Dear Lucky16,
And also all those who replied to you: Superzhi, Samuel, Cloud, Xueei, Boxing626liu, Cathy123, Botefu, Tim, Henryzhu, Apple, Woxihaun, zhy4562000, Hcy40843243 and Glgs,
What an interesting discussion!
Rocky Liu asked "who is god? "Where is God come from?" My understanding is
this: God has existed forever in the past and will continue to exist forever in
the future. There never was a time when God didn't exist.
God is not visible. God is too great for any of us to ever understand or approach directly. The great and inspired world Teachers were sent by God to help human beings to develop. Each Teacher lived a perfect example of a Godly life and taught us what we could begin to understand at that time, just as each school
teacher in each of your grades takes you a little further in ability and understanding. They taught us that God is All-Merciful. God is All-Loving. God is the One Creator. God is All-Wise. God is Just, and the greatest of every other
excellent quality anybody will ever know. God is far more great and wonderful than any of us will ever be able to understand. The way we know that God exists
is through the teachings of the World Teachers.
We can pray directly to God, and we can ask for the help of God through any of the Teachers. But we can't understand God directly because we are finite. God is infinite. We are too much below the level of God to even begin to approach God. Or to really know directly anything about God. God loves us all.
Some of you said that God helps those who try their best. That reminds me of a
story attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. One day some of his followersfound their camels had strayed away and were lost. They were distressed because
, as they told Muhammad, they had entrusted the camels to God. They thought that God would take care of them. Muhammad is said to have told them: "Trust in God, and tie your camel." I like this story very much, and I think it illustrates what you said.
There is a story about a very religious man who was caught in a bad flood. He eventually had to climb up on his roof to escape the water and he prayed and asked God to save him. After awhile a helicopter came by and wanted to drop him a rope, but he said no to the offer. In a few hours a boat came, but he was sure God would help him so he refused help from the people in the boat. He refused the help of others, too. The flood rose higher and the man drowned. In heaven he
asked God why He had let him drown and God replied, "I sent a helicopter, a boat, and other help, but you refused all the help I sent! The moral of the story,
to me, is that after we ask for help we should stay alert for anything at all that might be God's help.
A couple of you are atheists. You have been taught to be. Sometimes
people have been led by the ignorant, the greedy or the power-hungry to believe
that it is alright to be mistreated in this world because their humbleness and patience will be rewarded in the next world. This kind of religious teaching is
corrupt. A religion was pure in the beginning but through the ages the light of
truth in it was hidden by what venal religious leaders devised for their own good, or because of their cumulative ignorance. When Marx taught that religion was the opium of the people, it was that kind of evil teaching that made him say so.
Atheists are also often those who have become angry or distressed by all the terrible things that happen in the world. They blame God for them. Or else they say if there is a God He wouldn't allow these things to happen. Or they say they
don't want anything to do with God who allows such things. I think most of the
terrible things that happen are caused by human beings and that we have to change ourselves to change our world. Why blame God? As though God caused these things? Why do we want God to clean up our messes when He has often sent great Teachers to guide us as to how to live, but they were tortured and killed. And we
allow priests to tell us what the Teachers taught, instead of finding out for ourselves what the pure teachings are. Or else we ignore what they taught. It IS
truly a mystery as to why innocents and children die or suffer, and that is the
only honest reply that makes sense to me. We need to put a stop to wars and stuff, and share together, and that would stop most of it. There is enough for everybody if we do that, and bring an end to the extremes of riches and poverty.
Swallow, you said you wish God could bless all the kind people in the world. I
think He does. In this world the kind are happier in their own hearts. Kind people usually have better marriages and happier families. In the life to come they are happier because they are allowed to know all the results of their kindnesses. Everything we do has ripples that spread out a very long way, and every kind act has its ripples, too. We would be joyous to know all the good results of
our kindnesses. Don't you agree? It might be part of why we call the life to
come "heaven." That leads to "hell", which I think is partly knowing all the extensive and complicated results of our bad deeds.
Tim wrote wonderful things. He said that he doesn't pray for special favours or
miracles. I think he's right. Whenever I pray I always make sure to ask that only God's first and best will for me should be what happens. If we implore God
for something when we are in great distress, (such as when someone we love is dying,) in His mercy He may give us what we asked, but then we need to live with and accept whatever comes of it. It may bring great difficulty, and if so, we must live with it nobly. Whatever is God's first will is always safest. I have twice had experience with this, and that is what taught me now only to ask for God's first will, under any situation, no matter how heart-rending. What may seem
to be a tragedy may be a blessing in disguise, and praying that the tragedy may
be changed can land you into what you were being spared by that tragedy. There
is a famous saying "Be careful what you pray for. You may get it!"
I like what Tim said about only asking "for the wisdom of what He wants me to do
with this infinite gift of life." Tim and you others wrote from warm, kind, thoughtful and understanding hearts.
Henryzhu, our lives can be happy in all conditions when we understand how to live. You can see the way Tim asks for help with how to live. He places himself in
God's hands. This is a very good way. Troubles will always be with us because
they are one of the ways we learn how to grow to become more mature human souls
and mature human societies.
"The rain falls on the just and on the unjust." God showers His mercy on all of
us. God knows the end in the beginning so He knows that eventually every soul
will come to be close to Him. Some of us make choices that cover our souls with
thick dust, or a few of us, even with an overburden of rock because of the horrible crimes committed. But even mountains wear down into dust and eventually every soul moves closer to God in the end.
All of your replies were thoughtful and some were very moving. Thank you for the good talk here.
Goodnight my friends, Mary
