The All Consuming Love!

Today the sermon in my church was on the ‘more excellent way,’ advocated by Apostle Paul, “love.” It is a beautiful passage on love, taken from The First Epistle written by Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verses 1 to 13.

It relevant portion goes like this:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.”

Aha, what a heavenly experience just reading this! But, where do you get a love like this? Where among human beings can you find a love like this? Is it humanly possible for us to love others like this? Perchance we may love our children like this, but what about the others!

Yet, Jesus showed a love like this, in that he sacrificed his life for the good of others; to redeem others, he became a victim of the system. Three more quotes from the Bible and then I am done.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

“God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

So God is capable of loving us like that, unconditional love, self-sacrificing love and love wholly for the good of others, seeking nothing in return.

What about us, the fallen human beings, whose inborn tendency is to hate, fight, take revenge, feel envious, boast, divide, destroy and so on, so forth? How do we learn to love like God, love even strangers and those who hurt us?

Well, He has not let us without help. Christ, as He promised, on his resurrection and return to Father in heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, who is our Counselor, Comforter, Advocate and Helper. He resides in those who believe in Jesus Christ and leads them in the right path. When we pray to God to help us in this matter, that is, to love every one like God, He helps us through the Holy Spirit.

“…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5

All that we need to do is to ask God to give us more of this love and He will oblige. Oh, how good it would be, if the whole world is engulfed in love, love for one another! It will become a much better place to live and to be happy. It will become heaven indeed, a heaven on earth!

Should we not try this? Let us…

Is Caste still a factor in Indian Society?

Is caste still playing a crucial part of Indian society? To put it the other way, has caste system as practiced for millennia in India, really disappeared from India? I am afraid not. This is evident from the latest episode in Indian scenario, where a Dalit (Harijan or a person belonging to Scheduled caste [SC]), 26 year old Rohit Vemula, committed suicide on 17^th January 2016, frustrated by the discriminatory policies of the university he was attending.

Rohit was a research scholar, who had obtained admission to the University of Hyderabad, on merit and not under quota of reservation meant for SC. He was a bright and promising scholar. Based on the alleged complaint in August, by the leader of ABVP, a youth wing of Bharatya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling party in the centre, and pursued by a central minister, Dattatreya, who insisted action be taken against him and his friends, five students, including Rohit, were kept under suspension and expelled from hostel, with their scholarships discontinued.

On January 3^rd, the suspended students moved out of the hostel, set up a tent outside the campus and began a relay hunger strike. On 17^th a distraught and discouraged Rohit after leaving a philosophical note, committed suicide by hanging in one of his friend’s rooms. This has flared up country wide agitations by University students in support of the Dalit student, who in his own words ‘was desperate to start a life,’ but frustrated enough to end his life even before it started.

Caste is ingrained deeply in the psyche of Indians, especially the Hindus. It is an ancient prejudice, which started with the Aryans pouring into Northern India around 1500 BC and subjugating the indigenous tribes and communities living there. This story is laid out in vivid narrative in the great epics of India, Mahabharata and Ramayana. It is another factor that BJP is trying now to rewrite history to say that Aryans are the original inhabitants of ancient India.

Dronacharya, whose story is given in Mahabharata, was a Brahmin teacher of advanced military arts, and the guru (teacher) of Arjuna, his favorite student, one of the five Pandava princes. Drona refused to teach Eklavya, a Dalit, who by his own efforts, keeping in front the idol of Drona, learnt the art of archery, good enough to become a rival to Arjuna.

Drona had no qualms in demanding the right thumb of Eklavya, as a ‘guru-dakshina’ (offering to the Guru or teacher), to eliminate a serious competition to Arjuna. Eklavya obeys, loses his thumb and with it his ability to operate the bow. This was taught as an example of how one should not aspire for more than what one’s caste had meted out to a person. 

This is the background of discrimination faced by the Dalits even today, after almost 3500 years, a few millennia. Rig Vedas written during the initial phases of this conquest, around 1500 BC invoke the assistance of Aryan gods to win victory over the indigenous rulers and tribal leaders. Around 800 AD, ‘Brahmanas’ were written which classify the castes, bringing in the indigenous population as the lower most caste subjugated by the Aryan invaders. The Epics act out the permutations and combination of all these forces to show vividly the caste hierarchy formed.

