A Radio Program on September 14, 2001
Where Do the Hostilities of World-Terrorism Lead Us?
Christian:
Dear listeners, THE WORD – The Cosmic Wave greets you to a roundtable
discussion about the current topic: “Where do the hostilities of
world-terrorism lead us?”
I greet our studio guests, Gabriele, Gert and Dieter, very warmly and my
name is Christian.
Dear friends! The world is in shock from the greatest terrorist attack in
history. Politicians, journalists and plain citizens are experiencing
constantly shifting emotions, from mourning, to anger, to hopelessness.
Prayers are being spoken, candles lit. The American President also prayed
– before he announced a retaliatory strike against the terrorists, who
have reduced buildings in New York and Washington to rubble. And an
American Senator called to the presumed enemies of America: “May God have
mercy on you, for we do not!” One can assume that this politician also
attended one of the many worships services that are happening all over the
place. Do we really believe that we can find peace between praying and
bombing? Perhaps we will have to soon light our candles again, when we
take a look at the results of the reprisals. Or will we then think it
isn’t so necessary as now? How did we land in such a situation? What are
the roots of this evil that we are now confronted with?
All of these are questions that we would like to address during this
roundtable discussion.
Gert:
If we have been following the news during the last few days, then, after
the first shock about the extent of damage and the count of victims, we
see that it has been more or less filled with the question: How do we
strike back? It seems to be taken for granted that a counterattack of like
kind must follow such a hate-filled attack – no matter whether it is
described as punishment, retaliation or self-defense.
As Original Christians, however, we have learned to first ask about the
cause, the root, of what has happened. For an Original Christian, it is
actually quite surprising that the first reaction to something bad isn’t:
How could such a thing happen? For the teaching of Jesus, the Christ, does
not speak about retaliation, self-defense or striking back. Why is it
apparently so absolutely normal in the so-called Christian Western world
to call for retaliation and revenge?
Christian:
Perhaps we should ask this of the theologian at our table, namely Dieter:
How is it that such a mentality as Gert just described could develop among
the opinion leaders of the churches in the so-called Christian Western
world?
Dieter:
If the Churches had followed the New Testament and Jesus of Nazareth, then
such a thing could not have developed at all. If I take an example from
the Gospel of Luke, there was an attack against some people and to the
population it was clear that there was something behind this. They asked:
Why did this happen to them? And Jesus answered: If you don’t change your
ways, it will happen this way to you, too. This means that there is a
relationship, that there are causes for such attacks, and the people in
the Bible, the contemporaries of Jesus of Nazareth, knew this. But today,
this is left out in the churches. Instead, reference is made to mysterious
blows of fate, to a God of mystery, so that no one seriously asks about
the causes.
But if one were to go by Jesus of Nazareth, then such retaliatory measures
cannot happen, for Jesus said: “All who take up the sword will perish by
the sword.” This was a very clear warning. He also said: “Love your
enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.” This
means that He taught us to overcome evil with good, and this isn’t even
taken seriously. The people who are now praying may very well call
themselves believers, but if they really were believers, if they really
believed in Christ, then this would mean they would do what He says. But
exactly this is what people do not do. People are only afraid, and try to
gain some kind of protection, even when it means acting in a totally
different way than the way the man from Nazarene lived for us.
Gabriele:
You mentioned “the man from Nazarene,” Jesus, the Christ. The central
teaching of Jesus, the Christ, was and is the Sermon on the Mount. But the
so-called institutional Christians have dismissed the Sermon on the Mount,
the central teaching of Jesus, the Christ, as utopian, as something that
cannot be lived, or a teaching that is meant for another, better world.
The church institutions which call themselves Christian, preached and
still preach the same thing: “The central teaching of Jesus, the Sermon on
the Mount, is utopian and cannot be lived; it belongs to another world.”
