{"pages":{"368":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\5e07978430078cb56ea89a104e5a0c0e50b3aa1618e48c486c8af005ae015143\\raw\\pages\\00392-1de9a4fa66be08407984.webp","width":1170,"height":1680,"segments":[{"text":"368","box":{"x":133,"y":119,"width":63,"height":25}},{"text":"HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA","box":{"x":364,"y":123,"width":479,"height":21}},{"text":"178. MAHATMA GANDHI ON CHRISTIANITY (1937 A.D.)","box":{"x":139,"y":195,"width":919,"height":29}},{"text":"In this account, Gandhi describes his own contacts with Chris-","box":{"x":232,"y":245,"width":778,"height":27}},{"text":"tians and certain conclusions that he has reached concerning the claims","box":{"x":192,"y":270,"width":816,"height":27}},{"text":"made for Christianity and other religions. In doing so he reveals his","box":{"x":190,"y":295,"width":817,"height":28}},{"text":"own standards of religious judgement. From the Harijan, 6th March","box":{"x":192,"y":322,"width":816,"height":27}},{"text":"1937, cited in A. T. Hingorani, ed., The Message of Jesus Christ,","box":{"x":190,"y":346,"width":817,"height":28}},{"text":"pp. 97-100.","box":{"x":192,"y":377,"width":136,"height":20}},{"text":"Even when I was 18, I came in touch with good Christians in","box":{"x":185,"y":424,"width":872,"height":31}},{"text":"London. Before that I had come in touch with what I used then","box":{"x":136,"y":452,"width":921,"height":27}},{"text":"to call beef and beerbottle Christianity,' for these were regarded","box":{"x":139,"y":479,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"as the indispensable criteria of a man becoming a Christian, with","box":{"x":137,"y":507,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"also a third thing, namely adoption of a European style of dress.","box":{"x":139,"y":535,"width":915,"height":34}},{"text":"Those Christians were parodying St. Paul's teaching-Call thou","box":{"x":137,"y":563,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"nothing unclean.' I I went to London, therefore, with that prejudice","box":{"x":139,"y":591,"width":917,"height":34}},{"text":"against Christianity. I came across good Christians there who","box":{"x":134,"y":619,"width":919,"height":31}},{"text":"placed the Bible in my hands. Then, I met numerous Christians","box":{"x":136,"y":647,"width":917,"height":31}},{"text":"in South Africa, and I have since grown to this belief that Christanity","box":{"x":139,"y":675,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"is as good and as true a religion as my own. For a time, I struggled","box":{"x":139,"y":703,"width":915,"height":31}},{"text":"with the question: Which was the true religion out of those I","box":{"x":133,"y":731,"width":924,"height":31}},{"text":"knew? But, ultimately, I came to the deliberate conviction that","box":{"x":137,"y":759,"width":918,"height":29}},{"text":"there was no such thing as only one true religion and every other","box":{"x":137,"y":788,"width":917,"height":31}},{"text":"false. There is no religion that is absolutely perfect. All are","box":{"x":139,"y":815,"width":915,"height":31}},{"text":"equally imperfect or, more or less, perfect. Hence, the conclusion","box":{"x":136,"y":844,"width":918,"height":31}},{"text":"that Christianity is as good and as true as my own religion. But","box":{"x":133,"y":871,"width":921,"height":32}},{"text":"so also about Islam or Zoroastrianism or Judaism.","box":{"x":136,"y":899,"width":684,"height":25}},{"text":"Jesus is as Divine as Other Prophets","box":{"x":354,"y":968,"width":486,"height":27}},{"text":"I, therefore, do not take as literally true the text that Jesus is","box":{"x":181,"y":1016,"width":872,"height":31}},{"text":"the only begotten son of God. God cannot be the exclusive Father","box":{"x":132,"y":1044,"width":922,"height":29}},{"text":"and I cannot ascribe exclusive divinity to Jesus. He is as divine as","box":{"x":132,"y":1071,"width":921,"height":29}},{"text":"Krishna or Rama or Mohammed or Zoroaster. Similarly, I do not","box":{"x":129,"y":1099,"width":924,"height":32}},{"text":"regard every word of the Bible as the inspired word of God, even as","box":{"x":132,"y":1129,"width":919,"height":29}},{"text":"I do not regard every word of the Vedas or the Quran as inspired.","box":{"x":132,"y":1156,"width":921,"height":32}},{"text":"The sum total of each of these books is certainly inspired, but","box":{"x":129,"y":1182,"width":925,"height":35}},{"text":"I miss that inspiration in many of the things taken individually.","box":{"x":132,"y":1210,"width":921,"height":34}},{"text":"The Bible is as much a book of religion with me as the Gita and","box":{"x":129,"y":1239,"width":924,"height":32}},{"text":"the Quran.","box":{"x":130,"y":1268,"width":153,"height":27}},{"text":"I would also dispute the claim that Christianity is the only true","box":{"x":176,"y":1317,"width":878,"height":34}},{"text":"religion. It is also a true religion, a noble religion and, along with","box":{"x":132,"y":1345,"width":922,"height":36}},{"text":"other religions, it has contributed to raise the moral height of","box":{"x":127,"y":1374,"width":931,"height":32}},{"text":"mankind. But it has yet to make a greater contribution. After","box":{"x":127,"y":1403,"width":926,"height":31}},{"text":"all, what are 2,000 years in the life