Iran held its presidential elections over the weekend and President Ahmadinejad declared himself the victor, despite protests from his challenger Mousavi who claimed the elections were corrupted by fraud.
Whether the elections were corrupted, I cannot say, but the heavy-handed actions Ahmadinejad’s government immediately took against Mousavi’s supporters to silence them and prevent protest cause one to wonder what motivated Ahmadinejad to act in such a paranoid defensive way.
My heart went out to the masses of young people of the country yearning for reform and more liberal policies. When ruled by authoritarian governments and “supreme rulers,” the chances of reform can seem hopeless at times. But I thought about Jesus’ promise, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
Jesus Christ knew from experience what kind of attitude and state of mental and spiritual composure puts one in a position of strength to have the final say in human affairs. The battle for justice may seem intense and foreboding for long periods of time, but divine will always wins out in the end.
My mind holds the picture of tens of thousands of citizens in Eastern Europe holding candles and assembling for peace before the fall of the Iron Curtain. It was meekness that toppled that wall of intransigence, stubbornness, coldness, misguided ideology and ego of mortal mind that tried to divide the family of man into isolated camps. And it is meekness and divine Love that will topple other forms of injustice and unfairness that mankind faces for centuries to come.
Stones, bullets and other missiles of hatred do not promote peace and harmony around the world. They often vent frustration and anger, but the ultimate weapon against injustice is meekness, wisdom, and love, like the Master proved.
Jesus Christ faced gross injustices throughout his ministry. He was treated unfairly, evilly, and without understanding. Yet, he prevailed, and has been changing the world for the better ever since. His weapon of mass destruction was not a nuclear bomb or any type of terrorist tactic. It was love. The divine Love he lived and taught destroyed, and is still destroying, the ways of the evil one.
“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” I pray that all enlightened reformers around the world working for the betterment of humanity, are blessed with huge doses of genuine meekness that enables them to feel the presence of divine Love, find hope and promise in its strength, and maintain confidence to continue on their progressive path.
Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label justice. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Monday, July 16, 2007
Seeking divine justice
An inquirer was quizzing me about how Christian Scientists view the awful atrocities that occur in history over time. For instance, the millions Stalin murdered, or Hitler incinerated, or that civil war ravages in the heart of Africa.
I said that the material world can be a very evil place with gross injustices obtruded upon people. But I expect these evils to lessen over the centuries as humanity learns to love each other more.
My friend then wondered what kind of hope existed for the millions of people caught in the web of vicious hatred, greed, lust, and pursuit of power by evil minded rulers in the meantime.
I offered the model and life of Jesus Christ, as an example of the ultimate solution.
Jesus taught us to seek spiritual justice above all forms of human justice.
He suffered immensely at the hands of evil rulers. But his response was not political, legal, civil, economic or social. He appealed to the highest judge of all, God, for help, and walked away a survivor from the treacherous and murderous attacks he faced. He sought and found the ultimate justice of all—life in Spirit.
Any innocent victim of evil circumstances has a spiritual justice to protect them too that inevitably lifts them above the reach of their enemies. It takes humility to do this, because the initial desire of many is often to attack fire with fire. But the eye for an eye approach usually worsens suffering. It's Love that dissolves hatred and Truth that triumphs over error with finality.
I remember a time when my dad had to appeal to divine justice to be spared from an evil situation on his farm.
He had developed a piece of dry-land into an irrigated farm in a new area that still had many dry-land farmers in surrounding territory. The agricultural practices of dry-land farmers can vary significantly from the practices of irrigated crop farmers.
After one year of successful farming, all his crops started to die. After intense research and inspection, it was determined that herbicide sprayed from neighboring farmers’ airplanes was drifting, often up to 15 miles, onto dad’s crops and killing them.
After lengthy discussion and debate, it was clear that no neighboring farmer was going to change their practices. There were laws against such practices, but enforcing the law was extremely difficult.
Dad decided he didn’t want to get embroiled into years of lawsuits that may prove futile and would definitely rack up huge lawyer bills.
He sought divine justice.
In divine justice, your help does not come from the legal system, from other people, or from anywhere in the world. It comes directly from God and in the form of inspiration, courage, confidence, trust and faith that all is well under the divine government. One’s goal is not to ignore the evil, but see through it, to the spiritual reality that perseveres forever.
In spiritual reality, dad could not have his good taken from him. True supply is spiritual coming from above, not from the earth, or from crops, nor could supply be taken from him by destructive habits of his neighbors.
He found his peace in spiritual truth.
Out of nowhere, a real estate agent appeared on the farm one day and asked dad if he’d ever considered planting apple trees on his land. He said no. She went on to explain how ideal his property was for fruit, and even offered to buy some of the acreage to plant her own orchard. Her offer was enough to get him out of crippling debt and save his operation.
