A RELIGIOUS WEBSITE FAILS TO ANSWER SOME OF THE SIMPLEST QUESTIONS OF LIFE

While browsing a few websites such as Youtube, Google etc., I came across quite frequently an advertisement of a religious website “Y-Jesus.com”.  Out of curiosity, I visited the website and after going through it for some time, I thought of asking them a few questions by writing to them in the “Comments” box of the website, following which there was an exchange of mails between me and the editor of the website. Here is the exchange of mails. It starts with my questions that I had written in the website’s comments box.

Nitai Nimai Das

Your Comment:
Can you answer some of my questions please? First i would want to
know, if God is all merciful, then why is there suffering in this
world? Why is someone born rich and someone born poor, or blind, dumb,
deaf, physically handicapped or mentally challenged?

Referring Page:
Who Is the Real Jesus?

Reply from Gerry to Nimai Nitai Das

On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 7:53 AM, gerrygerhardt<ipen@comcast.net> wrote:

Nitai,

This is a perplexing question which I have heard stated in many different ways and seen many attempts to answer. Here is a web site that tackles this question.  http://www.gotquestions.org/innocent-suffer.html,  I think we all wonder about this, I know I certainly have.  All I can do is share my personal convictions about this.  There are two things.  First, God is sovereign and he doesn’t really owe us an explanation.  Second, I believe God is in the business of turning bad into good through the blood of Jesus.  For example, let’s say that the blind man gets to heaven and the very first thing he sees in his entire life is Jesus and the throne of God. So he doesn’t have to look back on his life and remember the sinful things he has seen.  The answer to this question may very well be that the more we suffer here on earth the more blessings and jewels in our crowns there will be in heaven.  Or look at it this way, actually God is bestowing eternal blessings on us by allowing us to suffer here on earth.  As far as riches are concerned, the Bible is clear that riches are of no consequence when we get to heaven.  Life is short and heaven is  long time. That is the best I can do with this question and if you find a better answer please write back to me because I would like to hear it.

Many blessings,

Gerry for Y-Jesus.com

 

Reply from Nimai Nitai Das to Gerry

Dear Gerry,

Thank you for your reply.  But your answer triggers more questions. If you don’t mind, I will present my questions and some statements to you below and you may try to answer them for me.

1. In the first sentence, you call my simple question as perplexing and say that you have seen many attempts to answer my question.  It means that neither you are sure of the answer nor are these people who have made such attempts.  It looks like they just tried to speculate what the answer could be.  How can you expect me to place my faith in you and such people who cannot answer my simple questions definitely and yet claim that they can show me the right path to eternity?  Its a very risky gamble, I would say.

2. The web link that you sent me quotes the Bible that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.  When exactly did we all commit the sin and fell short of the glory of God?

3. The link further says that “Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, and mankind has been in rebellion ever since. Sin’s effects permeate everything, and the suffering we see all around us is a direct result of that sin”  I have never seen any court of law punishing someone just because they are the descendants of a criminal. Because, it doesn’t make sense to punish someone for being a descendant of a criminal assuming that the descendant also has the propensity to commit a crime.  I mean, no Judge in his right mind would make such a foolish judgment.  If God is all-merciful and all-just, then why would he do something unreasonable and unjustifiable such as punishing the rest of humanity just because their predecessors Adam & Eve have committed a sin?

4. The rest of the statements made in the website are based on the above assumption.  Now by logic, if the first assumption itself is false then the whole solution derived out of such an assumption is also completely false.  Therefore, the idea that God has a plan to save us and sends His own son to save us cannot be completely trusted.  Please do not tell me that logic doesn’t apply in the matters of spirituality.  I want some intelligent explanations as we are grownups and not children anymore.

5.  And the website further states that “He uses pain and suffering to draw us to Himself so that we will cling to Him”.  Why would anyone want to worship a God who is so sadistic that he can cause pain and suffering to people just so that they surrender to Him?  I would never, neither would any intelligent person want to go and stay eternally with such a sadistic “God”.  And why should I have faith and accept all the other explanations that follow the above mentioned one?  If God is all-powerful, then why doesn’t He immediately remove the suffering completely instead of making a plan and sending his son to die for all the sins and then again make everyone wait, I don’t know until when (in fact no one knows), for the judgment day?

