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Ｍessage for the Ｅternal Ｌife
He Who Dwells in Light





           

Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom 
no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power.
 Amen.                                               （Ⅰ Timothy  6:16 ）
  
   Paul wrote to his apprentice Timothy and called God "our Savior" at the 
beginning of his letter．  And near the end of the same letter, he refered to 
Him as One "Who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom 
no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power."  The word  
'Savior' gives us a familiar, gentle feeling , but the latter is an expression 
that gives a very severe impression.  Which of these is real God on earth? 
Both are actually one and the same and He can save us really just because He 
alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, I think.   God is one 
who resides in infinite brightness. 
   But if I say that  God of Christianity alone is such, other religions will 
surely raise objections to my words.  The principal images  in many religions 
of the world would be shown with the similar  expression.   For instance, in 
the case of Jodoshu Sect which means Paradise Sect or the Jodoshinshu Sect 
which means true Paradise Sect that are the most familiar sects for us Japanese, 
their principal image ,their savior, is called  Amitabha or Amitayus in Sanskrit.  
The meaning of Amitabha is infinite light , Amitayus is the eternal life. 
     Moreover,  Amitabha  or  Amitayus will save sinners and take them into 
Paradise no matter how heavy their sins may be .  How similar to Christianity 
it is!   Needless to say there are many different points.  However, God and 
Buddha of these two religions which are the world biggest religions, have the 
same two  ideas "eternal life, and infinite light", which is very interesting. 
Perhaps the same thing can be said about many other religions.  
   I think we should not say that only Christianity is true or the idea of 
only  Europeans is correct today when the world is one.  In this Space Age 
what is  universally applicable is the only truth, I think.
   I think that it is important to respect other religions and other thoughts
peculiar to Asians', Africans', South or North Americans', and Oceanians'.  
I would like to pay attention to the expression "eternal life or infinite light" 
about the figure  people have in common as their savior．
   As Mr. Nakazawa Shinichi introduces  in his book "The Teaching of Death 
in these thirty thousand years － The World of The Tibetan book of the Dead" , 
an Aborigine, former occupant of Australia climbs a hill when  he/she  
becomes old , and gazes at the sky filled with light all day long.  
   Then the profoundest and purest essence of power that is full in the universe 
flows into the eye of the old  Aborigine who stares at the  blue sky  patiently.  
At this time, the old person is about to touch the hidden truth of their life,
 "dream time" (the  Aborigine calls the flow of vital power that is full in the 
universe "dream time"). 
   Although the death of a body comes to him soon, this Aborigine is about to 
overcome death by  experiencing  the real existence of the flow of cosmic 
power. 
   Let's try to see how the Bible expresses about light again here.  As it is 
imagined easily, the word "light" is seen in many places in the Bible.  
"Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light."（Genesis1:3） 
God Himself is compared to light , although  God Himself created it.  
   "The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear?"  (Psalms27:1) 
The light guides the person  who looks up to it.  "By His light I walked 
through darkness." (Job29:3)   In the Old Testament, the words of God, life, 
and the correct way to live are also compared to light. 
   In the New Testament God is compared to light: "God is light and in Him is 
no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)   And Jesus Christ Himself is compared to 
light   "That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into 
the world." (John 1:9)   "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall 
not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." (John 8:12)   Here the 
salvation by Jesus is compared to light, too.  "He would be the first to rise 
from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the 
Gentiles." (Acts 26:23)   The person who believes in Jesus Christ is assumed to 
be the child of light and always must be shining, fight with the armor of light 
and should be the light of the world.  
     It is Revelation To John  21: 23-24 that I would like to  pay my special
attention.  "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, 
for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light."   Here God and 
Jesus Christ are compared to light and those who are illuminated by the light 
are not only the Israelis who believe in God  but also  people in the rest of 
the world.  Although some people might think this city  the one of the future, 
I think that you can see this city will be the world after death for an 
individual, namely the world after the judgment for each person.    In the 
world after death, of course all people, who believe in different religions, are 
going to be illuminated by the same light.  
   In the  Jodoshu and Jodoshinshu sects of Buddhism there is a faith that 