‘Upanishads’ written around 7^th century BC to 5^th and even 3^rd century BC, by renowned sages, lay down the most important precepts of Hindu philosophy. It is here an explanation for the caste system and its justification are given. People with greater sinful deeds, accumulated over many previous births, are born in the lower most castes of the hierarchy and are destined to suffer due to their own past actions.

Manusmriti, prescribing the social code of the Hindu society, gives the four classes/castes of Hindu society and details the duties of each caste. The lowermost caste, Sudra’s only work assigned is to serve all the three upper castes, of Brahmins (priests), Kshatryas (Warriors) and Vaishya (Farmers and traders). These can be read in detail in my book “Values and Influence of Religion in Public Administration,” brought out by Sage publications, 2011, under the chapter ‘Hindu Ethics.’

The Dalits are not even inside the caste system, but are outside the caste, as ‘outcastes’ and are treated as such, as polluting castes, made to eke out their living by removal of the pollutants of the villages, like dead animal and even the excreta of human beings belonging to the upper castes.

This is not an ancient story, but still existing one. Carrying night soil on head load by the Outcastes is still prevalent in many parts of the country. People belonging to the Dalit castes are the ones who still enter manholes to clean it up of the sewage blocks in almost all the municipalities of the country. The girls sold into prostitution, under the guise of being called by the divine, and married to the goddess under the Devadasi system, belong mainly to the lowermost castes and the outcastes. The system continues in many ways, open and subtly in the educational institutions and administrative corridors of power. 

It was the British rule that brought in equality before law for all the castes in India and education and employment opportunities to the lower castes and the outcastes and the tribes. That the British Raj fleeced India and turned it into an impoverished Third world country is another story. Details of this can be read in my book, under ‘Colonial Ethics.’

Equality before law as a Western moral code emerged, interestingly, from the Judeo-Christian ethical system, brought in to India by the British. This was not in existence before that in India under Hinduism, the majority religion of country. Some people, who eulogize Indian civilization as the greatest on earth, do not like such statements as above. For them Indian philosophy and religion are above any other belief system. This is being naive to say the least. Every country and every civilization has its dark patches as well as good patches. None is perfect in this fallen world.

To escape the rigors of the dehumanizing caste system and the karma theory, the depressed classes and the oppressed people took different routes. Dr. Ambedkar, who drafted the Indian Constitution, a Dalit himself and suffered at the hands of his Brahmin colleagues and society, became a Buddhist in 1956, along with 365,000 of his followers.

Many became converted to Christianity in an attempt to regain their lost human dignity. Others chose to remain in the same religion and tried to educate them to come up in life and to escape the indignities of caste system. Rohit, the research scholar was one such person. His dreams tragically ended in death. Yes, he chose to kill himself rather than suffer the system.

Will this curse ever leave India? May be, it will be wiped off only when the general curse on this fallen world is lifted, at the Second Coming of Christ.

We need to wait for that day. 

Answering the Questions…

In my previous blog, I had raised many questions, mostly of existential nature. I felt I cannot go ahead with any other writing, before I answer these questions, at least to the best of my satisfaction. I did answer them in that blog itself, but I don’t think I dealt with them thoroughly. Hence let me do that in this blog, before I go to resurrection and after life and proofs for them. Of course, I am answering from the point of a Christian worldview.  

The first question would be ‘Who am I?’ I would answer this in this manner: ‘I am the most loved creation of God, the Father, who created me in His image, to reflect His glory. His eyes saw me when I was in my mother’s womb and much before I was formed in the recesses of it.’ That makes me the most cherished person, a human being, made lovingly, and made to have a wonderful relationship with my Creator, my heavenly Father.

“Why was I born? What am I doing on earth? What is my purpose on earth?” These three are related questions. The answer, of course, will flow from the first. How do we respond to a loving father or a mother who care for us on earth? Yes, we love them in return and try to make them proud of us by whatever we do. We obey them when we are young and try to fulfill their plans or designs for us.

In the same way, we obey the commandments of God, as it is given in the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus, or even as it is written in the conscience of human beings, and make God our Creator feel proud of us. God boasted about Job to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him – honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil?” That is what makes God proud of us, and He even boasts like a proud Father!

