Death and Resurrection (Contd)

                                                           We shall discuss here about our own resurrection after death in this last Post of our "Art of Spiritual Life". According to Christian doctrine, all members of the human race are destined to rise at the end of the world to a new world order where heaven and hell have their roles to play. Heaven is essentially seeing God face to face, without any intermediate obstructions in full light as God Himself is pure Light. Hell, on the contrary, is the absence of this kind of access to God that will torment those who are condemned as their very being was designed for union with God. Depending on the kind of life we live here on earth, heaven or hell already begins here on earth for individuals. Although full access to and union with God can happen only at the resurrection, each blessed soul on departure from the body at death has the beatific vision, i.e., seeing God face to face. This, however, can be only to a minimum degree as the body is still missing and therefore it is befitting to see death as the beginning of a long sleep. Resurrection is seen as waking up from this sleep after death on the day of public and final judgment. Since only the most perfect can see God face to face , the "long sleep" is also suitable for the imperfect to purify themselves. This stage was earlier known as 'purgatory'. The prayers for the dead are meant to aid those who still need further purification. The condemned, however, has no hope here as they definitively rejected God's love and forgiveness when they lived here on earth. As for the effectiveness and need of prayers for the dead, denounced as useless even by some Christian denominations, we should remember how Jesus went down to the dead and preached the good news to them (1 Peter, 3: 18-20). This means that the departed souls are not completely impervious to our spiritual endeavors that may benefit them. Thus the main contention of those who argue against the prayers for the dead has no basis in the Faith of the Church. It is another matter, however, that some believers tend to commercialize the system into a kind of business by selling favors in the name and for the sake of the departed souls! The remedy for any kind of abuse is not to completely ban the legitimate use, but to closely monitor and correct the abuses.    
                                                      Our faith in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead stands as guarantee and assurance for our own resurrection. The plan of God, as seen from the Bible, is to redeem the whole Universe through Jesus Christ in which we humans have an important part to play. As we are endowed with bodies, unlike the angels who are pure spirits, we are most suitable candidates for recapitulating the material contents of the Universe through the instrumentality of our bodies. This is why we should keep our bodies as well as the environment we live in clean and healthy that will have an impact on the entire Universe in its own way. The groundwork and foundation have been laid for the same by Jesus Christ by suffering in his body and dying so that the entire Universe may live. Why suffering in the body is considered to be  beneficial for our souls? The answer is found in the Letter to the Hebrews when dealing with the necessity of suffering for Jesus. There it is mentioned that Jesus learnt obedience by his suffering (See Hebrews, 5: 7-10). A most unexpected reason for someone like Jesus, who was always in perfect conformity with the Will of God, to suffer physical pain! If so, how much more should physical and mental suffering be useful for us sinners to reform ourselves internally and obey the Will of God? The Psalmist has no doubt about the usefulness of suffering for our salvation when he says: "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit" (Psalm, 51:17).    
                                                       The new life after resurrection we hope for is already foreshadowed in our present life as a result of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is meant not merely for Christians, but for the entire human race for whose redemption the Word of God took flesh and appeared in history as Jesus of Nazareth. This Jesus by his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead became Christ, i.e., the anointed one, marked by God as the savior of the world. Unfortunately, the Church has miserably failed in proclaiming this good news meant for the whole humanity. It happened in the historical understanding of the Incarnation as a property of the Church defined in a very narrow sense. The identification of the Church with its visible elements ignoring its equally important invisible elements was one of the main reasons for the same. Similarly, the identification of the Kingdom of God with the Church, instead of the other way round, unnecessarily jettisoned the scope of the Kingdom The same may be said about the identification of Jesus Christ with the Church that is his body, the visible and the invisible elements taken together. According to St. Paul, in Jesus Christ the entire humanity has already died , risen and is sitting at the right hand of God  (See Ephesians, 2: 6-7). Those who have been baptized in Christ have the same status with a mission added to their lives to be the proclaimers of the Kingdom to come that has been already inaugurated here on earth by the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
                                                      Our entire spiritual life is nothing but the upkeep and enhancement of the gifts showered upon us by God from the moment of our conception. The first and foremost of these gifts is the fact that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Similarly, our assimilation to Jesus Christ already effected by means of his death , resurrection and sitting at the right hand of God is the crowning glory of the gifts showered on us. If only we are thankful to God and endeavor to enhance these gifts, our life would truly be spiritual. The Art of Spiritual Life, as we have seen in this Study, is to invite the Spirit of God already working in us into our daily routines. Thus, there will not be any separation between the secular and the sacred but a harmonious unity empowering us in our daily life. (Concluded).       

Death and Resurrection (Contd)

                                                           Picking up the thread from the last Post, lest us proceed to consider resurrection from the dead. We mean by the word 'resurrection' a new life after a person's death as a result of the transformation of his or her soul and body. It is generally believed in all major religions that the soul of a person is immortal and therefore cannot be destroyed by death. There are variations in belief about the state of the soul after death like the doctrine of transmigration in the Indian Thought. According to this stream of thought, the ultimate destiny of the soul to be one with the 'Paramatma' (The Absolute One) cannot be realized unless one's actions in this life are in tune with the essential unity of the 'Jivatma' (the individual) and the Paramatma. The soul is, therefore, bound to take different bodies after the dissolution of the present body in accordance with the merits of its 'karma' or action and achieves the final unity in due course. On the contrary, the Christian Faith advocates only a single chance in this life to each individual after which according to the merits or demerits of each one's actions eternal bliss or damnation is received as reward. This reward of bliss or damnation is to be enjoyed or endured in company with the body that was a constant companion of the soul in this life. The body, though the same as the present one, would be a completely transformed one to be labelled as a spiritual body, seemingly a contradiction in terms! It may be termed a complete effulgence of the Divine Spirit dwelling in each and everyone resulting in light for the redeemed and darkness for the damned ones. Even the body, therefore, is not annihilated after death both of the just and of the wicked, but continues though in a transformed manner resulting in glory for the just and disgrace for the wicked.
                                                   The soul of each individual is joined to the body at conception, like in a seed, so that divinity imprinted in the soul may overflow, in due course, to the body also. The body has its own contribution to the unity of soul and body by amalgamating in its structure forces latent in the whole of creation. Thus the idea of St. Paul that the whole creation is groaning under its own weight for redemption in virtue of the freedom to be accessed by the human race is to be fulfilled by the right nurturing of our own bodies. The importance of safeguarding the environment comes to the fore here for our own well-being. Misuse of nature out of greed and selfishness ultimately rebounds on us by degradation of the planet as well as degeneration of our bodies. we are obliged to keep not only our souls but also our bodies fit for resurrection in glory. We have the concrete example of Jesus rising from the dead on the third day after his death on the cross and burial. There is no better example or model for our own resurrection than the resurrection of Jesus, a closer study of which should throw light on the nature of our own resurrection from the dead.      
                                                 The first point to remember in discussing the resurrection of Jesus is that the fact of resurrection cannot be attained by a purely historical investigation as it is not confined to the material world. Any pure scientific investigation is restricted to the observable and verifiable data within the confines of this material world. Anything that claims to break through such confines can be attained only through faculties over and above the usual apparatus and faith is such an instrument in the present case. As God Himself supplies this faith, one does not have to strive for faith except that one's life is amenable to receive faith if and when it comes! For, resurrection of Jesus is not only historical but also transcendental in the sense that it heralds the new world to come of which it is a forerunner. However, a very serious danger is hidden in the call to faith as there are people waiting to exploit the gullible for self-interest leading the latter astray. The danger is manifested in superstitions imposed upon people on the name of blind faith. It is a fact that genuine faith in its core is blind in as far as it is the only vehicle to reach God in His Word and actions. It does not mean, however, that whatever leads to faith and the consequences of faith also should be considered as blind. This is  why the Church has always given importance to a branch of theology called Fundamental Theology. Being fundamental and laying down the scientific basis for the rest of theology, it cannot itself be based on faith, but on our reasoning faculty. Philosophy is the tool used here to examine the foundations of faith and its consequences in our life. The exploiters will insist that all these should be taken as blind faith and people should just follow their words and actions. God has already decided to render such people powerless by establishing the rule that He alone will teach everyone by inscribing His laws in the hearts and minds of everyone (See Jeremiah, 31: 31-34; Hebrews, 10: 15-18). It is incumbent upon everyone to seek the true teachings coming from God for which we should develop our own communication line with God in prayer, study and meditation.    
