Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!texbell!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cadence!sorenson@uunet.uu.net (Kerry Sorenson) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: a Christian motif that doesn't make sense to me Message-ID: Date: 5 Jun 90 04:19:52 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Lines: 33 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article qpliu@andy.princeton.e du (Quowong Peter Liu) writes: >``Jesus died for your sins,'' meaning that the Death (and the >subsequent Miracle) of Jesus allows my sins to be forgiven. >this idea is not self-evident to me, and what Christians seem >concentrate on is the gruesome details of the Crucifixion and not why >such an act causes the sins of a Christian who has Accepted Christ as >Their Saviour (whatever that means). The idea that Jesus died for our sins has a close parallel in Eastern religion/philosophy. In "Autobiography of a Yogi" (available in most bookstores) Paramahansa Yoganada relates how his guru, Sri Yukteswar burned many of the sins of his disciples in the fire of a severe fever. A highly advanced guru is able to minimize the physical and mental troubles of his disciples by assuming a part of their karmic burdens. Yoganada writes, "A guru's work in the world is to alleviate the sorrows of mankind, whether through spiritual means or intellectual counsel or will power or physical transfer of disease...By putting on the ailments of others, a yogi can satisy, for them, the karmic law of cause and effect." (see pages 235-237) In line with this, I would argue that by taking upon us the name of Christ, that we become his disciples and he our guru, and he thereby assumes part of our karmic burdens. Kerry Sorenson sorenson@cadence.com