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The Gospel to The DepartedOtherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the deand? (1 Corinthians 15:29) For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged accorning to men in the flesh, but live accorning to God in the spirit. (1 Peter 4:6) Buddhists in Japan hold the Bon Festival in August. The original purpose of the Bon Festival is to pay homage to the spirits of the ancestors. All the family get together for the Festival. If one of the family members happens to have passed away after the Bon Festival last year, they make a new special altar for the deceased and enshrine it carefully. This is what they call 'the first Bon Festival'or 'the new Bon Festival.' during this period, those Japanese people welcome their deceased ancestors. And september is the month with the equinoctial week. It is called 'Hi-gan' meaning 'the shore on the otherside where the deceased are believed to dwell, and people remember the departed now living in the other world. Here, let me try to explain how we should think about the people who passed away. I believe in Christianity in a non‐Christian country. Especia1ly here in Japan, Christians belong to a minority group and must face the fact that none of the ancestors were Christian, nor are the living family members. Sometimes even a Christian's spouse is none Christian. What will happen, then, if you are a Christian and the deceased, your spouse in particular, was a Buddhist? Are you going to Heaven where Jesus Christ dwells, while your spouse has gone to Amitabha's Paradise? An old Japanese limerick goes:"Pitiable are Takeo and Namiko,for they are destined to part from each other, one to the east and the other to the west." This verse is in'Hototogisu' written by Tokutomi Roka, reciting the tragedy of couple who are doomed to divorce though thy passionately 1ove each other. But won't the tragedy much greater if one of the couple is a Christian and the other a Buddhist? It is commonly believed that Amitabha's Paradise is in the west and Paradise of Heaven, the Garden of Eden, is in the east. Then theirs is indeed the most tearful parting. (Pardon me for my joke.) Takeo and Namiko are separated on1y in this wor1d, but the couple with different beliefs will be separated eternally. Sooner or later I will die and be taken to Heaven, but my beloved ancestors might not be there waiting for me. What a pity! How sad! I've mentioned such a couple, but the same thing can be said of parents and children, brothers and sisters, friends and so on. There ocurs a prob1em especialy when it comes to suicide. Traditional Christianity preaches that a suicide is supposed to be excluded from the salvation of soul. Can it be true? I do not agree. There ought to be a way for a suicide to be saved. Today let me show you here how a suicide should be saved. I know two Christian coup1es who 1ost their sons through suicide. Those sons, who might have been worried about their life without anyone to consult, did not share the sa1vation of Jesus with their parents and killed themselves. How miserable! I'm afraid those parents wou1d not like to go to Paradise of Heaven on1y by themselves, because their beloved children are not al1owed to enter it. In Buddhism, on the other hand, there is a way of 1ife called ` Bosatsu‐do (Boddhisattva way)' as the idea1 state of the Buddhism believers. In Bosatsu-do, a persn who has been saved does not stay in Paradise, but willingly comes back to work for other people who are still suffering in this hellish world. Amitabha vows that he will never take Buddha's position until all people and all living creatures are saved and live in Paradis; this is the zenith of the Boddhisattva way. This now equals the sad feelings the parents have because they don't want to go a1one to Heaven where their beloved children cannot go Shinran, founder of the Jodo‐shinsnu sect, who lived for his faith in Amitabha, argued that to be born in Paradise does not mean enjoying eating or drinking hundreds of delicious dishes there, but returning immediately to this world and saving a lot of suffering people. "Unless our beloved children can go and live in Paradise, we don't want to go there, either" is a paradox. The parents' real wish is to go and live in Paradise together with their beloved chldren. In this respect there is no great difference between Christians and Buddhists. Will this earnest desire be realized? Here is today's main theme that we should learn:"Can people who died without faith be given the same salvation as ours? Can they go to the same place? Can they be reunited and share the joy with each other?" I am afraid that Christian Church in Japan has avoided this question. In general, the church speaks in abstract words about Paradise or the world after death. They think it unrefined to take up this matter, and tend to pass by it. In spite of the most serious question for persons, they will not treat it earnestly and sincerely. Almost