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A Semitic faith condemned to idolatry By M.S.N. Menon

Sacrificer           M.S.N. Menon
Sacrifice code       wfor0382
Sacrifice date       February 13, 2005


A Semitic faith condemned to idolatry

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  • By M.S.N. Menon
    Organiser
    February 13, 2005

    It is the case of the Christian missionaries (of Benny Hinn, for example) that Hindus worship idols. They do. But they are free to go beyond idol worship to meditation (with eyes closed, dhyana)-from the worship of a personal God (monotheism) to meditation over a God without form or attributes (monism). This is Advaita.

    But there is no way a Christian can bypass Jesus Christ and seek a formless God. (The very thought is blasphemous to Christians.) He is thus condemned to remain, with his idols and symbols, a monotheist. He is condemned to worship, to remain apart from God.

    If you ask me which path I prefer, I say without hesitation: The Hindu path, for my goal is to be as perfect as God. Transform and transcend-this is the essence of the Hindu faith. Both are not open to Semitic faiths.

    Early Christianity saw nothing wrong with idols and images. It was free from Jewish follies. In the Roman catacombs (underground places of Christian worship and burial) are to be found the first visual pictures of the Biblical story. These were painted between the 2nd and 4th centuries a.d.

    This tradition must have continued, for the most famous painting of all-the 'Creation of Man' by Michelangelo-was done in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican in the 16th century under the direct supervision of a Pope. God is depicted here as an old man with a beard, but of powerful build, reaching out his hand to touch the extended hand of Adam.

    In fact, no religion can rival Christianity in the multiplicity of images. In some of the largest Catholic churches of France, there are as many as 3,000-4,000 statues. Christian sailors got their hands tattooed with the figure of the Madonna for protection. Pope Gregory II defended the use of idols. These idols were never seriously challenged till the Reformation.

    Christians also worship the cross. It is a symbol. According to the Christian tradition (contested by Islam), Jesus was crucified on a cross. Hence it became a religious symbol. The fact is: crosses were venerated even before the advent of Christianity by various pagan cults. It was a symbol of fire, which was obtained by rubbing two sticks against each other.

    Early Christianity frowned upon it. But it gained acceptance after St. Helena, the mother of the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, discovered the cross on which Jesus was crucified during her visit to the Holy Land in the 4th century a.d. Well, such is the tradition.

    But the shape of the cross which was used by various sects of Christianity was not uniform. This is rather curious, for once they accepted the cross discovered by Helena as the one on which Jesus was crucified, the Christian authorities should have standardised the shape of the cross. The fact that they did not calls for an explanation.

    One is, therefore, forced to admit that the use of the cross too was one of the many pagan traditions adopted by Christianity. This also explains why some Christian sects are reluctant to use the cross.

    As in Judaism, so in Christianity, God is described in human terms. For example, the Common Prayer says: "Our Father, which art in Heaven." The Apostles Creed says: "He (Jesus) ascended to Heaven and is sitting on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty."

    The Reformation was a revolt against the Papacy. It was alleged that the Popes had Romanised and paganised Christianity, that idol worship was a pagan practice and that it violated the Jewish tradition, which is why the Protestants gave up idols. Obviously, they knew not why the Jews hated idols.

    Times change. Concepts change. Gods change. Yahweh was an "old man with a white beard". This image is no more acceptable to Christians. Pope John Paul II says that God "is not an old man with a white beard". And he has referred to God as 'mother' too. The Hindus knew of these problems 3,000 years ago. They called God 'It'. The Christians laughed at the Hindus.

    But did not Jesus himself call God his 'Father'? Does it mean that the son did not know his 'Father'? Christianity cannot go beyond its anthropomorphic images.

    Today enlightened Christians do not take the Biblical story seriously. Almost the entire scientific community rejects the story of the Genesis. "The hypothesis of a pervading spirit co-eternal with the universe remains unshaken," says the poet Shelley. And this is a pagan idea.

    But, here, we are in the realm of Vedanta, the final reach of the Hindu mind in its quest for the nature of God, the final formulation. Christianity failed to reach out to Advaita. It opted for a personal God. But a personal God calls for images and symbols. Christianity is condemned to idol worship.



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