12 Jun 2021
1. Why does God need Popes (Head of Christian church)?
Swāmi Replied:- Why an educational institution does need a principal? Why an office does need a manager?
2. In Islam, it is said that Jesus didn't die but if He didn't die then, who was on the cross? There is proof that Jesus died on the cross.
Swāmi Replied:- Even if Jesus died on the cross, the unimaginable God present in Jesus made Him alive. Jesus Himself made a dead person to become alive. Is such miracle impossible to Him?
3. Can You please explain as to why all sins are forgivable by God but not blasphemy towards the Holy Spirit?
[Can you please provide a context-relevant explanation as to why all sins are forgivable by God but not blasphemy towards the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29)? [Ref:28Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.” 30Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”]
Swāmi Replied:- Jesus was focussing on the unimaginable God present in Him, who is the absolute reality and ultimate. The possessor of the medium shall not be insulted. You can say that the dress of a person is bad, but, if you say that the person is bad it matters much.
4. Why did Jesus drive away the money changers from the temple?
[Why did Jesus drive away the money changers from the temple? Ref: Jesus drove the money-changers out because He said, ‘My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.]
Swāmi Replied:- Jesus was criticising the people doing business with money in which certainly sin will exist.
5. Is Mary our bribe to Jesus?
[Someone said that people pray to Mary to ask Jesus for whatever they pray for because in scripture, whenever Mary asked Jesus to do something, He did it. Is Mary our bribe to Jesus? If all we have to do is pray to her to get Jesus to answer us?]
Swāmi Replied:- You said that someone said this. What is the scriptural authority for this concept? I can answer only on the concepts mentioned in the scripture. Even in the scripture, if the concept is not logical, I don’t hesitate to reject it since such concept must have been an insertion by an ignorant follower.
6. In Genesis 1:26, God said "Let us make human beings in our image". This implies there are more beings like God (more than 1 God), does it not?
Swāmi Replied:- Human being is considered to be the topmost living being on the earth. Anything best in a group of similar items is said to be God because best is the alternative word to God. This does not mean several Gods because best can be only one in a category.
7. Why did Jesus do this miracle twice instead of once?
[In bible there is a blind man that Jesus heals. The first time, the man claims to see men appear as trees walking. Jesus touched a 2nd time and he could then see clearly. Why did Jesus do this twice instead of once?]
Swāmi Replied:- Jesus gave the sight to the blind man in the very first step of the miracle. But, the blind man was having a strong psychology of his blindness that could not build up full confidence in him. When Jesus touched him again, this longstanding psychology and lack of confidence were removed so that the sight is perfect with full mental strength also.
8. Who was Jesus before the incarnation?
Swāmi Replied:- Jesus was just a human being like any other human being. But, Jesus was a very close devoted soul to God. Jesus was having the only aim, which is to serve the mission of God as His loyal servant. Jesus never aspired to become the incarnation of God. The idea of the soul to become God is the biggest disqualification. When God wants to do some divine work in this world, God merges with a selected human being to do that work for the benefit of the devoted souls. Incarnation means the descent (Avatāra, which means descent) of God to this world and not the ascent of the soul to the abode of God.
9. Why is God helping the rich family but not us, the family with only a bit of money? I'm a Catholic and I pray every day. Why?
Swāmi Replied:- Poor and rich are not like bad and good or atheism and theism. If one has food, cloth, shelter and medicine to cure illness, the rest money is not very important. Pray God for your basic needs and He will certainly help you being the Divine Father.
10. I am a Catholic and I love eating beef but I dreamt of Lord Śiva and a dead cow. What does this signify? Please help me.
Swāmi Replied:- Eating non-vegetarian food is not a sin by itself because the same ingredients exist in any food. The sin comes only in killing the living being to get food from its body. God Śiva stands for punishing the sin (God Viṣṇu stands for rewarding merit and God Brahmā stands for discriminating knowledge of merit and sin) and the dead cow stands for the victim. Cow is considered to be a soft natured animal unlike a tiger or lion. It stands as representative of good animals. Cow should not be killed and this means that any soft natured animal or bird shall not be killed. Hindu scriptures say that a Brāhmiṇ shall not be killed. The Brahmin stands as a representative for all good people and this means that no good person shall be killed or harmed.
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