Who do I follow?

7/20/2006 - 6:00 AM PST

By Dr. Chris AnthonyOp/EdCatholic Online

Things to ponder

Who do I follow, God or Man?

There was once a very holy man dedicated to the service of God and fellow man. He was deeply troubled that the war and violence in the world is mainly caused by religion. Followers of the different religions are fighting and killing each other in the name of their respective God. Disillusioned with God for His inactivity, he prayed fervently imploring God to intervene and stop all the violence.

That night an angel appeared in his dream and took him to heaven. As he approached the gates of heaven he could hear sounds of joy and happiness and sense an air of great festivities. The man asked the angel what was going on.

The angel answered, “The citizens of heaven are celebrating God’s birthday today”.
The man was overjoyed to be able to witness God’s birthday in heaven. Then there appeared a long candle light procession comprising the followers of the various religions. The man was so excited that he will soon get a glimpse of the Creator as he passes by.

Heading the procession were the Catholics, led by the Pope followed by the Cardinals, bishops, priests and the laity. This was followed by the different Christian denominations. Huge congregations of other faiths then followed suit, the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and hundreds of other minor religious groups including great evangelists and miracle healers. Each group was led by its leader riding on beautifully decorated majestic horse chariots.

At the end of the procession came a frail looking bearded old man riding his frail looking horse. He appeared a total misfit in the environment of grandeur and glamour. The holy man from earth was very surprised that this poor old man had nobody following him.

The man asked the angel. “Who is this poor old man? Why is that he has no followers?”
After some hesitation, the angel answered “He is God,the Creator”.
Moral of the story

This is exactly what is happening in the world today. There is so much hatred, violence and killing in the world, all in the name of God and religion.

We all claim that our religion is the only true one and all others are false. We think we are the only ones following the right path that God has shown us.

Definitely hatred and violence are not His ways. His ways are always truth, love and peace, which very few really follow. We fail to understand that regardless of our religious differences, we are all children of God, differing only in the way we reach that one God.

Man has become so arrogant with his achievements in the world that he has instituted his own laws that ignores God’s true teachings of humility and love. These teachings are becoming rather obsolete in the world of power and glamour.

We seek God among the glamour and richness in the world, but in real life, He is among us in the poor and downtrodden.

Let us examine ourselves to see who are we really following God or man?