The well-known atheist of the last century, Bertrand Russell, snares people through his shrewd arguments e.g. he says: “A child is born crippled and will spend his whole life bed-ridden and dependent on the mercies of others”. He then adds, “How god plays around with children; how can he be so hard-hearted? He can only be a sadist. It is better to not believe in god than to believe in such a god. It is sorrows that have caused man to invent god. If there are no sorrows, nobody will bother about god either. Eliminate sorrows and you will also eliminate god”. He said, “Demolish all the religious places of worship and build up hospitals and schools instead. Looking at the sorry state of this world it seems that if there is a creator then he must be crueler than Hitler and Mussolini. So long as god exists in the human intellect, murders, terrorism and all malevolent deeds will continue to happen”.
The question that this raises is – the atrocities being committed in the world, who is responsible, god or our religions?
If you review the history of those who believe in religion and those who don’t, you will not find any difference between them; neither has left any stone unturned in doing their utmost to annihilate humanity and human beings. The reason why humanity is being murdered every day is because our religions have taken humanity away from humans and have turned man into a machine incapable of rational thinking or differentiating between right and wrong. Our religions often keep us from thinking wisely. The followers of religions have written a painful history of humanity by the shedding of innocent blood in the name of religion.
Kill or be killed in the name of religion. For these adherents of religion, religion is their god. The forces of darkness have so blinded them that it is of scant concern for them if humanity and humans perish; for the sake of the perceived righteousness according to their religion they are ready to commit any unrighteousness. Is this what religion wants us to believe? If the acrimony amongst religions does not end, they will bring humanity to an end; either the acrimony will remain or humanity.
Man is quite capable of destroying himself
People are being killed and are perishing. Children are killed soon after birth or even inside their mother’s wombs. Our society is turning into a rotten society. We have brought the world to the brink of disaster. We have polluted everything in the world – the air, water, snow, vegetation – everything; and though we all are well aware of it, yet we are content with ourselves and our doings.
What all has man lost; he has lost his love, his contentment and so much so that he himself is lost. He has lost faith so that now no one is willing to trust anyone else.
The son of a politician said to his father “Father, teach politics to me too.” The father replied, “Okay, come learn the first lesson in politics. Come and stand here and then jump down from there.” The son said, “No father, I will get hurt.” The father said, “Come on and jump now, I am here for you.” The son again said, “No father.” The father insisted, “Come on jump, I will take care of you.” The son gathered some courage and jumped, as he jumped, the father stepped away. The hurting son got up with much difficulty and with an annoyed voice asked his father, “Why did you do this?” The father replied, “This is the first lesson in politics – in politics don’t even trust your own father.” Such are the politicians who rule over us.
We believe that we can solve and sort out our problems. Every nation thinks that through mutual cooperation the answers to the problems besetting the world can be found, but this does not happen. The leaders of the world stand up in the UNO and deliver speeches on peace, suggest ways to live in peace, hold talks and discussions for peace but in their own lives, within their own families they have no peace and yet they go around talking and sharing about peace.
Man is of dust and needs just a little of it at his end
Most lives are spent worrying what will we eat? What will we wear? What will we earn? How will we bring up our children?
Is this all that life is? This body has not been given to man to only appease his hunger – of stomach or of desires. Man suffers from unquenchable thirsts; a thirst for money that is never satisfied, no matter however much money he may get. A thirst for status that is never satisfied no matter however much he may rise. He is ever striving to find something that may satisfy his thirst, but in vain. Why is man so dissatisfied? Why is he under so many compulsions? Why is he unable to live the way he wants to? Man has achieved much, earned much but yet he constantly feels that there is still something that remains to be achieved. Every person knows that he is dust and will one day return to dust; he will not need anything other than a little bit of the same dust to lay him to permanent rest. He knows that whatever he amasses will be left behind here after him, yet he continues to hoard more and even more.
