Vaishnava guru....on Christianity

[Jan Ardena]

Quote.....

This week’s Srila Siddhaswarupananda television program is a continuation of a series on “Real Christianity.”

We’re continuing our question and answer session on Christianity. I don’t know how many we can get to but we’ll try to answer as many as possible.

Question: Many Christians say Jesus died for our sins, can this be done?

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: What they say is not incorrect. A person who surrenders to Jesus, I mean actual surrender, by following his instructions, such a person’s reactions to their previous activities will be wiped away. But people who imagine that they are bathing in the blood of Jesus and continue in their sinful life are simply dogs. Such people who return to sinful life are in fact crucifying Jesus for their own enjoyment. These people are the most condemned. The bonafide representatives of God can take on the sins of others. When a person accepts a spiritual master there is a transfer of karma. This is a universal law. So Jesus will cleanse one if you follow his instructions. If not, he says “Get away from me, I don’t know you.”

Question: I was talking to one person and he said that there are no other books and scriptures. There is no other source but the Bible.

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Many people are afraid to receive information about God from the Bhagavad-Gita or Srimad Bhagavatam. They read the following verse in the Bible:

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

And if any man shall take away from the words of this book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” Revelations 22:18-19

This statement makes many Christians afraid of receiving knowledge from any other book. What they don’t know is that God can’t be limited by 1 book. They have a misunderstanding of this verse. The author of Revelations is talking about the book of Revelations. You are not allowed to add or subtract from what he has written in the book of Revelations. If you try to alter it then bad things will happen to you. So don’t tamper with it. But the Bible isn’t one book. It is a compilation of many books, and Revelations is just one of them. However, the ordinary person will read Revelations and think this refers to the whole Bible when in fact it refers to the book of Revelations.

Try to understand that the Bible is made up of many books each written at different times. The Book of Revelations has been placed at the end. It is a book of prophecy but it is not the last book that was written (chronologically). But it is placed at the end to scare people into staying on the “team”. This act is actually a form of distortion of the meaning of the verse.

Ultimately if you want to love God you need to know about Him. The Bhagavad-Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam give a full description and if you read these you will become a better Christian. God is so vast and wonderful that you could write about Him forever and never finish. You can’t limit God. Some try to limit God to one son. You can have 10 sons but God can only have one? All scripture is good, and if it can remove the mystery and allow a fuller description of God then that is to your benefit. This notion that “If you read anything else you are going to Hell” is very unfortunate. Because these people have no knowledge of who God is, they take shelter of matter. They love the world and look to Salvationist philosophy to allow them to continue loving matter and not the Lord.

Question: I have a friend who went to a Bible college and she invited me to a Christmas celebration recently. When I went into her home it was full of presents but no pictures of Jesus, or crosses. It was like the whole celebration was about having lots of presents and not about Jesus.

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: This surprised you? I’m surprised you are surprised [laughter] There are many professional preachers. For Jesus, for Krsna, for Buddha. Buddha taught ahimsa (non-violence) and yet now you find many Buddhists eat meat. They are hypocrites. There are so many hypocrites. You may have so much knowledge but it is all useless unless you are a knower of God. Jesus was a pure lover of God and you must experience this common ground of love for God. Textbook knowledge won’t help. We won’t claim to be great Bible scholars, but we do know Jesus Christ.

Question: People ask me how are we serving God. We aren’t feeding the poor, or building hospitals.

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: They don’t understand that the person is not the body. They think serving God means serving His children. This is nice but you must also satisfy their spiritual needs. The greatest need in the world is to know God. The problem is in this materialistic society they don’t get to the root cause of the problem. This is a long subject but the root of the problem is materialistic economics. You can help people’s material needs but this is not enough. If they can develop love for God then they can break out of the cycle of birth, disease, old age, and death. If you can help them spiritually and materially, then do it. We are not perfect, we have limited resources, but this is our small way of trying to help. Give people God and you give them everything.

Any comments?

Love

Jan Ardena.

 

[Jan Ardena]

Q&A....part 2.

Quote....

This is a continuation of last week’s Srila Siddhasvarupananda television program on Christianity.

Srila Siddhasvarupananda: There are many so-called Christians who say that God came down as Jesus and bled in order to cleanse us of our sins. In the old Jewish tradition the blood-letting of an animal was used as a purifying sacrifice. We aren’t going to go into whether this is bonafide or not. But this process was laid down in the old Jewish scriptures. Now within Christianity it is said that we all became dirty due to the actions of our great, great, great, great… grandparents Adam and Eve. As such all of mankind has become impure. The whole mystery about the incarnation of Jesus Christ is that God became man and ended up being the lamb/blood sacrifice to cleanse mankind. So these Christians are promoting the idea that there is no other way for man to become purified except to sacrifice God on an altar. God became man to be sacrificed like an animal.

