At this stage in my life I am quite clear about how I like to prioritize my time.
God; Family; Writing; India; Diaspora; Health; Travel; and Eschatology; – ‘the study of the last.’ It’s pretty much in that order; and if you think it is boring to put it like that, I assure you life has never been so exciting – I wish I had it figured out earlier in my youth! There aren’t enough hours in a day to do what I love to do in all these areas.
Undergirding and connecting me with all my priorities is the study and application of the wisdom of the Holy Scriptures. Full of secrets, I’ve discovered they contain practical solutions for the most challenging of life’s circumstances. Rom 15: 4 tells us, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
My interest extends to all the Scriptures that people regard as sacred because they have universal significance for everyone in their spiritual journey. That is a quest we all embark on and it need not be completed in isolation, it can be shared. You often meet people who are disinterested in such learning because they claim the Scriptures are difficult to understand. It was Mark Twain who admitted, “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand!”
I must admit though besides the Bible the depths of which I cannot plumb in my lifetime, I do not claim to have great understanding of the Quran, Vedas, Bhagavad Gita etc.; I focus mainly on what I am familiar with - more importantly on how scriptural insights have impacted my life. But I love to learn what people of other faiths think about their Scriptures and observe how they apply them. Are they simply words that are considered religious or do they have the power to change our lives? It was one verse of Scripture that led me into a new life at a time when the excesses of youth had taken their toll, and I had to face the consequences. 2 Timothy 1:7 is forever etched in my mind for the regeneration it brought about in me. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Living in the Arab world for over three decades I have had the opportunity to better understand what the Quran says about the Tawrat, (Pentateuch) the Zabur (Psalms) and the Injil (Gospel) and I find it fascinating. Certain verses indicate the importance the Quran gives to the Injil, like Surah 10:94, 95, which says: ”And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture (that was) before thee. Verily the Truth from thy Lord hath come unto thee. So be not thou of the waverers. And be not thou of those who deny the revelations of Allah, for then wert thou of the losers.” Also Surahs 2: 146; 5:4; 6:115; 10:38;26:196, 197; 36:6 encourage Muslims to appeal to the ‘People of the Scripture’ if they doubt the revelation. Thus the Scriptures do not create discord – man’s interpretation does. Many other Surahs suggest dialogue and the Quran does not communicate any doubts about the truth, authenticity and integrity of the Injil when it encourages the revered Prophet of Islam and the faithful to refer to the ‘People of the Book.’ Christian belief in one God is clear in Isaiah 45:22, “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” One aspect the clergy prefers to ignore is that there are Surahs 2:148; 42:15 that point to the eventual unity of monotheistic belief, and most people are unaware that this does not exclude Hinduism.
The Brahma Sutra of Hindu Vedanta is: Ekam Brahm, dvitiya naste neh na naste kinchan; Bhagwan ek hi hai dusara nahi hai, nahi hai, nahi hai, zara bhi nahi hai.
“There is only one God, not the second, not at all, not at all, not in the least bit.”
Hindu Scriptures like the above clearly amplify the Oneness and Uniqueness of Almighty God, the Creator and negate the existence of any other deity besides the One True God, essentially pointing to monotheism as the correct concept of God in Hinduism. The Rig-Veda 1:164:46 tells us it is the learned sages who are responsible for the confusion of many gods by their practice of creating different names.
Just as I have an interest in all the Scriptures, I am wary of all religious middlemen who, through the ages, have been divisive and territorial, rather than open to people of other faiths. What is important to all has been made restrictive for no reason but to gain power and to control people’s minds.
God is one; our journey to Him is one by one; not in any group membership that claims to have a direct hotline to Him.
Surah 2: 44 Do ye enjoin right conduct on the people, and forget (to practice it) yourselves, and yet ye study the Scripture? Will ye not understand?
(Brihadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28) “From the unreal, lead us to the Real; from darkness, lead us unto Light; from death, lead us to Immortality.
John 5: 39-40 “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”