God
Becomes One Man
Christian
belief in God’s incarnation has its origins in the beliefs of the ancient
Greeks. The very terms used to describe God becoming Man exist in the Gospel
of John 1:1 & 14, “In the beginning there was the Word (logos) and the
Word was with God and the Word was God.” Then the author of John goes on
to say, “...And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and
truth...” Although the Greek term logos is translated as “word,”
there is no single English term equivalent to it. Its importance lies in its
use as a technical term in Greek metaphysical thought from the sixth century
B.C., until the third century C.E., and in its appropriation by both Jewish and
Christian thinkers. It first appeared in the expressions of Heraclites
(540-480 B.C.) as the motivating principle of the universe, but was, by
Aristotle’s time, supplanted by the immaterial power nous and made the
material power. Logos reappeared in the system of the Stoics who termed
their principle of teleology both logos and God. Philo (d. 50 C.E.), a Jewish
Alexandrian philosopher, identified the creative word of the Old Testament with
the logos of the Stoics. The logos thus became a transcendent
principle, as the means by which God expresses Himself in the world. But logos
also had a redemptive function; it was the means to a higher spiritual nature.
In the Gospel of John, the logos are both creative and redemptive; the latter
aspect is given greater emphasis than the former.
This
belief required a reason, for which the concept of original sin and divine
sacrifice were invented. It was claimed that due to the sin of Adam, which
accumulated down the generations until it became so great that no human
sacrifice could remove it, a divine sacrifice was needed. Consequently, God
had a human son, who was God, Himself, incarnate. God’s son later died on a
cross as a sacrifice for all humankind to God, Himself. The son, who is God,
Himself, was later resurrected and currently sits on the right side of God’s
throne waiting to judge humankind at the end of this world. So for Christians,
also one-fifth of humankind, God became a man at one and only one point in the
history of this world, and belief in His incarnation is essential for salvation.
Men
Become God
From
the perspective of Jesus’ humanity, the Christian belief that he is God could
be perceived as elevating a single human being to the status of Godhood. There
is, however, another body of beliefs among many of the followers of Islam,
which, like Hinduism and Buddhism, offer human beings the opportunity to become
God.
The
origin of their beliefs can be found in mysticism whose roots are in ancient
Greek mystery religions. Mysticism is defined as an experience of union
with God and the belief that man’s main goal in life lies in seeking that union.
The Greek philosopher Plato proposed this concept in his writings, particularly
in his Symposium. In it he describes how the human soul can climb the
spiritual ladder until it finally becomes one again with God.
The basis of this belief is the teaching that human beings are, in fact, parts
of God that have become trapped in this material world. The physical body
cloaks the human soul. Consequently, the soul in their view is divine. The
trapped part of God in this world must free itself from the material world and
reunite with God.
There
arose among Muslim people, a sect, which promoted this very same idea. Its
followers are traditionally called “Sufis” and their system of beliefs
is called “Sufism”. This term is usually translated into English as “mysticism”
or “Islamic mysticism.” It is based on the same concept as that of the Greek
mystics – that the human soul is divine and that the way that it becomes reunited
with God is through certain spiritual exercises. Various groups of Sufis
evolved into cults called “Tareeqahs” (ways or paths). Each cult was
named after its actual or supposed founder, and each had its own set of special
spiritual exercises which members had to strictly adhere to. Most taught that
after the followers performed the prescribed spiritual, emotional and physical
exercises, they would become one with God. This oneness was given the Arabic
title fanaa, meaning “dissolution”
or wusool, meaning “arrival.” The concept of “unity with God” was
rejected by mainstream Muslim scholars but was embraced by the masses. In the
tenth century, a Sufi devotee, al-Hallaaj (858-922), publicly announced
that he was God and wrote poems and a book called Kitaab at-Tawaseen to
that effect. In it he wrote, “If you do not recognize God, at least recognize
his sign; I am the ultimate absolute truth because through the truth I am
eternal truth. My friends and teachers are Iblees,
and Pharaoh. Iblees was threatened by the Hellfire, yet he did not acknowledge
anything between himself and God, and although I am killed and crucified,
though my hands and feet are cut off, I do not recant.”
Ibn
‘Arabee (d. 1240) took the unity with God belief a step further by claiming
that only God exists. He wrote the following in one of his works, “Glory be to
He, who made all things appear while being their essence.”
And in another he wrote, “He is the essence of whatever appears, and He is the
essence of what is hidden while He appears. The one who sees Him is none other
than Him and no one is hidden from Him because He appears to Himself while
being hidden.” His concept
is called Wahdatul-wujood (unity of existence) and became popular in the
Sufi circles throughout the Muslim world.
Why?
What
led ancient people to have the belief that the God became man or that God and
man were one and the same? The fundamental reason was their inability to
understand or accept the concept of God creating this world from nothingness. They
perceived God to be like themselves, creating from what already exists. Humans
create things by manipulating existing things into other states, shapes and
forms having different functions. For example, a wooden table was once a tree
in a forest, and its nails and screws were once iron ore in rocks underneath
the earth. Humans cut down the tree and shaped its wood into a tabletop and
legs; they dug up the iron ore, melted it and poured in into moulds to produce
nails and screws. Then they assembled the pieces to create a table for a
variety of uses. Similarly, the plastic chairs people now sit on were once
liquid oil, stored deep in the bowels of the earth. One cannot imagine sitting
on oil the way people sit on chairs. However, through the human ability to
manipulate the chemical components of oil, plastic is produced and chairs are
made for humans to sit on. This is the essence of human activity; humans
already merely modify and transform what already exists. They do not create
the trees or produce the oil. When they discuss oil production, they really
mean oil extraction. The oil was created millions of years before by
geological processes; then humans extracted it from the earth and refined it. They
also did not create the trees. Even if they planted them, they did not create
the seeds that they planted.
Consequently,
human, in their ignorance of God, often conceive of God as being just like them.
For example, in the Old Testament, it is written, “God created man after his
own image; in the image of God he created Man.” For Hindus, Purusa is
the creator God, Brahma, in human form, and just as humans create by
manipulating the existing world around them, then the creator god must do
likewise.
According
to Hindu philosophy, Purusa is a giant offspring of Brahma, having a
thousand heads and a thousand eyes. From him arose Viraaj, his feminine
counterpart and mate in the creation process. The divine Purusa is also
the sacrificial offering (vv. 6-10) and from his dismembered body arose the
four traditional social castes (varnas).
Perusa Hymn states that Brahmins were Purusa’s mouth; Ksatriyas
(noblemen), his arms; Vaishyas, his thighs; and Shoodras, his
feet.
The Hindus’ inability to conceive of God creating this world from nothing, led
them to the concept of God creating the world from himself and its people from
His body parts.
Human
ability to understand ideas and concepts is limited and finite. Human beings
cannot grasp and understand the infinite. The belief, which God taught Adam,
was that God created this world from nothing. When He wanted something to
exist, He merely said, “Be!” and His command brought into existence those
things that did not previously exist. This world and its contents were not
created from Himself. In fact, the concept of God creating the world from
Himself reduces God to the level of His creatures, who merely create something
from something else. Those who held and continue to hold this belief are
unable to grasp the uniqueness of God. He is Uniquely One and there is nothing
like Him. If He had created the world from Himself, he would be like His
creatures.
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