Our God — Page 155
Great Benefits ofBelief in God 155 peace-loving and selfless, and made sacrifices for others. They illu- mined the whole world with rays of their universal light. What we see today are the ruins of that magnificent edifice! The same applies to other nations. Early Christians were a very good model of self-sacrifice and sympathy for mankind; they sought peace and conciliation. However, once the Christians moved away from the real teachings and spirit of Christianity, they exceeded in injustice, tyranny, bloodshed, and religious prej- udices. History bears witness to the narrow-mindedness, undue prejudices, strife, murder, and pillage displayed by the so-called followers of Hadrat Mas ih [i. e. Jesus the Messiah], may peace be on him, during the Reformation. The history of Hinduism, Sikhism, and other religions reveals more or less the same pattern; even more horrendously so among the Hindus and Sikhs. All of this proves that in reality the blame does not lie with religion but with those who forsake the essence of their religion. Unfortunately, all the nations of the world have lost the spirit of religion, giving the impetuous and short-sighted critics an opportunity to blame religion for [their] narrow-mind- edness and violence. That is why God—who is Holy, who does not like to see the world immersed in the darkness of ignorance, out of His loving Kindness and Grace—commissioned one of His righteous serv- ants, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi, for the guidance of mankind in this age, so that he could answer the allegations raised against reli- gion because of the misdeeds of its followers. These misdeeds distant humans from God and promote violence, coercion, and narrow-mindedness in the context of religion. The Promised