6. If we are all suffering because of the sin committed by Adam and Eve then, we all should have been suffering equally.  But on the other hand, we see that not everyone is suffering equally.  We see that people are suffering in different degrees.  Some people suffer more and some people suffer less.  If God is equal to everyone, then why does he punish some of the people more than the others?

7. If Jesus was the only way, then what about those who have never ever heard of Jesus throughout their whole life? What about those who live in the Amazon forests, from where no one has ever come back after entering,  and have never heard of Jesus Christ?  What about a child who dies let’s say, just after a few days after his birth and never had the chance to hear or learn about Jesus? What would be his destination?

8. You say that God is sovereign and doesn’t owe us an explanation, which is true.  I am not questioning the sovereignty of God and accept that we are subservient to Him.  But I feel that there are definitely answers to these questions and that one cannot say that they cannot be known or that “God does not owe us an answer” simply because one personally doesn’t have the answers. I feel that God being merciful and compassionate would not want us to suffer in ignorance and darkness but would indeed reveal these deeper answers to us if we genuinely had deep yearning and desire to find out the answers. Just as a kind and affectionate parent would answer the queries by his toddler to enlighten him and take him out of ignorance. Therefore it behooves a person to seek out these answers.

9. The remaining part of your reply is also completely based on speculative assumptions, which I find hard to accept.  I want some solid answers which are definite. How can you expect someone to have faith in your version of afterlife, when you cannot properly answer the questions about the present life?  You have stated that if I were to find some better answers, then I should share them with you, and that this was the best you could do to answer my questions. This means that you are not sure of the answers that you have sent to me.  My concern is that, when you do not have proper explanation about some simple facts of life, then why do you advertise so widely on the internet claiming to know the only right path to eternity and in turn cheat innocent members of the public?

10. Please don’t take this as a personal attack against you or your faith or anyone else’s faith, but the reason many people nowadays are put-off with religion and also of answering the questions of life (why are we here?, why is there suffering?, how was this world created? etc) through religious texts, is because this whole philosophy doesn’t do a thorough job of answering all these simple questions. Rather the answers seem too simplistic and unconvincing to fully satisfy the intellect of a genuine seeker of the Absolute Truth.

Looking forward for your reply.

Thanking you,

Regards,

Nitai

Now the sender of the mail is changed. This is a reply from Larry Chapman the editor of Y-Jesus.com

Hi Nitai,

Gerry Gerhardt suggested we contact you about your questions and concerns with his response to you. Gerry is honestly stating that he doesn’t have answers to all of your questions. Anyone, regardless of what religion they represent, who tells you they have all the answers and fully understands the wisdom of all God’s dealing with man is either self-deceived or is being untruthful. Even the greatest prophets admitted they only had glimpses of God’s revelation. You might want to read the first few chapters of Hebrews which explains that from God’s perspective. Here is a link: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews%201-3&version=PHILLIPS

God has given us His Word, which gives us an understanding of His sovereign plan. That plan centers on Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him. He has also validated Jesus Christ’s deity and truthfulness with His resurrection from the dead. No other prophet or religious leader ever died, was buried and rose again. I recommend you read two articles that will help answer many of your questions. They are: http://y-jesus.com/wwrj/6-jesus-rise-deadandhttp://y-jesus.com/wwrj/7-jesus-relevant-today.

Regarding human suffering, there are no easy answers. However, when God entered this world in the Person of Jesus Christ, He was willing to suffer to the greatest extent on the cross for our sins. The following answers in red may not satisfy all of your questions and concerns; however, it is our attempt to help you discover the truth of Jesus Christ. Ultimately accepting Jesus Christ comes down to faith. That faith is based upon evidence that is compelling. However, if after reading you still have questions unresolved, I encourage you to ask God to give you the faith you now lack. Trust Him with the truth revealed in Jesus Christ, and trust Him with the mysteries of God that we will never know until this life is over. Our answers are in red below.

Sincerely,

Larry Chapman,

editor

As the answers by the editor will be reappearing in my reply mail along with my comments on them, I have avoided presenting them over here.

Nitai Nimai Das reply to Larry Chapman.

