Karma and Christ’s Sacrifice
Why did Jesus teach forgiveness?
an essay
by Michael F. O’Keeffe
Let’s begin with some karma FAQ’s
Q What is
karma?
A Karma is God’s law of perfect justice.
Q What is this
law of perfect justice?
A The law of karma is
simply stated in various books of scripture and is summarized in this simple
statement:
“Each person must reap what he has sown.” When you strike another in the face, you have
sown a seed, and it grows, and in time, the harvest comes; and you will be
struck in the face. Thus, the doer of
good and the doer of evil always reap what they have sown. Those who forgive others their trespasses,
debts and offenses will be forgiven theirs; those who retaliate and seek
vengeance when offended, will receive no forgiveness, but will reap a harvest
of retaliation and vengeance.
Any person, who treats others with unkindness and
unwillingness to help, will soon experience a dearth of kindness and
helpfulness. The thief will eventually
discover his goods have been stolen, and the murderer will eventually be a
murder victim. Groups of people (as well
as individuals) can create Karma.
Indeed, a culture that practices enslavement of neighboring tribes or
civilizations, will eventually be conquered by a stronger nation, and be sold
into bondage. (As ye sow, so shall ye reap.)
Q How can this
be?
A The seeds of karma grow
slowly. If you are struck in the face
today, this incident may be “the harvest” from a seed you had sown long ago,
even in a past incarnation. Thus, the
murderer, who seems to escape punishment (by using wealth and employing crafty lawyers) never really escapes justice, for he will (soon
enough) become a murder victim – in this lifetime, or in a future incarnation.
Q What about
Jesus? Was His crucifixion the harvest
of a seed he had sown?
A As a mature
Son of God, Jesus was granted his inheritance (all the powers of God). He was totally innocent, yet he knew it was
time for him to demonstrate Christ’s power to conquer death. Therefore, he handed His life over to the
angry mob, which came to arrest him. By
the power of the law of karma, he could have easily escaped. Thus, his crucifixion truly was a
sacrifice. (And God gave him a great gift as he offered up himself.)
(The following paragraphs
explain karma in more detail.)
Nearly every time I hear someone use the word
“karma,” he (or she) uses it in a way, which indicates they don’t fully understand
the meaning of the word.. Apparently, few people truly understand the
profound meaning and implications of karma.
This essay is intended to clear up the ambiguities.
Let’s begin with the first of several basic
statements. 1. Nothing happens to a
person unless he (or she) has caused it to happen. If you don’t understand this statement, you
need to read on. This is very
important. He who does not understand
this will continue to cause unpleasant and tragic things to happen to him –
until he understands, and rectifies the situation.
Karma is God’s law of Perfect Justice. Whatever a person does to any other person
always rebounds. The person who slaps
another in the face will eventually be slapped in the face. The person who lies to another will be lied
to. The person who spies on another will
be spied upon. The selfish officer of a
corporation, who swindles “grandmothers” and common people to enhance his bank
accounts, will one day become a pauper who is swindled. The slanderer will be slandered, and the
murderer will be murdered.
Thus, we have statement number 2: There is no such thing as an
innocent victim. Except for Christ,
all maltreated people are victims of their own misdeeds – returning through
karma; they are not innocent victims.
Jesus was certainly innocent, but he was not a
victim. How can this be? By the divine power within him, he felt no pain or humiliation, when his executioners stripped
him, abused him, and nailed him to the cross.
Except for the sacrifice of a Christ, every abused or maltreated person
is merely the victim of his own misdeeds, which have rebounded – by the law of
karma. This brings us to the third
statement: The law of karma never fails.
How can this be?
This question is best answered by statement number 4: Karma is often carried over into future
incarnations. Let’s take for
example, the little child who has an abusive parent, who beats him (or her)
whenever the child refuses to eat a certain food. People who do not understand karma tend to
think, “how cruel and abusive,” and they condemn the
abusive parent. The wise person, on the
other hand, knows that God’s Law of Karma is at work. The child who experiences abuse must have
once abused a child in like manner in a past incarnation, because nothing
happens to a person unless he (or she) has caused it to happen (through the law
of karma). This does not excuse the
parent who currently abuses a child; he (or she) too will experience the abuse
he is now giving out. God’s karmic law
always brings abusive people into the lives of those who have abused.
Note: Anyone
can break out of the cycle of negative karma at any time – simply by choosing
not to abuse another person when the temptation arises. One who has much negative karma in his past,
who wishes to break out, may have to spend a lifetime (or more) overcoming all
the temptations to abuse other human beings.
Many people find this difficult to accept; yet it is
the truth, and disliking the truth does not change it. The wise person, instead of condemning the
abusive parent, recognizes that the abused child is being given an opportunity
to forgive himself. (Children are
naturally very forgiving.) The abused
child who forgives the abusive elder has paid a debt he owes to God and Man,
and through this forgiveness, he has forgiven himself. Statement number 5: All of us must forgive
all our past misdeeds. Even a serial
murderer must forgive his own murderer (many times) when he eventually reaps
the dreadful harvest, many times – from all the murderous seeds he has sown.