all the Christian pastors will not take up this matter in their sermons. Sermons without this viewpoint in them have always irritated me. I used to be like this when I was young. I used to talk about the Resurrection of the Eternal Life abstractly, often using very difficult logic and words on purpose. To tell the truth, I could not believe in those values as they were in those days. Rather, I might have considered it intellectual not to believe in them as they were. Actually, however, I found myself feeing empty inside. My mind was far from fulfilled with happiness. Why then do we feel vain, unfulfilled or unsatisfied? Because we see everything from this world and not from that world. Paul the Apostle points it properly. He says in Corinthians 15: 12-19, one of his KERUGMAs, the most important parts of the Bible:-- But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty・・・・ you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. `Paul pointed that we should see not only from this world, but also from that world. Of course we live in this world, so we can't see from the other world. But it is not until we can believe that we will be able to see from that world after our death and can long for the day when we will be able to see from the other side, that we will be cured of the vain feelings. Paul says in 1 Corinthians l3:l2:--- For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.... An American Indian woman writer Betty Eadie says in her book on NDE (near death experience) 'Embraced By the Light' that, seen with spiritual eyes, everything becomes clear. If we see from this world alone, we have only a limited view point. But if we see from that world after death, we will be able to understand a lot more things very well, and say "I've got it! I can now make out what the meaning is." From this point of view, I may add, we can understand the fact that there are many different religions in this world. I'm sure each religion has its own raison d'etre. So we can choose any religion if we find it the best. But we must not forget to respect other religions and must be generous with them. Now it is time to enter into the main theme. Even if we can understand other religions, we can't ignore a person who died with a different belief. All the more so if he or she died in desperation without anything to believe in. If your intimate person with the same faith as you have should die previous to you, you don't have to worry about him or her. You should feel happy because you'll reunite with him or her and be guided into Paradise after you have left this world. According to an academic researcn book on NDE written by Karlis Osis, PH.D. and Erlendur Haraldsson, PH.D. 'At the Hour of Death,' 78% (America) and 77% (India) of about 1,000 persons (both countries) who had NDE experienced the reception to the after-death-world by BEINGS in that world, e.g.their family members or friends who had died previously. Some of them got the reception by a religious figure like Jesus Christ or Mary. While in Japan NDE is not taken so seriously, it is being eagerly studied in the USA by a great number of researchers, including the famous psychopathic doctor Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Takashi Tachibana, a well- known Japanese critic, said in NHK TV interview that NDE should be researched more earnestly in Japan,too. Although some people claim that NDE is not based on the Bible, I dare say that you can find Several reflections of NDE in the Bible if you read it without prejudice. You find one in Jesus'queer speech in Luke l6:9:--- And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.`(namely Paradise). If this is true, your friends with the same faith (still more your family members with the same belief) are the basis of your supreme happiness, so you should get them at any price. Jesus' words "by unrighteous mammon" suggest that you should make friends with the persons having the same faith as you have at any cost, because they are more important to you than anyone or anything else. Nothing makes you happier in your life than to make friends with the persons having the same faith, or to build a Christian home. It does not follow, however, that we can ignore our friends or family members who died without the same faith, still less those who died rejecting the salvation of their souls. The fact is, we can't forget them at any time. Even if I alone should be saved, I will not feel happy at all. I wonder what we should or can do to guide these persons into salvation. Will they never be saved? My answer is "Yes." I have no doubt that they shall also be saved. The great love of God must be much deeper than those worries or anxieties of ours. I am confident that He has already made up His plan to answer our question. So we can think of everything in a longer span. Those who believe in eternity think of anything in the eternal span. Then we do not have to worry or feel desperate any more. Now I can find in the Bible several reliable