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Conversing With Rev. Job Anbalagan
- G.B. Singh
I have no problem if a
Christian wishes to delve into the subject of Biblical God (BG). All I ask for
is not to reinvent the wheel—-meaning that the debate on BG has been extensive
following the subject matter of slavery that was published in August 2005 issue of SikhSpectrum.
The November 2006 issue reopened this subject because two individuals decided
to have their inputs. I fully understand the motivations of apologetic
Christians wishing to rescue the BG, come what may. Before I move further, let
me share with you the comments of Jefferson Davis who, in addition to being a
Christian reader of the Bible, was the president of the Confederacy (U.S. Civil
War time):
Let
the gentlemen go to Revelation to learn the decree of God—let him go to the
Bible and not to the report of the decisions of the courts. I said that slavery
was sanctioned in the Bible, authorized, regulated, and recognized from Genesis
to Revelation…. Slavery existed then in the earliest ages, and among the chosen
people of God; and in Revelation we are told that it shall exist till the end
of time shall come. You find it in the Old and New Testaments—in the prophecies,
psalms, and the epistles of Paul; you find it recognized-—sanctioned
everywhere.
Over the years I have met
many good Christians--common men and women-—who would not dispute against me
the Bible’s sanctioning of slavery. They agree that slavery and other
unpleasant contents are a part of the Bible, but they themselves refuse to
follow those directives in today’s world. Their willful decision to pick and
choose what they feel comfortable within the Bible is their personal matter. I
have no problem with such folks as long as they recognize the unsavory parts of
the Bible and have learned how to stay away.
Lately a Christian gentleman
from New Delhi, India sent me a letter willing to share his views against those
that I put in the original article in August 2005. His name is Job Anbalagan
and he runs a ministry under a name of “Glory of His Cross Prophetic Ministries.” I have posted his letter
under seven labeled paragraphs at the end of my commentary. Because of unnecessary
verbiage in the letter, I will be selective. At first let’s deal with the issue
of slavery. In my original article, I presented in verbatim what the Bible says
under the following Old Testament references of Exodus
21: 1-27 [Revised Standard Version], Leviticus
25:44-46 [RSV], and Deuteronomy 15:12-18 [RSV].
Mr. Anbalagan, in his
labeled paragraph 3, confesses with a mind-boggling statement, “The God of the Bible had intended the
system of slavery for our good only.” Then he takes a summersault into
explaining the meaning of slavery, portraying it as a “master-servant
relationship” and then in the same breadth, he finishes off with, “It [slavery]
is nothing but a contract of employment.”
For
centuries, Christians have practiced slavery against other people and they
never shied from proclaiming their allegiance to those Biblical verses
extolling slavery. But today’s fundamentalist Christian has mastered the art of
deception via rhetoric of reinterpretations hoping to rescue the BG. It amazes
me to see the extent to which some people will go to change the Bible’s true
meanings that suits their current social and political outlook. Moreover, mellowing down the unsavory
doctrine of slavery to an acceptable doctrine of employer-employee relationship
or contract of employment or the related typologies has already been discussed
in the rebuttals following my original article on slavery.
From the New Testament I produced the
following five references of Ephesians 5:
5-8 [RSV], Colossians 3: 22-25 [RSV], 1 Timothy 6: 1-2 [RSV], Titus 2: 9-10 [RSV], and 1 Peter: 2: 18-19 [RSV]. Mr. Anbalagan,
in his labeled paragraph
4, replied with an astounding statement: “If the advice of GB Singh is to be
followed, then there will be anarchy in the whole world. The Government
servants or the soldiers guarding their nations will not obey their masters. We
are all under the yoke of slavery in this world. We have our earthly masters
i.e. governments, employers, political leaders, etc. We are all slaves.” If Mr.
Anbalagan’s logic – the master-servant relationship […] we are all slaves to
our employers --is taken a step further, are all unemployed folks “free.”
Aren’t such irrationalities a vain attempt to rescue BG?
For sake of history, allow
me to bring to your attention what the early St. John Chrysostom wrote: “the slave
should be resigned to his lot, in obeying his master he is obeying God….” St.
Augustine wrote in The City of God: “…slavery is now penal in
character and planned by that law which commands the persecution of the natural
order and forbids disturbance.” The eighteenth century Anglican Church made it
clear that Christianity freed people from eternal damnation, not from the bonds
of slavery. The Bishop of London, Edmund Gibson proclaimed in 1727 that:
Christianity
does not make the least alteration in civil property…The Freedom which
Christianity gives, is a Freedom from the Bondage of Sin and Satan, and the
Dominion of Men’s Lusts and Passions and inordinate Desires; but as to their
outward Condition, whatever that was before, whether bond or free, their being
baptized, and becoming Christians, makes no manner of Change in it.
According to this Bishop all
that mattered was to escape the eternal enslavement of damnation. It followed
that the African should cheerfully accept physical enslavement in this world
because it was transitory and of little consequence. Black slaves were
encouraged to become Christians with a calculated hope: Blacks would then
become more docile and obedient. I want to make it clear that today is not the
time to debate on a number of Jesus’ teachings designed to turn the poor people
into docile and obedient in favor of the ruling elite class. The Christian
system of slavery is a masterpiece of perfection and millions of innocent human
beings have paid a dear price. I will ask the reader to wait for the
forthcoming book, The Christian Origin of Totalitarianism that details historical
accounts of barbarities against the innocent and weaker segments of
humanity.
In the original article of
August 2005, there is a large segment that dealt with “Violence and the
Biblical God.” This I incorporated with my article and made it clear that C.
Dennis McKinsey had authored it. In the letter (paragraphs 5 & 6), Mr.
Anbalagan wrongly attributes this segment to me. In any case, Anbalagan’s
rebuttal is interesting to read and
he hasn’t added or changed anything of substance to what McKinsey wrote.
In his letter’s labeled paragraph 7, Mr. Anbalagan asks, “Why does
GB Singh ignore the teachings of the New Testament?” I didn’t. Anything and
everything of importance mentioned about slavery I brought forth. Mr. Anbalagan
finishes off his letter with good news of a certain person named “Sonu.” Accordingly,
this person “had committed many crimes and attempted to murder a person.” But
then a transformation occurred: “gospel of Christ touched his heart and today
he is a new creature,” Anbalagan tells us. Frankly I am left wondering. I know
in the United States, a person with “many crimes and attempted to murder a
person” is a criminal--punishable under law.
Let me close by citing Mark Twain. Being fully conversant
of the contents of the Bible, he made the following intriguing comment years
after slavery was banned in America:
There was no place in the land where the
seeker could not find some small budding sign of pity for the slave. No place
in all the land but one — the pulpit. It yielded at last; it always does. It
fought a strong and stubborn fight, and then did what it always does, joined
the procession — at the tail end. Slavery fell. The slavery text in the Bible
remained; the practice changed; that was all.
Reply to GB Singh on Biblical God
In this message, I deal with certain issues raised by GB Singh on the
Biblical God. God
is none but the God as revealed through His Word. He can be called the God of
the Bible. There is no complex issue when we say Jesus is the God incarnate.
All the Christian denominations including the Roman Catholic Church, except the
Jehovah Witnesses or a similar other sects do believe in the trinity of God
i.e. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I do not want to discuss the doctrines
concerning the trinity of God here.
1. The God of the Bible
has all the attributes of the God as Creator or Life Giver, Protector and
Destroyer by way of judgment. The God of the Bible (BG as referred by GB Singh)
is infinite and cannot be defined in human wisdom. He is fully revealed in the
Bible. He is also revealed in the Scriptures of the major religions of the
world i.e. Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, etc as the God with the above three
attributes/functions. The God of the Bible is not only confined to the Bible
but also is also beyond eternity. He is beyond time. He is eternal. He is the
Alpha and Omega.