Amitabha will come to meet you in order to lead you to the Paradise soon after 
your death. Then Amitabha is said to come on the five colored clouds followed 
by many boddhisattvas. In the pictures showing Amitabha's coming, Amitabha has 
light beams around its head, as the name Amitabha means infinite light.  The 
Tibetan system of Buddhism might be much nearer to Christianity in a sense.  
 " In front of you (the deceased )there will appear terriblly dazzling light 
This is a blue dazzling light and shows wisdom radiating from the chest of 
Buddha called Dainichi which means the Great Sun.  You will be drawn to the 
light. And you will pray that you may enter and melt into the light by that 
mercy of Buddha."(Nakazawa, opus citatum)
   Now I'll Introduce a very interesting thing of a  Christianity system  here.  
It is because this is not admitted as the orthodox  Christian thought so far 
that I use the phrase  "Christianity system."   However, I think it should be 
revaluated.  It is the thought of Swedenborg (Emanuel Swedenborg 1688-1772)   
He depicted the world after death  without any  hesitation  and compared God to 
the sun. He also says that the light from Heaven guides dead people.
   In the images of God, Buddha, angels, or being called a savior,  behind  the 
heads of them are depicted  circles of light with the similar pattern 
respectively, both in  the east and the west.  What does it mean that such  
beings are expressed as light or the dead are guided into Heaven by light?  
   Probably it doesn't belong to only one religion but to almost every religion 
and may be common and universal to mankind.   We should not miss the relation 
with the so-called  near-death experience.   The fact of Amitabha's visiting to 
lead you to  Paradise soon after your death is especially a reflection of the 
near-death experience, I think.
   Though some people say that all of them must be fantasies, I would rather 
say the opposite : there is a great fact that cannot be denied and that is 
common and universal to mankind or to every religion.  I am sure that the fact 
reflects upon the near-death experience． 
   There is a research book which analyzed 1000 examples of near-death 
experiences academically. (Karlis Osis,PH.D．& Erlendur Haraldsson,PH.D. "At the 
Hour of Death" revised edition, 1987 ) 
   Quoting from 'Life After Life' by another researcher of near-death experience  
R. A. Moody,  the revived patient often experiences 'existence of light'.  The 
existence of this light is said to be named in accordance with the religion that 
a patient believes in.  Christians may say it is Jesus Christ and Jew believers 
may call 'angel'.  Furthermore,  Moody says, the patients who do not have 
religious faith or who received  no religious education can also encounter  
'existence of light'. 
   The same book  introduces a report of the following near-death experience  
(70 year-old woman patient).   "A patient said  that she felt herself  dying 
and  approaching  the entrance which began to open, and that it was shining,   
dazzling, and beautiful." Another report says  " A patient felt that the 
entrance of Heaven was opening.  And there was  light shining and glittering 
much brighter than light on earth.
    Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross tells us in her book (On Life After Death,1991) 
that the dead arrive at the final point  wrapped with light , after passing 
through a tunnel and over a bridge or along a mountain path.  The light is 
whiter than white and  very bright．The more you approach  this light, the more 
you will be embraced by the greatest love that you've never imagined, which is
the unconditional love and beyond expression. 
    The person who is experiencing near-death  can have this light shown only 
for a while because he/she must return once again after that.  However the 
connection between cocoon and butterfly will be cut off when you die actually.   
So it is unable to return to the body again.    In any way I don't think anybody
wants to return after experiencing this light of  unconditional love.  
    What do you think about the words of Dr. Kubler-Ross?   She says, "The life 
after death is eternal and it isn't to be believed in any longer, but to be 
known or to be noticed. 
    We have often heard these words of Jesus Christ, "I am the light of the 
world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of 
life." （John  8:12）  Whenever we hear it, however, we have understood them as 
an abstract expression or a mere metaphor.  But God is actual light and love.   
Jesus Christ is the light of life really. Resurrection isn't a metaphorical 
thing but it is to be experienced actually after we really die.     
    Reading my message, some pastors of existing types will probably criticize 
me.   However, I would like to lay down my pen introducing next words of the 
authors of 'At the  Hour of Death': " I should admonish  religious 
organizations.  The raw experience of more than 1000 people will surely  make 
the clergy, whose brains are filled with matters of  worldly businesses and  
political activities, think that the holy, transcended world after death 
seems to exist.  Everyone has the right to taste 'eternal breath'." (The End)


   [Translated by Hiroshi Takasaki with the kind help of Mr.Yohichi Kakuno]    



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