The Great Gospel of John
Volume 7
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord on the Mount of Olives. (cont.) Gospel of John, Chapter 8
- Chapter 111 -
The doubts of the Indian magician.
The chief magician said: "Yes, I understood, as well as my two companions. But besides that, there are still so many questions if one wants to have a complete idea of the highest wisdom of the only, true God. Because in the great nature there are, besides the many extremely wisely arranged things, also other cases, which in itself are arranged in a wonderfully wise way, but compared to the other things are quite obviously not so wise and suitable.
2
And look, lovely young friend, by such observations mostly those people are mislead who more than others are searching for a wise and almighty God, and instead of knowing God completely, actually the opposite is happening. They discover a power and might which in itself is formed and arranged very wonderfully and artfully, but which in a certain way is not capable of giving account as to why it has formed this and that and why for instance one thing has been there for the sake of the other.
3
I realize that this is probably a very useless question of mine, but the one who has never had any doubt within him, clearly shows by it that he cares little or none at all to know if there is a God and how He looks like, and if the soul of man after the death of the body continues to live as an individual, being aware of himself, and how and where.
4
But because I am already an old searcher, I am also an old doubter and that is why I am full of questions. And therefore I have found your description about your dangerous lake, the subterranean pitch and sulfur deposits, the temporary ignition of it and after that the arrival of the cold northern wind - which is still blowing heavily - much in agreement with the might and the wisdom of a true and good God. Just like everything at the lake is also very efficiently established, so that this evaporation will not be harmful to the living creatures. All this seems in and by itself totally all right, but then there is a completely different question that is arising, which we ourselves can never answer:
5
Why then did God, who is so wise and good, actually create such a dangerous lake? We know many great kingdoms and countries that exist without such a lake. Why exactly here must there be one? What is the use for those big subterranean pitch and sulfur layers and why those poisonous vapors in which no humans, animals, plants and trees can live? Are such dangerous lakes on Earth actually good for something and is there some wise good purpose behind it, or did they only exist by coincidence and has God, because it exists, created such measures so that they should not be too dangerous for the somewhat nobler creatures that are living close to it?
6
Can a very wise and good God not reach a good end in another way than with a bad means? Look, dear young, divinely wise and mighty friend, if one thinks and considers these things more and more, he finally comes oftentimes to very strange conclusions.
7
You can for instance say: a good God can create nothing that is bad, because in honey there is no bitter taste. Then there also must not be an evil anti-god, who is continuously striving against the good God, but can never defeat Him. Just like the good God cannot conquer the evil one. The good God creates continuously great things, the evil one always destroys the works of the good God.
8
However, if one accepts that, it is sad for a creature and especially sad for a self-conscious man, because he is facing certain destruction. Because what kind of joy can a life and existence give me, when I will lose it forever after a short time, and besides that, also with great pain and full of fear and despair.
9
Finally, this also you do not want to accept and you say: there is no God at all, or there are as many of them as there are creatures, by which every god creates his own creature and does not care about anything else. Or there is no God at all, but a natural force, which, without knowing that it is existing, still continues to work, because in a certain way, through circumstances that have developed themselves blindly and by coincidences, it has to work. Just like the wind when it is blowing without a will and without any understanding, changes its direction when it hits a rock-face, which is then forcing it to choose another direction. This phenomenon can also be observed with brooks and rivers. They must change their direction as often as in their blindness they are hitting objects, which are forcing it unintentionally to take another direction.
10
A grain of seed falls into good soil and bears fruit abundantly, while an equally healthy grain of seed falls into bad soil, withers away in it and bears no fruit at all. Neither the seed nor the soil are conscious of their power and possibilities, but some circumstance, which also has been caused by other accidental circumstances, has made one soil fat and the other meager, and this circumstance makes that a seed flourishes in a good or a bad way.
11
Then you can examine and think what you want, and experience many things on the globe, and will never come to a well calculated order, but only to pure coincidences by which one is causing the other.
12
Well, by such examinations, man loses the deity, and then it cannot be found again so easily. You probably were completely right by saying that man can find an only, true, wise and almighty God by the accurate examinations of all kind of phenomena in the great nature. This must be true, but when you finally as a scrupulous researcher you discover things which seems to have nothing to do with a good calculated order, and thus are making the existence of an only, true, wise, good and mighty God unbelievable - just like the pitch and sulfur layer under the dangerous lake. Then what? Then, friend, man cannot help himself anymore, but God must help him, if He really exists. However, if He does not help him, then, or, in reality He is not there, or He does not care about men, or He is not capable to help man without certain conditions, as one can conclude every day from all too many experiences.
13
Therefore, can you explain to me the reason why that dangerous lake is there, then there will be no more obstacles for us to continue to speak about this still very important matter."