Even man, the creature of the God
creates (procreates), protects and destroys. Even animals also have the three
attributes.
The Devil does not perform the functions
of creation and protection. He performs only the function of destruction. He is
a thief who has come to steal, destroy and kill. He pretends to be a creator by
way of miracles and healings. But all his works are fake and he duplicates the
work of the Holy Spirit. He is a deceiver and the father of all lies. The works
of miracles and healings which he performs through his ministers are temporal
and he ultimately destroys the souls of his victims. He is not a judge but a
villain of the first order.
The God whom GB Singh presents does not
have the attributes like creation, protection and destruction. Singh appears to
refer to some power or some finite being according to his own imagination which
is not revealed to the human race or which is not realized by the human race.
The frame of reference of the God of the Bible is not limited at all as claimed
by Singh. He is not limited to time.
The love of God is not only defined
within the parameters of Jesus Christ because God loved the world first and
then He sent His only begotten Son into the world. The love of God came into
existence before He sent His son into the world.
2.
I am prepared to discuss with Singh the moral and ethical issues of the Bible
but there are no such “moral and ethical problems of the God of the Bible” as
revealed in the Bible. The Bible is the moral and ethical code for the human
race. Nobody can deny it. God has no such moral and ethical problems with
Himself because He is not a human being. Only the man has moral and ethical
problems.
I do not want to comment on the views of
Professor Regina M. Schwartz as I do not know the same.
The God of the Bible is the living God
and not an idol. He has all the attributes of the God as one tries to
understand Him through his finite mind. Yes, He wants exclusive allegiance to
Him, and not to any idol or the Devil. Even the Sikh Gurus believe in one God.
Islam believes in one God. Even Hindu Vedas also speak about one God. If there
is one God who is universally acceptable, the human race is not supposed to
have the exclusive allegiance to One deity only. The Israelites were forbidden
in Deut.28:14 from going "after other gods to serve them". What was
wrong in the commandment of God for His people?
3 (Slavery verses
in the Old Testament). We have one God only. The God under the Old Covenant
is the same God under the New Covenant also. The God of the Bible had intended
the system of slavery for our good only. The dictionary meaning of
"slave" is: "a person held as property; an object; one who is
submissive under domination; one who is submissively devoted; etc...."
Broadly speaking, a slave is a worker who works for his master. It denotes the
master-servant relationship. It is nothing but a contract of employment. I
cannot employ my son in my own house for doing the household work. I am employing
a maid servant in my house after hiring her services for a price. The services
of my son are being hired by a software company and my son becomes a slave or a
worker for that company. Employment is the back-bone of the economy of a
nation, be it communist or capitalist. Except the sovereign God, all the human
beings are slaves. A sovereign monarch becomes a slave when dethroned or
becomes a slave to his children after retirement. A ruler of a democratic
nation is supposed to be a slave to the sovereign will of the people. The
origin of slavery is mentioned in Gen.17:12-13. God gave the following
commandment to Abraham:
“He who is eight days old among you
shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in
your house or bought with money from any stranger who is not your descendant….”
A man could have either a son born to
him or could buy a male child with money from any stranger who was not his
descendant. But the male child if he is 8 years old should be circumcised. A
man was free to adopt a male child born to a stranger by paying a price for
that child. These days also parents without children adopt children. It was a
choice given to the descendants of Abraham to buy children from their
strangers. In the 21st chapter of Exodus, God said, “If you buy a
Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out
free and pay nothing. …” God merely laid down certain instructions regulating
the conduct of the slaves and their masters. Even today the employees work for
their employers by way of services. In the houses, many servants work for their
masters. God has never given any commandments for ill-treatment of slaves or
employees. According to the corrupt or reprobate human mind, slavery means
"ill-treatment" or availing the human services without paying
adequate compensation. Slavery means, we think in terms of the black people
being enslaved by the white people who extract work from the former without
paying any compensation after subjecting them to ill-treatment. To my mind, the
term "slavery" bring to memory the deprivations and humiliations of
the black Negros whom Abraham Lincoln set free. Even the Hebrews were given the
option of hiring servants from their own race.
