VOICE OF NATURE
God is the voice of human nature. In normal circumstances, this voice remains hidden. But when some sensitive or delicate moment arrives in a person’s life, it is often awakened. There are innumerable historical examples from which it is clear that no person is devoid of this aspect.
Gina Lollobrigida (1927-2023) was an Italian film star. In 1975, she came to India. At a press conference, in response to whether she believed in God, she said, “I believe in God, I believe in God, more when I am on an aeroplane.”
When a person travels in an aeroplane, he is entirely at the mercy of external factors. If there is even a minor fluctuation in the balance of these factors, it might be enough to lead to his death. The same helplessness man faces while on a sea voyage. The Quran says:
“Have you not seen how the ships sail on the sea by God’s grace so that He may show you some of His signs? Surely, therein are signs for every steadfast, thankful person. When the waves engulf them like shadows [of death], they call to God, sincere [at that moment] in their faith in Him alone, but as soon as He has brought them safe ashore, only some of them take the right course. And none denies Our signs save the perfidious and ungrateful person.” (31:31-32)
No matter how haughty and insolent a person who denies God may be, he uncontrollably cries out to God when he faces harsh conditions. This is proof of the fact that God is the voice of human nature.
In 1917, a Communist Revolution occurred in Russia. Then, in 1991, after almost 75 years, the Communist regime collapsed. During this period, the Communist government flooded Russia’s media and schools with anti-religious propaganda. According to communist ideology, religion reflects ‘false consciousness’ and is an appendix of the capitalist system. Following the abolition of the capitalist system in Russia, its ‘appendix’ should have ended if the communist ideology were true. The Soviet government claimed that it had eliminated religion from the USSR. But, astonishingly, religion remained alive there, and now, there is a revival among the new generations.
Joseph Stalin
The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) was a denier of God. However, at least one recorded event might suggest that he would also remember God under challenging circumstances.
In 1942, during the Second World War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874-1965) visited Moscow to discuss forming a Second Front against Hitler with Soviet leaders. In this context, Churchill presented the Allied military plan to Stalin, codenamed Torch. Since Stalin feared Hitler’s increasing onslaught, he took a deep interest in this plan. Churchill writes that at a particular stage in detailing this plan, Stalin’s interest in it had significantly increased, and he uttered these words:
“May God prosper this undertaking.” (Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War, (Abridgement) Cassell & Company, London, 1965, p. 603)
Stalin’s Daughter
Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, was born in 1926. Despairing about the communist world, she came to India in 1966 and then went to Europe and died there in 2011.
This daughter of an atheist dictator later accepted Christianity. She was dissatisfied with life and was searching for solace. That thing—solace—according to her, she found in these words of the Bible:
“The Lord is my light and my salvation—
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
Of whom shall I be afraid?
When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
It is my enemies and my foes.
Who will stumble and fall?
Though an army besiege me,
My heart will not fear;
Though war broke out against me,
Even then, I will be confident.” (Psalm 27:1-3)
A Russian Pilot
In this series, another fascinating incident occurred in India in 1973. A Russian plane (Ilyushin Jet) was flying in the airspace of West Bengal when its engine malfunctioned. Despite the pilot’s efforts, the aircraft could not be saved, and it crashed to the ground, claiming the lives of all the passengers, including the pilot.
Since this accident happened on Indian soil, India needed to investigate it according to international law. An aircraft must have a self-recording machine installed, commonly known as the “Black Box.” This black box continuously records the pilot and control tower communication. It is placed in the tail of the aircraft so that it can survive even after the plane’s destruction by fire.
Indian authorities recovered the black box from the wreckage of the aircraft. When the tape of the box was played to aid in the investigation, it became evident that in the pilot’s final moments, he uttered these words in Russian: “Peter, save us.”
It is clear that Peter or Petr was one of the disciples of Jesus (peace be upon him) and is considered an esteemed figure among Christians.
Mikhail Gorbachev
In 1990, in the last years of the Communist regime in the USSR, I visited Russia. At that time, an era of freedom had begun. Religious activities were happening in churches and mosques that used to be desolate earlier. I told my guide that we had heard that in Russia, religion had died, but here it seemed to be alive. My companion replied that faith was always active there. The difference was that religion was underground earlier, and now it had come to the fore.
The fact is that the concept of God is embedded in human nature itself. If a person denies God with his tongue, even then, awareness of God remains deep inside his heart. The former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022), was once an atheist communist, but then his suppressed innate human nature awoke. He acknowledged this. According to a 2008 newspaper report:
“Gorbachev, who had earlier publicly pronounced himself an atheist, acknowledged his Christian faith while paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St. Francis of Assisi in Italy.”
Awareness of God is embedded in man’s nature so that it cannot be separated from him under any circumstances. Those who deny God are not an exception. Abundant evidence exists in this regard that has been found following the collapse of the USSR and several other parts of the world that were once ruled by atheistic communist regimes.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon (1913-1994) was the 37th President of the United States. He was elected President of the United States in 1969 and forced to resign in 1974. His resignation from the presidency was due to the Watergate scandal. A book about his last days in the presidency was titled “The Final Days by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein,” Simon and Schuster, 1976, 476 pages.
According to the book, President Nixon was greatly troubled by the revelations of the scandal. As the end of his presidency approached, Nixon asked his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (1923-2023), to kneel with him before God and pray together. He said, “You are not a very orthodox Jew, and I am not an Orthodox Quaker, but we need to pray.” And they knelt and prayed according to Christian worship.
Bertrand Russell
British philosopher Bertrand Russell was regarded as a staunch atheist. But his autobiography reveals that no matter how hardened an atheist a person may become, he cannot free himself from his innate nature.
In 1952, Russell went to Greece for the first time. Referring to this journey, he writes that whatever he saw greatly interested him. With one aspect, he says, he was a little surprised. He went to a church, and he reflects on this as follows:
“To my astonishment, I felt more at home in this little church than in the Parthenon or any other Greek buildings of Pagan times. I realized then that the Christian outlook had a firmer hold upon me than I had imagined. The hold was not upon my belief but upon my feelings.”
These are the words of a person who authored a book titled Why I Am Not A Christian. The fact is that Russell’s words are a call of his innate nature. Awareness of God is deeply embedded inside every person’s nature from beforehand. Even if a person wants to, they cannot remove it from themselves. This is why ‘big’ atheists and deniers of God remain dissatisfied internally with their denial of God, and in particularly challenging times, they race towards that very same thing that they had earlier been denying.