As long as the church institutions say that this central teaching cannot
be lived, they may not call themselves Christian. And so, a person who
calls himself an institutional Christian is actually a non-believer. And
since we have now come to the non-believers, then I must say that I have
always asked myself the question about what it actually means to say that
“Faith alone is enough.” To say that faith alone is enough is the way that
leads to non-belief. Because if it were enough just to believe, then we
would already have a better world. Then the teaching of Jesus, the Christ,
His central teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, could already be applied.
For whoever believes in God, automatically does what God wants.
Here’s a small example: If I am in love with a person, if I love a person,
then I don’t act against him. Instead, I feel in my heart what he thinks,
what he wants, what he does, and then I also do or think the same or
something similar, because I love him. But if we now say, “To believe in
God is enough” – great, only: God is love; God is gentleness; God is
kindness; God is justice; God is mercy; God is always present help,
present existence. And so, if it were enough to believe in God, then I
would have to do what God wants! And if I don’t do this, then I may not
call myself a Christian, because then I either am a non-believer, or have
a different belief.
Gert:
Actually, this is a consequence that the church openly admits to, because they say: Well, the teaching that leads into the laws of God, the Sermon on the Mount, is utopian. With this and other words, they are saying that the Kingdom of Peace, what Christ wanted to bring to this Earth, is utopian. And so, very openly they profess to the opposite, to the kingdom of war, to the kingdom of violence and the kingdom of hatred. And now we are getting closer to the question: The hatred and the outbreak of violence that we are now experiencing is thus fully in agreement with the prevailing teaching of the power structures of the institutions that call themselves Christian.
Gabriele:
And haven’t the so-called Christian churches been an example for us for
what has happened today?
Christian:
Well, basically they have, for at least 1500 years, for example, through
the terrorism of the Crusades, not least of all against the Islamic world,
through the growing persecution of Jews only a few centuries after Jesus
of Nazareth, which marked the whole Middle Ages and in the end led to
Hitler’s holocaust. The churches have set up a prevalence of intolerance
in the so-called Christian Western world. And this intolerance has
unleashed so much aggression that now fills this Earth sphere with
negative energy and is fertile soil for the new aggressions that today,
with the technical possibilities of the 21st century, result in this
dangerous terrorism.
If the Christians had only done what Jesus of Nazareth had taught, then
the world would not have landed in this cruel dead-end of terror and war.
But the Christians did not do this, because the churches qualified the
teaching of the Nazarene. They have expressly explained that one cannot
take it literally. Even though Jesus of Nazareth said: “You cannot serve
two masters,” you must decide for or against me, the churches have taught
the opposite of this. In this way, when one looks at it very closely and
asks the question “who is responsible for the present situation?”, one
comes to the conclusion that it is the opinion leaders who have led the
Christians away from Jesus of Nazareth, namely, the churches.
However, they should not call themselves Christian, but perhaps merely
Catholic or Lutheran, for what the churches have taught the people, and
what they themselves have practiced, has nothing to do with Christ.
Gabriele:
I can imagine that every scientist could prove this, because the
scientists teach us that no energy is ever lost. And so, the brutality of
the church institutions has not been lost. It was a brutally negative
energy that went against those of other faiths, those who chose to think
differently. This energy – as the scientists say – is not lost. It
collects in the atmosphere and at some point in time, comes to fruition.
Perhaps, now, during our time.
Causes are set, negative energies, that went out from the churches, which
should have personified the teaching of Jesus, but which did not personify
it, but instead, the exact opposite. This comes back to the people who are
the followers of the churches, but not the followers of Jesus, the Christ,
as He taught us. And so, this means that the roots of this terrible evil
that we are now experiencing do indeed lie in the institutional churches.
For the churches should have conveyed to us this good news, the message of
peace of Jesus, the Christ. They should have taught us what Jesus taught
in the Sermon on the Mount, that is, that they should have personified His
teaching in word and deed. Since this did not happen, we now have the
circumstances of this scenario.
