Philosophically there was nothing extraordinary in Christian principles. I had seen in other lives just the same reformation that I had heard of among Christians. The pious lives of Christians did not give me anything that the lives of men of other faiths had failed to give. His death on the Cross was a great example to the world, but that there was anything like a mysterious or miraculous virtue in it my heart could not accept. I could accept Jesus as a martyr, an embodiment of sacrifice, and a divine teacher, but not as the most perfect man ever born. Again, according to Christianity only human beings had souls, and not other living beings, for whom death meant complete extinction while I held a contrary belief. Metaphorically there might be some truth in it. My reason was not ready to believe literally that Jesus by his death and by his blood redeemed the sins of the world. If Jesus was like God, or God Himself, then all men were like God and could be God Himself. If God could have sons, all of us were His sons. It was more than I could believe that Jesus was the only incarnate son of God, and that only he who believed in him would have everlasting life.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |