Book Title: Sambodhi 1989 Vol 16
Author(s): Ramesh S Betai, Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Previous | Next

Page 76
________________ "The mystery of life is creative sacrifice. It is the central idea of the Cross..he who truly loves us will have to suffer for us, even to the point of death," Says Dr. Radhakrishnan. The life of Jesus is the best example of it. We see the victory over evil in the garden of Gethseinane, and also in the cell where Socrates drank the hemlok. Dr. Radhakrishnan is right when be states that Jesus who suffered and died is tlie living God. He directly appeals to us by telling "The Cross becomes significant only when we make it our own, when we undergo crucifixion." Crucifixion was not a Jewish but a Roman form of punislıment. It was accounted so infamous and ignominious that it might not be applied to Roman citizens, but only to the sum of mankind, to the meanest criminals and slaves. By dying that death, Jesuis met the extreme demands of the law. Salvation : Faith in God (Christ), purity of heart and God's forgiveness and grace are component parts of the road to salvation in Christianity. Dr. Radhakrishnan says – "Jesus did not give any definito account of the future life. His references to it in the parables of the Sheep and the Goats, Dives and Lazarus, are coloured by the beliefs of the age in heaven and hell, as geographical areas, ..Jesus evidently did not believe in a long interval between death and judgement, for the rich glutton and Lazarus had their punishment and reward almost immediately after death. Jesus was not misleading the repentant thief when he said "Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (St. Luke xxiii. 1, 43). The official view that the dead will rise with their physical bodies for judgment after death is not supported by these statements of Jesus." It is very difficult to accept Dr. Radhakrishnan when he says that Jesus did not give any definite account of the future life61. The Bible teaches that the soul of the believer when separated from the body, enters the presence of Christ. Paul write to the Philippians that he has a "desire to depart and to be with Christ." (Phillipians. 1.23). And Jesus gave the penitent malefactor the joyous assurance "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (St. Luke 23.43). And to be with Christ is also to be in heaven. In the light of II Coronthiaus 12.3,4. "Paradise" can only be a designation for heaven. Moreover Paul says that "if the earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven". (IInd Coronthians. 5.1). Westminster Catechism, one of the great commentators

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309