Gert:
Right up until the most recent past, the churches have practiced their
un-Christian teaching. Christian has already spoken about the early times
of the first centuries and of the Middle Ages. But this outpouring of
hatred and this teaching of violence toward those who think differently
have continued into the last years of the last century. When one thinks
about it, the Inquisition killed all those people who did not share the
church beliefs. And what about the colonialism that took place right up
until the last century, where people on other parts of the Earth were
brutally oppressed and converted by Western people in the name of
Christianity, attended by priests, ministers and bishops? This violence
and hatred against these people in the third world – as we call it today –
including in the Middle East, is one of those energies that doesn’t simply
fizzle out without a trace. And this violence that was practiced towards
those of other faiths in the name of Christianity, in the name of the
churches, is a potential of conflict that is still present in these
regions. This means that every act of violence is retaliated for with an
act of violence.
Christian:
But the blindness is meanwhile so great, that at these worship services
that are taking place everywhere, despite the apocalyptic situation, the
important teaching of Jesus of Nazareth is still cut out. Even though in
the Bible there is talk about cause and effect, there are ministers that
accuse God of having forsaken us; there are Christians crying out, “God,
why have you forsaken us?” God hasn’t forsaken us, and it isn’t God we
should be accusing. What is being played out here is something we have to
ascribe to ourselves according to the law of cause and effect. What we
have produced in the course of the last 2000 years in the way of negative
energies of feelings and thoughts – we as individual people, as groups of
nations, as entire religions – this potential of aggression is now coming
toward us again. And one cannot fight against this by using diplomatic or
even military means, because violence only breeds new violence. Instead,
peace can be gained only when one not merely prays, but becomes himself a
peaceable person. Each person can contribute toward this in his own small
sphere, but of course, also the nations and politicians in their great
responsibility. But there is no talk about this during this hour of shock.
Gabi:
And if we always keep saying God has forsaken us, that isn’t right. We
people have forsaken God, for Jesus said: “Follow me” and it is also
written that “You are the temple of God.” God does not dwell in stone
buildings. Why do we go to stone buildings that are called houses of
prayer, in order to worship God there? This is the following of the church
institutions and not the following of Jesus, the Christ! So why do those
who believe differently or the unbelievers go to the church institutions,
to the stone houses, to pray, when it is written that we, every single one
of us, is the temple of God?
Once we become aware of this, then we have to first beat upon our own
breast and say, “Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.” But Jesus, the Christ, our
Redeemer, helps us out of our guilt, out of our despair, of our need, when
we go to Him and ask Him for help and support. For it is written: “Ask and
it will be given to you.” But it is of no use whatsoever, when we light
candles for those who have died, and remain as we are. It is of no use to
go to churches of stone and speak out many prayers and remain as we are.
We have to knock at our own heart, each one of us, and say: In what points,
in what situations, with what thoughts and feelings, have I turned away
from God? And if we do not know how to start – in the end, with ourselves
– to find where our fault lies, where our sinfulness lies, with which we
have turned away from God, then the Commandments of God which He gave us
through Moses and the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus can help us to come to
recognition.
Only when we have recognized our sins, our faulty attitudes and
wrongdoings, our turning away from God, when we have repented of them and,
with the help of the great Spirit that is in us, cleared them up and no
longer do the same thoughts, the same deeds – that is, the evil – it is
only then that we feel that we ourselves are the temple of God.
Then we
will also turn within, to the very basis of our true being, and pray
within, because God dwells in each one of us.
As long as we believe that God dwells in the stone houses that the church
institutions have erected, we will be praying to the church institutions,
and giving them power.
When we pray within, we pray to God! And when we analyze our prayers and
recognize from this what it is that we should clear up, what is not right
between our praying and our doing, and get rid of it with the help of our
Redeemer and no longer do it, then our prayers will bear fruit.
