Paying attention, Satveer?

netsuffering. I am certainly very ignorant of other religions besides my own but I am trying to find out from those of you who are knowledgible some authentic information. What I find in our dialogue is some of you just put down Jesus and Christianity. I see no good reason for that. Jesus was not a criminal, for us to be ashamed of him and although he was put to a death meant for criminals. In the modern world, even some Christians do not want to believe in Him. It is Christmas time now. How much of Jesus is shown to people ? It is Santa, Rudolph, Snowman etc. It appears for some reason people do not want to accept Christ.

He was rejected 2000 years ago right from birth to death. It took 300 or more years, for Constantine the Roman Emperor to accept Him and stop persecuting Christians.It is only after a terrible 325 years of persecution that Christianity took on in Europe and the Mediterranean Countries ( the Roman World ). Much of that area was taken over by Islam after 625 A.D. most probably by the sword.

So I know Jesus will not be accepted by most people in the world. His life was full of suffering and what he asked of us was to carry our cross and follow him. This is what those early Christians did and true Christians continue to do to this day. Very few people are willing to make the sacrifices needed. I am sure Jesus knows that. So for ordinary folk like most of us His mercy and forgiveness is our only way to heaven.

As for Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions, I am sure there is a lot to learn from each of them. If they were good enough for humanity to save ourselves and go to God there was no need for Christ to come down to earth and preach a religion. I wonder why he came, saying he had to die a terrible death. He could have a had a quick death under Herod as a a baby. So He had reason to live for 33 years, suffer and die, AND THEN RISE FROM THE TOMB ON THE THIRD DAY.

We would reincarante over and over again until we became “perfect” and reached God. I wish believers in Reincarantion all the best and hope they will someday find themselves in a heaven where there is no Jesus.

I am glad I have the advantge of knowing about Saints who followed in Christ’s steps showing the world that their lives were not in vain. They were all humble to know that we are all sinners, need forgiveness from Jesus and depend on Him and Him alone to reach that beautiful place called heaven.

It would be wonderful to believe that all of us are right no matter what we believe. Some suffer so much, some are greedy and take more than their share of earth’s bounty, starve and exploit the poor and lower classes of society . When is all this to change ? By now, I am sure we would have gone through enough lifetimes to see some visible changes of perfection and goodness.

As for St. Francis, he is only one of many incorrupt saints. The one I am most impressed with is St Bernadette of Lourdes, France. The Virgin Mary appeared to her 18 times in 1858, when she was only 14 . Thousands of people saw her in ectasy on each occasion. The Lourdes water have cured many people miraculously. Bernadette died of tuberculosis at age 35, in 1879. Her body was interred three times and on each occasion was found fresh and incorrupt. I have a picture of her taken in 1995. No embalming was ever done. I am not here to convince anyone of my faith. You will believe only if you wish to. That is a choice we all have and perhaps our salvation depends on that choice. God/Jesus has given me this opportunity to let you know of His wonderworks through his followers.

I read about Brahman and understood he/she/it is the eqivalent of Our God who is a Spirit- with no form, no body and we are forbidden by the first Commandment to give God a form. Then you have some sort of a Trinity – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva not exactly God the father, the son Jesus and the Holy Spirit of Christianity. Then come all the devas and devis and these to me felt the equivalent of angels. We do not worship angels but we do ask for their help and I have experienced their help in my life. Not miracles as such but I have received the help I needed at the time. Many people experience this.

Then you do have demons ( bad spirits). Here there seems no difference. So that proves there must be hell from where they come or may be they are on earth in some horrible form taking possession of some human beings. Take your pick.

So there are commonalities but all that does not explain the truth about reincarnation. Mary ( the Mother of Jesus) showed a vision of hell to those three children in Fatima (1917)and told them many people go there and that our prayers could help these poor souls. So we pray for everyone without exception, no matter what faith you belong to. So if you are not reincarnated, I hope our prayers will help to keep people out of hell.

I read about Ganesha and the disappearing milk. Well I do not know what to make of it .If no one speaks or says anything of the truth about Ganesha and the stories relating to him . Is he some sort of saviour who will help you get out of the cycle of births and deaths? He did not die when his head was cut off, so you believe he became a god ( I guess in my terminology a saint). May be.

