The other day I came across one of my favorite Catholic songs, In Christ Alone. I am a Catholic, and whenever I listen to this song, I feel a strong sense of power and emotion pouring through the lyrics. Here are my favorite verses:
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From a life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand
The line, 'No guilt in life, no fear in death' reminds me of my last blog. In my last blog, I quoted Sri Krishna in chapter 2 of the Bhagavad Gita: “Death
is inevitable for the living; birth is inevitable for the dead. Since these are
unavoidable, you should not sorrow” (91).
I believe this song correlates to Sri Krishna's words. In Christ Alone gently reminds me that with the power of Christ, I should have no guilt in my life or be fearful of death. Of course, other religions will have their own opinions about the matter, but I feel strongly that "the power of Christ" is in me.
The point I am trying to prove is that even though I have brought together two different religious views, Hinduism and Catholicism, the two religions still carry the same message about being fearless and to live life to the fullest.
It's kind of amazing how Christianity seems to have taken it's roots, almost all of it's messages, from religions that pre-date it (like Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism, for example). Makes me wonder why Christianity is apparently more appealing than all it's predecessors.
ReplyDeleteMore appealing to whom? Christians have been in South India since the second century, where they were politely welcomed but otherwise largely ignored, until colonial missionaries started aggressive recruitment (and we know how well that turned out).
ReplyDeleteRight, I suppose I should have clarified that. I suppose I meant more appealing to western civilizations like North America, a good portion of South America, Europe, Russia, and Australia. Though I am not sure what population actively practices it, rather than identify as someone who follows it. I just find it amusing, yet disappointing, that if you point out, to a Christian, that their religion is heavily rooted in its predecessor religions, they will affirm that Christianity is the right religion and that the others are wrong.
DeleteHi Brandon! I'm a little confused on what you are saying. Do you feel that the Catholic religion is trying to take credit from ideas from previous religions?
ReplyDeleteWell, as we were saying in class, many of the ideas behind Christianity are indeed heavily related to Greco-Roman and Hebraic histories and cultures. Many of the stories in Christianity can be found be in other religions which predate it. I would recommend that you look into the similarities between the Zoroaster and Jesus. In fact, I would recommend you look up many other son of god - death and resurrection god-men, like Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Tammuz, and so on. Stories of deities becoming flesh, dying, passing through hell, and being resurrected are a religious commonplace. Which is fine, given that these are often metaphors; often times, however, religious people claim that their religion is unique and more correct than others.
ReplyDelete