Origin The Challenge to the Global Community of Religions
"In this new ecological age of developing global community and interfaith dialogue, the world religions face what is perhaps the greatest challenge that they have ever encountered. Each is inspired by a unique vision of the divine and has a distinct cultural identity. At the same time, each perceives the divine as the source of unity and peace. The challenge is to preserve their religious and cultural uniqueness without letting it operate as a cause of narrow and divisive sectarianism that contradicts the vision of unity and peace. It is a question of whether the healing light of religious vision will overcome the social and ideological issues that underline much of the conflict between religions." ~ Dr. Steven C. Rockefeller, Middlebury College, Spirit and Nature, p. 169
CONTENTS | INVOCATION | INTRODUCTION | PROLOGUE | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21
WS FORUM

INVOCATION

Synopsis
Title Page
This Archive
Advisors and Contributors
Foreword by Ninian Smart
How to obtain a printed (hardbound/paperback) version

PROLOGUE:
MANY PATHS TO ONE GOAL

The Truth in Many Paths
Tolerance and Respect for All Believers

INTRODUCTION
The Purpose of World Scripture
The Organization of World Scripture
The World's Religions and Their Scriptures
Acknowledgements
Notes

ESSAY:
World Scripture and Education for Peace

PART ONE:
Ultimate Reality and the Purpose of Human Existence

CHAPTER 1: Ultimate Reality
Traces of God's Existence
The One
Formless, Emptiness, Mystery
Transcendent, All-Pervasive Reality
Sovereign and Omnipotent
Omniscient
Immanent and Near at Hand
Eternal -- in a World of Transience
The Creator
Goodness and Love
Divine Father and Mother

CHAPTER 2: Divine Law, Truth, and Cosmic Principle
Eternal Truth
Moral Law
The Decalogue
The Golden Rule
Polarity, Relationality, and Interdependence
Cosmic Justice

CHAPTER 3: The Purpose of Life for the Individual
Joy and Happiness
For God's Good Pleasure
Image of God and Temple of God
Inborn Goodness and Conscience
Original Mind, No Mind
Perfection
True Love

CHAPTER 4: The Purpose of Life in the Family and in Society
The Family
Parents and Children
Husband and Wife
Friendship
Unity and Community
Equality
The People of God
The Ideal Society

CHAPTER 5: The Purpose of Life in the Natural World
The Sanctity of Nature
Reverence for Life
The Microcosm
Dominion
The Lord of Spirits
Creation Rejoices

CHAPTER 6: Life Beyond Death and the Spiritual World
The Spiritual World: Mystery, Multiplicity, Analogy, Harmony
The Immortal Soul
Prepare Now for Eternity
Passage Beyond
Heaven
Hell
Spiritual Benefactors
Spiritual Error and the Occult

PART TWO:
Evil, Sin, and the Human Fall

CHAPTER 7: The Human Condition
Ill
The War Within
Ignorance
Idolatry
Pride and Egotism
Selfish Desire, Lust, and Greed

CHAPTER 8: Fall and Deviation
The Human Fall
Demonic Powers
Heresy
Degraded Human Nature
God's Grief

CHAPTER 9: The Major Sins
Good and Evil
Adultery
Murder
Theft
Lying and Deceit
Hypocrisy
Slander, Gossip and Foul Speech
Addiction

PART THREE:
Salvation and the Savior

CHAPTER 10: Salvation-Liberation-Enlightenment
Grace
Universal Salvation
Atonement and Forgiveness of Sins
Healing
Liberation
Enlightenment
Crossing the Waters
Reversal and Restoration
Peace
Help and Deliverance
The Refining Fire
Born Anew
Eternal Life
The Unitive State

CHAPTER 11: The Founder
Call and Awakening
Rejected by the World
The Victor
He Who Subjugates Satan
The Revealer of Truth
The Man for Others
The Living Presence
The Person and Character of the Founder: Divine Person
Human Person
The Succession of Founders and Messengers

PART FOUR:
The Religious Life

CHAPTER 12: Responsibility and Predestination
Decision
Individual Responsibility
Synergy
Predestination
Karma and Inherited Sin
Duty

CHAPTER 13: Self-cultivation and Spiritual Growth
Spiritual Growth
Cultivate the Good
Sincerity
Purity
Self-Control
Preparing the Start
Vigilance
Perseverance and Patience