I do not know if this is going anywhere but it is interesting for me and May God help us all get to the truth. God bless all of us and bring us peace on earth and heaven at the end. We in the USA have a lot to thank God for. I am sure we all did so in a special way yesterday Thanksgiving Day.

But after Christ there is recorded history, real people and real incidents and even in today’s modern world there are miraculous things happening and I am keen to learn what is happening in other religions as well. Reference Mary’s apparitions in Lourdes, France 1858; Fatima, Portugal 1917. One of those visionaries died in 2005. At present there are apparitions in Medjugore, Yugoslavia. There are many conversions to Cathoicism because of these apparitions and the miracles that take place in these places. I do not know of web sites. I am sure there are some but I do not know of any.

Thank you once again for your reply.

In response to:

“Hindus and Buddhists are assured of reincarnation and Christians are assured of Heaven/Hell.”

A philosophy within Hinduism, known as Dvaita philosophy, founded by Madhva, says that not ALL Hindus re-incarnate. Indeed, it classifies the souls into three types, the lowest of which never attains moksha, and goes into eternal hell. For more information, please refer to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhvacharya#Three_Classes_of_Souls_and_Eternal_Damnation

It would help if Rae Anderson had a similar viewpoint, and restricted her attentions to those who would take “a little more trouble”. Satveer clearly does not want to take more trouble, and FYI neither do most non-christians you meet.

Regarding your thanks to my comment 161, you’re welcome. It was interesting to see how you said St. Francis was “clearly” not responsible for the inquisition and its effects, when infact (as the article says) he was the one who asked that it be instituted. What positive motive could you possibly ascribe to his request ? And let us assume that his body is indeed “still fresh” as you said in an earlier comment, and that this is a miracle, and a super-natural sign confirming the [resemce christian god – what does this then tell you about your god, and the kind of people he likes ?

There is nothing wrong with the christian faith, well, atleast in comparison to other faiths (all pale before atheism, naturally). But, the arrogance that certain followers seem to exude – I believe in the actual god, you don’t, i’m really here to help you clear your head of all the silly BS that you call your religion so that you don’t go to hell and can join me in heaven – is what’s annoying. I associate this arrogance not with Christianity itself, but rather the society that many christians inhabit.

As for Jesus and Heaven, he spoke often of the Kingdom of God. About mansions prepared for those who are to be with Him, so beautiful the eye has not seen and it was beyond human imagination. He also spoke of the unquenchable fire prepared for those who did not accept Him. The prodigal son is admitted to his father’s house once he was forgiven when he came back. Jesus spoke of His Kingdom often. Not once did He mention that we would come back to another life in this world. He spoke of being reborn but that was in spirit, not that we would take birth again.

He said, he would come back at the end of time to judge the whole world. He forgave sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors etc. In fact, he said he came for sinners, saying the sick needed a physician. He told a story of people who were invited to a wedding feast, but those invited refused to come. Then he invited the poor and all in the street .They were expected to wear special clothes given by the host but one man arrived without these special clothes and he was bound hand and foot and ejected into the eternal fire ( which we call hell).

So Jesus surely mentioned both Heaven and Hell .He did not say who was going to each place. In fact, we know some of whom made it to heaven and we really do not know who went to hell. There is a hope that even very bad people might have asked for forgiveness at the last moment of their lives and so went to heaven.

When Mary appeared in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 she taught those kids a prayer ” Oh my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell, take all souls to paradise especially those who are to die this day.” We say this often on behalf of all humanity. So you are in our prayers and we believe Jesus will save good souls who for no fault of theirs are not his followers. But we Christians who know about Him have no excuse and so we have to follow in his footsteps and teach all of mankind about what he told us in the gospels.

So please do not take it out on Rae Hart Anderson. She is doing what Jesus expects of her. I am sure she meant to congratulate Mr. Chaudary. No doubt she would be disappointed over her defeat but this need not be taken as the reason for her sending that email to him. Take it in the best sense that she wished him well with final goal of getting to heaven in mind. Why does Christianity bug some of you ? All it teaches is there is a heaven and Jesus helps you to get there. The devil is powerful and deceives people by lying to us and he came to defeat the devil. Heaven was closed to all human beings before the death of Christ.

I cannot arugue with people who think Christ lied and that people put words into His mouth. They are welcome to their way of thinking. I am interested in those who would take a little more trouble to learn what he taught for our benefit.