Saving Heathen Babies From Hell—Part 2
The Solution
“Yeah, you know, the whole reason why we are here? What if life were like a school that God made and we’re supposed to learn stuff.” Mr. Collins asked. I just looked at him and blinked. The concept was so foreign, I couldn’t even comment so I just listened.
“So if God wanted to teach us stuff, how would he do it? Maybe he would send teachers. And maybe each of those teachers would teach us something really important and the new one (like Mrs. Podgorskie) would remind you of all the other stuff that others teachers taught but give you a little bit more until you were ready for something really different.” I was staring at Mr. Collins now like a deer in headlights and so he just kept talking.
“For example, Abraham came and taught that there was only one God—not hundreds like the people of his day believed in. He told the people that they had to understand this one truth that there was only one God or nothing else was going make any sense.”
“So after Abraham what teacher did God send to the school of life?” Mr. Collin’s asked.
“Charleton Heston!” I said excitedly. “Uh, I mean, Moses!”
Mr. Collins smiled warmly. “Right you are, Christine! Now when Moses came, he said the same thing. He said there was only one God, the same one God that Abraham taught about –like one math.” I nodded and smiled and inwardly thanked the One God that there was only one math.
“Moses, knowing that the people finally got the One God lesson, knew they were now ready for the next lesson and he taught that lesson in the Ten Commandments: Love and worship the One God, honor your mother and father, don’t kill, don’t steal, you know the rest, right?” Mr. Collins asked.
Yes, I had seen that movie so many times, I knew it all by heart.
“So when Jesus came he said there was only one God and you have to keep the Ten Commandments and then he said God had a new lesson: Love. Love God, love your family, love your neighbor—love people so much that they will believe in the One God too.”
“So each teacher was just building on what the one before said plus a little bit extra. Like Mrs. Podgorskie and Mrs. Fine, my Algebra teacher.” I said feeling like what he was telling me made a lot of sense. And then he threw a monkey wrench in it.
“Now, when God sent the teacher, Muhammad to the school of life—” I stopped Mr. Collins right there.
“Muhammad? Muhammad is a teacher in the school too?” I was very surprised by this. “Are you sure Muhammad is a teacher ?”
“Well let’s investigate the facts. Muhammad teaches there is only one God, like Abraham. He teaches that the Ten Commandments are what God still wants us to do. He teaches everything that Jesus taught about love is the way to go. And you know how he taught the people these things?”
“He retold all the stories that are in the Bible to teach people the same lessons. And his new lesson was learning to submit to the Will of God. Meaning, we had to learn that God is really in control of everything and if we follow in His way, things will be so much easier and we will progress much faster.”
“Oh like Mrs. Podgorskie telling us to memorize our multiplication tables so we don’t have to spend all our time counting our fingers and toes.” I said.
“Exactly, now doesn’t that make Algebra go a lot easier and faster?”
“Well, I don’t know about easier but yeah, a lot faster!” I said. “So what your telling me is that Muslim babies aren’t going to hell because Muhammad is a teacher sent by God?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Mr. Collins said and seemed to read my mind. “Just the same way the Buddha was a teacher sent by God, and Krishna was sent to teach the people too.”
“So all the babies and their parents are going to heaven because they all had teachers sent by God?” I was really happy inside that no babies were suffering in hell.” I looked at Mustafa who nodded and smiled. “Wow! Who knew they were all in the same school!”
“And they each told about someone who would come and bring everyone together with a new lesson that we need to learn now.”
“You mean that man in the book Mustafa gave me…Baha somebody is the new teacher in the school of life?” I asked.
“Yes, Baha’u’llah is the new teacher and he is also the one that all the other teachers talked about that would come and make heaven on earth.” Mr. Collins said.
“Well, I don’t see it. It doesn’t look like heaven on earth right now.” I said.
“No, Baha’u’llah said the heaven on earth will have to come through us.” Mr. Collins explained.
“How?” I asked. “Everybody is always fighting: families, countries, especially religions.”
“By putting into practice the new lesson he brought: There is one God. There is only one religion (like in school there is one subject like math but many lessons and many teachers) and that humanity, the whole world— is one family.” Mr. Collins said.
“So the new lesson is that the whole world has to get together as one family?” I looked at Mustafa who nodded. “And then God open the clouds and bring down the new heaven and the new earth?”
“Well he could but that wouldn’t be much fun for us now would it?” Mr. Collins said—I furrowed my brow. “You remember when you finally rode a bike by yourself?”
I smiled big. “Yeah, that was a great because I really wanted to ride by myself with my brothers and sisters but I kept on falling but I kept trying and trying and finally figured out how to do it myself.”
“Well, it’s the same way with building a new heaven and new earth, God sent his teacher, Baha’u’llah who has given us instructions but we still have to figure out how to do it and build it ourselves—but we have a bunch of the stuff already figured out don’t we? There’s only one God, follow the ten commandments, we are created to love and if we submit to God’s way, things will be easier—so creating a new world where everyone acts like a family is going to be hard but it will be a lot of fun figuring out how to accomplish it, don’t you think?”
I just nodded and smiled. I smiled because I really did think that what Mr. Collins was telling me was the most sense I ever heard as far as this whole religion business was concerned. And I smiled because that’s what I did when I worried in front of people. In my heart of hearts, I knew this was the truth and was happy not to be mad at God anymore. I was so relieved that no heathen babies were burning in hell but now I had another worry.
How was I going to explain this to my parents? It was going to be a tough sell. How was I going to tell them that I wanted to join the Baha’i Faith and help the world be one family? I think it would’ve been easier to tell them I was destined for a life of crime because I was pressured by a gang of girls to steal lip gloss from Safeway.
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