That is why we are born, to glorify the Father, our Creator and to bring Him honor and glory by our lives. That is our main purpose. This can be done wherever He has placed us, as a house wife or a career woman or a worker in the mines or an engineer or a Doctor or a minister in the church or a clerk in the government office. In whatever secular position you find yourself in this world, arrived at by your hard work or studies, you can work honestly, with integrity and fear of God that you have to answer Him if you do anything wrong.

The life on earth is like a probationary period, where we learn to live our lives according to the norms prescribed by God, without oppressing others, helping the poor, the marginalized and the suffering persons. In Bible God asks through His prophet, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That is all basically God wants from us. To be just in our actions, be merciful to people who suffer and walk humbly before God, our Creator. No thumping our nose at God saying “This is my life; I will do what I want with it. Who are you to ask?”

Now, if you ask me the question, how do we know what God has prescribed, I can only point to you the Bible, where clearly in black and white God’s commands for a good and faithful life have been written down and given to us. This has been lived in practical terms by Jesus when he was on earth as a model to us. To people who say that in their religion there are no such clear teachings, I would only say that if there is a true God, who cares for us, and how we live in this world of His, He would definitely leave His commands and foot prints on earth. So you have to search and find the true God and then follow His commands.

When the probationary period on earth is over, which is temporary and transitional, then we are ready to go to a better place, the eternal place, where we will live for eternity in the company of God and Jesus Christ, living a life of joy and happiness in the presence of our God, forever. This world is a training ground for us, so we can be found worthy to live in the eternal world.

That is also why running after money, name and fame and material possessions will not really satisfy the human heart. It is made for something better, to live in the company of God, his Creator.

What is the meaning of this life? Meaning in life is given by doing any work, secular or religious, for the glory of the Lord. It has to be hard work, not hardly working or working only when the supervisor watches, but all the time according to our conscience. 

Whether we are managers or workers, officers or clerks, executives or assistants, house wife or the bread winning husband or vice versa (it is possible in the modern days), when we work like this, it will bring enormous satisfaction to life, which we usually call as, “Job satisfaction.”

To rise to the fullest of our potential, we need to become free of false notions of our happiness and satisfaction. True satisfaction lies in finding out what is God’s plan and purpose for us and then stick to it, whatever might be the difficulties.

The important thing is to work as if you are working for the Lord and not for your earthly supervisor. Then to whom does a CEO of a company answer? There is an ultimate Supervisor, God, for everyone. We are all answerable to Him ultimately. That should temper our dealings, in business or in administration or in service, to be honest and hard-working. Doing a useful job, to the full capacity of a person, being truthful to God and his earthly supervisors, will give meaning to one’s life. In addition to giving meaning to my life, it adds significance as well.

Not only that, but the fact that I am so deeply loved by God gives me emotional security, which in turn gives meaning and stability to my life. How do I know God loves me so deeply? Look at what He did. To get us reconciled back to Him, as it was in the Garden of Eden, to get back the lost human race, He incarnated Himself as a human being, in Jesus Christ, who lived his life as an ordinary human being, but as per the commands of God, loving and compassionate, till his enemies in the world put him to death.

Jesus died in our place, as a sacrifice, to pay the penalty of our sins, so that when we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, and repent and seek his forgiveness, we are forgiven and given the righteousness of Christ, so that we can enter the presence of God, as pure and undefiled beings, and thus are reconciled to God. Is this a small thing for God to do? He paid a huge price just to get us reconciled to Him and to make us fit enough to come to His presence and inherit eternal life after death. Is that not proof enough for His love for us? Do we need anything more?

My main purpose in life is to be a witness to this love of God. To bring the knowledge of His love and the sacrifice that was involved, to all whom I can, so that we could all have the privilege of being reconciled to Him. This saving knowledge of Christ is not to be kept under a lock and key, secretly to be enjoyed only by those who are saved, but to be told from the roof top, so that many will benefit and come to this joy, which alone is permanent in this world.

As I think of Him in my bed when I an awake, and when I think of His love, His mercy and kindness, I am filled with joy that no one can take away from me. As I sing songs, hymns and Psalms during my restful times, I am so filled with His presence and His Spirit raises me up to stand on mountains and to walk on stormy seas. I draw my strength to live this life on the earth from moments like that.