Dear Larry,

Thank you for your prompt reply.Please excuse me for my late reply, as I was caught up with a busy schedule. But anyway here I am with my response to your reply.

I expected some intelligent answers, and all you give me is again the same old stories based on mere sentiment and blind belief. You base your answers on the Bible, whose authenticity is what we were trying to establish in the first place. How do you know that whatever is stated in the Bible is the truth? It is full of contradictions, please see http://www.answering-christianity.com/101_bible_contradictions.htm and http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html . You say that the evidence is compelling, but when the source of the evidence itself is doubtful, then how can I accept the so-called compelling evidence. You claim that Jesus is the only way and that Bible is the only word of God, then what about the other religions and scriptures which exist in the world? I find that the Vedas of the east especially Bhagavad-gita and SrimadBhagavatam explain the knowledge about God, the creation, the cause of suffering in a much more detailed and logical way which satisfies the intellect of any reasonable and intelligent person. Whereas the Bible, which is available in different versions each one claiming to be the authoritative one, and its propagators just expect the reader to accept whatever is stated to be the only truth without actually satisfying the intelligence. The contents of the Bible are too simplistic to be considered as a philosophical path. As A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder acharya of the Hare Krishna movement wrote; “Religion without philosophy is mere sentimental and fanaticism and philosophy without religion is mental speculation.” If religion is to be taken seriously, then its philosophy should be convincing, otherwise it just becomes a sentiment and makes its followers fanatics. And this is what I observe to be a fact in your reply to my questions. Please find below, my comments on your answers, in blue text.

1. In the first sentence, you call my simple question as perplexing and say that you have seen many attempts to answer my question.  It means that neither you are sure of the answer nor are these people who have made such attempts.  It looks like they just tried to speculate what the answer could be.  How can you expect me to place my faith in you and such people who cannot answer my simple questions definitely and yet claim that they can show me the right path to eternity?  Its a very risky gamble, I would say.

 No Answer!!!!

2. The web link that you sent me quotes the Bible that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.  When exactly did we all commit the sin and fell short of the glory of God?

No Answer!!!!

3. The link further says that “Sin entered the world when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, and mankind has been in rebellion ever since. Sin’s effects permeate everything, and the suffering we see all around us is a direct result of that sin”  I have never seen any court of law punishing someone just because they are the descendants of a criminal. Because, it doesn’t make sense to punish someone for being a descendant of a criminal assuming that the descendant also has the propensity to commit a crime.  I mean, no Judge in his right mind would make such a foolish judgement.  If God is all-merciful and all-just, then why would he do something unreasonable and unjustifiable such as punishing the rest of humanity just because their predecessors Adam & Eve have committed a sin?

Larry Chapman (LC): Even if this were not true, we are all guilty due to personal sin.  We can’t blame God for something we have done wrong.  We have all personally made the choice to either violate our own conscience or God’s moral law.  If a person does not have the Bible or Ten commandments, the Bible says we have the law of God inscribed on our hearts.  Romans 2:15 says “They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness…”  We all have broken God’s moral law in thought, word or deed.  But whether you believe that sin entered into the world because of Adam’s sin or not, we have all fallen short of God’s standard of perfection.  But God has not left us there.  He has provided a solution in the Person of His Son who voluntarily paid the full price for our sin.  God did something about our problem which we could not do. 

You say that we are all guilty due to personal sin. This brings me back to my second question mentioned above i.e., when exactly did we all commit sin? I ask you this because I see that many people are suffering right from their birth being born blind, dumb, deaf, mentally or physically handicapped. If you say that all these people are suffering due to their sins, then when exactly did they commit the sin for having God to punish them right from the time of their birth? And if God was all powerful, why doesn’t he just take away all the suffering with a click of his fingers instead of making a plan of sending his son and making him die for us. How do you know all this to be true?

4. The rest of the statements made in the website are based on the above assumption.  Now by logic, if the first assumption itself is false then the whole solution derived out of such an assumption is also completely false.  Therefore, the idea that God has a plan to save us and sends His own son to save us cannot be completely trusted.  Please do not tell me that logic doesn’t apply in the matters of spirituality.  I want some intelligent explanations as we are grown-ups and not children anymore.