evidences of God's providence overcoming our worries. We can find one in 1 Corinthians 15:29. It mentions the 'baptizm for the dead.' It is known that the ancient churches had a custom of baptizing the living on behalf of the dead. Paul admitted that it was valid. The fact that they were baptized for the sake of the dead shows us that an intimate friend or relative of the deceased is allowed to intercede with God for a pardon of those who didn't know the salvation by Jesus Christ or didn't accept it. We can also find an example of this'intercession' in 1 Timothy 2:l-4-- Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Paul advised that we should give our prayer of intercession for everyone who died not knowing Lord's salvation. As you might know, there is a phrase 'EKOU' in Buddhism. Its ordinary meaning is a memorial service or mass for the dead. It's literal meaning is 'to turn and send something to someone in need,' so its real meaning is to share a meritorious deed of religion with other persons in need. A meritorious deed is, however, worthless for Christians. All that counts for Christians is Jesus' love and God's mercy. All you can do as a Christian is pray to God to give others the same grace as you are given by God. This is the "EKOU" a Christian can do, I think. To pray for the sake of the dead is the spirit of mass for the dead. As in an ancient church the living could be baptized on behalf of the deceased, so we can now hope through a prayer of intercession for the salvation of a person who has already died without knowing or accepting Jesus Christ. I hear that Catholic Church holds such a ritual as 'mass for the dead.' In NHK TV documentary program 'My father used to be a member of the Gestapo,' I saw a woman serving mass for the late Heinrich Muller, who was the chief of the Gestapo. The woman was his daughter, who had been looking for her father after World War Ⅱ, and found that he had already died in a monastery in Italy. He was the ringleader of the Holocaust, but still his daughter has missed for many years. A clergyman who had been helping her with her search for her missing father held 'mass for the dead' for the sake of Heinrich Muller. The prayer he offered was:--- "We now recall the late Mr. Heinrich Muller with love. He walked on a wrong road out of morals. His road was marked with tears and blood. May people wake up to the truth by seeing his existence. We pray that he may live an eternal life.. This is the very prayer of intercession for the dead. We are allowed to pray and intercede even for the sake of an atrocious man like Muller. What enables us to do so is his daughter's hearty love of him. Of course Muller must be convicted severely by the society and by the history. Yet his daughter is willing to accept him. Jesus Christ also says in Matthew 11:28:-- `` Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Jesus promises that he is going to be laden for Heinrich Muller and crucified on his behalf. He will call on the late Mr. Muller and preach the gospel in response to our prayer or in advance of our prayer, as is written in 1 Peter 3:l9 and 4:6:--- He went and preached to the spirits jn prison.' For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. Jesus Christ goes to prison, i.e. to Hell, and preaches the salvation there. What a large-scale act! It is the enomous providence of God, the magnificent love, which will kick out the trifling worries we have. We can entirely entrust God with everything and He gives us rest. Dear my readers, how happy we are that we can pray for the dead and that our prayer is sure to be accepted by God. This is God's answer to our question from the Bible. We can intercede not only for the dead, but also for the living who have different beliefs from ours or have no faith at all. There, too, our intercession is available. I'd like my readers to realize this fact, for it is also written in the Bible. 1 Corinthians 7:14:- For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. This can be said not only of the impious husband or wife, but also of all the other people, including parents, children, brothers and sisters, frieds, and neighbors. So we should make much of the bonds of our family and linkage to the society as the place for intercession, even if it is not a Christian home nor a Christian society. In tnis way, God's providence based on His love embraces even the dead much more tightly than we can imagine, not to speak of the living who can hear the gospel. How happy we are that we are held tightly in God's arms! We can say with confidence that we are now in the salvation. We are assured of the reunion with the intimate people who have already died and of the new rejoicing life together with them, i.e. the Eternal Life.[Translated by Hiroshi Takasaki with the kind help of Mr.Yoh-ichi Kakuno]The Homepage of the Eternal Life
http://homepage3.nifty.com/eternal-life/
Email Address= eternal-life@nifty.comCopyright(C) 1997 Hiroshi Takasaki All rights reserved.