The disciples of Jesus called Jesus
"Master." This means that the disciples enslaved themselves to the
love of their Master. They left everything and became His disciples.
As per Exodus 21: 1-27, the slave could
serve his master out of love for life. Let us note that "when a man sells
his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she
does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall
let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people,
since he has dealt faithlessly with her. If he designates her for his son, he
shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he
shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights". God of
the Bible took care of even the female slaves also. Even if she did not please
her master, he should let her be redeemed and should not have any right to sell
her to a foreign people. If he had chosen her to be his son's wife, he was
supposed to deal with her as with a daughter. Even if he had taken another wife
to himself, he should not diminish her food, her clothing or her marital
rights. Do you find fault with the God of the Bible in this regard? Please read
all the verses quoted by you carefully. God of the Bible gave commandments
regulating the conduct of the masters and of their slaves.
As per Leviticus 25:44-46, God commanded
the Israelites to buy male and female slaves from among the nations. Today
also, the employers go about the whole world in hiring male and female workers
for them. God wanted these slaves to be treated properly and to be paid for
their services. God heard the cry of the children of Israel and saw the
oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppressed them as slaves (Ex.3:9).
Read Deuteronomy 15:12-18, to know how
God of the Bible reminded the Israelites "You shall remember that you were
a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I
command you this today..." He gave them commandments how to set free their
slaves. Do you find fault with the God of the Bible in this regard?
4 (slavery verses
in New Testament). If the advice of GB Singh is to be followed, then there
will be anarchy in the whole world. The Government servants or the soldiers
guarding their nations will not obey their masters. We are all under the yoke
of slavery in this world. We have our earthly masters i.e. governments,
employers, political leaders, etc. We are all slaves.
5. About the violence
in the Bible, I want to say this: God damned the entire human race not just
because of the acts of the first two people. God did so because the first two
people disobeyed Him and obeyed the devil. It was not a violent act of God.
Normally, when our children disobey the reasonable and lawful commandments of
their parents, the former impose a punishment upon the latter. It is not an act
of violence at all.
God caused a worldwide flood not to
drown pregnant women, innocent children and animals. God repeated entreated all
the people including pregnant women and men to enter the arc of Noah for
safety, warning them against the flood. But they did not heed to His warnings
but chose to stay on the earth. They all perished including their children. The
children had to perish because their parents did not heed to the divine
warnings. All flesh died that moved upon the earth (Gen.7:21). When the
precious human lives whom the Lord sought to save through the arc of Noah chose
death in place of life, the lives of the animals also perished. All the animals
could not be accommodated in the arc of God which were meant mainly for the
human beings. God only chose two from every species of animals to be
accommodated in the arc of Noah. If all the beasts were to be accommodated in
the arc, then Noah would have taken more years to finish building the arc. This
clearly shows that it was not a fiction but a reality. How can you say that God
was violent here?
Suppose there is a hailstorm and many
people on the street rush to your house for shelter and your house is a small
one which can accommodate only 10 persons. If you cannot accommodate all the
1000 people on the street, can I charge you with the act of violence?
God did destroy the firstborns of
Egyptians. Why? The parents of these babies were Egyptians who ill-treated
Israelites. Their king did not allow the Israelites to leave Egypt. God judged
the Egyptians. It was an act of His judgment. It was not act of violence. An
act of violence is made by a person or by a people who take the law into their
hands and cause destruction at their will and pleasure. God did not do so.
God required His Son to be tortured and
murdered, not for Himself but for the sins of the whole world. God has never
promised that He will send to eternal torture all who do not accept
Christianity. God has promised eternal life to those who accept His Son Jesus
as their Savior.
Please read Chapter 21 of Numbers.
Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, requesting for passage
through his land by promising that the people of Israel would only just pass
through their land and would not turn into the fields or into the vineyard,
.... But Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his border but gathered all
his people together and went out against Israel into the wilderness. Then
Israel smote Sihon with the edge of the sword and possessed his land. Then Og
the king of Bashan went out against Israel; he and all his people to the battle
at Edrei. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Fear him not: for I have
delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land: and you shall do
to him as you did unto Sihon King of the Amorites,.... so they smote him, and
his sons and all his people, and there was none left him alive; and they
possessed his land..."
Let us note that the people of Israel
were chosen by God out of all nations because they were the descendents of
Abraham who loved and obeyed God. Even today, an earthly father has the option
of choosing a particular son or a daughter of his, who obeys and loves him. God
chose the descendents of Abraham under the Old Covenant but the same God did
not reject the nations other than Israel. In due time, He sent His Son Jesus to
die for all the nations. But the people of Israel who were favored by God under
the Old Covenant rejected His Son and crucified Him on the Cross but those who
have accepted Him are given the power to become the children of the same God
under the New Covenant. The nations rejected by Him under the Old Covenant are
accepted by the same God under the New Covenant.
Let us now read the story of the killing
of Sihon, the King of Amorites, Og, the King of Bashan, and the innocent
children. Sihon did not allow the people of Israel to pass through his land
though Moses had promised him that his people would not turn to the vineyard or
any other good thing in the land. Similarly, Og the king of Bashan went to
battle against the people of Israel who were passing through the wilderness
towards the Promised Land. The people of Israel were provoked by these nations
with the result that these nations paid a heavy price through the lives of
their kings, women, and children. Even today, if a peace-loving nation is
attacked by a mighty nation, the former defends itself. The people of Israel
were left with no other alternative but to pass through the land of Amorites.
The people of Israel defeated their enemies and possessed their lands. It
always happens in a battle between nations. Of course, God of the Bible
supported the people whom He had chosen under the Old Covenant. You and I
cannot charge him with partiality or favoritism because He had to choose a particular
nation.
Let us now read the 7th chapter of
Joshua. Ai was cursed by Joshua because Ai built the city of Jericho. First,
the men of Ai smote about thirty and six Israeli men and Joshua was provoked.
In turn, Joshua and his men killed Ai and their infants. The same God did not
spare His own people i.e. Israelites when they disobeyed Him. He used
Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon to execute judgment on His own people. God
does not show partiality in His acts of judgment.
The book of Revelation depicts what
would happen during the last days. God does not support violence as a means of
addressing problems. God judges the people through destruction. He is the God
Who destroys by judgment.
God did reveal His judgment power
under the Old Covenant, whereas the grace and truth came through our Lord Jesus
Christ under the New Covenant.
No doubt, God is [1] righteous, [2] just, [3] gracious, [4] merciful, [5]
compassionate, [6] and loving. He judged the wrong-doers or the sinners under
the Old Covenant because He is just and righteous. Even now, God judges the
people through natural or men-made calamities. When natural calamites take
place, all the people including children, old people and women were killed.
Under the same Old covenant, God of the Bible also spared the sinners on many
occasions because He is gracious, merciful, compassionate and loving. God never
changes. He is eternal. God is a Judge. Even now He judges. In the book of
Revelation, He is revealed as the Judge, executing judgment.
God destroys through any means i.e.
fire, sword, pestilence, wild animals. Mr. Singh accuses the God of the Bile as responsible for murder, infanticide,
violence, war, pestilence, cannibalism, mutilation, etc. by quoting from the
Old Testament books and even from the Book of Revelation.
Killing babies or the firstborn sons of
the Egyptians was part of divine judgment under the Old Covenant. God Who
sacrificed His only begotten Son on the Calvary Cross required justice and
righteousness to be fulfilled through this kind of judgment under the Old
Covenant. God did not allow killing of children just to make Him happy. He knew
the physical sufferings of these innocent children who died for the sins of
their parents. These innocent children are now home at heaven. It was a precursor
to the sacrifice of His own Son who was sinless. Jesus in His flesh bore the
sins of His forefathers and the entire human race. The Son of God suffered in
His flesh for the sins of the human race.