The genius of planting apples was that apple trees were totally immune to all the pesticides drifting onto dad’s ranch.
Dad sold some land to the realtor, planted apple trees of his own, and in about three years, turned a dire situation around into a very prosperous farming operation. Since then stricter laws for spraying pesticides have been enforced and better practices adopted by neighboring farmers.
This story is not salve for innocents killed at the hands of murderous tyrants, but it does highlight how appealing to divine justice can be more effective than seeking human justice.
Eternal life in Spirit and supply from Mind is guaranteed to each child of God. No amount of evil in this world can deprive us of our gifts from above that are eternally ours.
We don’t always find justice here on earth for the evils we face, but spiritual foresight and understanding assures us that our divine reward is assured and gives us the confidence and hope we need to press on despite the difficulties we encounter. Our spiritual reward for patience and forgiveness is guaranteed.
Back to my opening remarks, because hatred in the world is often of gigantic proportions, a huge amount of love is needed to counteract it and prevent atrocities from happening in the first place. I feel certain this justice will be worked out over the centuries as the Christ takes greater hold in thought around the world and makes people more loving. Eventually the populace will be strong enough in Love that no evil ruler can get into office and rule arbitrarily over innocents.
I expect each of us is praying for that day to appear sooner rather than later!
I said that the material world can be a very evil place with gross injustices obtruded upon people. But I expect these evils to lessen over the centuries as humanity learns to love each other more.
My friend then wondered what kind of hope existed for the millions of people caught in the web of vicious hatred, greed, lust, and pursuit of power by evil minded rulers in the meantime.
I offered the model and life of Jesus Christ, as an example of the ultimate solution.
Jesus taught us to seek spiritual justice above all forms of human justice.
He suffered immensely at the hands of evil rulers. But his response was not political, legal, civil, economic or social. He appealed to the highest judge of all, God, for help, and walked away a survivor from the treacherous and murderous attacks he faced. He sought and found the ultimate justice of all—life in Spirit.
Any innocent victim of evil circumstances has a spiritual justice to protect them too that inevitably lifts them above the reach of their enemies. It takes humility to do this, because the initial desire of many is often to attack fire with fire. But the eye for an eye approach usually worsens suffering. It's Love that dissolves hatred and Truth that triumphs over error with finality.
I remember a time when my dad had to appeal to divine justice to be spared from an evil situation on his farm.
He had developed a piece of dry-land into an irrigated farm in a new area that still had many dry-land farmers in surrounding territory. The agricultural practices of dry-land farmers can vary significantly from the practices of irrigated crop farmers.
After one year of successful farming, all his crops started to die. After intense research and inspection, it was determined that herbicide sprayed from neighboring farmers’ airplanes was drifting, often up to 15 miles, onto dad’s crops and killing them.
After lengthy discussion and debate, it was clear that no neighboring farmer was going to change their practices. There were laws against such practices, but enforcing the law was extremely difficult.
Dad decided he didn’t want to get embroiled into years of lawsuits that may prove futile and would definitely rack up huge lawyer bills.
He sought divine justice.
In divine justice, your help does not come from the legal system, from other people, or from anywhere in the world. It comes directly from God and in the form of inspiration, courage, confidence, trust and faith that all is well under the divine government. One’s goal is not to ignore the evil, but see through it, to the spiritual reality that perseveres forever.
In spiritual reality, dad could not have his good taken from him. True supply is spiritual coming from above, not from the earth, or from crops, nor could supply be taken from him by destructive habits of his neighbors.
He found his peace in spiritual truth.
Out of nowhere, a real estate agent appeared on the farm one day and asked dad if he’d ever considered planting apple trees on his land. He said no. She went on to explain how ideal his property was for fruit, and even offered to buy some of the acreage to plant her own orchard. Her offer was enough to get him out of crippling debt and save his operation.
The genius of planting apples was that apple trees were totally immune to all the pesticides drifting onto dad’s ranch.
Dad sold some land to the realtor, planted apple trees of his own, and in about three years, turned a dire situation around into a very prosperous farming operation. Since then stricter laws for spraying pesticides have been enforced and better practices adopted by neighboring farmers.
This story is not salve for innocents killed at the hands of murderous tyrants, but it does highlight how appealing to divine justice can be more effective than seeking human justice.
Eternal life in Spirit and supply from Mind is guaranteed to each child of God. No amount of evil in this world can deprive us of our gifts from above that are eternally ours.
We don’t always find justice here on earth for the evils we face, but spiritual foresight and understanding assures us that our divine reward is assured and gives us the confidence and hope we need to press on despite the difficulties we encounter. Our spiritual reward for patience and forgiveness is guaranteed.
