Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 38
38 Christianity – A Journey from Facts to Fiction balance and symmetry in this view which is in perfect harmony with the concept of absolute justice. Leaving aside Hinduism and other religions who advocate the philosophy of reincarnation with all its complexities of cause and effect, what is the role of forgiveness on the part of God in the remaining major or minor religions of the world? All such relig- ions, and over a billion adherents of religions such as Hinduism, seem to be totally ignorant and uninformed of the myth of Atonement. This is very perplexing indeed. Who was in com- munion with mankind elsewhere in the history of religions? If it was not God the Father as in Christian doctrine, was the entire religious leadership of the world, except Jesus Christ as , a pupil of the Devil himself? And where was God the Father? Why did He not come to the rescue when the rest of mankind was being led astray by the Devil in His name? Or were they, the rest of the humanity, a creation of a being other than the so-called God the Father? Again, why were they treated in such a step-fatherly way and abandoned to the cruel sway of the Devil? Let us now turn our attention to this issue with reference to common human experience. It can be shown that forgiveness and justice are balanced and can coexist and do not always contradict each other. Sometimes justice demands that forgiveness must be extended, and sometimes it demands that forgiveness should be withheld. If a child is forgiven and is encouraged to commit more crime, then forgiveness is itself bordering on a crime and is against the sense of justice. If a criminal is forgiven, only to perpetrate more acts of crime and create suffering all around him because he is forgiven and encouraged, that would also be against the dictates