15 Nov 2022
1. In the context of human incarnation, how can the Bible verse John 3:16 be understood?
[Shri Anil asked: Padanamaskaram Swami, Kindly please give Your responses to the following questions. At Your Lotus Feet-anil. With respect to the concept of human incarnation; how can the following verse in the Bible be understood? John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”.]
Swami replied:- The above verse appeals to the hearts of people in order to divert their focus to the human incarnation of God, who is relevant to humanity.
2. How is God’s power made perfect in weakness?
[Paul was trying to pray to Jesus to remove some bodily problem which was troubling him continuously. However, he stated the following: 2 Cor. 12:9 "But (Jesus) said to me (Paul), 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I (Paul) will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” How is God’s power made perfect in weakness?]
Swami replied:- Weakness denotes lack of power and in such a case, when the divine power starts working, the divine power becomes prominent, which means perfect.
3. Why did the Bible not stress the non-repetition of sins as the final goal?
[Luke 17:3 “Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Why did Bible not stress the non-repetition of the sins as the final goal but stopped at the level of repentance?]
Swami replied:- Repentance in real sense certainly leads to non-reptition of sins. If the repentance is not leading to non-repetition, it means such a repentance is not true and is only external drama to fool oneself and others.
4. Why was Paul so harsh on women?
[1 Corinthians 14:34 “Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.”. Why Paul was so harsh on the women?]
Swami replied:- In ancient days, women were maintained by the homes only and hence, they were not quite intelligent in doing sharp analysis. They are advised not to speak much because of their ignorance and innocence. Today, the picture is quite different. You cannot judge those statements in these days.
5. What does the word "rest" mean in this context?
[Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”. What is the meaning of ‘rest’ Jesus is referring to?]
Swami replied:- Rest means mental peace. On hearing the advises from the contemporary human incarnation of God, worries dissapear and peace will spread in the mind.
6. Is committing one sin equivalent to committing all other sins?
[James 2:10 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”. Is committing one sin equivalent to doing all other sins?]
Swami replied:- A person who starts drinking wine begins with little and surely ends with many rounds. In view of the whole inevitable incident, we can consider that doing one sin can be equal to doing several sins.
7. How do You correlate the Vedic statement that God created space in the beginning with the verse in the Bible?
[Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” How to correlate the Vedic statement that God created space in the beginning with the above verse in bible?]
Swami replied:- Without space, even heaven and hell cannot exist because nothing can exist without space. After creating space, the creation of items started. Here, beginning means the beginning of creation of items.
8. What is the will of God in this context?
[1 John 2 15: 17: says this, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” What is the will of God?]
Swami replied:- The will of God is that every soul must remember God, who is the creator and maintainer of this creation. This is the minimum expectation of God, which is not from His interest, but, from the interest of the soul so that the soul will not get the sin of being ungrateful. God always worries about us only and not about Him because there is no space for such possibility.
9. Swami, is this remark true?
[One person remarked in the following way: “Eid is about killing an animal and having their meat to please your senses and Ekadashi is about fasting to clean and purify your mind. Two entirely different philosophies…”. Swami is this remark true?]
Swami replied:- I agree with this remark provided there is a little change in the text. Your senses can be pleased even without giving agony to the animals by taking vegetarian food. In fact, vegetarian food is more tasty and also more healthy to the body. If the body is not healthy, the senses also are not pleased.
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