Audience Member: I remember growing up Catholic we used to say “Lamb of God take on the sins of the world.”

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: It is true to call him a lamb as he did not fight back. He was humble. But the problem with this philosophy is that it says that God had to come under the laws of material nature. God does not have to follow the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are for those who aren’t God. It is nonsense to think that God has to follow certain laws in order for man to be purified. Why is it necessary for God to come into the material world in order to experience it? They are saying that the most offensive activity, the crucifixion of a loving servant of God was the sacrifice needed. A real sacrifice is out of love.

Audience Member: Some would say that it is an act of love on the part of Jesus.

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: It is an act of love on Jesus’ part but it is the priest who slits the throat of the animal. Those who crucified Jesus Christ committed a sin cast upon all of man. This act was so offensive to the Supreme Person that it would not be hard to see God rejecting the whole of the world.

[intermission]

Audience Member: … they call it Good Friday.

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: Why is it good that on this day the pure loving servant of God was murdered and tortured? This is not good, it is the ultimate bad. On this day one should cry. This is what the servants of God feel. Whoever sees or hears about this, it must tear their heart out. If it does not then they are not my friend, they are not lovers of Jesus.

It is true that if I become his devotee and give my life to him, make his commandments my very life, then indeed you will be purified of your sinful reactions. But to say that God is obligated to be tortured in order for mankind to be purified is nonsense. God does not need to be tortured by animals/demons. This isn’t necessary. This is mayavadi philosophy. Maya means illusion. It means that God comes under the laws of material nature and comes under ignorance. Because of this they deny God’s power to purify.

They are trying to understand the big picture but really they are doubters of God’s power. As such they put Him in a powerless position. He had to go through this lila – pastime. Any sacrifice done in lust, anger, or hate is not a real sacrifice.

They say that God the father sacrificed His son on the cross. God so much loved the world that He sacrificed His son. So they make God the priest to bring on a higher power. Who the hell is God sacrificing for? SACRIFICES ARE NOT FOR GOD!!! YOU IDIOTS!!! They are saying there is a law above God that God must follow. This is Mormon philosophy. That you can become a God and have your own universe. A God has a God. God does not worship anyone. They think God is like us… like Michelangelo speculating that God is old with a white beard. Thus if God must make a sacrifice it must be something very valuable to Him. The most valuable thing to God is His pure devotee. In the Bhagavad-Gita the Lord says that “No one is more dear to me than my pure devotee.”

Audience Member: Why did God allow His son to be crucified?

Srila Siddhaswarupananda: To ask why does God allow bad things to happen means we want God to take away our freedom. We have within us the ability to do harm to a devotee of God. In the 15th Century in India Haridas Thakur was beaten in one market place after another. He was immersed in samadhi – love for God. So these pure devotees take on all hardships in service for the Lord. If a burden comes they are willing to take it on and if you take away these hardships in fact you take away their life. God will never take away your freedom to reject Him. You have this freedom but watch out what you do with it.

Love

Jan Ardena.

 

[TruthSeeker]

A real sacrifice is out of love.

I surely do believe that... If Jesus would die just because God said to let himself be killed it would make no sense. What saves people is not his death, but his Love.

I don't really agree with all those things. Currently I don't agree with any religion, I just know that God is Love and do my best to find Himself inside me.

To ask why does God allow bad things to happen means we want God to take away our freedom. We have within us the ability to do harm to a devotee of God. In the 15th Century in India Haridas Thakur was beaten in one market place after another. He was immersed in samadhi ?love for God. So these pure devotees take on all hardships in service for the Lord. If a burden comes they are willing to take it on and if you take away these hardships in fact you take away their life.

God allows us to do mistakes. He doesn't stop our free will. A lot of religious people say that God hurt us to punish us or to teach us. That's not true. Anything bad comes from God. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him. As it's written in James, if a fountain gives sweet water, can it sundennly give salty water? Or as it's written in Matthew 7, "Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?"

About the persecution of people that Love God... My pastor talked about that some weeks ago. In the end I was really scared about what could happen with me. After that, I found some scriptures that helped me to understand that that's not exactly what happens. The Truth is that someone that reflects God's pure Love towards others is never hurt. This person is surrounded by such beauty and such Love that anyone can harm him.

 

[Jan Ardena]

Truthseeker,

I don't really agree with all those things. Currently I don't agree with any religion, I just know that God is Love and do my best to find Himself inside me.

Hi TS, thanks for the reply, it’s always nice to hear from you, as I can sense that you are truly searching after God.
Regardless of what anyone says to or about you, it is a noble act, especially for one so young. MAXIMUM RESPECT…..SEEN!!

