Belief in a Last Judgment became common, indeed credal, in Christianity

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THE LAST JUDGMENT

 

" Judgment in the theological sense connotes a moral discernment

between good or evil actions. By extension, it applies to

discernment between good and evil persons, a good person being one

whose general character, despite any number of faults, is inclined

toward love of God and of fellow creatures, and an evil person being

one whose character is inclined rather to self-love at the expense

of others. Humans are entitled to judge whether an action is good or

evil (Luke 12.57; John 7.24; 1 Cor 6.2-3), but judgment of a person

is reserved to God (Matt 7.1; Luke 6.37): Do not judge, and you will

not be judged. The parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt 13.24-

30) has often been cited as a prooftext against human judgment: we

are to let the weeds grow with the wheat and let the Lord

distinguish between them at the time of the harvest--that is, at the

time of divine judgment.

 

In his eternal knowledge and wisdom, God is always sifting the

hearts of his creatures and judging their characters. But early

Christian teaching, rooted in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament, OT),

also affirms a Last Judgment at the end of the world. The Last

Judgment was defined as God's judgment of the characters of all

humans (and other free and intelligent beings such as angels), a

judgment based on God's eternal and certain knowledge, and therefore

immutable. One's character cannot be changed after the judgment;

this fact follows the emphasis of the Hebrew Bible on the absolute

importance of this present life on this earth, the only life that we

have in which to make our moral choice and form our character.

 

Belief in a Last Judgment became common, indeed credal, in

Christianity because scripture says it; tradition asserts it; reason

supports it; and literature and art proclaim it. Though the Last

Judgment does not occupy an especially prominent place in the Bible,

many OT and NT texts are relevant: Psalm 98.9 says that the Lord

will come to judge " the world with righteousness and the peoples

with equity; John 12.48 says that on the last day, the Lord will

judge those who reject him. The tradition is enshrined in the Nicene

Creed formulated at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and

still used in most churches: " He will come again in glory to judge

the living and the dead. " Reason applied to scripture confirms the

idea: humans have free will to choose to follow the commandment to

love God and neighbor (Deut 6.5; Matt 22.37-39). The responsibility

lies both on the community (the human race in Adam and Eve, the Bene

Israel, the Christian community and on the individual man or woman.

Reason also shows that at the end of the world God's eternal

judgment of each person will be made manifest; the end recapitulates

and finalizes what has gone before in time, and eschatology declares

the eternal divine knowledge of souls. Art and literature reflect

this theology, the first depiction of the Last Judgment appearing in

an early stage of Christian art, in the sixth century.

 

The Last Judgment was early established as one of the four essential

eschatological moments (different from the later tradition of

the " Four Last Things: " death, judgment, heaven, and hell) namely

the parousia (return of Christ), the resurrection of the body, the

Last Judgment, and the end of this world (whether the world is

understood as the end of the physical cosmos or as the end of the

present world order, kosmos or aiôn). These four eschatological

moments are closely linked in early and medieval Christian theology,

but this present article concentrates on the judgment, examining the

idea in the Bible, patristic period, and Middle Ages. The Last

Judgment was generally accepted as a necessary prelude to the

reality of the kingdom of God in which all are recognized as their

true selves; it is an occasion of terror for the evil and of joy for

the loving, for the harvest of the kingdom is the poor, the

dispossessed, the humble, the persecuted (Mt 5.3-12), who will be

gathered up as rich wheat and baked into loaves that are heartwhole,

heavenly, and fine. "

 

Jeffry B. Russell

Professor of History

University of California Santa Barbara

 

 

 

" In Krita Yuga, there are unique opportunities for self-

transformation and, with their ascent, these seekers will achieve a

very high state of spirituality. But in this age of Krita Yuga, such

is the Power of Divine Compassion and Love (the Paramchaitanya) that

those who have made mistakes and are consequently suffering, are

also redeemed of their sufferings by the activity of this All-

Pervading Divine Love. Further more, it is said in the Puranas that

the residual Power, the Kundalini, will be awakened and will grant

Self-Realization to the seekers. This Power will also grant them

physical, emotional and spiritual bliss, and all the problems which

come from our inner being, energy centres of the subtle system, will

be solved through the spontaneous cleansing and harmonizing activity

of the Kundalini. In this way, all individual human problems, as

well as those collective or social problems that have been created

by human beings will be solved. But is it said that this state is

meant only for people who, through their ascent, have achieved the

state of Selfhood. These are ancient prophesies which can now be

seen vividly. . . .

 

Of course, this is also the age of science and technology in which

human beings progressed beyond the stage of blind faith. And in this

great happening of the Last Judgment and the Resurrection Time, one

need not, and should not, believe blindfolded in whatever is said

about ascent or salvation, but should treat it like a hypothesis,

and observe the facts with an open mind like a scientist. Of course,

if a hypothesis is proved, then any honest, scientifically minded

modern person has to accept it. The pure Knowledge of the Divine,

manifesting itself directly through Self-Realization, will

progressively lead to the creation of a new race for the new Age.

This Knowledge is not then for very few privileged individuals, as

it was in the past, but for the benevolence of the whole world. In

this way, the last breakthrough of our evolution will be achieved en

masse. The entire human race can be renewed and transformed. Dharma,

righteousness, will once again be universally respected, and human

beings will live in Peace, harmoniously with themselves, with

Nature, and with each other. . . .

 

In My opinion, every Westerner has, as a matter of urgency, to

understand the vital role he has to play in this great Age of

Transformation and of the Last Judgment.

 

The Western mind has to realize the enormous responsibility which

has been placed upon the West, and the Western people need urgently

to find out how to achieve the balance not in terms of money, but in

the vision of their responsibility. This is very much required for

the ascent of the whole humanity, otherwise on whom will the blame

of destroying the innate human culture by the dynamism of modernism

lie — the advanced or underdeveloped?

 

In these Modern Times, in the evolutionary process, we have reached

the state of human awareness. This human awareness can work through

its thinking, rationality or conditioning. Many modern poets have

described them as the walls of freedom of the Self. But what if one

can rise to a higher dimension of awareness? Why not open our hearts

and minds to the unique discovery that has been revealed for this

vital ascent?

 

The Kingdom of God that We promised is at hand. This is not a phrase

out of a sermon or a lecture, but it is the actualisation of the

experience of the highest Truth which is Absolute, now manifesting

itself in ordinary people at this present moment. "

 

Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi