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Jesus
Christ is that great son of man who was appointed to return
the lost children of Israel to the House of the Lord. The
Saviour of Israel who was born in Bethlehem twenty centuries
ago lived casting out radiance upon his people. As one
engaged in a battle against the institution of a decadent
priesthood as well as the traditional belief systems, he had
to confront much opposition. Indeed, the high priests had
even decided upon the crucifixion of the great man on the
cross. He had shown miracles to prove that he was sent by
God Himself.
What was this 'Gospel' which he had preached at the cost of
sacrifices and by way of his showing miracles?
He had spoken of the Day of Judgment. Christ was that great
lover of humanity who had realized the fact that mere
legislations and governments alone can never make a man
good. He taught that the ultimate objective of human life
was entry into Paradise and escape from Hellfire. He
proclaimed the eternal life of the Kingdom of Heaven to be
much higher than the transitory goods and comforts of this
life. He had enlightened the people on this matter with the
aid of some of the most beautiful and lofty examples that
could be conceived. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures
on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves
break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where
thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also." (Mathew 6:19-21)
Christ who strictly taught that it is better to cut off
here, and now, the parts of the body that are the cause of
sin than to subject one's whole body to the fire of Hell,
essentially teaches that it is better to save oneself from
Hell in the hereafter even if it were to entail the loss of
one's own life in this world. He said : "If your hand causes
you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life
maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire
never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it
off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to
have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to
enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes
and be thrown into hell, where 'their worm does not die, and
the fire is not quenched.' Everyone will be salted with fire. "(Mark 9:43-49)
Christ taught that to enter into Paradise and escape from
Hell one would have to act righteously. In particular, he
had stressed that such righteousness must not be founded on
the desire for worldly recognition. Look at the advice of
Jesus: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness'
before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no
reward from your Father in heaven." (Mathew 6:1)
"... so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father,
who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Mathew
6:4)
The Messiah, who taught that even the enemy was to be loved,
actually instructed the Israelites, who had lived a life in
mutual animosity and conflict, in the message of love and in
the way in which that message was to be the cause of moral
transformation. He had advised thus, "But I tell you: Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you
may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Mathew 5:44,45)
Christ had sought to alienate the people of Israel, who were
given to conflicts and quarrels, to murders and to anger
against their own brother and to abusing him, from all these
misconducts by teaching that all of these were acts that
could potentially lead to Hell. "You have heard that it was
said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who
murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that
anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to
judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is
answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You
fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." (Mathew
5:21,22)
Christ strongly opposed adultery. Indeed, he taught that to
even cast a glance upon a woman, with the intention of
desire, was tantamount to having sinned. "You have heard
that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you
that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart." (Mathew 5:27,28)
Here, all circumstances that may lead to adultery have come
in for criticism. The fundamental reason for the decadence
within the modern world wherein feminine charms have been
made the objects of display is highlighted in these words of
Christ made two millenniums ago.
Christ taught the masses that they were to live in
accordance with the directives issued by the Lord Creator
and Sustainer. He advised his followers that they were to
come closer unto Him through prayer and meditation. But he
had stressed that such acts should not be undertaken as a
hypocritical gesture that is to be displayed in front of the
people. He said that as it is the Lord Himself, who is best
aware of all secrets, who confers rewards, it is meaningless
to perform deeds in order that they be seen by the people.
