| |
refused to be a Christian for the simple reason -- he has given many other reasons, but the first reason was "I cannot accept a God who is so unjust" -- that in Christianity there is only one life.
Even if you live a life of one hundred years, as Bertrand Russell almost managed to live, one century ... He counted very honestly the sins that Christians call sins -- they are not sins, they are just natural experiences. They have been converted into sins to torture you. Making love to a woman is not sin, but it has become a sin. Both are feeling immensely guilty that they are doing something against God.
So he counted all those so-called sins which are not sins, but just for the argument's sake he counted all the sins that he had committed. And he also counted all the sins that he had dreamed about but he had not committed. Still he said, "The most strict judge cannot put me in jail for more than four and a half years, and God is going to throw me into hellfires for eternity! There seems to be no proportion."
If you go on committing sin and don't do anything else, just sin and sin and sin from the moment you are born till the moment you are in your grave, then too, an eternity of hellfire is not just, it is not justice.
God seems to enjoy hellfire. God seems to enjoy poisoning all your pleasures -- you should not enjoy any of your senses. Different religions have different emphases, but the point is the same. Mohammedans are not allowed to listen to music. Strange? It is sin because you are enjoying a sense, your hearing. You are giving pleasure to your ears, so you are not to be allowed to listen to great music.
I cannot conceive in what way music can be a sin. But the idea is that enjoyment is sin, so whatever you can enjoy has to be condemned.
Jainism says you should not enjoy taste, you should eat without any taste. You are putting man into such a guilt. How can he avoid tasting? When it is sweet, it is sweet! When it is bitter, it is bitter! On his tongue there are sensitive buds which decide the taste. Unless you have plastic surgery and remove all the buds from your tongue, you cannot manage not to taste the food.
But
|
|
|