Dear Christian God, Dear Hindu God, Dear Atheist God
Dear Christian God
I think I did the right thing by you. I know, I do not believe in you or your Son really so I am probably going straight to hell. There is a Christian who I love dearly. The Christian is devout, obeying all the laws, well sometimes I think. The Christian for example does not eat seven curry from jhandhi, and is careful not to support activities which are not dedicated to You!
The Christian and I used to be close but the Christian also believes in your mandate not to "consort with those who support homosexuality'. I am sure you know in your omnipotence and from the prayers of some of your followers that I am an unrepentant supporter of homosexuality.
I know one of your avid followers did call me Lucifer one time. I admitted that I felt nice because Lucifer was supposed to be very handsome. But I know, I should not think like that.
So Christian God, the Christian invited me to lunch. I was shocked, pleased and hopeful of a chance that maybe the Christian had adopted views of some of your followers who do not think that there is anything wrong with anybody loving or being with some one of the same gender/sex.
But I know that is not true. So I thought about it, and read back the article about where it says that Christians should not consort with those who support homosexuality. And I said no, it would not be good. Matthew 18:7 (one of the translations says "How terrible it will be for the world due to its temptations to sin! Temptations to sin are bound to happen, but how terrible it will be for that person who causes someone to sin!".. so I want to think that in saying no to the lunch that good things will happen. I know I know,, I have to accept your son as my saviour and to repent and so on, but well I hope I did the right thing by you.
But no, I not asking for any favours from you.. but you know.. when you judging me, I hope you consider this one time of not tempting your follower.
Yours
................
Dear Hindu God (Goddess)
I think I did the right thing by you. Well I am not sure if I did the right thing by you. There is a Christian (I know you do not want us to recognise such differences but please hear me out) who I love (I know you have said that desires bring pain). The Christian has embraced me and rejected me over the course of our friendship. The Christian has strong views and aims to be a better Christian.
Recently, the Christian invited me to lunch - after a two year estrangement. I would love to go.. I remember another long wonderful conversation after a long estrangement. I am still angry at the last rejection so I did invoke the Christian teachings about sin and who Christians should consort with. The Christian was reminded that it is indeed a sin to consort with me and did not press further. The Christian also invoked the 'I love you' which is what Christians often do for sinners.
Gandhi did say that (and some of it might not be "So we can only pray, if we were Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.”
So, I should feel good that I did some good karma. But , You say we should look at friend and foe alike - the Christian is neither friend nor foe. The examples of seva, of service have been amazing. The story in the Mahabharata war. Arjuna was approached by the enemy 'What time would it be good for us to kill you'.. and Arjuna told them when. That has been given as one of the best kinds of Seva. (The story goes on to say Lord Krsna changed time, i know)
So.. the Christian wants to have lunch (not to kill me I am sure ).
I know that it would be immediate gratification for both of us (unless the food taste really bad).
Part of my rejection of the lunch is knowing that soon after, the Christian would regret and want nothing more to do with me. The Christian I suspect has already regretted even asking me.
And I wonder if another aspect of my seva, is accepting that rejection when it comes as it would be as Gandhi said.. part of the making of the better Christian?
Would my positioning of myself as the tempter of the sin.. and then the Christian's rejection, be a good thing all round?
So joy to be followed by an inevitable sorrow and a possible joy of knowing that I did a good thing.. Your teachings are that our actions should be devoted to you and to the well being of all and happiness comes from worshipping you (and not worrying about who to eat lunch with).. so I am pondering now, should I have done differently and did I miss an opportunity to do a good thing..
Well time done pass.. so on to other opportunities to do good things..
Yours
...
Dear Atheist God
I know, I know.. you do not exist. But if you did, you would be laughing and would probably say to hell (which also does not exist) with it, go, do what you want, what makes you feel good. To be honest, I am not sure what makes me feel good.. either decision, yes or no, leaves me troubled.
Thankfully (not to you of course) both me and the Christian have other people to eat lunch with.. and time has already passed
Yours
...........
I think I did the right thing by you. I know, I do not believe in you or your Son really so I am probably going straight to hell. There is a Christian who I love dearly. The Christian is devout, obeying all the laws, well sometimes I think. The Christian for example does not eat seven curry from jhandhi, and is careful not to support activities which are not dedicated to You!
The Christian and I used to be close but the Christian also believes in your mandate not to "consort with those who support homosexuality'. I am sure you know in your omnipotence and from the prayers of some of your followers that I am an unrepentant supporter of homosexuality.
I know one of your avid followers did call me Lucifer one time. I admitted that I felt nice because Lucifer was supposed to be very handsome. But I know, I should not think like that.
So Christian God, the Christian invited me to lunch. I was shocked, pleased and hopeful of a chance that maybe the Christian had adopted views of some of your followers who do not think that there is anything wrong with anybody loving or being with some one of the same gender/sex.
But I know that is not true. So I thought about it, and read back the article about where it says that Christians should not consort with those who support homosexuality. And I said no, it would not be good. Matthew 18:7 (one of the translations says "How terrible it will be for the world due to its temptations to sin! Temptations to sin are bound to happen, but how terrible it will be for that person who causes someone to sin!".. so I want to think that in saying no to the lunch that good things will happen. I know I know,, I have to accept your son as my saviour and to repent and so on, but well I hope I did the right thing by you.
But no, I not asking for any favours from you.. but you know.. when you judging me, I hope you consider this one time of not tempting your follower.
Yours
................
Dear Hindu God (Goddess)
I think I did the right thing by you. Well I am not sure if I did the right thing by you. There is a Christian (I know you do not want us to recognise such differences but please hear me out) who I love (I know you have said that desires bring pain). The Christian has embraced me and rejected me over the course of our friendship. The Christian has strong views and aims to be a better Christian.
Recently, the Christian invited me to lunch - after a two year estrangement. I would love to go.. I remember another long wonderful conversation after a long estrangement. I am still angry at the last rejection so I did invoke the Christian teachings about sin and who Christians should consort with. The Christian was reminded that it is indeed a sin to consort with me and did not press further. The Christian also invoked the 'I love you' which is what Christians often do for sinners.
Gandhi did say that (and some of it might not be "So we can only pray, if we were Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.”
So, I should feel good that I did some good karma. But , You say we should look at friend and foe alike - the Christian is neither friend nor foe. The examples of seva, of service have been amazing. The story in the Mahabharata war. Arjuna was approached by the enemy 'What time would it be good for us to kill you'.. and Arjuna told them when. That has been given as one of the best kinds of Seva. (The story goes on to say Lord Krsna changed time, i know)
So.. the Christian wants to have lunch (not to kill me I am sure ).
I know that it would be immediate gratification for both of us (unless the food taste really bad).
Part of my rejection of the lunch is knowing that soon after, the Christian would regret and want nothing more to do with me. The Christian I suspect has already regretted even asking me.
And I wonder if another aspect of my seva, is accepting that rejection when it comes as it would be as Gandhi said.. part of the making of the better Christian?
Would my positioning of myself as the tempter of the sin.. and then the Christian's rejection, be a good thing all round?
So joy to be followed by an inevitable sorrow and a possible joy of knowing that I did a good thing.. Your teachings are that our actions should be devoted to you and to the well being of all and happiness comes from worshipping you (and not worrying about who to eat lunch with).. so I am pondering now, should I have done differently and did I miss an opportunity to do a good thing..
Well time done pass.. so on to other opportunities to do good things..
Yours
...
Dear Atheist God
I know, I know.. you do not exist. But if you did, you would be laughing and would probably say to hell (which also does not exist) with it, go, do what you want, what makes you feel good. To be honest, I am not sure what makes me feel good.. either decision, yes or no, leaves me troubled.
Thankfully (not to you of course) both me and the Christian have other people to eat lunch with.. and time has already passed
Yours
...........
On behalf of the Atheist piece, Atheism isn't morality. Atheism isn't ethics. Atheism doesn't dictate anything on human affairs to your sex life. Atheism doesn't offer emotional comfort. Atheism doesn't speak on behalf of ideology. Atheism is, simply put, a rational justification based on reason that there is no god(s). From that moment onwards, everything becomes burdened, accountable and responsible on the thinking individual, the being that is consciously aware to think about right and wrong, good and bad. It is the individual's responsibility to ensure good life on his part and for others as well.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe you should blame God if the follower is misguided. Everyone has differing standards of morality and it is by these standards they choose to live their lives. We must accept the fact that persons will reject us based on some preconceived notion such as being gay, poor, different race or religion, ugly etc.
ReplyDeleteRejection hurts and we may want to blame others and not the person who rejected you, but remember man has "free will" and with that free will he made a choice, then you made yours...
Very very amusing piece Mr. Kissoon. God Bless you richly, may His Spirit reveal to you God's perfect plan for your life (Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 12:1-2).
ReplyDeleteIt is very good that you continue to question, though, if you don't ask the questions to the right Person things can get even more confusing.
For everything there is a true and original source. i.e. A Source from which everything else/all life stems. Due to there being a Source, there is a purpose for all that has been created. The purpose of each creation is therefore linked to the design of that particular creation. Birds do not bark, trees don't make clams and cars can't birth people. If a bird suddenely felt like barking, we'd be in for some interesting times won't we.
Mahendra made an interesting point, that we have choice. This means that we can make either the right choice or the wrong choice. But then, how would you know what is the right choice over the wrong choice? You will need to know the original plan and purpose in order to make the right choice. You'll need to know the Creator/The first cause of all that there is.
What we must consider is that it is also a choice when we reject God, the Source of all life and light. And when we do that we inevitably replace Him with something else (our selves,our cars, sex, drugs,money, our jobs etc.). We try to fill the God sized void in our hearts with something else.
It is essential therefore to get the source of all creation if one is to find true answers to important life questions.
The atheist, while having no proof of God's "non-existence" has nothing to offer you. Not comfort, not peace, not an answer to your deepest questions, not healing, not purpose, not love..nothing. There is One however who can offer all of that and much more. He's not pushy and will wait for you to open the door of your heart. It's not difficult to find out about Him. He answers earnest prayer and has no favourites. "A contrite heart He will not despise".
And lastly, just remember that our opinion of God and His truth does not change it. It's an eternal, unchanging truth. It's secure and trustworthy. Man is mortal, finite and changes his mind every Monday morning. This is not security. There's much much info on how this God of Love has touched the lives of many including my own and if you are actually seeking Him with all your heart, be sure that you will certainly find Him. Whether you choose to believe it or not. He cares for you and has already done more for you than anyone else alive has ever done and He is eager to continue doing good to you.
God Bless.
Dear Anonymous, I dare say that a gentleman (or gentlewoman) of your brilliant disposition may be very interested in what the distinguished Thomas Paine wrote in the "Age of Reason" and in various other works.
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