The greatest tragedy of this age, or the greatest curse on this age is that man yearns for happiness and love. He has no peace in his life, his family, his world. Every life has its own sorry story. How inadequate and how much under compulsion is life. What can he do? The burden of sin has made life a misery. The heart of man is so filled with confusions that till his last breath he remains restless and dissatisfied. The poor man is worried about what to eat when hungry, while the rich man worries to find something to make him feel hungry. Both are beset with problems – one has an abundant appetite but no food while the other has abundant food but no appetite.
Words like dead body, coffin, grave, cemetery etc. bring feelings of uneasiness and a peculiar kind of fear. Man fears death, but has no fear of God.
No one will accompany you beyond the grave. Only your sins will keep you company beyond your grave. As you sow, so will you reap. If you plant cactuses, you will not get roses; if you sow weeds you will not get a harvest of apples. If you sow sin in your lives, you will harvest eternal damnation. Is there anyone who has borne the penalty for sins of others? If there is anyone, then who is he; who is the one not ashamed to accept you even in your most shameful condition?
A preacher once asked, “Is their even a single person in this world who has never spoken a lie?” From amongst the crowd, a man raised his hand and said, “Yes, there are many such people.” The preacher asked, “Who are those people?” the man answered, “Those born dumb; they have never spoken a word in their lives, how can they then speak lies?” The preacher then narrated a small story: the mother of a person born dumb asked him, “I had kept three pieces of sweet here; now there are only two, what happened to the third one?” The dumb gestured “I don’t know.” He lied – not by words but through gesticulations. Do you believe that the Judge who declares a person guilty of being a liar has never lied in his life? This is why God’s Word declares, “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10) – not me, not you.
Delivered from a Defeated to a Victorious Life
I was very disappointed with myself and my family. Not that we did not have money, but because there was no love, there was no happiness, there was no contentment in my life and family. But, do you know, everything changed for me. I did not need to change my religion; only a simple prayer came as an answer to my problems, and changed everything for me. It changed my hatred into love, defeat into victory and despondency into hopefulness – everything became new for me. This was a new birth for me, which came by a simple prayer – “O! Lord Jesus please have mercy on me a sinner and forgive my sins.” This prayer can work just the same for you too.
I am not telling you all this just to make my tale interesting; but I am telling you the truth from the depths of my heart. Whether you believe it or not, this is the only way to be free of this restlessness. To accept it or not is your decision. You are free to choose, the decision is entirely yours.
The Decision that Eliminates Distances
I believe that it is a grave sin to entice anybody into changing religion. But a change of heart and life, being delivered from sins, attaining salvation, having a life full of joy and peace – such a change is essential and required.
What if the unexpected should suddenly happen? You may say that this is mere preaching. I neither know you nor do I know your name, but trust me, this message has your name on it. This publication is God’s letter to you. I am addressing you, you who have the privilege of being able to read this by the grace of God. Maybe you think that since you are healthy, doing well and are at peace then what need is there for God? God is for those who are troubled, restless, defeated in life and slaves of their bad habits. But whatever be your condition, God is waiting for you.
You may think that you are not somebody important; neither might the world give you any importance. But for God you are very important and valuable; so important that He shed His blood and gave His life for you on the cross. He can do all that in your life which you cannot even imagine, far beyond than you can ask or even think (Ephesians 3:20).
God is in the business of saving people. He loves them all, no matter what their religion or caste may be; no matter what they may be like. We love only those who love us in return, but He loves even those who hate Him. What you are reading is not just preaching it is a message of God’s love – a love that has done what no one else has ever done.
If you do not accept yourself to be a sinner, you are deceiving nobody but yourself.
Once this moment slips away then it will never come in your grasp ever again. Who knows if you may have another opportunity to repent of your sins. I beseech you, say this prayer now – “O! Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner and forgive my sins.”
The only condition to receiving forgiveness is asking forgiveness. You may wonder, “Is it possible for God to forgive me?” Prayer from a sincere heart never goes in vain. Just this simple prayer is all that is needed, “O! Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner and forgive my sins.”
No comments:
Post a Comment