Your question is reasonable. God will not use any religion or any book because they all can
be manipulated for selfish end. Look at religious leaders—they did not teach
real spirituality because of which disciples got into fight over the BIG
question “who is first among them?” which led into divisions and sects
(opposite of spirituality)
Religions aim at the money of the gullible, hence they present
God as the comforter of their suffering which actually discredit God because it
gives the impression that He gives suffering so that people turn to Him. They
really do not know why pain (and its result—suffering) exists. Pain-mechanism
in our body serves a useful purpose alerting us to avoid further harm. What a
disaster it would be if we do not feel pain—we will not pull away our hand or
any part of body when it gets burned or injured. So is the case with suffering.
When we act thoughtlessly it result in suffering which is an alerting mechanism
that tells us to avoid further harm or future harm. Conversely, we act thoughtfully
it result in peace and prosperity which is an alerting mechanism that tells us
to continue to do what we are doing.
In this vein of thinking, even death is a blessing. Ask: ‘What
if there is no death, if one goes on growing more and more vibrant physically,
perfecting his skills and talents, and even growing in money power, influence
….etc.? He would probably behave like King David described in the Bible. He was
a very humble shepherd boy to start with, then climbed heights, finally became
king of Israel, and he seemed invincible… then he began to add more wives and
numerous women to his harem, he went to the extent of treacherously killing his
faithful friend to steal his wife.
In the backdrop of this behavior of the people, we need a
mechanism that acts like a speed breaker.
When one’s body is in reverse growth and his mind is in
death-awareness, he begins to feel “I am not that important as I thought, I
have no basis to feel I did or owned this and that …” which means he is now
free from the shackles of wanting and from bondage to body, mind, and ego. In such
a state one can see clearly all the wasteful things he did in his life. On the
contrary if there is no death, self-importance of people would go on growing
with each one perfecting his wickedness, and this will ensure eternal hell on
earth. That means, certainty of death serves as a speed-breaker on our ego! This
is why a materialistic person suddenly turns religious or philanthropic when
his doctor informs him that he would soon die because of a dreaded disease just
confirmed in a diagnosis and again turns materialistic if he finds out later that
he was wrongly diagnosed. Interestingly, Jesus rated his cousin John the
Baptist as the greatest “among those born of women” (Luke 7:28)
because of his simplicity and fearlessness—he moved from his forest life to city
and rebuked a lustful king who was leading an immoral life, knowing it would
cost his life. This proves that in awareness of death one would not take
himself seriously (John 3:30), but will do what his conscience asks him to do. No
wonder Bible book of Ecclesiastes (chapter 7) speaks of death positively
because being aware of death can make people take a U-turn from reckless
pursuit of pleasure.
Many people have already discerned this: One among them is Jonathan Swift, English satirist who wrote: “It
is IMPOSSIBLE that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as
death, should ever have been designed by providence as an evil to mankind.” Socrates
had absolute clarity on this subject, hence described death as “the greatest of
all human blessings” and “the greatest good that can happen” to us because it prevents
one’s feeling of self-importance from growing eternally. Thus all those great
men agree that remembering death is the greatest source of wisdom for any
person—it guarantees that one's planning will be realistic.
Yet religions present death as a curse and God as the redeemer
of people from this “curse.” If blessing is viewed as curse, they will have
this inability of understanding in all the areas they put their hands on. See
when the disciples understood Jesus as the “servant of God” (Acts 3:13) the
whole Christians understand him as God himself!
