Christ & Christianity

[Guest guest]

Excerpted from "From Amma's Heart" by Swami Amritaswarupananda

 

Christ & Christianity

 

Questioner: I am a Christian by birth. I love Christ, but I love Amma

too. You are my Guru. However, my dilemma is that my two sons, who

are ardent followers of the church and Jesus, do not believe in

anything other than that. They keep telling me, "Mom, we are sad

because we won't see you in heaven, as you will go to hell by not

following Christ." I try to talk to them, but they won't listen.

Amma, what should I do?

 

Amma: Amma perfectly understands their faith in Christ. In fact, Amma

sincerely appreciates and has a great respect for people who have dep

faith in their religion and personal God. However, it is completely

wrong and illogical to say that all others who don't believe in

Christ will go to hell. When Christ said, "Love your neighbor as you

love yourself," he didn't mean, "Love only Christians,"did he? To

say, "All others, except Christians will go to hell," is not

considering others due to a total lack of love. This is a lie. Lying

is against God. Godhood, or Godliness, is in being truthful, because

God is Truth. God is in considering and loving others.

 

A statement such as "All of you will go to hell because don't follow

Christ" shows total disrespect and a lack of kindness to the rest of

humanity. How haughty and cruel an attitude it is to say that all the

great saints, sages and the billions of people who lived before

Christ went to hell? Are these people claiming that experiencing God

is only 2000 years old, or do they mean that even God is only 2000

years old? This is against the very nature of God, who is all-

pervasive and beyond space and time.

 

Jesus was God manifest in human form. Amma has absolutely no problem

accepting that. However, this doesn't mean that all the great

incarnations before and after him are not Avatars [God descended in

human form] or are incapable of saving those who have faith in them.

 

Didn't Christ say, "The kindgdom of heaven is within?" This is such a

simple and straightforward statement. What does it mean? It means God

dwells within you. If heaven is within, hell is also within. It is

your mind. The mind is a very effective tool. We can use it to create

both hell and heaven.

 

All Mahatmas, including Christ, give great importance to love and

compassion. In reality, love and compassion are the fundamental

principles of all genuine religions. These divine qualities serve as

the substratum of all faiths. Without accepting pure consciousness as

the essential principle underlying everything, one cannot love and be

compassionate to others. To say, "I love you, but only if you are a

Christian," is like saying, "Only Christians have consciousness; all

others are inert objects." To deny consciousness is to deny love and

Truth.

 

Daughter, as far as your attitude towards the situation is concerned,

Amma doesn't think that it will be easy to change the way your

children feel. And neither is it necessary. Let them be with their

faith. Follow your heart and silently continue to do what you think

is right. After all, the deep feeling in your heart is what really

matters.

 

Be a good Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew or Muslim, but don't ever

lose your discrimination and become a mad person in the name of

religion.

 

Amme Sharanam,

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