of a religion? Just now, Christia-","box":{"x":132,"y":1433,"width":921,"height":29}},{"text":"nity comes to yearning mankind in a tainted form. Fancy, Bishops","box":{"x":130,"y":1458,"width":922,"height":38}},{"text":":supporting slaughter in the name of Christianity?","box":{"x":120,"y":1488,"width":696,"height":29}}]},"369":{"imagePath":"H:\\web_projects\\corpus-web\\electron-app\\data\\5e07978430078cb56ea89a104e5a0c0e50b3aa1618e48c486c8af005ae015143\\raw\\pages\\00393-a9dc02f4ee102204990d.webp","width":1170,"height":1680,"segments":[{"text":"SOURCE MATERIALS","box":{"x":463,"y":113,"width":251,"height":21}},{"text":"369","box":{"x":997,"y":105,"width":50,"height":20}},{"text":"Fundamental Maxims","box":{"x":439,"y":186,"width":291,"height":28}},{"text":"Q. But, when you say that all religions are true, what do you","box":{"x":182,"y":238,"width":864,"height":36}},{"text":"do when there are conflicting counsels?","box":{"x":127,"y":269,"width":554,"height":32}},{"text":"A. I have no difficulty in hitting upon the truth, because I go","box":{"x":179,"y":322,"width":869,"height":34}},{"text":"by certain fundamental maxims. Truth is superior to everything,","box":{"x":134,"y":350,"width":914,"height":34}},{"text":"and I reject what conflicts with it. Similarly, that which is in","box":{"x":134,"y":378,"width":915,"height":35}},{"text":"conflict with non-violence should be rejected. And, on matters","box":{"x":133,"y":408,"width":914,"height":31}},{"text":"which can be reasoned out, that which conflicts with reason must","box":{"x":129,"y":434,"width":921,"height":32}},{"text":"also be rejected.","box":{"x":139,"y":469,"width":218,"height":29}},{"text":"Q. In matters which cannot be reasoned out?","box":{"x":183,"y":526,"width":655,"height":29}},{"text":"A. Yes, there are subjects where reason cannot take us far","box":{"x":179,"y":578,"width":872,"height":31}},{"text":"and we have to accept things on faith. Faith then does not contra-","box":{"x":139,"y":607,"width":912,"height":35}},{"text":"dict reason but transcends it. Faith is a kind of sixth sense","box":{"x":134,"y":635,"width":917,"height":28}},{"text":"which works in cases which are without the purview of reason.","box":{"x":135,"y":663,"width":915,"height":31}},{"text":"Well then, given these three criteria, I can have no difficulty in","box":{"x":134,"y":690,"width":917,"height":34}},{"text":"examining all claims made on behalf of religion. Thus, to believe","box":{"x":135,"y":716,"width":917,"height":35}},{"text":"that Jesus is the only begotten son of God is to me against reason,","box":{"x":137,"y":745,"width":914,"height":32}},{"text":"for God can't marry and beget children. The word 'son' there","box":{"x":139,"y":772,"width":914,"height":34}},{"text":"can only be used in a figurative sense. In that sense, everyone","box":{"x":136,"y":803,"width":917,"height":31}},{"text":"who stands in the position of Jesus is a begotten son of God. If a","box":{"x":134,"y":827,"width":921,"height":35}},{"text":"man is spiritually miles ahead of us, we may say that he is, in a","box":{"x":137,"y":855,"width":917,"height":36}},{"text":"special sense, the son of God, though we are all children of God.","box":{"x":139,"y":884,"width":914,"height":32}},{"text":"We repudiate the relationship in our lives, whereas his life is a","box":{"x":136,"y":912,"width":919,"height":34}},{"text":"witness to that relationship.","box":{"x":133,"y":945,"width":383,"height":31}},{"text":"No Degrees of Divinity","box":{"x":463,"y":1024,"width":312,"height":31}},{"text":"Q. Then, you will recognize degrees of divinity. Would you","box":{"x":188,"y":1078,"width":864,"height":35}},{"text":"not say that Jesus was the most divine?","box":{"x":140,"y":1105,"width":546,"height":34}},{"text":"A. No, for the simple reason that we have no data. Histori-","box":{"x":184,"y":1162,"width":869,"height":34}},{"text":"cally, we have more data about Mohammed than anyone else","box":{"x":142,"y":1187,"width":912,"height":34}},{"text":"because he was more recent in time. For Jesus, there is less data","box":{"x":140,"y":1218,"width":914,"height":31}},{"text":"and still less for Buddha, Rama and Krishna; and when we know","box":{"x":143,"y":1245,"width":911,"height":31}},{"text":"so little about them, is it not preposterous to say that one of them","box":{"x":143,"y":1273,"width":911,"height":34}},{"text":"was more divine than another? In fact, even if there were a great","box":{"x":140,"y":1301,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"deal of data available, no judge should shoulder the burden of","box":{"x":142,"y":1328,"width":918,"height":35}},{"text":"sifting all the evidence, if only for this reason that it requires a","box":{"x":146,"y":1356,"width":911,"height":32}},{"text":"highly spiritual person to gauge the degree of divinity of the subjects","box":{"x":142,"y":1382,"width":912,"height":36}},{"text":"he examines. To say that Jesus was 99 per cent divine, and Moham-","box":{"x":143,"y":1411,"width":914,"height":35}},{"text":"med 50 per cent and Krishna 10 per cent, is to arrogate to oneself","box":{"x":143,"y":1441,"width":915,"height":32}},{"text":"a function which really does not belong to man.","box":{"x":144,"y":1469,"width":665,"height":34}},{"text":"H.C.I.-24","box":{"x":238,"y":1514,"width":123,"height":22}}]}}}