The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Gauracandra · January 12, 2002

Is salvation the message of Christianity? This is the topic Srila Siddhasvarupananda discusses in this weeks television episode.

Today many preachers of Christianity focus their sermons on two central messages of Christianity: 1) Prayers for material goods and 2) salvation. So often we see evangelists preaching materialism, and then salvation.

We must first admit that salvation is on a higher platform than materialism. It is concerned with our ultimate spiritual future and is thus a higher level than materialism.

Still we must ask if salvation is the message of Christ.

Salvation generally means being cleansed of previous sinful activities. You will hear these evangelists ask “Have you bathed in the blood of Christ?” This is bathing away one’s karmic reactions. The person watching is made to feel guilty and in need of salvation. Eventually this evangelist will bring forward a number of testimonials: “I was a nicotine addict… but I was born again” or “I was a sinful person, but through the Bible I have given up sin.” The whole production is very exciting.

This is their central message. Either they ask the viewers to pray to God for material enjoyment (better finances, a healthier marriage, more security) or they speak of salvation.

But there is one slight problem. This is not the central message of Lord Jesus Christ.

Siddhaswarupananda then quotes the Bible:

Matthew 22:36-38

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

The first and foremost commandment is to love God, not to seek salvation. Jesus is teaching unconditional love for God. But do not confuse love of God with serving one’s own desires.

The problem with Salvationism is your continual concern with your own future. But this is not love. If you want to know love then look at the life of Jesus Christ. He wasn’t concerned with his salvation. He wasn’t afraid of going to hell. His mind was on someone else. The central focus was not on himself but on God. When it was time for him to be crucified, because it was God’s will he let himself suffer.

Haridas Thakur was a disciple of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He too has confirmed that love of God is higher than salvation. The chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord is like the rising sun. When this sun rises in the heart of the devotee it automatically cleanses away all sinful reactions. But this cleansing is a natural by-product but not the goal. The chanting of the Holy Name will give one the positive taste for love of God. And there is no way to describe it, you have to taste it to know it.

And it is love of God that Christ is teaching. It is love for God that all saints have talked about. The characteristic of love is that the interest is on the one you love. Your interests, pleasure, your very life is on God.

And the second commandment of Jesus was:

Matthew 22:39:40

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

If we truly love God we will love everyone else. This is the true message of Jesus Christ. Become a lover of God.

gHari · January 12, 2002

In the early eighties I assimilated Jesus with Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Spending months studying the New Testament, I now realize that Krsna was preparing an innocent boy's faith in Jesus for a future two year role I would play in a major Christian Church.

I ended up leaving after discovering their booklet about Krsna Consciousness, written by a psychologist of all people. Reading from the first page "ISKCON was founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada", I told them with great authority and devotion as I closed the book: "This is the only true statement in this booklet".

However, as we Be Here Now, I will explain the essence or gospel of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, as I have come to understand it.

Christ came to relieve our burden by giving us everlasting eternal life. We were and are suffering from accepting the sham of a non-eternal temporary life. Christ came to present the truth of life. His continuing theme was: "The Kingdom of God is at hand. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. Do not go here or there looking for it, for it is within".

Yes, Jesus responded to the mundane question about which is the most important (self-evident) commandment in a way to lift religion beyond mere mundane morality by preaching love of God. Clearly this is the goal along with the Kingdom, but he was very definite about the purpose of his advent: to relieve our burden, our heavy yoke, to give us eternal life.

Many could not understand this for their mundane concept of life had presumed that the Messiah would lead them out of bondage in a way compatible with their mundane concept of political bondage. Yet, it was relief from the bondage of material existence in the freedom in spiritual reality.

Guru-tattva, and really what else is guru going to preach?

I often watch the TV preachers. I guess each has his own audience. Some I find terribly repulsive, some even frightfully phoney.

I wish they could understand that the promise of Christ for life everlasting is not about living forever (duh, that is a given), but rather it is something right now - eternal life versus the temporary farce and anxiety of the bodily conception. I have yet to hear it in some hundreds of hours of auditing the boys on the tube. Prabhupada might call it "Caitanya-caritamrta", the pastimes of the living force in eternity. Unfortunately they have absolutely no information about eternal life.

The funny thing is that as I hacked away on my computer in my little office with a Spiritual Sky Syamasundara on my monitor, burning incense now and then, and chanting japa here and there, these Christians thought I was a great Christian. Eventually the rumour was: "But we can't take credit for this one". I used to love carrying Adi-lila One; they knew it was a very powerful book.

I don't know whether 20 years later they have changed their stilted opinion and propaganda against Vaishnavas. Talk about a boat without a rudder; a thousand churches off in space. Krsna knew how difficult it had become for me to work there. I hope He is not displeased with my abandoning them.

valaya · January 12, 2002

The Kingdom of God is not so much a place as it is purified conciousness. Goloka Vrndavan and all of it's residents (including those forms of Sri Krsna we find most adorable) is pure hladini potency, Divine Love personified as Srimati Radharani Herself. She is the end and the means for all Gaudiya Vaisnava devotees. Devotional service is Her gift awarded through Lord Caitanya, Jesus Christ, Srila Prabhupada and so many others--past, present, and future. There may be `different strokes for different folks` but the ocean remains One. For the personalist, realization means relationship.

------------------

Radhe Radhe always Radhe!

amanpeter@hotmail.com

[This message has been edited by valaya (edited 01-12-2002).]