                                              Did Jesus actually rise from the dead on the third day after his burial? A clear answer to this fundamental question is very vital to the solidity of our faith in Jesus Christ and our entire life. We shall not go into the innumerable arguments for and against it that may be gathered from various sources. What we are interested in is to point out an important factor in our thinking and mental make-up that already predetermines the validity of any argument brought forward. This factor is the initial state of our mind even before the start of any investigation. It is about the openness of our mind to any result of our sincere investigation. If our mind is closed due to faith or opposition to it, there cannot be any scientific investigation. The result has been already decided through our mental attitude. At the same time, it cannot be denied that by the time we propose to start an inquiry on any subject, we have already well-defined notions on many things. How can we get rid of them for the sake of our investigation? Here philosophy uses the method of abstraction or bracketing of our present convictions keeping them from influencing the process of investigation. Empirical sciences also use the same method in order to arrive at unbiased and objective conclusions. In short, nothing can be scientific and objective without adopting this method of abstraction in some way at the beginning itself of any investigation. Therefore, in the present case of the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus too we should not be biased one way or other when we examine the evidence presented in the Bible. An unbiased investigator of the facts recorded can weigh their logic and appreciate the reasonableness or otherwise of accepting or rejecting them. Even for a person ready to accept the facts as reasonable, the full truth of the reality of resurrection cannot be appreciated without faith at the end of the rational investigation. The reason for this is that here we are not dealing just with a reality confined to this world alone, but something that breaks forth into the next world. The evidences to be examined in this matter pertain to the fact of the empty tomb and appearances of the risen Jesus to many believers in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Thus we see that both Reason and Faith have their proper roles in the belief in the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead. From the actions and reactions of the disciples who were desperate and forlorn after the crucifixion of Jesus, it is evident that the good news of resurrection was something unexpected by them. Yet, they were definitively convinced of the reality of resurrection of Jesus from the dead. (For further study of the historicity of New Testament events, see my blog site: christologiainsitu.blogspot.com) To be Contd)..     

Death and Resurrection (Contd)

                                                           Our second point is about acquiring the necessary enlightenment. Our intellectual power plays an important role in acquiring enlightenment as correct perception is important for true knowledge leading to enlightenment. Enlightenment is not something to be acquired from outside as it needs to be awakened from within ourselves. Knowledge, therefore, is not mere information gathered from outside sources, as it is clarity derived from genuine understanding of such information. Clarity transforms the person to a new level of being, resulting in further understanding of ourselves and the world around us. We are internally transformed when clear understanding takes place and are able to operate from a deeper level of reality. This is true also of faith in Jesus Christ where a believer is internally transformed to become a new creature or a new person. Genuine faith in Christ may thus be evident from the type of person a believer is. Real enlightenment, therefore, is easily discerned as distinct from apparent and spurious imitations of the same. Jesus often used to ask his disciples whether they understood what he was trying to teach them. The words used by a teacher should be correctly grasped by the students in order to arrive at true understanding and genuine enlightenment. The words used stand as symbols or signs of the reality or objects indicated by those words. If the listener succeeds in correctly understanding those symbols or signs, we say that there is understanding that is in the right direction of enlightenment. An arrow on a signboard against the name of a place is correctly interpreted when a person follows that direction and not when he or she stops there looking at the sign. A word like 'apple', for example, is not like a label to be attached to the fruit called apple, since in the next moment I may use the phrase "the apple of my eye' where that fruit does not help in understanding the meaning. The same word has different meanings depending on how we use the word and not because an object in the world always corresponds to the word used. The student, therefore, should grasp the correct use of the word by the teacher for which observation of what the teacher does with the word is essential. The principle here is the same as the necessity of practicals to any theory even in highly advanced scientific disciplines. Theory of driving without ever getting behind the wheels or of swimming without ever getting into the water will have unhappy results. Similarly, when Jesus asks his disciples to follow him he is using the correct method of teaching. Apprehensions of some people, therefore, about dogmatism against free thinking when teachers consider themselves as models to be followed are out of tune with the very sound principles of Linguistic Analysis regarding meaning of words as their use in language.                                                            