Fundamentals of the Christian Faith in the Light of the Gospels
by Maulana Sadr-ud-Din
The Ways of God’s Will and Pleasure: Divine Word Gives Life
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew, 4:1–4).
Just as rain generates life in the dead soil, in the same way Divine Word brings to life the dead soil of the human heart. It is a fact of nature that the human heart is God-conscious, and it is on account of this natural affinity that the Word of God succeeds in fertilising the soil of human heart. And just as the development of body imparts strength to physical organs, likewise the development of mental and spiritual faculties builds up an excellent moral fabric. Teachers entrusted with the education of young children know full well that it is the proper evolution of the faculties planted in the minds of children that makes man a real man, and lifts him up to the highest plane of spirituality. The purpose of human life is achieved by unfolding and evolving these faculties which the Most High God has created in man, and it was with reference to this great aim that Jesus had said that Divine Word infuses life into the human heart. This teaching of Jesus is, of a truth, sublime and scientific. His great aim was to cultivate human faculties with the water of heavenly word, and this should be the highest goal and objective before mankind. All psychologists and educationists keep this principle in view. No educationist can subscribe to the dogma of Original Sin, which forms the basis of Atonement. This truth was affirmed by Jesus:
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew, 5:8).
What a fine and elevating teaching is this, compared to which the doctrine of Atonement neither appeals, nor offers any attraction, to the people of knowledge and understanding!