It is not cannibalism that Jesus
preached about eating His own flesh and drinking His Blood. Every Christian
worth the name knows the importance of the Holy Communion instituted by the
Lord for His disciples. The blood and the flesh are only symbolical.
Death penalty is of the Law of Moses. A
man gathering sticks on the Sabbath was put to death because he violated the
Law of Moses. It was not disproportionate to the gravity of the offence. In the
eyes of God, even the obedience of this nature invited His judgment by way of
death. Even today, we find people convicted of murder are put to death through
capital punishment.
6. GB Singh quotes from
the Old Testament laws where punishment was prescribed for every offence. Eye
for eye, tooth for tooth, etc. are of the Law of Moses. Even now many Islam
nations follow these divine commandments. Since we are under the New Covenant
of grace, we are not bound by these commandments. All these show that God is
the Judge and that God destroys by way of judgment. Under the Old Covenant, God
of the Bible was a terror to those who disobeyed Him. But the New Testament
never vouches for the divine approval of plundering. Let GB Singh read the
Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Jesus and His disciples under the
New Covenant.
Though God commanded Abraham to
sacrifice his only son Isaac, it was a peculiar commandment to Abraham to test
his love for Him. Let Mr. Singh quote a single instance from the books of New
Testament where God supported human sacrifice. God the Father did sacrifice His
Son on the Cross for our salvation. It has nothing to do with the system of
human sacrifice. Only animals were commanded by God to be sacrificed at the
altar of the Temple in Jerusalem or at some particular places chosen by God.
Even today God judges the people through
the natural calamities like the earthquakes. Jesus predicted that in the last
days there would be earthquakes in diverse places. Sexual assault on the wives
of Chaldeans as prophesied by Isaiah was a part of His judgment on those people
who committed the same crime against others. Eye for Eye, tooth for tooth, etc.
are of the Law of Moses. Jer.25:12 say God wanted to punish Chaldeans for their
iniquity.
7. Mr. Singh accuses God of
cannibalism, mutilation, etc. by quoting from the Old Testament books and even
from the Book of Revelation. Ultimately, he says,".... enlightened
societies realize that gratuitous violence, when supported by society's leaders
and other role models, can promote more violence. Their example sends a message
to others that violence is an appropriate means of dealing with problems".
God was revealing Himself through His judgment power for the sins of the people
during the Old Covenant days. It is
the lie of the Father of the lies that the God of the Bible teaches the people
to kill or to indulge in violence. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. It cannot
be separated from the Old Testament books. It is part of the Bible and emanates
from the God of the Bible. Why does GB Singh ignore the teachings of the New
Testament? The devil quoted the Scriptures from one angle only to tempt Jesus.
He should not forget the truth that the same God of the Bible was long
suffering and full of mercy even during the Old Covenant. Can GB Singh quote
the best ideas apart from the teachings of the Bible including the New Testament
books which could replace “His example and teachings”? Can he quote some
instances from his own life to convince us what “best ideas” he had adopted in
his own life as produced by human reason, experience, and compassion?
Questioning God for His acts of
judgment through our human wisdom! He quotes only those passages in the Bible
where God was judging the people, and ignores those passages of the bible where
the attributes of God like mercy, compassion, etc. are mentioned in the same
bible. The devil quoted the Scriptures from one angle only to tempt Jesus in
the wilderness.
The Bible as the Word of God converts the soul of a man who is a murderer, or a
violent person. But GB Singh argues that the Bible promotes violence. In Delhi,
I came across a person, namely, Sonu who had committed many crimes and
attempted to murder a person in his colony. But the gospel of Christ touched
his heart and today he is a new creature, preaching the love of God to others.
The people who live in his colony once feared him but now see him a law-abiding
citizen working with his hands. We have countless testimonies like this.
Copyright© G.B. Singh. About the author
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