We proceed to our third point in the transformation of our life from the old order to the new one. Our transformation from death to resurrection or from old selves to new selves is intrinsically connected to our willingness (The first point) and enlightenment (The second point), but also to our faithful living out the truths seen by us (The third point). For example, in the parables of the person finding a treasure lying hidden and a merchant discovering a pearl of great value, Jesus beautifully unravels the consequences of the discovery in the lives of those persons. By selling all their possessions to acquire the new-found treasure, unknown to others, they are willing to be laughed at and ridiculed by the unenlightened people as these have not seen the value they have seen. The parable is about how we should evaluate the Kingdom of God and consequently how we should transform our lives even when they are diametrically opposed to the values followed by the world. Transformation to a new life cannot be hoped for if we are unwilling to give up our old habits of conforming ourselves to the standards set by the world. Very often, such habits are condoned and fortified by the easy excuse that everyone is doing it. Our will is weakened by the thought that what the people might think if we do or refrain from doing certain things. Where, then, is the enlightenment we discussed above? An enlightened person is like persons found in the parables mentioned above who is impervious to the reactions of people who are unenlightened. If it is true enlightenment, no force on earth can dissuade a person from following the course of action set in motion by him or her. The destiny of human beings is achieved in transformation from death to resurrection and Jesus Christ is our model in this as well as anything that is properly human.(To be Contd).             

Death and Resurrection (Cont'd)

                                                           The seemingly contradictory idea of death and new life is but a fact even in our ordinary experience.  As we have seen in the last Post, the destruction of old cells in our body gives rise to new ones. Jesus explained the need of dying to our self for a new life by indicating how a seed will remain as it is unless it falls to the ground and disintegrates to give rise to a new plant producing fruits. Here we have to be cautious to the danger of falling into the snares set up by self-serving people instigating others to forego one's life for a better tomorrow. It is self-serving because the rule applies to each one's self and not to be applied to others by anyone else. Any sacrifice worth the name has to be self-sacrifice and we have no right to demand it from others in the name of religion or of common good. This is what Jesus demonstrated by his own example of self-sacrifice by death on the cross the spirit of which may be followed by those who believe in him. Even at the sacrifice of the Holy Mass Christians are expected to participate in it by offering themselves as living sacrifices by renewal of their minds (See Romans, 12:2).
                                                         For human beings, therefore, change and transformation start with a new mind and the body will automatically follow the dictates of the mind from a renewed perspective. It is self-defeating merely to run away from the world to shun it in the name of spirituality as the world follows us wherever we go. The fundamental reason for the persistence of the world  in us lies with our own self known as the Ego that cannot be eliminated merely by our moving from one place to another. This is why Jesus laid down the fundamental principle of spiritual life as denying one's own self along with carrying one's own daily cross and following him (See Mark, 8: 34). The self cannot be denied without being master of our lower nature with the help of our higher nature. A renewal of mind is the basic condition for the same. We need not bother ourselves with persecuting our bodies for the sake of spirituality as others will do it for us when we are seen as different from them. At the same time, penance and fasting voluntarily undertaken goes a long way in subduing our unruly minds, which will help us to be masters of our lower nature. Those who go about with a renewed mind will consider as despicable what the world holds in high esteem while what it considers as lowly and worthless will be their object of esteem and honor. The conflict will be certain between the two sides and in this conflict the believers have their chance for self-sacrifice and transformation. We shall see below our part in this process of transformation from death to a new life through resurrection as threefold:
1. Our willingness to be transformed;
2. Acquiring the necessary enlightenment;
3. Faithful execution of what we see as true.
                                                      Here we shall discuss the first point , leaving point nos. 2 and 3 to the next Post. As created in the image and likeness of God, man is endowed with the faculties of intellect and will for action. Any action is expected to be guided by the illumination provided by our intellect on the basis of which a choice is made by exercising our will. The problem here is that as we are also endowed with a body with five sense faculties , our mind that is connected to both the intellect and the sense organs may easily get clouded. The resultant picture of reality presented to the will for a choice and decision will not be transparent and we are led into uncertain territories. To avoid such pitfalls, it is necessary to strengthen our will-power to seek and follow the right course of action .To take a decision to improve our lives according to the Word of God and wise sayings is already the battle half won. Exercises are required to strengthen our will-power by controlling our weaknesses for which prayer and penance will go a long way. To avoid a harmful habit like smoking by quitting it at one stroke is a good exercise in gaining will-power. To forgive any ill-treatment meted out to us by someone is a gem of an exercise in practicing will-power. At the beginning it will be very painful and yet by constant practice we can be experts in accumulating will-power. In the same spirit of fortifying our will to excel in life, a steady and determined attempt to lead a fully human life should constantly rule our conduct of life. The efforts we make in this connection should not be under any stress and strain, but should be smooth and effortless. The reason for this caution is that we are expected to be just what we are as created by God and not become alienated by our actions. (to be Continued).                

Death and Resurrection

                                                           Epicurus, the hedonist philosopher of Greece, advised his followers thus: "Eat, drink and make merry today as you shall die tomorrow". Similar themes are seen in India in the atheistic philosophy of the Charvakas. On the contrary, the Bible, Vedas and the holy scriptures of the major world religions insist on the continuity of life even after death. The differing world views have their practical consequences in our daily lives. While the former is confined to this world and to our bodily needs, the latter takes into account a life after death and to the needs of our souls.  Jesus succinctly proclaimed this essential truth by giving priority to the Kingdom of God without neglecting the reality of our present life in the world. In this Section we shall make an attempt to have a balanced and harmonious view of the essential relationship between the end of life in this world and its continuity forever.    
                                                          Death is commonly understood as the separation of the soul from the body. This view brings to the fore the diversity between the body and the soul at the expense of their essential interconnections. Though they are different, the one cannot survive without the other and at death the soul must be feeling out of place as it was so long attached to the body. The body readily disintegrates although its association with the soul may not be easy to be shaken off. Therefore, to understand their relationship better, we shall describe death as a transformation of life from one state to another. There is continuity not only to the soul but also to the body though in different degrees and forms. Even scientifically speaking,  all matter is ultimately energy and it cannot be completely annihilated but can only be transformed from one state to another. The longing, therefore, for reclaiming its partner is incumbent upon both the soul and the body. In this context, the Christian teaching of the immortality of the soul forever and the resurrection of the body at the end of the world is very convincing as it is cogent to the nature of things as they are.
                                                        Death is seen as a transformation if we are prepared to see birth and death as two sides of the same coin. They are not opposed as they are complementary just like day and night are not opposed to each other as the one presupposes the other. They are harmoniously united to one another since the one follows the other without any break and they are not to be taken as conflicting events. Similarly, birth or life and death should be seen as parts of a harmonious whole , the latter replacing the former for a transformed kind of life. Death is a passport to an upgraded form of our life just like in our birth we were upgraded from the womb to this earth. That we cannot recollect anything from our stay in the mother's womb does not in any way take away from the beauty of this world we experience. Death allows us to be born into the next world where too we are to slowly grow up to meet God in His full effulgence.  
                                                        Death is not to be taken as something that happens at the end of one's life. Every moment of our life death is foreshadowed in the destruction and renewal of cells in our body that also indicates to us the need of transformation of our body. Death is the gateway to our ultimate transformation to be finalized in the realignment of the body with our soul at the resurrection. For this to happen we have to be actively aware and be engaged in the process of transformation with the aid of the Word of God and religious teachings. This transformation takes place from inside , i.e., from our soul to the outside,i.e., our body. In this process, the Spirit of God is actively present turning us into spiritual entities. The concept of spiritual bodies is very much present in the Indian way of thinking as can be seen from the Vedas. St. Paul in his first Letter to the Corinthians elaborates in some detail the nature of different kinds of bodies in connection with the question of resurrection from the dead (See 1 Corinthians, 15:35-49). The comparison of death with sleep in the New Testament is very significant regarding the wholesome understanding of death and the new life emerging out of it. Jesus himself considered death only as a mode of sleeping in the case of both the daughter of Jairus and of Lazarus both of whom he raised to life. In this sense, there is similarity between sleep and death since both of them are under suspended animation for a shorter or longer period. The greatest pleasure here on earth is achieved in sleep although without consciousness of the same. Similarly, after resurrection from the dead we shall experience the greatest pleasure, with a transformed consciousness, in contemplation of God. A glimpse of this kind of pleasure known as bliss may be seen in our meditative experience when communion with God is felt as palpable. (To be Continued).           

