How to be Free from Sin — Page 24
24 your hand in the mouth of a wild beast, or happily be bit- ten by a mad dog, or remain standing in the midst of terrible thunderstorm? Would you not rush out of a house that is about to collapse, or jump out of a bed in which there is a snake, or escape from a building that is on fire? If you are keen to avoid these possible dangers, then why do you not shun those sins that I have just mentioned? The answer, which a wise person will give after proper deliberation, will be that this contradiction is due to the difference in the way we perceive the two things. Most people do not have sufficient awareness about sin and, even though they consider them to be harmful, do not avoid them as they would avoid a lion or a snake. Deep in their hearts, they do not really believe that they will be punished for their sins. They even doubt whether God really exists, and, if He does, whether their souls will sur- vive after death, and, if they do, whether or not they will actually be punished for their sins. Most people do har- bour such thoughts without being aware of them. But, at the same time, they avoid all the dangers that I have men- tioned above, because they fear certain death if they go near them, and if they come face to face with such a dan- ger they waste no time running away from it. The fact is that man is certain about the harmful effects of these things, but in the case of religious injunctions, he is not so sure and his knowledge is based only on conjecture and myth, instead of personal experience, and myths cannot help a man to free himself from sin. Hence, even if a thousand Messiahs were to be crucified, they would never