Malfuzat – Volume X — Page 221
17 March 1908 221 belief, the human nature of the Messiah was sacrificed but his ‘Divine’ nature remained alive. Now, the objection over this is that the one who was sacrificed for [the sins of ] all people was just a man; he was not God. However, for the Atonement it was necessary for God to be sacrificed according to their very own belief, but it did not happen so. On the contrary, a human body was sacrificed while God remained alive, but if God were sacrificed, then He suffered death! In fact, it is the consequence of this very [Doctrine of ] Atonement that the abundance of sins is proliferating through- out the world. However, when the Christians are told that Atonement has caused the spread of sin throughout the world, they give the reply that Atonement is only for salvation; oth- erwise, Atonement is meaningless unless man purifies himself and abstains from sins. Nevertheless, when looking upon those very people who are the ones stating this assertion, it is discov- ered that they are involved in all kinds of sins. Once a priest was apprehended in consequence of some act of immorality. He replied [in his defence] that since Atonement had already taken place, guilt no longer exists. If Atonement does not deliver from the perpetration of sin, then what good is it? Accordingly, Christians have no response to this. 1 Praying Behind Non-Ahmadi Muslims A gentleman from the Province of Balochistan wrote to the Promised Messiah as on 17 March 1908: One of your followers, Noor Muhammad, is a dear friend of 1. Al- H akam, vol. 12, no. 20, p. 7–8, dated 18 March 1908