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THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY.

TO thk bditob ot the fsess Sir, —I must admit that when I entered into this controversy, I thought I was meeting opponents who knew the subject they wished to discuss, but now I just realise that the Archdeacon could not substantiate the charges he made from a very safe place—his own pulpit —and Mr Curnow candidly admits his ignorance. He wishes me to tell him what is inside that tin he calls Theosophy! My answer to this ought to be to urge him to study those many well-written books and not expect me to give him in a short letter, the contents of a whole library. As to Theosophy being an attempt to mingle Christianity with Buddhism, that again is an error duo to lack of knowledge of the subject. What Theosophists do, instead of condemning other people's beliefs, is to study them with an open mind and not in a carping spirit! Again, speaking concerning the planks of the Theosophical Society, Mr Curnow admits that any other orthodox Christian could subscribe to them. Of course, any good Christian could. But could my opponent make the same claims about his own church 1 Were not some poor souls ex-communicated a while ago in the name of the God of Love? Now about these definitions. By Divinity I mean the sum total of Life, which pervades and animates the whole Universe, from the finest grain of sand to the loftiest sun, from the lowest savage, who stands at the lowest rung of the evolutionary ladder, to the highest expression of spirituality, the Christ. Therefore, the only difference between man and the Christ is this—that man, who is still in the elementary classes in the school of life, still imperfect and full of limitations, can express but a small fraction of that Divinity, while the Christ has become its full expression, which is also called Love.

In this cosmogony everything is accountable in terms of Love, Law, and Justice, anil we are told that not even a sparrow falleth to the ground without the knowledge of our Father in Heaven Of course, in a world bascl on love, lnw, and justice, there is no room for deathbed repentance and forgiveness. Forgiveness, of necessity, implies resentment. Therefore Mr Curnow's God of Love has the attributes of imperfection! This reminds to© of Voltaire, who, when assured by a good orthodox Christian that God created ir>an according to His own image, simply remarked: "Yes, and you have gratefully returned the same compliment ever since I" ] believe in the release of the consequences of my mistakes, for there are neither sins nor sinners m my world,

but simply men who are learning through the hard school of daily experiences and to whom is granted even that great law of repetition, so that there will be no failures. The God of Theosophy gives mo the privilege to make good the wrong I have done, and what men call pain is simply a blessing in disguise in order to impress upon me that there is something amis 3 somewhere which demands to be put right. The sum total of my experiences is calied character, and character makes the individual who finally walks in a world of objectivity not moved or attracted by illusory objects but simply as an expression of an inner reality. Now, Mr Editor, Mr Curnow has set me a big task I did not expect. It is my turn to ask him something. How does he explain the existence of the law of love in a cosmogony whero a man after a life of sins, through a leal honest heartfelt death-bed repentance is sent to a place of bliss, while a poor wretch without anv visible cause, born with a diseased body, with a warped mind, and with criminal propensities, after a physical life of misery is doomed to an eternity of damnation t —Yours, etc., H. OOLONNA. November 28th, 1930.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19301201.2.137.2

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20099, 1 December 1930, Page 17

Word count
Tapeke kupu
660

THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20099, 1 December 1930, Page 17

THEOSOPHY AND CHRISTIANITY. Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20099, 1 December 1930, Page 17

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