However, Christ had taught that the belief in one God was
the highest of all commandments. Observe the reply he had
given to the question as to which commandment was the
greatest of all. "'The most important one,' answered Jesus,
'is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength.'" (Mark 12:29,30)
Look at the prayer which Christ taught, "'Our Father in
heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily
bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our
debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us
from the evil one." (Mathew 6:10-13)
Christ had taught that all prayer must be made to the Lord
God alone. While teaching the maxim, "Ask and it will be
given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door
will be opened to you." (Mathew 7:7) he had taught that the
Father in Heaven would respond in even more generous terms
to those who ask of Him. (Mathew 7:11). Indeed, in the most
critical junctures in the life of that great lover of
humanity, we have seen that he had always resorted only to
the calling upon the one Creator alone. Observe, for
instance, the occasion when he had called upon the one and
only God to save him from the cross prepared by the wicked
high priests of the land: "Going a little farther, he fell
with his face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is
possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will,
but as you will.'" (Mathew 26:39)
But what is it that the Christians of today do? The majority
of them are those who are involved in the act of be-
seeching their saints and idols apart from the one God who
created and sustains the entire universe. However, we do not
see, even a single instance, wherein Christ ever called upon
or consider a mediator, any of the other saintly
personalities who preceded him. It is, therefore, not
possible for any genuine follower of Christ, pledged as he
is to the life in accordance with the life of Christ, to
call upon any other than the one and only God.
How deplorable is the fact that those who actually call
themselves true Christians are, in fact, themselves engaged
in the worship of Christ and, therefore, in the act that is
contrary to his own advises! If only those who call upon and
make prayer to Lord Jesus had at least listened to the
advice of that great man. "Not everyone who says to me,
'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he
who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Mathew
7:21) Through these words Christ had sought to strongly
criticize the act of calling him 'Lord' and to advice the
people to do the will of the Father.
We have understood that Christ had preached the
unadulterated faith in the one God. Indeed, all prophets
right from Noah to John the Baptist had preached the same
message of 'Our Lord is one Lord.' Jesus had only repeated
that message. However, the church today holds as good a
doctrine that was unheard of by Christ or any of his
followers for that matter. That doctrine is the doctrine of
Trinity.
Even if all the books of the Bible ranging from Genesis to
Revelation, which stretched through the Old and New
Testaments, are sifted, cross examined and studied, nowhere
will there be found even a single statement to support the
idea that the God Lord comprises of the Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost. The 'Father' who is introduced in the Bible
is actually the one and only, Merciful God who created and
sustains this universe. The 'Holy Ghost' is but one among
the creations which work in accordance with the Divine
commandments. The 'Son' is but a great messenger who had
come to guide the Israelites along the path of
righteousness. These three are not the same; they are three
distinct individualities.
What, indeed, was that emotion which had then prompted the
Church to accept the doctrine of Trinity which, unlike the
faith in the one God taught by all messengers appointed in
the world which could easily be comprehended by the mind of
man, was difficult to comprehend and was never in the
original teachings of the prophets themselves?
It was four centuries after Christ that the Doctrine of
Trinity was accepted as the canonical belief of the Church
at the Synod of Constantinople. Up until that time the
doctrine was unknown to the apostles, who were still alive,
as well as to their followers. If by not accepting the
doctrine of Trinity one forfeits the reward of eternal life,
it will be Christ himself who will, first of all, be hurled
into the fire of Hell.
It can be seen that this belief has been borrowed from the
other existing perverted beliefs of the day. Indeed, the
idea of three gods as well as of their union was an idea
that was in vogue even before the time of Christ. Historical
excavations have now made it clear that the Babylonian
civilization which existed two thousand years before Christ
nurtured a belief in the oneness of the three gods Ishamther,
Shin and Shamesh. The Egyption civilization which existed
about the same time, too, held the belief in the oneness of
the three gods Horus, Osiris and Isis. According to the
Palyrian beliefs that were extant in the first century after
Christ, the Universe was held in balance by the union of the
persons of the Moon-god, Sun-god and the god of the heavens.
The Hindu belief was that the one God, Parabrahmma, resided
in the three manifestations of Bhrahmav, Shiva and Vishnu.
The Buddhists, too, held a belief in the three
manifestations of the Divine: Vajjupani, Manjushri and
Aralokitheshwaran. The Mithraists of Persia were a people
who worshipped the three gods Oramasdas, Mithran and Ahirman.
