Arguments for Resurrection – Part 29

Seedbed of the Light (page 61-62)

“Samples of the Resurrection displayed in the world

This world’s Owner continually displays many samples of the Place of Supreme Gatherings in this narrow, transient Earth. Reflect upon Earth’s quickening in every “resurrection” of spring, during which countless instances of resurrection occur with perfect order within a short period, say about 6 days. See how innumerable plants and animals, while lying dead or almost dead, and either on or under the soil and mixed with each other, are revived with perfect distinction. How can anything tire the One who does this? Why should He be unable to create the heavens and Earth in “6 days”? Why should the resurrection of the dead not take place in the twinkling of an eye?

After going through a series of stages to establish that the universe must have a Creator, we are now told about seeing the signs of Resurrection around us. It is obvious that through the creation of spring, we see how things are restored back to life after dead. Also, we see no signs of weariness from the creation. I ask:

Is the world’s Owner able to resurrect the dead?

1. Is Resurrection of the dead going to happen?
2. If I establish that it will happen, then how can I relate this news of Resurrection to my practical real life?

Verse: “And God’s [alone] is the knowledge of the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth. And so, the resurrection will but manifest itself [in a single moment,] like the twinkling of an eye, or closer still: for, behold, God has the power to will anything.” Qur’an, 16:77

If we can make sure that resurrection will take place, then there is no difficulty in understanding that the One who is creating this world is creating it without time. He can do it and it is easy to understand. That is why people mostly take the easier way. Example: God is powerful over everything. He can do it. Is He going to do it? Yes, the Quran says so. This is a diversion, it is not an answer. The Quran gives the news that He can do it and it does not take time for God but we have to understand that whether He is going to do it and what am I going to do with it?

Ok, so I will be resurrected after I die. How can I make this real in my practical life that I will be resurrected and so my life will be accordingly as it is right now?

The mistake most of us fall into is that we take the Quran as evidence NOT a guide. We have to find a way of confirming what the guide says for everything that we hear such as belief in angels, prophet-hood, resurrection…

We need to fill our experiences with conscious meaning for right now Not after I die. Example: I am sitting here and everything is transient but I will wait until I die and I will be taken to the court. Since I will be taken to court, I better watch out for my actions. In the court, which is in the future, I will be asked so and so, THIS IS NOT REAL! We need to make the experience applicable to us here and now.

Let us take another example: I will pray and if I do not, it will be recorded. After I die, I will be taken into account in the court because I missed the prayer, but that happens after I die. This is not being conscious of the nature of this universe as the preparation place for the Eternal life right now, NOT only after I die. My consciousness must be for right now in anything I do whether I pray or not.

As far as the belief system is concerned, everything must be understood as active and directing my life right now NOT after. If it is after, it is not real but a kind of legend.

Belief in God is not hard, it comes almost automatic to us. As a human being everyone accepts the Creator who is creating the universe anew anytime with no interruption. After establishing Belief in a Creator, it becomes easy to understand Belief in Resurrection. That is, it will NOT be difficulty for the Creator of the universe to resurrect again and again.

Based on my reasoning and understanding of this world, I should analyze my creation in such a way that I will have my own evidence now that it will definitely take place (not possible that it will take place). For the Creator it is easy to do so (everyone falls into this empty claim). If you believe that this universe must have a Creator that is belief in a Creator. It is not existence of God only but knowing its Absoluteness which needs further investigation.

The universe must have a Creator. If He wants, He can resurrect is NOT belief in resurrection. Belief in Resurrection is an independent item in the principles of belief. It must be established through independent evidence. That is, you must gather your independent evidence for it. Just saying that “Yes, He can do it if He wants” is not part of my reality that it will take place for sure and my worldview must be shaped accordingly. I must make sure that He wants to resurrect the dead human beings under observing the evidence manifested in this world.

Shaping worldview that this universe must have a Creator is different from shaping my worldview based on there must be a Creator and resurrection must take place. Accordingly I should arrange my life and understanding in this world.