Suffering and Salvation (Contd)

                                                           As we have noted above, Jesus is the model of suffering for humanity whereby he has turned out to be the torch-bearer of human dignity. Human dignity cannot be maintained by violence and aggression, but only by love and meekness. This is the method to bring out the full potentiality ingrained in each human soul endowed with a body together constituting the image of God. However, the tendency latent in every human being is for domination over others by hook or crook thinking that such a state would make them happy forever. This is the result of an illusion created by our superficial involvement in the world giving primacy to our body and material things neglecting our soul and its spiritual dimensions. The other extreme is to ignore the claims of our body and material things to the detriment of our well-being. The right balance and correct proportion is a necessity in practicing renunciation that is absolutely necessary for spiritual life resulting in true happiness. It is in this context that we have to look at Jesus as our model of suffering and the standard for maintaining human dignity. By standard here we mean the ultimate criterion to measure the worth of anything as we have the standard meter kept in Paris for determining the measurement by meter. Units of meter like centimeter, millimeter etc., are modeled on the standard meter whereby we are able to measure anything uniformly and without dispute by anyone. Similarly, Jesus Christ stands as the standard for human dignity in approximation with which our actions can be invested with human dignity.  
                                                          What did Jesus do to earn this role of the cornerstone of the grand edifice called human dignity? He is the only person known to humanity who was born with a view to dying for the human race to redeem it from perversion and utter destruction. We say this because of the fact that the entire life of Jesus was in antithesis to the established patterns and ways of the world that necessarily led to his elimination from the world and Jesus could not have been unaware of the consequences of his actions. His very birth was announced by Archangel Gabriel to his mother Mary causing her unbelievable confusion and consternation. Although Mary was pacified by Gabriel in unfolding God's plan, she never ceased to be baffled by her son's ways of dealing with her and everyone else. She could only silently adore the mystery culminating at his crucifixion, a price he had to pay for being good to his fellow humans. It started at the first miracle, performed at the request of his mother, changing water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana-in-Galilee. Jesus had warned Mary that she did not know what she was asking for, namely that his first miracle would be the first stepping stone to Calvary. The destiny of Jesus reached a point of no return when Lazarus was raised from the dead as the Jewish authorities seriously plotted to do away with him. Their Chief Priest Caiaphas even prophesied that it was better if one man was to die for the whole people. Jesus knew very well that his every word and action was being thoroughly watched and that taking the path to uphold human dignity was equal to signing his own death warrant! Who would dare to question the most sacred duties of observing the Sabbath and offering sacrifices at the Temple of Jerusalem in the name of human dignity? Jesus did unequivocally declare that the dignity of the humans stands above even the most sacred divine duties because the latter cannot be genuine at the expense of the former.  In other words, upholding human dignity in every situation is the true test and verification of genuine devotion to God.        
                                                       The spurious ways of worshiping God  by placing the Sabbath duty above the human welfare and offering sacrifices neglecting the duty of love of neighbor were condemned by Jesus. One step ahead, he even forbade offering of sacrifices when someone has something against us as we are obliged to make up with the aggrieved party before going back to the altar. Even if it is taken only figuratively, the spirit behind it is very clear regarding the dignity of every human being.  Even in the Old Testament it is unambiguously announced that God prefers mercy over sacrifice. Jesus took upon himself the role of defender of human dignity by opposing the forces undermining it even in the name of God. Such forces ultimately conspired to crucify him by threatening Pontius Pilate, the Roman Ruler of the time, by denouncing him as the enemy of Caesar, the Roman Emperor, if he let Jesus go free.      
