By M L Satyan

Bengaluru: We all know that the Catholic Church believed and propagated, prior to second Vatican Council, that all those who do not believe in Jesus, that is all those who belong to other religions, will not get salvation. The second Vatican Council changed this fundamentalist view.

Surprisingly, even after 55 years of Vatican II, there are certain Catholic priests and lay Catholics who still try live in the pre-Vatican era and go around with their preaching. I wish to give you a few stories spread by such groups:

Story-1: A recent WhatsApp message contained an imaginative story. A Buddhist monk died and went to hell. He was surprised to note a few more Buddhist monks there. He asked them why they were there. They gave him shocking news about the presence of Gautam Buddha. He went close to the crying Buddha to console him. Buddha said to him, “Can you do me a favor?” The monk said, “Yes.” Buddha said, “Please ask our monks to make arrangements to offer Holy Mass for me in a Catholic Church.”

The monk felt so sad to hear this request from the crying Buddha. On the same day, this monk appeared to some monks living in his monastery in their dream and said, “Please go to a nearby Catholic Church and ask the priest to offer Holy Mass for Gautam Buddha.” The monks did the same. Soon after the Holy Mass was offered, Gautam Buddha reached the heaven. (Source: WhatsApp message).

Story-2: A Catholic priest is preaching in a church. He says, “My dear sisters and brothers, you all know Bro. D G Dinakaran, the Evangelist, whose programs used to be telecast on the TV regularly. His son Paul Dinakaran is alive whereas DG Dinakaran died. He was born in a Catholic family at Cuddalore and worked in a bank. Later he joined a Protestant denomination, started his own ministry, built prayer towers and did good things to the people. He died. But he could not go to heaven.

So, everyday midnight he used to come to his house, appear to his grandchildren in their dreams and request them for Holy Mass to be offered in a Catholic Church. Initially, his grandchildren did not understand anything. One day, the children approached their father and said, “Daddy, quite a few times, grandpa appeared in our dreams. He requested us to offer Holy Mass in the Roman Catholic Church. Only then he will go to heaven it seems.” Their father said, “Ok, we will do it.”

Do you know where they went? They went to a Catholic Church near Guindy and paid money to the priest to offer 8 Holy Mass. On the 8th day, soon after the Holy Mass was offered, Dinakaran’s soul went to heaven. It also rained heavily on that day. The Scripture tells us that when a soul goes to heaven and that too, a converted sinner’s soul goes to heaven, God becomes very happy. As a sign of this, it rains.” (Source: Video in Tamil).

With regard to these stories I wish to raise the following questions/points for our sincere introspection:

1) Why do “fanatic priests” openly preach from the altar the outdated and pre-Vatican ideas?
2) Why should they undermine the “spiritual services” rendered by evangelists and prayer groups of other Christian denominations?
3) No one can deny that DG Dinakaran rendered “extraordinary spiritual services” to millions of people. Why call him a sinner?
4) In reality, most Christian denominations and evangelists lead a “far better Christian life” than the “name-sake Catholics and clergies.”
5) Why do some “fanatic Christians/Catholics” get into propagating against people of other religions?
6) Are these fanatic priests try to use these messages as their “marketing strategy” to motivate the Catholics to offer more Holy Masses for the departed souls, especially during November?
7) If Holy Mass is considered as a “visa to heaven’, then, the Hell and Purgatory (if they exist) should be empty as billions of Holy Masses are offered all over the world round the clock.
8) Let us always remember the “criteria” of Final Judgement mentioned in Matthew chapter 25 verses 31-46.

Story-3: On Diwali day (November 15) I received three WhatsApp messages as described below:

a) A full-size picture of Jesus with the texts: I am the light of the world. Festival of lights Greetings.
b) Jesus is seated with a child. His right hand is holding the child and the left hand is holding a burning lamp. The text message on the top reads: Let your light shine before people, that all may see your good works. The text message at the bottom reads: Happy Diwali.
c) A burning candle with the text message: Jesus Christ, Light of the world.

Let me put forth my frank questions:

1) We all know different stories associated with Diwali celebrated by Hindus. Jains and Sikhs also celebrate Diwali. For Jains, Diwali celebrates the nirvana, or enlightenment of Mahavir. Sikhs consider Diwali as a commemoration of the release of Guru Hargobind, the sixth of ten spiritual leaders, and 52 other men who were imprisoned by the Mughal Empire that ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857.
2) If this is the case, then, what is the relationship between Diwali and Jesus Christ?
3) Why are the Christians projecting Jesus as the champion of Diwali?
4) Why should they “hijack Diwali” in the name of Jesus?
5) Do these images mean that “Hindu people must accept Jesus as the light of the world”?
6) When the Hindu people light lamps in their homes on this festival, are they supposed to proclaim Jesus?
7) Why Jesus is not projected on other Hindu festivals and also on the festivals of other religions like Islam, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism etc.?
8) Can any scholar on Scripture and Christianity give answers to the above questions?

The important lesson from the above stories is: Rise above Religious Fanaticism and Become more Humane.