Sramana 2014 07 10

SR No.: 525089
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ashokkumar Singh, Rahulkumar Singh, Omprakash Singh
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi
Publication Year: 2014
Total Pages: 122
Language: Hindi
Classification: Magazine, India_Sramana, & India
File Size: 9 MB

Page 102

Virchand Raghavaji Gandhi : Assessment of a Jaina ... : 95 and universal religion, the only complete and god-given revelation’.10 The Code of Righteousness revealed by God to Moses, called the Ten Commandments, was described as superior to the ethical precepts of Orientals." It was argued that the idea of the unity of God and the brotherhood of man as suggested in Paul's great speech on Mars Hill was not found in the Hindu Buddhistic Bible’.12 Rev. Joseph Cook of Boston stated (September 14 ) that he regarded all faiths except Christianity as “a torso'. Except Christianity 'there is no religion known under heaven, or among men, that effectively provides for the soul this joyful deliverance from the love of sin and the guilt of it', he said. 13 As regards the antiquity of Christianity Pentecost pointed out that it does not date from the birth of Christ. ' Christ crucified 2000 years ago was only the culmination in time, and to our sense, of a revelation already ages old.' 14 Besides, no ideal character 'ever satisfied the demands of the mortal consciousness of the ancient world' as did Jesus Christ.15 Like many oriental delegates to the Chicago Parliament, like Kinza Riuge M. Hirai (Japan), Swami Vivekananda, Hewavitarne Dharmapala, and others, V R Gandhi was convinced that the Christian attitude towards other religions based on the interpretation of Saint Justin Martyr (c. 100-165 CE), Saint Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215 CE), Tertullian (c. 160-220 CE), Tatian (c. 120-180 CE) and others, was that of hostility, condemnation and intolerance. Justin Martyr, for example, interpreted non-Christian religions as the work of demons and evil spirits, and dubbed them all as 'crude superstitions, demonic counterfeits and caricatures of the true religion. '16 Both in America and Europe, VR Gandhi pointed out the Christian bias against other faiths, based as it was on raw, tainted information from dubious quarters. He disapproved of proselytism rooted in such theological assumptions as, all-non-Christians were going to hell; there was no way to salvation except through Jesus Christ who is the central and culminating point of God's salvific plan for mankind; and that Christianity is the fulfillment of all religions.