                                                       Jesus corroborated his teaching on human dignity with his own life and death, another important indication of the truth of his teaching. He could have cleverly avoided the humiliation, suffering and the terrible kind of death meted out to him by being diplomatic in giving evasive answers to the implications of his revolutionary teachings. But Jesus chose the Will of his Father over his perceived safety and well-being in upholding the truth of his teaching on human dignity. The way Jesus had answered the so many crooked questions by his adversaries during his life, it is clear that his intelligence surpassed far above that of all the doctors of the Law and the members of the Governing Council, the Sanhedrin. It means that he could have easily outmaneuvered any tricky questioner to save his skin and escape the cruel fate that awaited him. Only one factor prevented him from taking such a step and that was his conviction that his Father's Will reigned supreme and had to be followed even at the cost of his own life. This is why we say that Jesus is the savior of the whole world as he has shown us the genuine method of being truly human. Without bringing out the divine element deposited in every human being by God, no one can claim to be genuinely human. Jesus did this by denying himself to the point of his death whereby God raised him up from the dead. Without self-denial at different levels of our life we can never hope to redeem our humanity from under the clutches of various types of dehumanizing elements. Jesus Christ is the perfect specimen we should incorporate in our scheme of things so that even our sufferings turn out have value for our salvation.         

Suffering and Salvation (Contd)

                                                           Submission to the Will of God follows once we start thinking as God thinks. The classical example cited for seeing the Will of God in suffering is the story of Job in the Old Testament (See the Book of Job, chapters 1-42). At the outset, let us try to clear a possible misunderstanding about the need and relevance of human suffering. It is not that we are condemned to suffering needlessly as if God is powerless about it nor that we are helpless in controlling and curing the causes of our sufferings. God's purpose in allowing suffering in the world is part of an overall strategy to accommodate the humans who are spirits with bodies. In the words of the priest-paleontologist Pierre Teilhard  de Chardin "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." The primacy of spirit over matter is the underlying reason why we encounter suffering through which the spirit emerges victorious over the clutches of our body and mind. In other words, the transformation of our personality requires that the spirit within us, with the aid of the divine spirit, is able o conquer the tyranny of the material inclinations of our body, aided by our mind. Our sufferings, therefore, can be valuable means to transform ourselves if we are prepared to take them as challenges in our life.
                                                        Given the above precautions of understanding , we may see how God accedes to the challenge of Satan to test Job, the righteous one. Satan wanted to prove that in adverse circumstances even the just would turn against God. On withdrawal of all his blessings and infliction of severest of calamities even to his very person, Job always thanked and blessed the Name of God. He did it by saying that God has given and God has taken away; let His Name be always blessed. On being defeated in his challenge, the Satan withdrew from the scene and God blessed Job all the more doubling all his blessings he had earlier. However, Job was not exempt from the normal human reactions to sufferings and even tried to justify himself before God by seeking reasons for his sufferings. It was a time when sufferings were considered to be punishment for one's own if not of the sins of one's ancestors. Job could not reconcile himself to the idea that he might have sinned in his life or displeased God in any way. The challenge of God to Job to fathom the reasons for simple and fundamental events like the foundation of the universe and its measurements etc., completely unnerved Job. The conclusion Job was supposed to draw was that unless God lets someone see the inner secrets of His counsels, the humans were to blindly accept the structure of the world, including suffering, as it is. He saw the need of accepting the Will of God in everything as He is the One for Whom everything is possible. Accepting inevitable sufferings in our lives as the Will of God does not mean that we have to be content with our fate doing nothing to alleviate our suffering or improve our situation. On the contrary, often it is because we fail to be vigilant and proactive that dictators like Hitler and Mussolini were able to create havoc in the world dragging it into violence and mayhem during the second world war. Instead of being ready to sacrifice ourselves for just causes, our selfishness gets the upper hand and the result would turn out to be out of our control. To save our own life we have to be ready to sacrifice it, according to Jesus, and such a person is not afraid of anyone or anything except God. We have seen in the previous Post that to be afraid of God is not different from loving God and we should not make a difference between the two with the intention to carry forward our own will.      
