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God of love or God of punishment?
Opinion | Articles | M L Satyan | 08-Apr-2023
I watched this video. I found that the focus of this video is on the “punishments” that God seems to have given to those who “desecrated church buildings.” Maybe, some of those who desecrated the church might have repented and an inner conversion took place in their lives.
The spontaneous questions raised in my mind were: Does God Love or Punish? Do I believe in a loving God or a Punishing God? Based on my spiritual experience my answer is: I BELIEVE IN A LOVING GOD.
Remember the parable of the “Prodigal Son” in which we see the father receiving him with immense love and affection. His acceptance was followed by a grand feast. The notorious thief who was hanging on the cross on the right side of Jesus at Calvary experienced the love of Jesus who said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”
Today, as before, the church hierarchy focuses more on SIN and PUNISHMENT. This is vigorously expressed during the Lenten season. Most of the Christian preachers keep emphasizing Sin and Punishment repeatedly. They continue to make the people feel “guilty” all the time. They present God as the one who punishes and hence the people are made to live with fear. They rarely focus on a “loving God”.
Desecration of any worshipping place is indeed a crime. But such places are just buildings built with bricks and stones. What about the desecration of human bodies/lives? Today there are millions of people in India whose human rights are violated. They are exploited and oppressed in innumerable ways. Almost 40 percent of India’s population lives below poverty line, deprived of one square meal a day. They cannot access to other basic needs of clothes, shelter, health and education. They are hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned on false accusations. There are unending atrocities on women. Rapes continue to occur in every nook and corner of the country. Does the church bother about these types of desecration of human lives?
The history of the church reveals that since the ecclesiastical practice of commercializing miracles could be turned into a most gratifying source of money, it soon appeared that the more spectacular the miracle the more spectacular the profits to its promoters. Miracles thus became a kind of religious investment yielding a steady flow of revenue. Their profitability depended, not only upon the spectacular nature or uniqueness of the portents, but also upon the advantages gained by those who believed in them, the combination of these ingredients being the cement with which both Church and its faithful could identify themselves in partaking of the visible results of God’s generosity. If the selling of indulgences was a most lucrative method of amassing wealth, the exploitation of the individual was no less profitable. SIN and PUNISHMENT formed the basis of exploiting the individual.
From the early Christian community, the church has travelled a long way to reach this stage. To a very great extent the church has deviated from the teachings of Jesus in many ways. Roman Catholicism, which claims to be His church, is one of the wealthiest institutions on earth. How come, that such an institution, ruling in the name of this same itinerant preacher, whose want was such that he had not even a place to lay his head, is now so top-heavy with riches that she can rival the combined might of the most redoubtable financial trusts, of the most potent industrial super-giants, and of the most prosperous global corporation of the world? It is a question that has echoed along the dark corridors of history during almost 2,000 years. It is a question that has puzzled, bewildered and angered in turn untold multitudes from the first centuries to our days.
From the time the hierarchy sided with the kingly tribes, they rarely focussed on the “Washing of the feet”, meaning, authority is meant for service. Today this symbolic gesture has been converted into just a ritual and not more than that. The church keeps the laity under the “opium” of religiosity. Jesus wanted the people to FOLLOW him and not Worship him. Following Jesus is the narrow path and worshipping him is the broad path. Are we following Jesus or just worshipping Jesus??
As we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, can we hear him say “I am hungry and you eat varieties of nutritious food. I am thirsty and you drink expensive drinks. I am naked and you wear expensive dresses. I am sick and you thank God for your good health, I am in prison and you seriously discuss my morality. I am an orphan longing for your love, and you take special care of your pets. I am lonely and you leave me alone to say your prayers. My rights are violated, and you fight for your rights.
Shall we not recognise Jesus among the needy and serve him just like he came to serve and not to be served?
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(The Author is a Columnist who writes on Church matters and other burning issues)
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