Title: Fingers of God (Romans 01:1)
The structure of the human body is very mysterious, and the functions that the body parts attached to it exert are also very mysterious. Among all the members, the function of the fingers is particularly striking. It won't be a mystical feeling when the soft fingertips of a female clerk in the office are typing on a typewriter only when musicians are quick to play the piano keys.
The fingers, especially the second one, have a serious function. Because sometimes it can kill a healthy person with a silent gun by applying a rebuke rather than a live bullet without pulling the trigger. The index finger is often used to teach not only the clutter of the world, but also to teach profound truths about heaven and earth.
The story of the index finger can also be found in Buddhism, so according to the Buddhist tradition, Shakyamuni took three steps as soon as he was born and said that only I, Hola, was honorable in heaven and earth. And it is said that at this time he pointed to the sky with his right hand and the earth with his left hand. The finger that Shakyamuni used at this time was also the index finger.
But the heaven that Jesus pointed to was different from this, and he not only pointed to Heavenly Father in heaven, but even when he was standing in the middle of life, he pleaded with me, “Drink my will and do your will.” Shakyamuni had no father who could point with his index finger, but Jesus had a father who had to do everything according to his will.
The world of Buddhism is a world of contemplation and meditation, and there is no choice but to become a world of enlightenment and monologue. However, the heavenly world Jesus pointed to is Buber's so-called world of conversation with you, and the world of encounters tactfully described by theologian Bruner. But since this meeting between father and son is the meeting between the prodigal son who has left home and the father who welcomes him, Barthes calls it reconciliation. However, in Buddhism, the world of enlightenment and knowledge through contemplation and meditation is abundant, but the world of encounter and socialization where personality and personality collide and the world of reconciliation seem to be rare.
We can clearly see such a situation in the lesson of Jiwol of Zen Buddhism. The lesson of this Jiwol is none other than that Buddha-nature is like the moon deeply immersed in the heart, and it is only reflected when you illuminate your mind like a mirror. Therefore, there, it is not the round moon floating high in the air, but the moon reflecting the realization of one's mind deeply immersed in a mirror. However, clearly, there is no choice but to develop a world of monologues in which you contemplate and meditate on your own interests rather than the world of dialogue or reconciliation between you and me.
Then you might ask him to show you the Heavenly Father to which Jesus pointed. However, such a request was not just started, but not only the Pharisees and Sadducees at the time of Jesus, but also Thomas, one of the 12 disciples. Thomas also said that he would not believe unless he saw the nail marks on his hands and put my finger into them and put my hand into his side when he heard that Jesus was resurrected (John 20:25). Here we encounter the clues of the positivism that modern science reveres. But it is different from the certainty and certainty of faith affirmed in this positivist spirit. Because the spirit of positivism asks you to put your finger on everything, but you cannot put your finger on the spirit of positivism itself, such certainty is the certainty of faith.
The Apostle Paul was also a positivist before his conversion. That is why, while stubbornly denying that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God or that He is the Savior who will bring about chronic salvation, he persecuted Christians and their churches who spread such vain news as if to pieces. The reason Saul was converted and became Paul and continued his revolutionary efforts to testify to the church of Christ, which he had persecuted and destroyed, was the result of a epochal change in his life. Acts and Paul's epistles assert that it is the result of not only pointing out the will of the Father in heaven to him, but also entrusting him with the mission of an apostle to the Gentiles. Therefore, whenever he began his epistles, he emphasized that his apostleship was not born of men, but was due to the calling of the risen Jesus Christ and God the Father (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:12; Galatians 1:1, etc.) ).
Here we see a man in the hands of God, but the reality is that the prophets of the Old Testament and all the apostles of the New Testament are not thinkers or religious in that sense who tell their thoughts or feelings. They were witnesses of God who called and sent them and of His Son, Jesus Christ. In that sense, it is the Christian profession of faith that they were also fingers that pointed to God and Jesus Christ. However, there was one distinction between the prophet and the apostles: the prophets are the long-awaited fingers pointing to the coming Jesus Christ, whereas the apostles are the fingers of remembrance, pointing to the already come Jesus Christ. However, as the finger of God used them consistently, they too became a finger pointing to Christ.