The Emperor Constantine too was a religionist of such a
perverted mentality. He was, in fact, one of the most cruel
emperors the world had ever seen in that he had mercilessly
butchered his own father-in-law, brother-in-law, nephew,
wife and son. It is held that he had embraced Christianity
in order that he be freed of the sins he had committed. Even
so, Constantine, who readily and eagerly believed the
Christian belief that all sins of the past would be forgiven
once the baptism commenced, was himself baptised only on his
deathbed. This implied that he had no opportunity,
whatsoever, to sin again after his baptism. (Ref. T.W. Doane:
The Bible Myths: Should we believe in Trinity ?, Watch tower
Bible Society)
It was this Emperor Constantine who had presided over the
Nicene Council in the year 325 C.E. It must thus be
remembered that even while he presided over the council he
had undergone no baptism himself. It was this very council
that laid the basis for the acceptance of the belief that
'Christ and God are one and the same' which ultimately led
the church towards the recognition of the doctrine of
trinity itself. It is, therefore, not difficult to see that
it was nothing but the ploy of Constantine to consolidate
his own political power through the conjoining of the
religion of the worship of the sun, which was prevalent in
Rome, with Christianity, which had worked behind the origin
of this deviation from established norms.
It was not just the recognition of the doctrine of Trinity,
which had taken place at the council at Constantinople. It
was at this council that the cross of light, the symbol of
the Sun god, which resembled the cross on which Christ was
crucified, was accepted as the symbol of Christianity
itself. It was again at this very council that it was
decided that December 25th, the birthday of the Sun god,
would be celebrated as Christmas day and that Sunday, which
was the holy day for the Sun god, would be observed as the
day of the Sabbath. It was only through the exile and murder
of the great,scholarly critics of the Nicene Council which
approved the intermingling of these false and perverted
ideas of other groups with the pristine teachings of Christ,
the messenger of God, that the Church came to accept these
grave distortions as canonical.
We have understood that Christ had never taught the concept
of Trinity. All that he did say was that it is only the One
God who is to be worshipped. He had worked many a miracle
But he never claimed that he had done these to prove that he
was God or that he was one in a triple God-head. He had
said, "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father
had taught me." (John 8:28)
Jesus was, indeed, a great man. A man who had endured great
sacrifices for the sake of the Israelites. For that reason
itself he was, doubtless, great. But the Almighty who had
appointed him is much greater still. This has been stated by
Christ himself: "..the Father is greater than I." (John
14:28) Here, Christ has struck at the very root of the
Trinity doctrine which holds that the One God is essentially
a combination of three equally powerful personalities: the
father, the son and the holy ghost.
The most important gospel of Christ was this, "
'Worship the
Lord, your God, and serve him only.'" (Mathew 4:10) Yes. It
is only, the pure and holy Creator, the Sustainer of all
life, who is to be worshipped. Krishna, Christ and the
prophet Muhammad (pbuh) : all were creations; never the
Creator. It is the Creator who is to be worshipped. The
Almighty, All-Powerful Creator alone. This is the Gospel of
Christ.
That which the Quran quotes from the words of Jesus is also
the same message. "'It is Allah Who is my Lord and your
Lord; then worship Him. This is a Way that is straight.'" (Quran
3:51)
Jesus had departed from this world conveying the news of the
arrival of a great messenger from God who was to come after
him. He said: "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good
that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Pericletus will
not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When
he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to
sin and righteousness and judgement....
"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you
into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak
only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to
come." (John 16:7-13)
The Pericletus prophesied by Jesus was born in Arabia. It
was the prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who came confirming and
attesting to the truth of the mission of Jesus, who taught
the world concerning sin, truth, justice and law. Indeed, it
was he who had guided the world unto all truth. The prophet
Muhammad (pbuh), who had taught the etiquettes that were to
be observed in all fields of life, was truly the follower of
Christ as well as the last of the messengers. Islam is the
religion that has been completed through him. He had
exhorted the people to tread upon the path of Jesus and all
the earlier prophets.
Accept, therefore, the prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the follower
of Christ, as the messenger of God. Order life in accordance
with the dictates of the Quran - the Divine book revealed to
the world through him. That, and that alone, is the path to
eternal salvation. |