Back to my opening remarks, because hatred in the world is often of gigantic proportions, a huge amount of love is needed to counteract it and prevent atrocities from happening in the first place. I feel certain this justice will be worked out over the centuries as the Christ takes greater hold in thought around the world and makes people more loving. Eventually the populace will be strong enough in Love that no evil ruler can get into office and rule arbitrarily over innocents.
I expect each of us is praying for that day to appear sooner rather than later!
Thursday, August 10, 2006
The world is not fair
“It’s not fair!” The words have been uttered millions of times by people not getting an honest shake. No salary increase, a promotion gone to another, being treated disrespectfully, and feeling overlooked and ignored often top the list of personal grievances. And there are greater wrongs. Civilian and children casualties in war, terminal disease, carnage from natural disasters, faithful employees losing their job without warning, are a few examples that can leave people dazed and wondering “Where’s the justice?”
The world is not a fair place.
Look what happened to Jesus Christ? He loved and loved and loved, and what did the public do to him? He was crucified. Not an enjoyable outcome. But we can learn from his response to the ordeal. Instead of getting mad at his persecutors, he forgave them, let anger go, and went to God, in Love. And he was rewarded for his faithfulness to Love with a permanent refuge in eternal Life from his enemies.
When I farmed with my dad, one summer a neighboring corporate farm sprayed a dangerous pesticide illegally. The honey bees pollinating our crops got into the spray and brought it back to the hives, resulting in massive bee kills. Large piles of dead bees mounted in front of every hive. It was a monumental disaster leading to tens of thousands of dollars in losses, all in the matter of a couple of hours.
We felt so helpless. The kill was not just. The thoughtlessness and carelessness of our neighbors impacted us and our beekeeper terribly, and it wasn’t fair.
The offending party admitted they had sprayed improperly, but made excuses as to why. Dad could have sued, but he chose not to. He knew a lawsuit would turn into years of fighting in courts and drain his time and energy away from running a successful farming operation. He chose to let the incident go, regroup his resources, and concentrate effort on making the best of what we had left.
Looking back, he made the right decision. The farm flourished anyway, despite the bee loss. Our supply came from God, not from the bees, and no carelessness of a neighbor could deprive our farming operation from demonstrating success when we were drawing upon the unlimited resources of God.
What man takes away, God can replace.
The world may be unfair, but God is fair.
Evil may be flaring and boasting strength around the globe tromping over innocent by-standers and way-farers, but it will not have the final say. God has the final say. Our life and substance are spiritual. They cannot be touched by hatred and malice or even disease.
As we identify more with spiritual substance and not fear material loss, we will conquer evil more successfully through spiritual ways and means. Less injustice will occur, and life on earth will more nearly approximate life in heaven.
What do you think?
The world is not a fair place.
Look what happened to Jesus Christ? He loved and loved and loved, and what did the public do to him? He was crucified. Not an enjoyable outcome. But we can learn from his response to the ordeal. Instead of getting mad at his persecutors, he forgave them, let anger go, and went to God, in Love. And he was rewarded for his faithfulness to Love with a permanent refuge in eternal Life from his enemies.
When I farmed with my dad, one summer a neighboring corporate farm sprayed a dangerous pesticide illegally. The honey bees pollinating our crops got into the spray and brought it back to the hives, resulting in massive bee kills. Large piles of dead bees mounted in front of every hive. It was a monumental disaster leading to tens of thousands of dollars in losses, all in the matter of a couple of hours.
We felt so helpless. The kill was not just. The thoughtlessness and carelessness of our neighbors impacted us and our beekeeper terribly, and it wasn’t fair.
The offending party admitted they had sprayed improperly, but made excuses as to why. Dad could have sued, but he chose not to. He knew a lawsuit would turn into years of fighting in courts and drain his time and energy away from running a successful farming operation. He chose to let the incident go, regroup his resources, and concentrate effort on making the best of what we had left.
Looking back, he made the right decision. The farm flourished anyway, despite the bee loss. Our supply came from God, not from the bees, and no carelessness of a neighbor could deprive our farming operation from demonstrating success when we were drawing upon the unlimited resources of God.
What man takes away, God can replace.
The world may be unfair, but God is fair.
Evil may be flaring and boasting strength around the globe tromping over innocent by-standers and way-farers, but it will not have the final say. God has the final say. Our life and substance are spiritual. They cannot be touched by hatred and malice or even disease.
As we identify more with spiritual substance and not fear material loss, we will conquer evil more successfully through spiritual ways and means. Less injustice will occur, and life on earth will more nearly approximate life in heaven.
What do you think?