In the 18th and last chapter in the BG, Lord Krishna advises His friend and devotee, Arjuna, to “…abandon all varieties of religion and surrender unto me (God), I will protect you.”
Surrendering to God is the point of Religion, it does not matter whether you are christian, muslim or jew. Krishna says “…abandon all varieties of religion…” From that we can understand there can only be one religion, to surrender unto God

God allows us to do mistakes. He doesn't stop our free will. A lot of religious people say that God hurt us to punish us or to teach us. That's not true.

The wages of sin is death
The gift of God is eternal life.

People say there is no mention of reincarnation in the Bible, but here is a great example.

Wages mean payment, being paid means to have worked or done something for it. Wages does not mean slavery or being forced to work, it implies a sense of mutiality on both sides, the employer and the employed.

Death means we have come to the end of life, it is a natural proccess. In the case of the above biblical statement, “work” is how you live and conduct your whole life. (as we are forced by nature to act)

Sin, is trangression of laws, it is technically a criminal act. When we act unlawfully we know that, if caught, we will be punished by the governing laws of the land in the hope that we see the error of our ways and refrain from committing unlawful acts in the future.

So, if we transgress the laws of nature, we will have sinned, this means we will die.

*But we are going to die anyway, I hear people shouting from the back.* :bugeye:

The fate of our present life is already sealed due to our last life, and what we do now affects our next life, the only thing that can change those conditions is how we act, this is what is meant by freewill. As we have sinned, and have to die, means we have to be born, hence we get a continuous cycle of birth and death, until we come to our senses.
Had Adam not eaten the apple, and desired to become independent of God, he would (eventually) have ceased to physically exist, due to natures laws,(along with his descendants) and go back to God, where he would enjoy eternal life.

Anything bad comes from God.

When something is "bad" it is spoilt, it is removed from its original condition, hence "badness" must be a consequence of nature.

Love

Jan Ardena.

 

[Jan Ardena]

More still.....

Syamasundara dasa: Kierkegaard believed that in the religious stage, there is intense suffering, comparable to the suffering of Job.

Srila Prabhupada: Why is this? If one is (God) Krsna conscious, why should he suffer?

Syamasundara dasa: Well, Kierkegaard was a Christian. Christ suffered for our sins, and the process of overcoming sin is a kind of suffering.

Srila Prabhupada: But that is a wrong theory. If Christ is God, or the son of God, why should he suffer? What kind of God is subjected to suffering? Why should either God or man suffer? The whole point is that if there is suffering, you must put an end to it. Many so-called Christians think that because they have some contract with Christ, because Christ suffered for their sins, they can go on sinning. Is this a very good philosophy?

Syamasundara dasa: For Kierkegaard, the culmination of commitment is religious life, which is epitomized in the inwardness of suffering.

Srila Prabhupada: Suffering arises because we identify with the body. When a person has an automobile accident, he may not actually suffer, but because he identifies himself with matter, with the body, he suffers. Because God is always in full knowledge and is always transcendental to the material world, God never suffers. It is a question of knowledge whether there is suffering or not.

Syamasundara dasa: But don't pennance and austerity involve suffering?

Srila Prabhupada: No. For those who are advanced in knowledge, there is no suffering. Of course, there may be some bodily pain, but a person in knowledge understands that he is not the body; therefore, why should he suffer? He thinks, "Let me do my duty, That is the advanced stage. Suffering is due to ignorance.

Syamasundara dasa: But doesn't one forsake bodily comforts by serving God?

Srila Prabhupada: Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami were high government ministers, but they abandoned their material opulence in order to bestow mercy upon the common people. Thus they accepted a mere loincloth and slept under a different tree every night. Of course, foolish people might say that they were suffering, but they were meerged in the ocean of transcendental bliss writing about Krsna?s pastimes with the gopis. they engaged their minds in thoughts of Krsna and the gopis, and they wrote books from day to day. There was no question of their suffering, although a fool may think, "Oh, these men were ministers, high government officials, and they were so comfortable with their families and homes. Now they ahve no home, and are going about in loinclothes, and eating very little." A materialist would think that they were suffering, but they were no suffering. they were enjoying.

Syamasundara dasa: Some Christians emphasize the value of suffering, thinking that to abandon worldly life is to abandon pleasure and to suffer.

Srila Prabhupada: this is due to a poor fund of knowledge. They have developed this philosophy after the demise of Jesus Christ. It is more or less concocted.........

Love

Jan Ardena.






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[Zero]

Ah, a hindu guru...Hinduism is good stuff, good stuff. Especially the capacity of religious tolerance sets it apart. And of course there's the guru (forget his name...will look it up if you want it) who tried Hinduism, Islam and Christianity and found spiritual joy in all three. His point is that all religious viewpoints are equally valid.

Hinduism just seems to be wiser, is all.

__________________________________________
There is no god, afterlife or divine love. There is only Entropy, the mother from which we were all born. She tugs our souls with the beautiful, maternal love of chaos. Why do you keep Her waiting?

-central philosophy of Zero, Sage of Chaos