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).