CHAPTER 14: Faith
Faith
Devotion and Praise
Fear, Submission, and Obedience
Anxiety
Gratitude
Argument with God

CHAPTER 15: Wisdom
The Search for Knowledge
Scripture and Tradition
Poverty of Conceptual Learning
Scripture Teaches in Parables
Learning and Practice
Teacher and Disciple
New Wine and Old Wineskins

CHAPTER 16: Worship
Prayer
The Name of God
Meditation
Ritual
Beyond Ritual

CHAPTER 17: Offering and Sacrifice
Offering
Donations
Self-Sacrifice
Persecution and Martyrdom

CHAPTER 18: Self-Denial and Renunciation
Self-denial and No-self
Repentance, Confession, and Restitution
Humility
Restraint and Moderation
Control Anger
Subdue Desires and Passions
Detachment from the Senses
Renunciation of Wealth
Asceticism and Monasticism
Separation from Family
Separation from the World

CHAPTER 19: Live for Others
Loving-kindness
Serving Others
Sacrificial Love
Giving and Receiving
Charity and Hospitality
Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Judge Not
Love Your Enemy
Turn the Other Cheek
Good Deeds
Labor and Industry
Honesty and Expediency
Witness

PART FIVE:
Providence, Society, and the Kingdom of Heaven

CHAPTER 20: Good Government and the Welfare of Society
The Pillars of Society
The Prophet and Reformer
War Against Evil
Respect for Legitimate Governments
Government by Divine Law
Consideration for the People
Leadership by Example and Honest Government
Judgments and Punishments
Providence and the Mandate of Heaven

CHAPTER 21: Eschatology and Messianic Hope
Tribulation
The Last Judgment
The Messiah
The Kingdom of Heaven

Interspirit Network for global illumination
- 1 -

 
View previous page View next page
CHAPTER 21, ESCHATOLOGY AND MESSIANIC HOPE
THE LAST JUDGMENT

Hope in a Last Judgment has always been an answer to the problem of theodicy. The dominion of evil in this world will finally be overthrown, and the righteousness of God will be vindicated, when He judges all humankind at the end of days. Evil will be vanquished once and for all, and the glorious realm of God's full sovereignty will appear--the Kingdom of God.

Variations on this theme are represented by the passages in this section. In the passages from the Avesta and the Old Testament, the Last Judgment and the emerging Kingdom of God are said to occur on the earth. On the other hand, in the passages from the Qur'an and the New Testament, the earth will be destroyed and the redeemed will live in heaven. Consequently, the Last Judgment may be interpreted either as a supernatural event at the world's end--typically the stance of Islam and most strains of traditional Christianity--or as a social, political, and religious renovation of this world--a view common to Judaism and some new religions, for example in a passage cited below from a scripture of Sekai-Kyusei-Kyo, a new religion from Japan.


The kingdom of Heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

1. Christianity. Matthew 13.47-50


- - - - - - - - - - - -
Matthew 13.47-50: Cf. Matthew 16.27, p. 172; Lotus Sutra 16, p. 947.
- - - - - - - - - - - -


And then when retribution
       shall come for their offenses,
Then, O Wise One, Thy Kingdom
        shall be established by Good Thought,
For those who, in fulfilment,
       deliver evil into the hands of Truth!

And then may we be those
       who make life renovated,
O Lord, Immortals of the Wise One,
       and O Truth, bring your alliance,
That to us your minds may gather
       where wisdom would be in dispute!

Then, indeed, shall occur
       the collapse of the growth of evil,
Then they shall join the promised reward:
       blessed abode of Good Thought,
Of the Wise One, and of Right,
       they who earn in good reputation!

2. Zoroastrianism. Avesta, Yasna 30.8-10


For the windows of heaven are opened,
        and the foundations of the earth tremble.
The earth is utterly broken,
        the earth is rent asunder,
        the earth is violently shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunken man,
       it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it,
       and it falls, and will not rise again.
On that day the Lord will punish
       the hosts of heaven, in heaven,
       and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit;
       they will be shut up in a prison,
       and after many days they will be punished.
Then the moon will be confounded,
       and the sun ashamed;
for the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
       and before its elders he will manifest his glory.

3. Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 24.18-23


When the Trumpet shall sound one blast
And the earth with its mountains shall be lifted up and crushed with one crash,
Then, on that day, will the Event befall.
Heaven will split asunder, for that day it will be frail,

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Yasna 30.8-10: 'Good Thought,' 'Truth,' and 'Immortals of the Wise One' are personified attributes of the Wise Lord. See Yasna 43.5, p. 172; 48.4, p. 353; Zamyad Yast 19.11-12, p. 950. On the triumph of truth, cf. Qur'an 17.85, p. 470; Ramkali-ki-Var, M.1, p. 470. Isaiah 24.18-23: Cf. Isaiah 2.12-17, p. 354.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

The angels will be on its sides, and eight will uphold the Throne of their
        Lord that day, above them.
On that day you will be exposed; not a secret of yours will be hidden.
Then, as for him who is given his record in his right hand, he will say,
       "Take, read my book!
Surely I knew that I should have to meet my reckoning."
Then he will be in blissful state
In a high Garden
Whose clusters are in easy reach.
[They will say to him,] "Eat and drink at ease for that you sent on before
       you in past days."
But as for him who is given his record in his left hand, he will say, "Oh,
       would that I had not been given my book
And knew not what my reckoning!
Oh, would that it had been death!
My wealth has not availed me,
My power has gone from me."
"Take him and fetter him
And then expose him to hellfire.
Then insert him in a chain of seventy cubits' length.
Lo! he used not to believe in God the Tremendous,
And urged not on the feeding of the wretched,
Therefore has he no lover here this day,
Nor any food save filth
Which none but sinners eat."

4. Islam. Qur'an 69.13-37


Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, "Where is the promise of [Christ's] coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation." They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through that which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and the earth have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

5. Christianity. 2 Peter 3.3-10


- - - - - - - - - - - -
Qur'an 69.13-37: Cf. Qur'an 17.13-17, p. 299; 39.68-75, p. 301; 99, p. 845; also Revelation 20.11-12, p. 299. 2 Peter 3.3-10: Peter is urging patience to Christians who misunderstood the promise of Christ's Second Coming, thinking that it should have occurred within a few years after his Ascension. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5.2-6, pp. 638f.; John 12.46-50, pp. 551f.
- - - - - - - - - - - -


Deem not that God is unaware of what the wicked do. He but gives them a respite till a day when eyes shall stare [in terror], as they come hurrying on in fear, their heads upraised, their gaze returning not to them, and their hearts as air. And warn mankind of a day when the doom will come upon them, and those who did wrong will say, "Our Lord! Reprieve us for a little while. We will obey Thy call and will follow the Messengers." [It will be answered,] "Did you not swear before that there would be no end for you? And have you not dwelt in the dwellings of those who wronged themselves of old and has it not become plain to you how We dealt with them, and made examples for you? Verily they have plotted their plot, and their plot is with God, though their plot were one whereby mountains should be moved. So think not that God will fail to keep His promise to His Messengers. Lo! God is Mighty, Able to Requite.

On the day when the earth will be changed to other than the earth, and the heavens likewise, and they will come forth unto God, the One, the Almighty. You will see the guilty on that day linked together in chains, their raiment of pitch, and the Fire covering their faces--that God may repay each soul what it has earned. Lo! God is swift at reckoning.

6. Islam. Qur'an 14.42-51


Civilization as we know it is only transitory; it will finally pass away as the new age dawns and the true civilization is born. That will mark the end of the "provisional" world we live in today. God wills a reckoning for the old civilization and the establishment of a new one, and the time of His reckoning is at last drawing near.

Until now evil forces have had wide latitude in civilization, but in the transition from the old to the new, they will be weeded out. All people will go through an inexorable process of cleansing. The world will be terribly afflicted in payment for untold sins gathered over millennia. The great affliction is the sign that all societies and nations are being purified, and it will lift humankind to a new level of existence where good prevails.

The transition, which is actually upon us now, is the last stage before the beginning of an earthly paradise. In the upheaval, every sphere of life and every corner of civilization will be transformed. Those who believe in God and repent will witness the coming of the new world, and they will be able to start on the road to salvation. But those still heavily burdened with sin and unable to overcome their malicious ways will end this life in absolute misery and may find no salvation in the next.

7. Sekai-Kyusei-Kyo. Johrei