fasting except by intense self examination, surrender to God and lastly grace."
Lanai looked at his friends " Dont fast because it is a condition. Fast for the joy and grace of it. Fast for long term journey as one of the ways for salvation."
Tess argued further " You want to feed the world poor? The 3rd world countries in terrible shit holes. Yet people just walk as usual, work, smile, laugh and all those positive values but never done alot to the poor."
Lanai " It is the journey to save our souls. The 3rd world countries are caused by greed, corruption and internal conflict. It is a shame they forgot about their lives mission."
Tess " Such as??? "
Gandhi " My experience teaches me that for those whose minds are working towards self restraint, dietetic restrictions and fasting are very useful. The path of self purification is hard and steep. To attain to perfect purity one has to become absolutely passion free in thought, speech and action, to rise above the opposing currents of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion. "
Tess said " Gandhi...you are bringing us to far away land..."
Gandhi looked at her said " No Tess. So long as man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him. AHIMSA is the farthest limit of humility. "
Lanai said " Time for break guys! "
No comments:
Post a Comment