LC: I don’t think one can disprove the first assumption.  I think we can see the effects of sin in our world or planet such as wars, divorce, man’s inhumanity to man, self-centeredness, etc. Sin is violating God’s moral standards.  And the standard according to Jesus is perfection (Matthew 5:48).  We have to look at the nature of God.  God is Holy and we are not.  We don’t understand the Holiness of God.  R.C. Sproul wrote:  “Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward the One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself. Have you ever considered the deeper implications of the slightest sin, of the most minute peccadillo? What are we saying to our Creator when we disobey Him at the slightest point? We are saying no to the righteousness of God. We are saying, “God, Your law is not good. My judgment is better than Yours. Your authority does not apply to me. I am above and beyond Your jurisdiction. I have the right to do what I want to do, not what You command me to do.”

I agree with the definition of sin. But still my question remains unanswered. When did we commit the sin in order to be punished in this manner?

5.  And the website further states that “He uses pain and suffering to draw us to Himself so that we will cling to Him”.  Why would anyone want to worship a God who is so sadistic that he can cause pain and suffering to people just so that they surrender to Him?  I would never, neither would any intelligent person want to go and stay eternally with such a sadistic “God”.  And why should I have faith and accept all the other explanations that follow the above mentioned one?  If God is all-powerful, then why doesn’t He immediately remove the suffering completely instead of making a plan and sending his son to die for all the sins and then again make everyone wait, I don’t know until when (in fact no one knows), for the judgment day?

LC: Often times, we get caught up in our own pride and arrogance and when we go through trials in this life, God can use this to motivate us to look upward to Him.  When things go smoothly in life, we tend as humans to forget God and take the credit for ourselves.  A parent may tell a child to not touch a burning stove and the child sometimes won’t listen until he touches the stove and realizes that Mom and Dad were right.  They were trying to protect me and I should listen more to my parents.

On what basis does God punish some people more and some people less?

6. If we are all suffering because of the sin committed by Adam and Eve then, we all should have been suffering equally.  But on the other hand, we see that not every one is suffering equally.  We see that people are suffering in different degrees.  Some people suffer more and some people suffer less.  If God is equal to everyone, then why does he punish some of the people more than the others?

LC: “The sin of Adam and Eve” that has been transmitted to us simply says that we all have a spiritual disease or virus.  People underestimate the effects of sin.  If there were no solution to this, then there would be no hope but there is a solution.  If you have a computer virus, you go to a computer expert or buy some software to eradicate the virus.  God provides a solution to our sin problem not only by the Cross (paying the penalty for our sin; Rom. 6:23) but also by providing His Spirit to indwell a believer in Christ to overcome sin (the virus so to speak).  In other words, He gives us a new operating system to overcome the deficient one we inherited.  This is a basic Christian truth (Romans chapter 8, etc.).

Instead of answering my question directly again you are trying to push me to believe in Jesus blindly. Moreover, instead of using his unlimited power to remove our suffering, why should God have to suffer for our sins? It doesn’t make sense. There seems to be something wrong with this idea that God appeared in this world in the form of Jesus and had to suffer and die for the sins committed by the humans. Are you telling me that God is incapable of relieving the humanity of all its sins? If God was so incapable, then why should we surrender to such an incapable personality?This theory just doesn’t make sense to me.

7. If Jesus was the only way, then what about those who have never ever heard of Jesus throughout their whole life? What about those who live in the Amazon forests, from where no one has ever come back after entering,  and have never heard of Jesus Christ?  What about a child who dies,let’ssay, just after a few days after his birth and never had the chance to hear or learn about Jesus? What would be his destination?

