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THERE IS NO GOD EXCEPT ALLAH
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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Your God? My God? God is God!

god_one_300FMT letter from Dr. I. Lourdesamy via email
The MH17 tragedy brought out the common humanity in all of us as people of all races, religions and nationalities stood united in sorrow for the innocent victims.
Last Sunday I was in church. We were asked to pray for the souls of all those who perished in the crash. Not only for Christian souls but for all souls.
This got me thinking.
Why are we in Malaysia fighting over God and what we should call him? Is there a Christian soul, a Muslim soul, a Buddhist soul, a Hindu soul? Not so for the 298 people who perished in the crash. They were all human beings, created by God.
It is we who have labelled them Christians, Muslims, Hindus and such. At the crash site, they were all the same – people whose lives were suddenly snatched from them. Men, women, young, old, infants. They all perished.
Where was the distinction?
There was no privilege for Christians, Muslims or others. God did not intervene to protect any “special” group. Everybody suffered the same fate.
God has no favourites based on the religious labels we have created. He is the greatest equaliser.
This does not mean we cannot have our own religious beliefs. What it does mean is that it is silly to fight over “my” God and “your” God. God is God.
We can believe in him or not. We can worship him or not. But we can never comprehend him.
He does not need to be defended. And we do not know how he will judge us. His ways are different from ours.
It is utter stupidity and arrogance on our part to attempt to define him. It is here that religions and religious teachings often get in the way of understanding God.
To fight over religion is to fight over form, not substance. God manifests himself in humanity – in the men, women and children who died in MH17.
As human beings, as creatures of God, we have responded emotionally to the tragedy. We have been moved by compassion and love. And in the process, we have transcended the man-made labels of religion, race and nationality.
The tragedy made us feel we are one and the same – a part of humanity, a part of God’s creation. Inexplicably, there has been an outpouring of sorrow, grief, compassion, anger. This is the God we need in Malaysia, and the world for that matter.
The prayers of a Muslim to Allah for his Christian friend; the Christian who prays to Jesus for his Muslim friend; the Hindu who prays to Shiva or the Buddhist to Buddha, all reach the ears of the universal God.
It is blasphemous on our part to define the infinite God as a Muslim God, Christian God, Hindu God, and such.
I hope we all can learn something from the calamity of MH17 – the humanity in us that comes from the spirit of God that reflects his true nature.
How sad though that we seem to understand the universality of God only in times of sadness, then proceed to quarrel over your God and my God.

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