The Great Gospel of John
Volume 10
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Der Herr im Jordantal
- Chapter 238 -
The plague of laziness.
I said: "My dear friend, you asked a very good and right question here, but one thing you forgot by this, that God on this Earth did not want nor could He have created the Earth itself and everything that it contains for an eternal existence.
2
On this Earth, everything is changeable and perishable, and it is only a point of transition from the first judgment and death to the true, eternal unchangeable life.
3
The deity with His almightiness can make it happen that man, just like the plants and the animals, must live in a certain order, but then man would not be man anymore, for then he will have no insight, no reason and also no free will of himself. But since the deity did not want that, based on highly wise grounds, He gave man insight, reason and a free will, and with that also the ability to become similar to God by developing and completing himself spiritually.
4
That humanity is neglected for what their education is concerned, while the deity excellently provided for that education since the very first beginning, is only because of the laziness of the people. If nowadays there are still honorable and just men among the people like you and your neighbors, then why are they not all like you? Because they are lazy. That is why the deity let those big cities to be destroyed because laziness and the resulting immorality were dominating there.
5
If those cities and their inhabitants would have remained just like you, the deity would not have send enemies against them but would have preserved them. The reason why they were destroyed is that their plague of laziness would finally not have spoiled and ruined the whole population of the Earth.
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At no time did the deity let these nations be without wise teachers, and many better people who lived in those cities were still saved by them, but those who were too lazy had finally to be removed together with their habitations.
7
A wise government for whom a good order is important by means of its laws will surely also call a willful transgressor to account and chastise him. Should then the deity, no matter how good and indulgent He is, also not chastise a too degenerated people and wake them up with a just rod out of the big laziness and lead them to activity?
8
You will realize that this is necessary. Take especially the completely free will of man at heart which the deity cannot hinder, then you will understand and realize everything concerning your rather long question. Because look, on a globe where man cannot sink into all the greatest vices by his free will, his intellect and his reason, he can also not raise himself to the highest and divine virtue.
9
If you think about this, all the points of your question will become clearer. Because look, to create and raise animals, trees and plants is easy for the deity, but to educate people is not so easy. The deity can only educate them but cannot enforce an internal coercion on them. Do you understand that?"
10
The innkeeper said: "The main thing is now clear to me, but there still are quite a few minor things which cannot be understood so easily."
11
On this, I said briefly: "My friend, for the one who can understand the main thing, also the details will become clear. We will talk further about this tomorrow. My dear friend, now it is not the time to discuss this because the Pharisees are putting their ears to the wall again and they suspect that Me and you are two sages. We surely will have problems with them tomorrow. Therefore, you should open your mouth about something very casual, and we will discuss that."
12
The innkeeper said: "My dear, wonderful friend, it is really very difficult, even willingly, to bring forward something very casual. We Romans have generally of a more thinking, serious and searching nature, and it is really more difficult for us to bring forward something very casual than something serious which can go together with the real dignity of a Roman. But since You want it that way, I will try to think about something that is not so important, whether this or that."