#max muller

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.

日の光がなければ花が咲かないように、人が生きるためには愛が必要なのです。

Max Muller describes Christianities uniqueness as ‘salvation free from works.” In all non-Christian ‘isms’ people must work for godly acceptance; they must achieve atonement through some degree of self-effort. Even atheists work, though not for godly acceptance of course. Contrast this to Christianity. The Christian faith alone teaches that atonement cannot be attained by the individual but only through the blood of Christ upon the cross. Once an individual discovers his debt has been paid through Christ works then become a grateful outflow in recognition of the gift and love for the Giver. Works in Christianity then, is neither earning merit nor self-serving.

“I may say that for 40 years, as at the University of Oxford I carried out my duties as professor of Sanskrit, I devoted as much time to the study of the holy books of the Easy as any other human being in the world. And I venture to tell this gathering what I have found to be the basic note, the one single chord, of all these holy books--be it the Veda of the Brahmans, the Purana of Siwa and Vishnu, the Qur'an of the Muslims, the Sendavesta of the Parsis, etc.--the one basic note or chord that runs through all of them is salvation by works. They all teach that salvation must be bought and that your own works and merits must be the purchase price. Our own Bible, our sacred book from the East, is from start to finish a protest against this doctrine. True, good works are also required in this holy book from the East, and that even more emphatically than in any other holy book from the East, but the works referred to are the outflow of a grateful heart. They are only the thank offerings, only the fruits of our faith. They are never the ransom of the true disciples of Christ. Let us not close our eyes to whatever is noble and true and pleasing in those holy books. But let us teach Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims that there is but one book from the East that can be their comfort in that solemn hour when they must pass, entirely alone, into the invisible world. It is that holy book which contains the message--a message which is surely true and worthy of full acceptance, and concerns all humans, men, women, and children--that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.

日の光がなければ花が咲かないように、人が生きるためには愛が必要なのです。

Max Muller