That is my purpose. To become His child, His daughter, His most precious and cherished daughter, so I can sit soaked in His love, and spread His love to others, so that others may also know about Him and His love and enjoy such a beautiful relationship with Him. This gives meaning to my life. 

Who am I?

Who am I? What am I doing here on earth? Why was I born? What is my purpose on earth? What is the meaning of my life? I know I will finally die. Then what happens to me? Is there a soul in me? If so, does it outlive me? Where does it go once my physical body dies and perishes? Is there a life after death? If so where? What is the proof? And what do I do in that life after death?  

Wow, questions and questions! All seem to be existentialist questions, arising from the very fact that I exist. And if I exist there has to be a meaning for that existence. Or is that not necessary? To answer these various questions related to our existence on earth, philosophy and religion have arisen. These two branches of science try and deal with these questions.

I do address philosophy and religion as science because there is a lot of thinking, analysis, presuppositions, hypothesis and conclusions arrived at in these philosophical and religious musings. It need not necessarily be laboratory experiments that qualify a branch of knowledge as science.

Coming back to the questions, death seems to play a decisive factor in these quests for answer. Witnessing old age and sickness leading to death, Siddharth as a young Prince, understood the futility of life. He went on to become a Buddha when he propounded that the cycle of births and deaths can be conquered once we cut off the source of attachment to life, which is desire.

Easier said than done! Desire to get rid of desire itself becomes a desire and a bondage! What do we do then?

India is the land of Hinduism, for 83% of Indian people are Hindus. The basic tenets of Hinduism believe that the material world and the lives as we see are all an illusion and to break the cycle of repeated births and deaths into which souls have descended due to ignorance, is to attain liberation from this world and this life. Once the accumulated good deeds (karma) become more than the bad deeds (karma), the soul is released from the cycle and attains freedom.

The individual soul (atman), which according to Advaita Philosophy of Hinduism, is only an extension of the universal soul (Paramatman), on liberation, merges with the universal soul and lives eternally in that effulgent state. Of course, the soul loses its identity and with it any meaning for its existence. 

  

Till that happens, the soul keeps returning to earth as a life, now as a human being, now as an animal or a lesser being, according to the merits it has earned in all its many births. The whole of caste system in Hindu society is built on this Karma theory.

But how surely do we know about the previous births and the karma accumulated during such births? Who has seen it or where is the proof? Was it only a theory propounded by the Kshatrya (warrior class) princes, who in ancient India, labored to find answers to existential questions on earth and arrived at these conclusions, which became embedded in Hinduism as Upanishads?  

Even if we take karma operating as a mechanical force in lives to determine the birth of a soul in such and such a body, then doesn’t it become a mechanical force just as the evolutionary force, blindly grinding on towards nothing excepting existence? What is the meaning of such an existence? Why do we exist?

Well, an atheist would simply say that all this life is an accident that happened due to some chance by which our planet was formed and life originated, developed from simple to complex organisms. The only drive that keeps the lives going, according to this philosophy, is the desire to exist, reproduce and survive. The fittest survived and flourished. On death one simply ceased to exist. Then what is the meaning of life, nothing at all! 

Death is a great leveler. I just lost my batch-mate to cancer. She struggled, fought and finally succumbed. Being an atheist herself, she was able to accept the inevitable as another aspect of life and go on peacefully having determined in her mind that there is nothing beyond death.

In case there is a life after death, then what? Wouldn’t she have lost something?  

Bible teaches differently. It affirms the material world and all lives as real and good, created by a Creator God. We are created for a purpose. The purpose is to be in close communion with our Creator and reflect His glory and also bring joy to Him. Much like a painter delights in the painting he has painted. God loves His creations, especially human beings, the crown of His creation.

Life just did not evolve in an accidental manner by some fluke and develop into higher living forms like human beings over billions of years by trial and error, either due to evolutionary theory of the survival of the fittest or the karma theory of soul finding its body according to its accumulated merits earned in the previous lives.

Every life has a meaning and a purpose for which it is created by God. The goal of life would be to find that purpose and align with it and live one’s life. When our lives are aligned with the Will and purpose of God, we have an easy and a happy, fulfilling life. It could be any calling in secular life or a life devoted to God and His ministry.