                                                   We have to still tackle the important question about how to come to know the Will of God. If the purpose of this knowledge is to do the Will of God, we have different models in the Bible. As we have seen above, Job accepted as God's Will whatever happened to him, good or bad, wealth or poverty, health or disease, fame or ignominy, honor or dishonor etc. This is an acceptable method, provided one does not feel condemned to fate and therefore unable and unwilling to correct the course of events when they go against human dignity. For, human dignity is the touchstone whereby we may come to know the Will of God irrespective of the source of authority demanding our compliance. If someone, therefore, claims to represent and speak for God, we will have to take out our touchstone to verify the claims. As for the correct representation of human dignity, we shall have to fall back on the authority of Jesus Christ as shall be seen in the next Post.  Complete surrender to the Will of God, whatever happens to us, is a valid and sure sign of our complete faith and trust in God. This, however, has to be arrived at by a personal decision borne out of reflection and meditation on the Word of God and not from insinuations of interested parties who are on the look out for exploiting vulnerable people. Ignorance of the Word of God had led people in the middle ages to produce "Deus ex Machina", i.e., "God out of machine" when no suitable solutions to problems were available. Invoking God for anything and everything, ignoring common sense, science and technology is the present day equivalent to such attitudes. Such invocations or ascriptions of events to God's power are acceptable as they can be implicit remembrance of God and prayer to Him for favors received. They are unacceptable as explanations or reasons why such and such events happened as they may lead to superstitions and consequent malpractices. Because St. Augustine was guided by the inner voice "tolle," "lege", i.e., "take, "read" a certain passage of the Bible, some people have adopted a method of randomly opening the Bible to find out God's Will from the first verse they see. The weakness of this method consists in the fact that while Augustine had the inner voice after consistent and prolonged meditations on the Word of God, people today can hardly spare ten minutes for meditation and prayer. After immersing oneself in the daily grinds of routines and conforming oneself to the standards of the world, what kind of inner voice one can have? As we have seen above, the priority should be to think as God thinks by adjusting our standards to the mode of God's thinking. This is the first condition for knowing the Will of God for us in particular instances. This general principle was followed in the Old Testament by the priests of the Lord by resorting to Urim and Thummim and by the prophets of the Lord  by consulting Him each and every time they pronounced the Lord's Will. However, not every priest was considered suitable for using Urim and Thummim (See Nehemiah, 7: 65) nor every prophet for consulting the Lord.  
                                           We have in the Old Testament an instance of resistance to the Will of God, a completely opposite attitude to that of Job, in the interesting and beautiful story of prophet Jonah  (See Jonah, chapters 1-4). The story has added significance in elucidating the ways and means to know the Will of God, as Jonah was specially called by God to fulfill a mission. Against the command of the Lord to go to the great city of Nineveh to denounce it for its wickedness, Jonah set sail for Tarshish in order to escape from the power of the Lord. The story goes on to narrate how the Lord defeated Jonah's purpose ultimately throwing him back on the shores of Nineveh by means of a whale. Hemmed in by the power of the Lord Jonah announced the Word of the Lord: "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown" (Jonah, 3:5). The people of Nineveh believed the Lord's Word and they sat in sack cloth after announcing a public fast. No one was exempt including the king and even animals were bound by the decree of the king to fast and do penance. After seeing how they abandoned their wicked ways, the Lord repented and did not bring about the destruction He threatened to unleash.  
                                          Jonah was sore at the way the Lord changed His mind and blurted out the reason for his first refusal being his knowledge of the Lord as gracious and compassionate, long-suffering and ever constant, and always willing to repent of the disaster . Jonah was afraid that dealing with such a person was going to hurt badly his Ego and so he did not want to take up the mission assigned by God. Resistance to God's Will comes from our own Ego in different ways. As long as He grants our wishes, we are all for Him and the moment our will is thwarted we try to run away from Him to our protected shell. The rest of Jonah's story tells us how God teaches him by practical lessons why the Lord is the way He is. To know this is essential for knowing God's Will as we have detailed above about the mode of God's thinking. There is a sense in which God's Will cannot be thwarted by us and yet it is incumbent upon us to follow His ways and do His Will. Here we have the mystery of predestination and free will that cannot be treated in this brief Study. (To be Contd).