Sin death and beyond

SIN, DEATH AND BEYOND: M.M.NINAN
very foolish they are. For they take it for granted that the body of a man is capable of
transforming the essence of the soul so as to make of it a human soul, after having been the
soul of a beast. They assume, furthermore, that the soul itself is capable of transforming the
essence of a human body to the point of endowing it with the traits of the beasts, even though
its form be that of men. It was not sufficient for them, then, that they attributed to the soul a
variable nature by not assigning to it an intrinsic essence, but they contradicted themselves
when they declared the soul capable of transforming and changing the body, and the body
capable of transforming and changing the soul. But such reasoning is a deviation from logic.
The third [argument they present] is in the form of a logical argument. They say, namely:
“Inasmuch as the Creator is just, it is inconceivable that he should occasion suffering to little
children, unless it be for sins committed by their souls during the time that they were lodged in
their former bodies.” This view is, however, subject to numerous refutations. The first is that
they have forgotten what we have mentioned on the subject of compensation in the hereafter
for misfortunes experienced in this world. Furthermore we should like to ask them what they
conceive the original status of the soul to be – we mean its status when it is first created. Is it
charged by its Master with any obligation to obey Him or not? If they allege that it is not so
charged, then there can be no punishments for it either, since it was not charged with any
obligations to begin with. If, on the other hand, they acknowledge the imposition of such a
charge, in which case obedience and disobedience did not apply before, they thereby admit
that God charges His servants with obligations on account of the future and not at all on
account of the past. But then they return to our theory and are forced to give up their insistence
on the view that man’s suffering in this world is due solely to his conduct in a previous
existence."
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