Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 339
339 The Effect of the Teachings of the Promised Messiah as on his Followers I now proceed to describe briefly the effect which the teachings of the Promised Messiah as , have produced on his followers. It must be remembered that the advent of the Promised Messiah as was not the outcome of modern currents of thought, nor did he reflect in his person tendencies of the so-called new learning of the present day. As a matter of fact, the teachings of the Promised Messiah as were diametrically opposed to all the currents of modern thought. If we look carefully into the matter we find that modern thought exhibits two tendencies: first, that there is no need for man to have any deep relationship with God, that man should indeed be completely independent. Accordingly, we see that all the religions, whether new or old, are making efforts to adapt themselves to this tendency. They are striving even to change the form and significance of acts of worship and so to adapt and to reduce them as to recap- ture and restore people’s interest in them. The second tendency is, that the established ways and modes of society need not undergo any change, not because they can be proved to be truly beneficent but because people have become accustomed to them and are not prepared to depart from them. The old as well as new religions are making efforts to adapt their teachings to this ten- dency because they realize that they have not the power to resist it. Accordingly, we see that the followers of all