Thursday, November 21, 2019

"When a strong man armed keepeth his palace" - Where Faith is Tested



Tokyo

Where Faith is Tested

It is said in the Bible that nothing is impossible with the God.

However, it is not said in the Bible that God would immediately make those who believe in him materially rich and happy.  It is also not said that whoever believes existence of God will be allowed to enter Heaven only for his or her recognition.

But Christ Jesus said:
M't:5:3: Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
M't:5:4: Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
M't:5:5: Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
M't:5:6: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
This teaching means that those who are materially rich, happy, strong, or evil are not loved by the God regardless of their belief in existence of God.

When a man is poor, unhappy, weak, or righteous, he cannot rely on money, other people, and worldly custom or law.  But the God should take care of him, according to Christ Jesus.  If this teaching of Christ Jesus is false, Christianity must have been forgotten at any point of time in these 2000 years.   If people will think that the God never saves those who are poor, unhappy, or righteous, Christianity should be forgotten.

However, even rich, happy, strong, and evil people sometimes wanted good luck and support from spirits (or even from Satan), since nobody can completely control his or her own fate.  From the beginning, nobody can decide when, where, and how he or she would be born into this world.  At the bottom of their hearts, even rich people know they are powerless against their fates.

But it seems that with power of money, most of worldly troubles could be fixed and most of material desires could be satisfied.  So, everybody wants money.

However, it is well recognized that with power of the God, spiritual troubles could be fixed and mental desires could be satisfied.  So, Christianity has survived.

Money cannot completely fix a problem.  Money is accompanied by selfishness, hatred, ignorance, falsehood, fear, cruelty, and evil.  And rich people would rather make others poor and unhappy for them to be rich.

Poor and weak people who cannot ask help from others or have no means to save themselves while being victimized by rich people would pray to the God and call His name for His help, if they know that the God loves such people.  They would rather ask help from the God even if they are not sure about existence of God.

If experiences in the human history proved that there is no God, there is no meaning in asking help from the God and it is useless to have faith in God.  And if nobody had ever been saved by the God, Christianity should have been lost in these 2000 years.

Rather, it is thought that many believers in the God have been saved from their predicaments and hardships in these 2000 years.  There must have been many such cases in the history, but most of them must have been untold, since these were mostly personal.

I this cruel world, those who are poor, weak, and handicapped are powerless and easily victimized by those who are rich, strong, and fortunate.  As they are so poor, weak, and powerless, they often have nothing but the God to ask help from.  And, in these 2000 years, there must have been many cases where those poor, weak, and handicapped people were saved spiritually with some necessary material help by the God, which shows that there is nothing impossible with the God.

But witness for these cases is usually not so widely announced.  People would say that they have been saved as they had good fortune, but would not say often that they have been saved as the God helped them.

Probably, if they admitted that the God had saved them, they should think that they are obliged to always and fully observe the teaching of the God, which they cannot do.  And if they cannot show full obedience and gratitude to the God, people around them might blame them.  Therefor, even if they understood that they had been saved by the God rather than power of money would not loudly talk about their cases.  They might say that they were fortunate and lucky.  And they may try to believe that their riddance of hardships was due to good luck but not due to help from the God.

What is more, help from the God might not come while poor, weak, and handicapped people are living in this world, although Christ Jesus assured that they would be welcomed in Heaven.  This is a crucial point where faith is tested.  If a poor, weak, or handicapped man believes in God and Heaven, he or she would be finally saved in Heaven after his or her living in this world.  Based on this conviction, Christianity has survived in these 2000 years.

Conversely, the fact that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have survived up to today is itself a proof of existence of the God.


**** **** ****

Lu:11:20: But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
Lu:11:21: When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:
Lu:11:22: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
Lu:11:23: He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.