LC: This is a great question.  First, to simplify things when you or I die, God is not going to ask you this question.  He will ask you:  “what have you done with my Son, Jesus Christ?”  But to answer your question more thoroughly, I look at the word Justice.  J stand for God is perfectly Just.  Everything that He does is in accord with perfect Justice.  We all want a God who is fair and just.  Abraham commented “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” when He asked God if He would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were 10 righteous in the city.  Secondly God is Infinite in His Unconditional Love.  Whatever He does in in accord with perfect Love.  I John 4:8 says “God is love.”   Thirdly, S.  God has sufficiently shown all men that He exists by Creation (Romans 1) and Conscience (Romans 2).  Fourth, T.  All men have transgressed God’s moral Law which in essence is the argument by Paul of Romans chapter.  Most men do not seek God (read Romans 3).  Fifth, I.   If men will invoke (call upon) God for salvation, God will move Heaven and Earth to see to it that they hear the Gospel whether it be very simple or clearly laid out.  In many Arab countries, for example, many Muslims have come to faith in Christ through visions and dreams (Read Joel Rosenberg’s book Inside the Revolution).  Sixth, C.  Christ is the only way to God.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Before Christ, people came to Christ by believing in One God and that God provided their salvation by a blood sacrifice that looked forward to the day when God’s own son would die for the sins of mankind.  If salvation could be achieved by trying to live a good life, then Christ would not have needed to come and die for us.  James 2:10 says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point he is guilty of all”.   Read also Galatians 3:10, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10-12 which all say we are all guilty before an infinitely holy God.  But God knew this and He provided an solution in Christ.  E – Expect Examination.  The Bible says that the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand it.  We may not be able to fully understand how God is able to save  people in all corners of the globe, but the Bible makes it clear that God provides us enough revelation to seek God and He will seek to have us come to know Him in the Person of His Son.  And when we all face Him someday, He will show us the many times He tried to reach us with the truth.

Some more word jugglery instead of direct answers. For me to develop faith in what you say, you have to first convince me intellectually, which you again and again fail to do.

8. You say that God is sovereign and doesn’t owe us an explanation, which is true.  I am not questioning the sovereignty of God and accept that we are subservient to Him.  But I feel that there are definitely answers to these questions and that one cannot say that they cannot be known or that “God does not owe us an answer” simply because one personally doesn’t have the answers. I feel that God being merciful and compassionate would not want us to suffer in ignorance and darkness but would indeed reveal these deeper answers to us if we genuinely had deep yearning and desire to find out the answers. Just as a kind and affectionate parent would answer the queries by their toddler to enlighten him and take him out of ignorance. Therefore it behoves a person to seek out these answers.

LC: Yes, I agree and I think that the best way to get these answers are from the Bible itself.  Even Thomas doubted in the Resurrection of Christ and he demanded proof and the Lord appeared to Thomas and said to reach out hand and put your hand in my nail prints and in my side and Thomas said “my Lord and my God”.  Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  Jesus did not condemn Thomas.  He met him where he was at.  Thomas was sincerely seeking the truth and the Lord and came to believe in Christ as His Lord and Master.

Again, instead of trying to answer my question directly, you try to push down my throat the idea that Jesus is the only way, how do you know that Bible is the best way to get answers? I see that, you have utterly failed to give me proper answers on the basis of the Bible. How do you expect me to look for answers in the Bible? I think even you should start looking for answers somewhere else.

9. The remaining part of your reply is also completely based on speculative assumptions, which I find hard to accept.  I want some solid answers which are definite. How can you expect someone to have faith in your version of afterlife, when you cannot properly answer the questions about the present life?  You have stated that if I were to find some better answers, then I should share them with you, and that this was the best you could do to answer my questions. This means that you are not sure of the answers that you have sent to me.  My concern is that, when you do not have proper explanation about some simple facts of life, then why do you advertise so widely on the internet claiming to know the only right path to eternity and in turn cheat innocent members of the public?

You have not addressed my concerns.

10. Please don’t take this as a personal attack against you or your faith or anyone else’s faith, but the reason many people nowadays are put-off with religion and also of answering the questions of life (why are we here?, why is there suffering?, how was this world created? etc) through religious texts, is because this whole philosophy doesn’t do a thorough job of answering all these simple questions. Rather the answers seem too simplistic and unconvincing to fully satisfy the intellect of a genuine seeker of the Absolute Truth.

LC: These are all good questions.  My challenge to you is to look at the Person of Christ.  Is He God or is He a phony?  God said, “And you will seek Me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).  Some people don’t really want to know the truth.  An example of this is when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the enemies of Christ sought to kill Jesus from that moment on as well as Lazarus.  If you are seeking to know the truth, then I want to encourage you to read the Gospel of John.  Before I came to Christ, I had a lot of questions myself.  But it was when I finally came to know Christ as my personal Savior and Lord, that my questions were answered for the most part.  One of the attributes of God is that He is incomprehensive.  In other words, He is infinite and we are finite.  There are some things about God we will never fully know.  But what He has revealed to us and to those who want to know Him personally is the written revealed Word of God that explains things to us that we in our finite minds could never fully understand.  This does not mean that we should not ask the tough questions.  I also want to encourage you to listen and/or read what Ravi Zacharias (show link) says in answering questions you have like yourself. 

You say that if I were to develop my faith in Christ all my questions will be answered. Also you say that all your questions were answered after believing in Christ, then why don’t you yourself give me solid convincing answers. You say that Jesus is God, but as far as I know Jesus claimed himself to be the son of God, then on what grounds do you say that Jesus is God. I mean you are contradicting Jesus. I have no problem in accepting Jesus to be son of God and his original teachings. My problem is with the modern day Christianity which is misrepresenting Jesus Christ. First of all, the Bible was written by mortal beings a long time after Jesus Christ and is therefore doubtful of its authenticity. And also the Bible has been changed and modified again and again for satisfying various political and personal agendas. Also I find the story of Ravi Zacharias to be unconvincing because if he had really studied the Vedic scriptures of the east under bona fide spiritual teachers, he wouldn’t have come to the conclusion that he did.

You say that Jesus rose many people from the dead and therefore should be believed in, but if you look at SrimadBhagavatam one of the Vedic texts, there are innumerable accounts of various sages reviving people from the dead. For example in the Sixth Canto of SrimadBhagavatam, there is the story of Narada Muni, a great saint mentioned many times in the Vedic texts, reviving Harshasoka the dead son of the king Chitraketu. Please see ŚB 6.16.4. The science of various miracles performed by Jesus was known long before to the many great saints of India. These mystic powers can be attained by practice of Astanga Yoga, and just because someone possesses these powers does not make them God or even Messiah’s of God. Therefore, Jesus cannot be considered to be God or the only messiah of God. What about the various great saints of India such as Sankaracarya, Ramanujacarya, Madhvacarya, Sri Krishna CaitanyaMahaprabhu, etc., whose wisdom is still considered the crest jewel of spirituality all over the world. They not only performed much more amazing miracles compared to those of Jesus but also propagated great philosophies revealing much more deeper knowledge of God and the spiritual world, compared to the teachings of Jesus. India is well known for its great spiritual knowledge and culture. It is also a well-known fact that many intellectuals of the western world like Einstein, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Dr. Thomas J. Hopkins, etc., looked towards India in their quest for spirituality. When you say that Bible is the only truth and Jesus the only path, do you mean to say that all the above mentioned philosophers, great teachers, intellectuals and their philosophies are all wrong? My friend, you are like a frog in the well who thinks that his knowledge of the well is the only truth in the whole world. Please overcome this “frog in the well” mentality.

You think God is so limited that he would reveal knowledge about Himself only to a few people and that too, only through one person and also that He is so cruel that if someone doesn’t believe in this single messiah, God is going to burn them in hell forever? I can’t agree to this proposal of yours and start believing that God is going to burn someone in hell because he is not intellectually satisfied with the philosophy propagated by His “only” son (are we not all children of God?).

You need to understand that God is all merciful and reveals knowledge, in different degrees, about Himself according to the different times, places and circumstances to the different people of different intellectual and moral levels. This is done by God, by descending Himself into this world, or by sending his messengers, servants or sons such as Moses, Jesus and Prophet Mohamed. Just like the doctor prescribes different medicines to different patients suffering from different diseases. Therefore we find so many different scriptures and religions in the world. Although they may differ in the details, they all have the same conclusion. The conclusion being that, this material world we are now living in is a temporary and a miserable place and that we all should aim for returning to the spiritual Kingdom of God. All the different scriptures having the same conclusions prove that, they are given by the same God. But these different scriptures vary in the degree of details about God and the spiritual world, because not everyone is on the same level to understand some of the deeper details of the spiritual subject matters. For example, the teacher does not teach a child studying in the first grade that we can subtract 5 from 2, because he does not have the capacity to grasp this concept. But as he progresses in his education and age, the higher concepts are revealed to him and he understands that the answer would be a negative 3. Similarly, the bible was given to a class of people who were on a lower level. Some of the commandments in the bible are that, we should not kill, we should not steal, we should not commit adultery etc. This goes to show, that the bible was meant for killers, thieves and adulterers. Because only those who indulge in such things need to be told that they should not be doing such things. Whereas we see that the Bhagavad-gita does not contain such basic moral instructions, but it begins straight away with the explanation of the nature of the soul and other such higher philosophical concepts, because the person to whom God spoke the Bhagavad-gita was a great saintly king of a high moral stature. To prove this point let me quote some of the verses from the bible as well as the Bhagavad-gita.

