Defines man in all his dimensions to account for human existence in the Natural World.
Excerpt: Man cannot explain the Birth of Jesus using his scientific knowledge. The Birth of Jesus can only be understood as a fact of Creation, a creative event. Each man is born as a created being and the birth of Jesus as a singular event reveals a creative mechanism not known to man and not subject to the limitations of man’s rational power. God uses the dimension called Whole Love to bring Unity and Harmony between the dimensions of Matter, Energy, Time, and Space to create man and the World in which man exists.
The word Christ (Greek. Christos) refers to the Messiah whose appearance is prophesied in the Old Testament and is used as a title to describe Jesus of Nazareth. I am using the term “Whole Christ” to describe Jesus before His human birth, Jesus during the years spent on this Earth, Jesus after His Resurrection, and Jesus who gives the Hope of the Second Coming to establish The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The word Christ may not communicate the entirety of Jesus and in the four Gospels we do not obtain the full picture as the event called ‘The Second Coming’ has not yet taken place. The word “Love” (Hebrew. ‘ahavah’, Greek. ‘agape’) is presented in Scripture as the very nature or essence of God, the supreme attribute in which all other attributes are harmonized. Love is a bond that unites all virtues. I consider the Power/Force/Energy of Mercy, Grace, and Compassion as the operating mechanism of God’s Love and could be simply called Divine Providence. I am using the term “Whole Love” to describe God’s Unconditioned Love that is not determined or fully accounted by human knowledge and human rationality. In other words, I have no ability to empower myself to receive God’s Unconditioned Love. I cannot manipulate God’s Whole Love through my actions, behavior, or even prayers. I can experience Whole Love but, I cannot explain or fully account for the existence of that Love.
Man cannot explain the Birth of Jesus using his scientific knowledge. The Birth of Jesus can only be understood as a fact of Creation, a creative event. It should not come as a surprise as each human being who took birth on Earth has always arrived as an original, unique, distinctive, and one of its own kind of object with a genome that never existed in the past, and would also never exist again in the future. Each man is born as a created being and the birth of Jesus as a singular event reveals a creative mechanism not known to man and not subject to the limitations of man’s rational power. God uses the dimension called Whole Love to bring Unity and Harmony between the dimensions of Matter, Energy, Time, and Space to create man and the World in which man exists.
To experience the Joy of Christmas, to seek the uplifting power of Jesus Christ, man must know the truth and reality about human existence. Human knowledge and rationality in themselves do nothing to justify human existence or the existence of this universe. To establish the fact of this human existence on one known planet called Earth is beyond the abilities of human cognitive powers. The biological basis of human existence demands the support of Love whose operating principles are Mercy, Grace, and Compassion. This Love is not conditioned by human behavior and human actions and not even prayers. Man cannot empower himself to acquire God’s Love using his free will. The good and evil actions of man, the right and bad conduct of man will be possible if and only if man’s existence precedes his actions and behavior. It is often argued that the evil and suffering in the world seems to count against the existence of God. I have to account for my physical existence before I can share the experience of pain, misery, disappointment, frustration, and suffering of my life’s condition. The fact or the reality of human pain and suffering cannot exclude the fact of God’s existence. Man at any given age and any given stage of his existence, from conception, physical birth, infancy, youth, adult, old age and death, in ill-health or good health depends upon an Unchanging Spiritual Principle to bring Unity and Harmony to maintain that condition or state called existence. This concept of God’s Unconditioned Love or WholeLove for man is shared by the Birth of Jesus. When I think of this WholeLove, I feel better, my mood gets uplifted, the burden of my painful existence is eased, and I can sense the Joy of the Season.
Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to Corinthians, in the New Testament Book of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, verses #4 to 8 describes the attributes of Love: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”
Jesus Christ while teaching the operating principle called Love, names Love as a Law, a Law above all other laws of nature, and above all other Commandments. In the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Chapter 22, verses 37 to 40 “WholeLove” is explained as “Whole Law”: Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Love is the supreme attribute, nature, and essence of God and at the same time it operates as a Law above all other Laws of Nature and the commandments shared by Prophets. WholeLove can be stated as the WholeLaw that governs the existence of man and gives man the chance to experience Peace, Harmony, and Tranquility in his living condition.
Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, Chapter 13, verse 13 shares the Spiritual Principles of Conservation: “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Man exists in a world that is restless and is constantly changing. The Individual, created human being is born, grows and develops, exists with a physical identity that constantly changes under the powerful influence of Time and the event called death records the loss of that identity that is never constant at any time of its earthly existence. In the natural world, such changes in appearance are governed by the Laws of Conservation such as the Laws of Conservation of Mass, Energy, and Momentum. During man’s physical existence, the physical form and appearance change and yet the Spiritual Principles of Faith, Hope, and Love are conserved. Man cannot depend upon his knowledge and rationality as they are always subject to change. To know the Subjective and Objective Reality or the “WholeReality” of his ‘WholeExistence’, man needs to know the Law of Conservation of Faith, Hope, and Love.
The word Prayer refers to man’s communication with God. It is a spiritual or devotional communication to make a humble, sincere request. Prayer is the act of supplication and it includes words of praise, words of thanksgiving, words of confession, and words of plea seeking sanction of a favor to transform a mental desire into a physical reality in the external world. If God is omniscient, He must know of the evil; and if God is omnipotent, He must be able to remove the evil; and if God is perfectly benevolent and is loving, there should be no pain and suffering. To experience pain and misery, to experience suffering, disappointment and frustration, I have to maintain the condition called existence. At a fundamental level, I have to understand my ability to know things, my power to rule or govern things, and I must know my ability to make choices to change things in my external environment.
Jesus in the New Testament Book of Matthew, Chapter 6, verse 8 instructs: “Do not be like them (pagans), for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” In Lord’s Prayer, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that the purpose of the ‘Whole Prayer’ is that of asking, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Using my human knowledge and rationality, I can neither account for my existence nor account for my experience of pain and suffering which describes the nature of my existence.
I describe ‘Whole Prayer’ as an act of Faith, and Hope in recognition of the fact or reality called Whole Love that imparts its qualities and virtues such as Patience, Perseverance, Tolerance, and Kindness. Even if I cannot change the circumstances of my life that cause or give the experience of pain, suffering, and misery, the acceptance of Whole Love makes me pain-tolerant, and pain-resistant. It gives me the strength called ‘Endurance’ to overcome the challenge called the ‘Stress of Life’.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas.
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS – THE UPLIFTING POWER OF CHRIST: HUMAN EXISTENCE AND THE GAME OF CHESS:
Human existence could be viewed as a game of chess. Depending upon the nature of the opponent, human existence faces challenges from several directions which may not be anticipated, and man may or may not be able to escape from the danger posed to his existence.
CHRIST – THE DIVINE CHESS PLAYER
The popular game of Chess is played on a Chessboard by two players each with 16 pieces. The game pieces have varying abilities of movement over the Chessboard. The piece identified as ‘King’ can move in all directions but can only move by one space during a given move.
Human Existence could be viewed as a Game of Chess. If I am the player, who would be my opponent?
In the Game of Chess, the King moves one space in any direction.
The object of the Game of Chess is to ‘Checkmate’ the opponent player’s King. The move that is known as ‘Checkmate’ wins the Chess game by checking the opponent’s King so that it cannot be protected. The condition of the King after such a move indicates complete defeat or that the King is dead.
The move known as ‘Checkmate’ – Its relevance to Human Existence
Human Existence could be compared to the Game of Chess. A variety of physical, chemical, and biological factors constantly challenge human existence. The man learns to survive by making the necessary moves and by deploying all his defensive mechanisms and resources. During his life’s journey, man eventually finds himself in a position without any escape route. Just like the ‘Checkmated’ King, man may get cornered in a situation which is beyond his control. The Chess game pieces have no ability other than the movement that is allowed by the rules of the Game. Unlike the Chess Game, the man whose existence is ‘Checkmated’, the man whose existence is undefended; the man who is not capable of making any more moves to protect his own existence, may get rescued by a ‘Uplifting Power’; and such an ‘Upward’ move is not described in the Game of Chess.
MAN, vs GOD – THE JOY OF GETTING ‘CHECKMATED’:
MAN, vs GOD – THE JOY OF GETTING ‘CHECKMATED’.
IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ‘SURPRISED BY JOY, C.S. LEWIS DESCRIBED A GAME OF CHESS.
Clive Staples Lewis (1898 – 1963), Oxford and Cambridge Scholar, novelist, writer of stories for children, and Literary Critic, in his Autobiographical Sketch titled ‘Surprised by Joy’ has visualized his existence as that of a ‘Divine Pursuit’. It is not man who searches and eventually finds God. It is rather God who pursues the man throughout his life’s moves. God is the one who searches for man and not vice versa. God goes about seeking the souls that are His. If man wanders off, God goes to man in order to reconcile him. God’s searching for man is serious and is not ostensible. If life could be described as Man vs God Chess Game; God skillfully places the man in a position which gives no option of escape and finally God captures man. C.S. Lewis has entitled the penultimate chapter of his Autobiography as “Checkmate”. Lewis describes God as the Divine Chess player who gradually maneuvers him into an impossible position. “All over the board my pieces were in the most disadvantageous positions. Soon I could no longer cherish even the illusion that the initiative lay with me. My Adversary began to make His final moves.” When God is the Divine Chess player, getting ‘Checkmated’ is only a moment of great Joy. The man who is defeated, the man who is pursued, and the man who is out maneuvered, is saved by the ‘Uplifting Power’ of Mercy, Grace, and Compassion of the Divine Chess player.
THE UPLIFTING POWER OF CHRIST:
THE UPLIFTING POWER OF CHRIST
In the New Testament Book of the Gospel according to John, in Chapter 10, Jesus has described Himself. In verse 11, He states: “I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” And He further clarifies in verses 14 and 15 by stating: “I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
THE BOOK OF LUKE, CHAPTER 19, VERSE 10: “FOR THE SON OF MAN CAME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE WHAT WAS LOST.”
THE SHEPHERD AND HIS FLOCK:
As the shepherd marches ahead, the sheep of his flock follow him from behind and recognize him by the commands of his voice. In the Book of Matthew, Chapter 18, verses 12 to 14, Jesus describes the Parable of the Lost Sheep: “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off.” God is not willing that any of us should be lost. In case we choose to wander off, He is willing to search for us, find us and take us back to His Home. And after saving the lost sheep, Jesus tells about the shepherd: “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” (Book of Luke, Chapter 15, verses 3 – 7). God delights Himself by finding the lost among us.
THE PROBLEM OF BLACK SHEEP:
BLACK SHEEP – WHAT IS THE PROBLEM???
The problem of “Black Sheep” is not about its color. The word ‘black’ reflects the discredited status of the sheep. Black Sheep means a member of a family or group regarded as not so respectable or successful as the rest. The flock rejects one of its own, and the discredited member is described as the “Black Sheep”. The Shepherd tends to His flock of sheep who recognize Him and follow Him. In the Book of John, Chapter 10, verse 9, Jesus describes Himself as the Gate of His sheep pen, and said: “If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” What happens to the “Black Sheep” who is not a member of His flock? The non-member could be described as a disbeliever. Who would rescue the “Black Sheep” that has wandered off? As a discredited member of my community and my country, the concept of “Black Sheep” and its “Uplift” is of a great interest and concern to me.
THE PROBLEM OF “BLACK SHEEP” – WOULD THE GOOD SHEPHERD LOOK FOR LOST “BLACK SHEEP”?
Jesus assures us that He is aware of the existence of sheep that may not belong to His sheep pen. In the Book of John, Chapter 10, verse 16, He gives a sense of great hope to others who may not know Him and may not live under His protection: “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be One flock and One Shepherd.
JESUS WOULD ALSO FIND THE OTHER SHEEP THAT ARE NOT OF HIS SHEEP PEN. THERE SHALL BE ONE FLOCK AND ONE SHEPHERD.
THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS – THE BOOK OF REVELATIONS, CHAPTER 19, VERSE 16
The Joy of Christmas comes from the fact that God knows you, and He takes pleasure in finding you and He gets you back into His Protection even if you have wandered away from Him and got lost. He is aware of the sheep that are not in His sheep pen. Even the “Black Sheep” belong to His sheep pen and He would rejoice when He rescues one lost sheep.
Rudranarasimham. Rebbapragada
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