ANTO AMARNAD
Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Bangalore
Paper Title:
Does god have a future? a philosophico-theological appraisal
Abstract
Does God have a
future? It is not the Man who decides the future of God. The power of
consciousness in human beings urges him/her to believe in God’s existence. The
idea of God did not evolve from one particular point and developed in a linear
style to reach its final conception. The idea of God is as old as the thinking
human beings. The pre-agricultural religion arose upon the earth as a worship
of seen, unseen, natural, and supernatural powers. Karen Armstrong, quotes
Wilhelm Schmidt in her Book A History of
God: “In the beginning, human beings created a God who was the first Cause
of all things and Ruler of heaven and earth. Gradually, he faded from the
consciousness of his people. He had become so remote that they decided that
they did not want him anymore.” In the modern and postmodern times, in many
corners of our world, religion and faith in God seem irrelevant. One of the
reasons is that many men and women no longer have the sense that we are
surrounded by the unseen. Our scientific culture educates us to focus our
attention on the physical and tangible material world. Others find God’s
absence and lack of his intervention during the suffering and death of
innocents. Auschwitz holocaust became a case against God. Still others believe
that the concept of God is the greatest hindrance for human freedom.
Consequently many scholars have edited out the sense of the ‘spiritual’ or
‘holy’ which pervades the lives of people in more traditional societies. We
find a real friction between the seen and unseen, matter and spirit in our
Philosophical and theological arguments. By bringing the thoughts of great
minds this paper examines the question: Does God have a future? The speaker
argues that God has a future and without Him we are not humans and we do not have
a future.
Fr. Anto Amarnad CMI is a professor of DVK, teaches Pastoral,
Catechetical and Systematic Theology. He holds an M Th in Systematic Theology
from Dharmaram Pontifical Institute and an L Th and a Th D in Youth, Pastoral
and Catechetics from Salesian University, Rome. He also holds a Diploma in
Pastoral Counselling from EAPI Philippines. He worked as the Director of
Diocesan Communication Centre in Sagar, Lecturer in Khrist Premalaya, Ashta,
M.P. Programme Coordinator at Poornodaya Missionary Training Centre, Bhopal,
Vice Rector and the Dean of Theology at Samanvaya Theological College, Bhopal.
He has composed over 600 hymns and Bhajans and released over 55 Music Albums.
He is the author of many articles and few Books in the
Catechetical and Liturgical subjects.