Such a life will give us significance and meaning. It is not a life due to an accident or chance happening. It has a purpose and a goal, giving us significance. It also ensures security. We are not tossed and turned by every wave and wind in the world, or be at the mercy of some mechanical force, but have an anchor, the Creator God, on whom we can depend and who is faithful to those who love Him.

Our body which decays and dies and the soul that leaves the body at death, both will be resurrected to a glorified body with a beautiful soul, after judgment in the next world. Bible categorically says that there is a life after death, a spiritual world and in that life we will be clothed with a glorified body, with resemblance to our earthly bodies.

The proof is the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who appeared to his disciples and followers, more than 150 people, for nearly 40 days after his death and resurrection. The eye-witness statements are recorded in the gospels and in the letters of His disciples, now called Apostles.

That was a foretaste of what is going to happen to us after our own deaths. But the souls will have to wait for the end of the world as we know it, which will end when Jesus Christ comes back once again, this time in power and glory and put an end to evil.

A new heaven and new earth will be formed by God and those who believed Jesus and God would inhabit it and live for eternity in the presence of God and Christ. Individuality will not be lost!

How do we even know that these are not speculations like the ones narrated before? How can we be sure of these? Where is the guarantee that these will happen as it is written in the Bible?

More of this I will deal with in the next blog.        

Why does a Kind and Almighty God allow Suffering in His World?

This is the popular question every unbeliever asks. Almost all the atheists propound this argument in support of their claim that there is no God. Their argument goes like this: If God is kind why does He allow natural disasters like tsunami and earthquakes which take away tens of thousands of lives? If you say it is the evil power in the world, Satan, who brings in suffering, then their question is, if so what is God doing? Why doesn’t He control the enemy? Is He powerless in front of this Satan? If that be the case then, they say, there is no point worshiping a God like that.

In case God has the power and still does not control the evil and the suffering in this world, then He appears heartless to them, who does not care for the suffering in this world. In such a case also, they hold, He is not worthy of worship. So God gets it from both the sides as it were!

Then what is the answer? Why is there suffering in this world? The whole world suffers, nature suffers, animals suffer and so also human beings. Not just due to natural calamities, but also in sickness and death, war and famine, oppression and poverty, unjust human laws and traditions. The list could go on. The strong oppress the weak; selfishness rules all the decisions. Why is the world so? Why doesn’t God, if there is One, do something about it? Or is there no One after all?

Different world-views offer different explanation for the presence of pain in the world and prescribe different solutions for the malady. According to Hinduism, suffering in this birth is the result of accumulated ‘karma’ or deeds in the past births of a human being. Because one birth is not sufficient for a man/woman to reap the consequences of a good act/deed or bad act/deed, a person takes many births to pay the penalty for the sins or wrong deeds of the past. This is called the ‘karma theory’ and the ‘reincarnation theory’ of repeated births that goes with it.

The remedy is to patiently undergo the situation where life has placed a person in this life and do religiously the duties of that station, as prescribed in the ‘Varnashrama dharma,’ by ancient Hindu scripts, and in so doing accumulate good deeds which in one birth or the other will overwhelm the bad deeds and lead one to liberation from the cycle of repeated births and deaths. The aim thus is to get out of this world, break from the bondage of ‘samsara,’ the cycle of repeated birth and death, and get liberated from life itself, so that life cannot enforce its sufferings on you.

Well, that is one view. In Buddhism, which came off Hinduism in protest against the religious dominance of priests of those days, karma theory is kept intact. Buddhism considers the world or the life of human being as full of suffering, due to sickness, old age and death. These are due to the bad deeds or karma one has accumulated during past lives.

The remedy suggested here is to get at the root cause of such suffering, which is seen as attachment to life or desires which lead to such attachments. If one can kill desire, then one can achieve detachment and the sufferings will not touch a person. Once a person reached this level, he is said to have achieved ‘nirvana,’ a desire-less status, and get released from the world of suffering.  

Well this is another view. Most of the eastern religions, influenced either by Hinduism or Buddhism point to the past deeds of a person as the reason for suffering in this world and the remedy prescribed is to get liberated from this world. Hinduism goes to the extent of calling this world ‘maya’ or an illusion. The material world is bad and the only way to achieve eternal bliss is to give up this world or get liberated from this world.

