Dr. M. C. Gupta's Journal

AM I A WORTHY CHILD? IS SUCH A QUERY UNCHRISTIAN?

AM I A WORTHY CHILD? IS SUCH A QUERY UNCHRISTIAN?


[Analysis of a religious concept; a reader’s comment and my response.]








1--I once wrote a poem titled “LONG WALK HOME", "LONG WALK HOME" . A reader ABC commented: “I like it. I don't know if you just chose the word to rhyme, but the last line of the first stanza doesn't sit well with me. I never saw us as having to prove our worth to the father, rather he has shown us how much we are worth. Other than that, and that's just a personal thing, I thought this was short, sweet, and I love the title/ last line”.





2--The above brought to my mind immediately what another reader had written to me in response to another poem, in rather harsh words, something like this: “You have emphasised in your poem that in order to achieve salvation, one must live a life that is pure, worthy and pious. I totally disagree. This is against Christianity. The day I was born a Christian, I knew that Jesus gave his blood for the sake of men and that God sent His son to earth out of His great kindness for human beings so that those who believe in Jesus, who died for his followers, would ever be saved and granted salvation, as opposed to those who don’t believe in Him and who would be consigned to hell. Since I believe in Jesus, I know that he died for my sins and cleansed my sins with His own blood. Hence there is no need for me to try to lead a good and pure life thinking that my salvation depends upon that. I know that Jesus would give me salvation because he has promised so to all those who believe in Him for all times to come. That is why I don’t agree with the message in your poem that if we do good deeds in this life, we will be rewarded in the next”.





3--I fail to understand why Christian thought and philosophy should insist that—“It is no use trying to do good deeds. There is simply no need to bother about whether our deeds are good or bad. Irrespective of whether we live a life of sin or virtue, our salvation is guaranteed by God who cleansed, through His son’s blood, all the sins, in posterity, of those who believe in Jesus”.





4-- I replied as follows to the reader ABC:








"Thanks for the review. Let me explain:





Ref: I never saw us as having to prove our worth to the father, rather he has shown us how much we are worth.





>> It is clear that there is something like worth. Our Father helps us realize how much we are worth. What is that realization meant for? To be proud of our worth? No, the purpose of that realization is to use that worth to do something worthy of Him. In other words, God sends us to earth, expecting us to live a life that is good, pure and worthy. If we don’t live such a life but, instead, live a life of sin, what worth is our worth that he has shown to us?








In—





My Father, I am Your child.


You sent me to this earth


So that I may serve You well


And prove to You my worth.





>>> What I am saying here is this:





God, You are my Father and I am Your son. I ought to serve You as a son should serve his father. I can serve You only if I obey You. Whether I have served You well or not will be judged by whether I have obeyed Your commandments. It is my duty to obey Your commandments and thereby prove that I am a worthy son”.





5-- I later received the following response from ABC:





"I enjoyed reading this dialogue and agree with you that while we don't need to prove our worth, yet "Faith without works is nothing" as Paul said. It is important that no matter what a person believes that they live their lives in accordance with their faith- they must walk their talk.


In every faith there is a component of service and compassion. In fulfilling the actions of our faith, in fullfilling this service to humanity, we do indeed demonstrate our worthiness even though we have already received grace from our Creator. We are not perfect, yet we can try to emulate the life of Jesus and follow his teachings to serve and honor God.


Respectfully,


ABC"








M C Gupta


10 June 2009