All the belief principles are independent entities forming their own container which are all inter-related from the bottom. That is, they all have an independent area and need to be established with their own evidence independently.

General public’s belief in all these principles is under one container. That is why, when the Quran is presented to the general public, it is very simple to understand. But if you want to verify if the news you get from the Quran is really correct, you have to go into details. Example, the verse “the secret of the heavens and earth belongs to God”. There are two attitudes:

1. It must be so because God says so.
2. If you take the Quran as a guide, the above verse claims that it is true and it needs an invitation, so go and investigate it.

#1 imitates the text but they do not investigate it. It is easy to imitate the text. Text says so and there must be a God. If God creates everything, then definitely He must have created angels and appointed Prophets as He says in the Scripture. Since everything is under one container, belief in the other principles is centered around God. General public is lazy to go into details.

The Quran speaks in a figurative way, example “when the sun comes down” We all know that the sun does not sets, but the earth is revolving. We have to understand what setting of the sun refers to and how I can make it into a meaningful evidence in my life right now. Then we need detailed explanation from the Creator to go into the detail sections of the other principles of belief matters. Otherwise, we will always remain under one container. I must take this detailed information from the Quran and make it real for myself by obtaining evidence.

The universe must have a Creator is belief in God but not understanding what God is. It seems to be sound but it has many faults. Belief in the existence of God is so easy that there is no need for a Prophet to teach that. Some say that there must be a Higher Being and live their practical life according to their human nature i.e. not contradicting it. Example, not telling a lie because I will be taken into account by a Higher Being. People who do not contradict their human nature do not feel the need for a religion and mostly say that they follow their heart (Agnostic types: I am following my heart which tells me what is right and what is wrong). The other types of people say that they do everything according to what religion instructs. (Religious types: I am following my religion which tells me what is right and what is wrong.) They are both under the same category i.e. in their practical life, belief in God has no effect.

That is why we need to read the Quran in the reverse direction. Example: this machine works perfectly. It means that the secret of how it works belongs to the Engineer. Engineer says, use it, and I know how it works perfectly. My duty is not to say that since the Engineer says so, I must accept that it works perfectly. My duty: Do the secrets of this machine directly comes from the will of the Engineer? How can I make sure? This is the sensitive point in the teachings of the Quran that says: “you say that you believe in God and Resurrection but you do not believe”. “And there are people who say, “We do believe in God and the Last Day,” the while they do not [really]. believe.” (Qur’an, 2: 8.)

My duty: Am I that one? You may say: But I believe in God which is just being on the side of not denying the Creator, nothing more and nothing less. Not denying the Creator: This universe cannot exist by itself. It must have a conscious Creator. Hence, this verse has nothing to do with me. Watch out! This verse addresses all human beings. Am I not one of the human beings? Can I not fall into such an attitude? CHECK YOURSELF!

Your claim to believe in God may not have any base. WATCH OUT! In order to have this kind of belief, you do not have to receive any kind of revelation from God or listen to any Prophets. There are billions of people who say that they believe in God but they do not need any Prophets or messengers, hence they do not need religion. Why are the Messengers there?

It is very human to believe in God, one does not have to follow any religion to believe in God. However, in order to establish the methodology of one’s belief system, that needs seriousness with one’s life but not impossible. One has to work. If you want to get along with your general feelings, you do not need any religion; just follow your heart (instincts). Some say, we cannot trust our instincts we just follow the Prophetic teaching. The Prophets tells us what is right and wrong, example not to eat bacon.

What is the function of messengership?

Prophets are needed in order to establish your worldview and put that belief into practice. The practice is the last stage in the process of belief since it is the result of your belief. We should not base religion on eating bacon only or not and reducing the message of the Prophet to teach me what to do and what not to do. Analogy: It takes years for a musician to train to become a professional musician. When s/he retires, he still practices the music. Similarly, the Prophet is sent to help us become better believers. The Prophet is not sent to make us like music (or appreciate belief) but to make us musicians.

Continuation-

• “Whatever happens in the world is not an end in itself.

The One Who writes countless books on a single page –the face of Earth – without any confusion or mistake, obviously can rewrite a book that He wrote before and destroyed. To understand the intended meaning, reflect on: “Look at the imprints of God’s Mercy, how he revives Earth after its death. Surely, He is Reviver of the dead (in the same way), and He is powerful over everything.” (Qur’an, 30:50)

This text is introducing the stages of the investigation to belief in resurrection that it must definitely happen. It is introducing to us where to look for evidence that resurrection is taking place. I have to look at this world and find the evidence here, not in the Quran. Quran shows us where to focus to investigate. When we investigate, we see that It is creating and giving death, creates again and gives death. For the One who does that, It can also give me life again because I see various evidences around me. How can I make this news real for myself now that definitely resurrection is taking place for me as the signs are obvious out there?

“All such acts required by His being the All-Merciful and All-Powerful Lord of creation show that these happenings (gatherings and separations) are not ends in themselves. There is no acceptable, reasonable relation between these important “festivals” and ceremonies and their particular, impermanent consequences within such a short, limited time. Therefore, they are only copies to be preserved with Gathering, and so that these fleeting things should yield perpetual forms, everlasting fruits, and eternal Resurrection, a store that will be emptied into Paradise and Hell.”

The author is saying if you want to understand that Resurrection is really true and must definitely happen, you have to reason now what is going on. He says to use your human qualities, look at the universe and you will notice that things are coming into existence and going. The Creator is giving life to them and taking them away. Is this a joke? “You gave me existence and since you are going to take my life back, why did you give me existence then?” It does not make sense.

“This is the act required by His being”: When you look at the act it does not seem that the One who performs these acts is crazy but what is happening seems to be a crazy action. Spring is there, then it is killed and then spring comes again. What are you doing? Are you taking the pleasure to demonstrate that you can do everything and satisfying yourself like a sadist? Do you see in the existence of the universe there is a sign for the Maker of the universe to be sadist? We are living in this world which has everything contradictory but at the same time perfectly arranged. My duty: Since the Creator of this universe must be rational, conscious and reasonable, and when I look at my life, I see that It is taking care of me and providing me with all the qualities, apparently somethings happen contradictory, there must be a reason.

Example: I am hungry, I eat food and I am hungry again. Can I say that O my Creator are you sadist? Since you want me to be satisfied, create me in a satisfied way where I should not feel the need to eat. The Creator through my own reasoning capacity is telling me that I am doing this in order to teach you something, not because I cannot create you with full satisfaction where you do not need any food. But we think about this process of hunger and satisfaction as a contradiction. It says to think about it until you die. We understand that It is continuously taking care of me. If I was not hungry and I was not satisfied, I would not realize that I have a caring Lord and Owner. Look at how things are arranged; it is to teach you something. Look at this universe how transient it is but through the things being transient, the Creator is teaching me that It Itself is permanent. If nothing was transient, I would never look for a Creator who is Permanent.

Example: if you were never given hunger and fed, you would never notice that you are needy and someone else is taking care of your needs. It means that you have a caring Owner taking care of your needs. These contradictions are always in existence for a purpose.

I am given life and then dead like creation (sleep) and then given life again the next morning. I am given life and at the same moment this life is taken away and given another life. We call it “aging” and it is a complete change of existence. It means the Creator is putting me in a position where I cannot sustain my life. By continuously changing my life condition it is teaching me that I am sustained by someone else not by myself. Example: table says here I am as I am made. But I am not like the table since I am continuously being changed and I am aware of this change. I have an owner who is continuously reminding me that something is in operation with me always. He is with me always. If my life was static, I would never understand that I have a Creator, an Owner taking care of me. In this dynamic nature of the universe, I must see that there is a lesson here that I have to learn. Not that my Creator is sadist, rather Mercifully teaching me to realize what my reality is.

Resurrection must definitely take place and how can I make sure for myself right now on this news? (…to be continued)