The dominant religion of the West once was Christianity. One can still claim so, in spite of relativism and pluralism that have eroded their religion of forefathers. Christianity based on Bible offers a totally different answer. The material world created by God is good, for He affirmed that it was good after each day of creation activity. A good and beautiful world was created, with vegetation, animals and all the support systems and finally man and woman were created to be His reagents on earth and to look after it.

Humans themselves were created in the image of God and were totally good. They were created as free beings, with a will of their own. They could use it to make decisions that faced them. The immediate decision that confronted them was whether or not to eat the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, forbidden by God their Creator, but egged on by Satan to eat so that their eyes could be opened. A major decision, perhaps the first ever decision to be made by the first human pair.

Using their free will, Adam and Eve decided to eat the fruit in disobedience to God’s instructions. It seems to people of other faiths that the matter was simply that of eating an apple of a tree. And why should God get so upset about it to punish the whole human race thus? What they fail to notice are the finer details of the decision Eve made and let her husband Adam to follow.

She reasoned out that the fruit was good to look at, desirable to eat, and would give them a status at par with God. Why not be equal to God, was the question. Why not be the God of our own life? Why be under someone else’s control, but be on their own? Does it sound like the rebellious teenager who defies the parental authority with the question, “this is my life and I will do what I want with it! Who are you to ask?” That was what the first human pair did too. Question the authority of God and wanting to be their own masters.

Yes they made their choice, but that choice involved the opposite road to God’s path of wisdom and brought in sin, sickness and death to the world. We became the descendants of the “Fallen race,” according to the Bible. The world itself became ‘cursed’ and what was created as ‘good,’ became ‘marred’ by human sin of disobedience and wanting to be masters of their own life. That is how suffering entered the once perfect world that God had created.

So what is the remedy? We die in such a pathetic condition as ‘marred’ beings? Is there no where to turn to? Has God left us to suffer for ever like this and the world to go on in this manner? Does He not care?

Well, God created human beings as thinking and rational beings with a will of their own, so He would not take it and impose His solution on them. That would be to make a robot out of man. Rather He would take the punishment on Himself and suffer and in so doing alter the condition of the world, so that it would be restored to its perfect nature as it was in the beginning of creation, along with all the animals and the human beings. The communion and relationship with God that was lost due to sin will have to be restored.

So the solution of God of the Bible was not to get out of the world, but to be in the world and transform it, by being renewed by Jesus Christ, who being God, incarnated as human being, lived our life, showed us how to live our life and died as a sacrifice for us, paying the penalty for our sins, so that we could be reconciled with God.

Whoever has faith in this act of Jesus Christ, will receive forgiveness of sins. No need for such a person to take innumerable births to wash of his bad deeds or ‘karma,’ with good deeds. That job was done by Jesus; all that we have to do is to believe in Him, so that we are transformed in our inner beings and our lost connection with God becomes re-established and we become children of God. We come into the family of God, with communication restored.

Why then there is still suffering on earth? It is 2000 years since Jesus died on the cross. Why is there no full restoration? Full restoration will happen only when Jesus Christ returns, return to rule. Time is given till then for all the people on earth to repent and turn to Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation or redemption or restoration or reconciliation, call it what you might. That is happening now and full restoration or consummation will occur only with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That event will end the world as we know it and a rule of justice and righteousness will be established by the Lord Jesus Christ.

A truthful Christian or a follower of Christ will sincerely await His return and may even say, “Come Lord, come soon.”

Amen.

Does the Universe have a Moral Code?

The universe we live in, does it operate according to any moral code? Are we bound by any such moral code in our lives? The morals we have as human beings, for example, killing is wrong, taking another person’s belongings without his knowledge or his express willingness is wrong and so on, where do these come from?

The question boils down to whether the Creator of this universe, if there is one, is the supreme moral giver? If He created the world and all that is therein, then it is natural to expect that He would have laid down a moral code or rules according to which humans will live their lives. Such a God will have to be a moral Person Himself. He cannot be a whimsical or flippant or an immoral God. He will also have to play by the rules He has set for others and cannot break His own rules with impunity. Do we have a God like that?

Well, others may argue that there is no God who created this universe and the lives we see in it, but these have evolved over millions, if not billions of years, from smaller living beings to the more advanced and complex beings like humans. The theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest by natural selection will fall into this category. If that is so, how then did morals in such an evolved world come about? Did morals also evolve like the life forms?