And so, I do not need a church of stone. I am the temple of God. And if I
daily clear things up with the help of my Redeemer, our Redeemer, I will
pray within, and my prayers will then bear fruit. Then we feel that God
has not forsaken us, because God is love, help, kindness, mercy and love.
And if we now ask ourselves what Jesus wants to tell us today so that we
may really become Christians, then let us ask the theologian what Jesus
said in the Sermon on the Mount.
Dieter:
“You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth. But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil, but if anyone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
These words are really a challenge. But everyone who sees how this cycle
of violence keeps intensifying in the world will realize that what is
needed to break this cycle of violence is to get out of it. Otherwise what
will happen is what I saw, for example, on television, where a woman said
that until now she had always been very peaceful, but now it’s harder and
harder to be that way, and this is also what Jesus predicted. He said:
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars … For nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, … And because wickedness is
multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold” (Mt. 24:6-12). The way out of
this would be as Jesus described, as the prophets, already in former times,
said over and over again. It reminds me of the words of Jesus who spoke to
the population of that time: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets
and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered
your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
would not!” (Mt. 23:37-38). And I can perhaps say this from my own
experience as a Protestant pastor: Ten years ago when the Gulf War broke
out, I organized such church services myself. What do such services do?
They lead us astray. One lets the bells ring; one soothes one’s own
conscience with this by praying that God may very well support the
retaliation strikes of the politicians in this way. And this is exactly
the opposite of what Jesus of Nazareth said: Stop, come out of the cycle
of violence – but I have to start with myself.
Gabriele:
And then, the statement, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is
proved wrong, and proved wrong through Jesus, the Christ. Why? Because we
people have not attuned ourselves to a peaceable life as Jesus wanted. In
the Sermon on the Mount, He says: “Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you.” Or He said, “Judge not, that you not be judged. For
with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you
give will be the measure you get.” Here, He is addressing exactly the
sense – and I very much emphasize that it is the meaning, the sense – of
the statement “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” It means that
we, we who are all sinners and act against the Commandments of God and the
Sermon on the Mount, may not presume to judge, to carry out “an eye for an
eye, a tooth for a tooth.” An “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” means,
according to my way of seeing things, that what I sow, I will reap.
How can we say that we will “pay the other one back?” There’s no way for
us to know what he had sown, for example, why he is sowing terrorism. Why
he is sowing conflict? Why he is doing such a thing? What can lie behind
this? And if we go back over the centuries, what lies in the reincarnation
of the soul? That is also a topic that the churches exclude. But if we
were to take a closer look at reincarnation and believe in it, then the
whole thing would become very logical – what was perhaps sown and now –
during the third, fourth, fifth incarnation – is being reaped.
Christian:
As long as the victims of the cruelties of the last two thousand years,
the millions of people who were tortured and murdered, do not forgive
their murderers, they will, as souls, seek the path to incarnation on the
Earth over and over again in order to take revenge or to continue their
program of violence, violence against their fellow man, who perhaps in an
earlier incarnation did violence to them; violence against the nature
kingdoms, vandalism against the animals. As long as this doesn’t stop, one
may very well say that this world will continue to plunge into ever new
disasters of nature and of war.
And so, there must be an inner change, by clearing up of conflict in small as in large affairs, including what takes place over the span of many incarnations. For you previously mentioned this, that we should also consider the possibility and the results of reincarnation in this situation.
For this reason, efforts toward justice come up short, because we always
think in terms of a lifeline of 50, 70 or 80 years and not one that draws
through many incarnations. We judge the justice of God in terms of our
present life, even though it is something much more encompassing.
Gert:
So many may say today: Well, what can we do against fanatics who don’t
even value their own life and are ready to kill many other people,
thinking that they will gain a place in the kingdom of heaven that way? I
think that Jesus also foresaw this, for He gave the Christians the
mission: ”Go out and teach all nations.” Explain to them about the error
in believing that one can gain the kingdom of heaven through hatred and
murder. And what did the Christians do? They should have led the way as
good examples. And what did the church institutions do? They went out;
they did not teach; instead, they killed the peoples. And so, every member
of another religion must indeed say, “ With my hate-filled deeds, I am
doing exactly what the institutions have done in the name of Christ, and
so it must be right.”
Gabriele:
And if no energy is ever lost, then my hatred will come back to me.
Dieter:
This is why Jesus of Nazareth said: “Do good to those who hate you!” If we
had tried that, even if we only tried to do good to someone who came
toward us filled with hatred, we may have been able to help him to
recognize what lies behind his hatred. Something could have been moved in
the one who hates. If one had only started to try, made efforts, thinking
about how one could apply this. – So much could have gone differently over
the past 2000 years, and certainly today, as well.
Christian:
You cited Jesus of Nazareth who called on us to turn our cheek. Well, does
this mean that we should now wait for the next terrorist strike? Or is
there a possibility to do something without reprisals and without a
counterattack, something that could lead us out of this apocalyptic terror
situation?
Basically, all Christians at the governmental level, at the level of
nations, and the citizens should come together and ask all the people and
souls for forgiveness, who have suffered during the last 2000 years under
the dominance of so-called Christianity; ask for forgiveness for the
torments of the Crusades; ask for forgiveness for the subjugation and
murder of Indians; ask for forgiveness for slavery; ask for forgiveness
for all those aggressions that so-called Christians have brought into this
world. And this request for forgiveness – if it really comes from the
heart – could dissolve these clouds of negative feelings and thoughts and
aggressions which enshroud this Earth. And I could imagine that the seed
of violence that is now threatening to sprout so apocalyptically, would no
longer find fertile soil upon which is possible what has now become
possible.
Gabriele:
And the weapons that the Christians have forged, must, in the end, become
plowshares, just as Isaiah said.
Well, it is now 2000 years that have gone by since Jesus and His central
teaching! Can it be that the whole evil that we ultimately did to Jesus,
the Christ, by crucifying Him over and over again during the 2000 years,
because we did not fulfill what He taught us, now comes back to us all, to
all Christians?
Christian:
If the law of cause and effect holds true – and it is a cosmic law – then
unfortunately, we can conclude that it will be so.
Gert:
If the Christians had only done what is contained in the Sermon on the
Mount, we would have a totally different world today.
Since so many people follow after those who stand in the forefront of the
un-Christian power structures, since so many people follow after the
politicians who also follow un-Christian principles, one must actually
say: The apocalypse, what is looming before us today, can be stopped only
when all those who since then have followed the pied pipers turn their
backs on them, thus taking their power away from them.
But one thing is for sure: All world wars, all great catastrophes of the
past centuries, all of this has come from the so-called Christian western
world, and from those who have betrayed and abused the name of Jesus, the
Christ, preaching the teaching of hatred and revenge under the guise of
His name.
Gabriele:
And the one who asks himself where God is should take a closer look at the
words of Jesus, the Christ, in His Sermon on the Mount, and ask himself,
whether he fulfills what, for example, is in there: “Seek first his
kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.”
Has the Kingdom of God been given to us: the love, kindness, gentleness,
peaceableness, justice, goodness and mercy? If it hasn’t been given to us,
then we haven’t longed for the Kingdom of God and have not put it into
practice: “Seek first the Kingdom of God!”
Christian:
Dear listeners, dear friends! When I take these words of Gabriele here at
the end of our conversation and really make myself aware of them, then,
despite the terrible situation in which we find ourselves, they contain a
great comfort. For we have heard that everyone can contribute to peace,
each in his smaller or larger sphere, and that God is near to us, if we
approach Him again. And I think we should especially think about this and
act accordingly in this apocalyptic situation that the world has fallen
into.
Further Special Transmissions from CNA
Another special program of the Small Roundtable Discussion in Universal Life e. V.
