Do you support deification just for a sacrifice?

India
February 14, 2007 11:34pm CST
Mr. Bill Shores writing in USAToday.com raised an important question (Feb.14, 2007): Why don't more Americans pay respect to fallen soldiers? He poignantly described his visit to a slain soldier's monument, whose body was carried in a commercial flight and received solemnly by a military honor Guard. It is also significant to note that American Government maintains the graves and memorials of fallen soldiers with respect and in an identifiable manner. Personally, I rate the sacrifice made by the soldiers on par with the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. But Jesus Christ has been deified and worshipped, whereas the soldiers are ignored (exception: close relatives of the slain soldiers). Apparent reasons for the indifference: Soldiers are paid salaries. The question is : "Do we die, if somebody pays us salary?" . Laying down one's own life for the cause of the country is definitely beyond the gamut of salary. Another reason: "Slain soldiers may be thousands in numbers. How many we can remember?" . This logic also does not hold good because symbols can be built. Real reason in my view: Soldiers are not viewed as saviors for us "individually". They may be saviors for the Nation, but not us personally. Soldiers do not employ preachers paying salaries, to spread the soldiers' messages. There are no professionals on work. There are no miracles on work. There is no curing of diseases. Soldiers cannot give us wealth. Soldiers cannot awaken a dying person. Soldiers do not know preaching. Whatever is being done today for the soldiers' memory, is done by the Government, because it wants to prolong the war and it wants to build a favorable environment for enrolment. Recently, I read on net: A person claimed that her belief in God was/is reinforced through her personal experience. She went to a prayer house. For returning back, she did not have dollars to fill gasoline in her car. Near the gas station, somebody came to her and unasked gave her a 100 dollar bill. She claimed that God understood her needs and sent dollars at the right moment at the right place. Deification of humans in the name of religion, takes place for a different purpose, which has nothing to do with the sacrifice or what the dead person tried to communicate. In India, we have a deified human by name Shirdi Sai Baba. He died in (around) 1925. He was a gentle, simple, philosophical minded person, who lived by alms. His teachings were also plainly ethical. The beneficiaries of cult developed around him spread stories of miracles around him and made him a God. In just 75 years, temples have been built in every village of India. Jesus sacrificed his life. Sai Baba did not do even that. In faith, perception is important. If there are perceived results, no other proof will be necessary.
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