These are the many questions we grapple with as we consider morals and moral states in the world we live in. Lots of morals have lost their meanings in our twenty-first century world, but still we say that corruption in political and business circles is wrong. Why? Where does that moral come from? We appreciate people who give away the fortunes they have earned, by hook or crook or by honest means, to philanthropy. Why is it appreciated? Giving to the poor and helping the helpless is considered good. Where does that moral code come from?

Let us take the argument of evolved morals. It is argued by the atheists mainly and also by the religious evolutionists that the morals we see in the world today have evolved along with human beings and the other creatures. How? They say that being honest in business transactions produced good will and trust and enhanced business. Thus it was advantageous for people to be honest and so that trait evolved, became strong, and got passed on to the next generation, as it helped the survival of the business class in particular and the community in general.

Speaking truth was preferred in the community for it helped integrate the members in trust based on mutual dealings of truth. It became an evolved trait as it helped the community to survive better. Sounds good; the only problem in this sort of argument is that there are traits among us humans and other animals, which are not really beneficial to the human race or the other species.

For example, in an evolutionary scenario, where survival of the fittest leads the pack from the front, how do we justify taking care of the sick, suffering and the old? Euthanasia would have been the norm, if evolution was the case. So how come we appreciate taking care of the vulnerable sections of the society, without resorting to mercy killing en-mass? It is a difficult stand to defend.

The failure of evolution to give satisfactory answers to such questions leads us to explore the possibility of a Creator God, who created the heavens and the earth and all that is there in and also laid down as to what is right and what is wrong. The question ultimately boils down to, can we be good without God?

In a situation where there is only the mechanical evolutionary force to grind us the living beings, then the cold and stark fact would be, the extermination of all weak beings, by nature or by human effort assisting nature. As we do not see that happening in our world, then we have to decide that there is something more than just a mechanistic natural selection operating in our lives.

A Mother Teresa is appreciated because she took care of the dying and the terminally ill and homeless on the streets of Calcutta. People of all religious hues in Calcutta and around the world see the beauty of her heart and elevate her even to the level of a demi-goddess, personification of love, humility and sacrifice. Why do we do that? Is it not because she reflected a love, that is unconditional and all-giving, which can be seen only in God?

A mother’s love for her child whom she bore for nine months and fed with her own blood and sweat, is it a reflection of something bigger, a greater love that could be shown only by the Creator of this universe? Is that why we are able to show such a love and also appreciate that type of self-sacrificing love, because it is a reflection of heavenly love? I agree, human love is always laced with a minimal of self-interest, but still it shows the type of ultimate love, a self-less love that can be seen only in God and definitely not a product of an evolutionary force?

Well, the next question would be is there a God who is so loving and self-giving as to be looked upon as a model, whose goodness we could reflect and learn from? Bible talks of such a God, who came in the form of human Jesus, and gave his life for the humankind, as a penalty for the wrongs of the world. God paid the ultimate price for saving humanity from sin and suffering and from the ultimate penalty of separation from the true God forever in eternity. If that was not love, then what is?

Bible also talks about a Creator God who created everything on earth including human beings and laid down the rules for man’s conduct in the form of Ten Commandments, which Jesus upheld and summarized to two important commandments: to love God and to love our neighbor. That is it; in these two all the commandments of God are covered.

This Creator God of the Bible, who is expressed in Jesus, is also a moral God. He is the Truth, he is the Love ultimate, He is honesty personified, He is faithful, righteous and just. No one, not even the opponents of Jesus, could find any fault in Him. The whole of Bible talks about the faithfulness of God to the many promises He has made and how He is truthful and just. He is so just that He had to extract penalty for the unjust worldly beings from His own Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross paying that penalty.

There is a moral God, the Creator of this world and He has laid down the moral code for us His creations to follow in our lives. Only when we break these rules and stray outside do we face the difficulties that confront us in our lives.

Well, one might ask, why then do good people often suffer in this world? Why is suffering in this world created by a Good and Loving God? Now, that will be the topic for my next blog!

Nice to be back after a break for Christmas and New Year and getting in touch with you all!

Wishing you all, a very Happy and Meaningful New Year!