Some people seem to think they can escape the
consequences of their actions. Yet, if a
person, in a fit of senseless or vengeful rage, takes the lives of others, and
then takes his own, he has not escaped retribution; for he is sure to fall
victim (in future incarnations) to similarly enraged persons. (And he must receive this awful karma at
least as many times as the number of people he murdered – and he must forgive
every one.)
Even men who have ambushed enemy forces during war
will come upon a time when they are ambushed, and they must forgive. We are God’s Children, and our Father-God
requires all of us to forgive all, in order that we may forgive ourselves, and
thereby become worthy (after many incarnations) of traveling The Return Path to
Eden.
Some abused children need to forgive much, because
in a past incarnation they were very abusive, and if the abused child is beaten
to death by his parent, it is certain that he himself (or herself) once beat a
child to death. Otherwise, the mortal
beating would not (could not) happen. Karma,
the divine law of perfect justice, NEVER fails.
When the soul of the dead child discovers himself to
be expelled from his (or her) smashed and useless body, his tendency is still
to forgive. The forgiveness tendency in
children is very strong indeed. Children
are very Godlike when it comes to forgiveness, because their love for their
parents and elders is so strong. Why is
this?
Before any child incarnates into this world, he (or
she) is given a heavy dose of
“godliness.” God loves all
and forgives all, and he infuses a lavish amount of this Love and forgiveness
into the soul of a child before birth.
All children are given this gift.
Yet, in spite of our Father’s great love for us, we must not forget this
truth – statement number 6: God never
suspends His Law of Karma (with one rare exception, which is explained
later).
God’s love for us is so strong, that even the most
brutal, vile and evil person is given opportunities to forgive himself –
through karma, until he has forgiven himself all his past transgressions, and
becomes a kind and loving child of God – after many incarnations (very many).
The next time someone does some mean or evil thing
to you, just remember: this is God’s way of saying to you; “now is your
opportunity to forgive yourself.” Just
because you don’t remember being equally mean or evil doesn’t change the fact
that you were. When someone steals
something from you, it’s because you once stole, and now is your chance to pay
some karmic debt – through forgiveness.
Everything that happens to you (good or evil) is YOU
coming back to yourself
(through another child of God).
If you forgive, you have done well; for you have made use of the
opportunity to forgive yourself; an opportunity which our Father-God has given
you. If you, on the other hand, accuse,
condemn and seek punishment and retaliation, you have created additional karmic
debt, which will come back to you one day.
We can now summarize with statement number 7: Karma is God’s way of holding up a mirror to yourself. Do you
like what you see? Can you forgive
yourself?
Let’s now discuss the second part of this essay,
Christ’s sacrifice. I mentioned before
that the law of karma never fails and that God does not suspend karma. This is true, but there is ONE exception to
the “law of no suspension.” In order to
explain this exception, we need to take a closer look at the protective nature
of karma.
If some person decides do
some evil thing to a person who does not have such karma, the evil-minded
person will fail in his endeavor. Let’s
say a bully decides to beat up another child.
If the other child has no “beating up karma” in his past, the bully will
fail in his endeavor. Something (a
person or a circumstance) will prevent the beating. This is the protective feature of the law of
karma. This brings us to Statement
number 8: The protective feature of the law of karma, also, never fails.
Now we can discuss the ONE exception to the law of
karma: this is called Christ’s Sacrifice.
Statement number 9: Christ, a person who has paid all karmic debt,
may suspend karmic protection; as Jesus did in Gethsemane.
Many people in high places tried to bring about
Jesus’ death many times. However, their
efforts always came to naught; he always escaped unharmed by some event or
circumstance, because he had no murder-karma.
However, God gives to Christ (and those who diligently follow him) the
power to suspend the protective nature of karma.
Jesus utilized his power to suspend karmic
protection when he was arrested in the orchard of Gethsemane. He could have easily escaped (as he did many
times) but he knew it was time for Christ to demonstrate man’s ability to
conquer death. Therefore, he handed his
life over to the angry mob. His
crucifixion truly was a Sacrifice.*
More about Karma – in Jesus’ own
words!
Another karmic
reference – in his own words.
* (And Jesus said) The hour has come and we must go to Bethany.
7) But his disciples urged him not to go; they said,
The Jews are waiting your return that they may take
your life.
8) And Jesus said,
Men cannot take my life till I have handed unto
them my life.
9) And when the time shall come I will myself lay down
my life; that time is near, and God knows best; I must arise and go. (from Chapter 148
of the Aquarian Gospel.)
“And wicked men will
seize you in the streets, and as you kneel in prayer; will charge you with some
legal crime, and think they serve their God by putting you to death.
20) But falter not; the load will heavy be, but with
the consciousness of duty done, the peace of God
will lift the load, dispel the pain and light the way.” (AG 127 19-20)
This is even mentioned in genesis
9:6. “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed.”