In John 3.12, Jesus spoke “I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?”

And in John 16.12, Jesus said “‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.”

This goes to show, that not everything was revealed in the bible because the people were not yet ready to receive higher knowledge.

Whereas in the Bhagavad-gita, God, Lord Krishna spoke: “I shall now declare unto you in full this knowledge, both phenomenal and numinous. This being known, nothing further shall remain for you to know.” – Bhagavad-gita 7.2, Bg. 7.2

And “ The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, because you are never envious of Me, I shall impart to you this most confidential knowledge and realization, knowing which you shall be relieved of the miseries of material existence. This knowledge is the king of education, the most secret of all secrets. It is the purest knowledge, and because it gives direct perception of the self by realization, it is the perfection of religion. It is everlasting, and it is joyfully performed.”- Bhagavad-gita 9.1 & 2. https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/9/1/&Bg. 9.2

And if you were to read the Bhagavad-gita, you will see that it contains the highest philosophical truths. (When I speak of Lord Krishna, I am referring to the same God, whom some refer to as Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Rama etc.)

Now here are the answers, to my own questions, based on the Bhagavad-gita.

First we need to understand that we are not these material bodies but our original identity is that we are the soul, which gives life to the body. The body is only an outer covering, whereas the soul is the real self. We the living entities are parts and parcels of God and therefore our eternal occupation is to engage in the service to God. Bg. 15.7 .

Originally, we all belong to the spiritual world and are meant to be engaged in the service of God, but due to our desire to be the enjoyers and masters independent of God, we were put into this material world. Therefore we see that everyone is trying to be the master and the enjoyer. But this is against our original nature and therefore we suffer.

When the living entity is put into this material world, he has to transmigrate from one body to another just like we take off and wear new garments. https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/2/22/ “As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”

How does this work: “As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” Bg. 2.13

Why is someone born rich and someone poor? Why is someone born blind, or handicapped?

“BG 15.8 The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another.

BG 15.9: The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.

BG 15.10: The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this.

BG 15.11: The endeavoring transcendentalists, who are situated in self-realization, can see all this clearly. But those whose minds are not developed and who are not situated in self-realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to.”

The above verses explain that we obtained the current body in a particular situation, due to our state of mind determined by the kind of actions performed in our previous life. Similarly our future lives depend on our current activities which in turn determine our state of mind at the time of death. “ BG 8.6: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail. “

So, we understand that we are in a cycle of birth and death suffering or enjoying the fruits of our good or bad deeds. Even the bible says “As you sow, so shall you reap”.

You may be surprised with the concept of reincarnation, but it is right there in the bible in Mathew 17:9-13, where Jesus mentions to his disciples that Elijah returned in the form of John the Baptist. In other words, John the Baptist is a reincarnation of Elijah. Also John 9:2, the disciples asked Jesus “Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” The fact that the disciples asked such a question suggests that they were aware of the possibility of the person committing a sin in his previous life, for which he was punished by being born blind in this life. And also neither did Jesus confirm that he was born blind because of a sin committed by his parents nor did he deny the possibility of the person having committed the sin in his previous life.

So then the next question is how do we stop this cycle? The answer:

“BG 4.9: One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.”

and “BG 8.5: And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.”

You may be wondering that if I knew the answers to these questions, then why I wrote to you.

Well, because I wanted you to understand, that you do not have the answers to all the questions and therefore shouldn’t claim to know the only right path and advertise and cheat innocent people.

I also urge you to read the Bhagavad-gita and get to know God in a much more detailed manner. Here is the link Bhagavad-gītā As It Is .

Thank you,

Regards,

Nitai.

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Nitai Nimai Das