The Concept of Accountability
God is indispensable to man. His life is incomplete without God. A philosopher has aptly remarked that had there been no God, we would have had to invent one. Fortunately, God exists in reality. We can believe in God with conviction, not as a supposition, but as a fact. And we can accord Him the place He deserves in our lives. It is essential that man should have within his reach, a super formula for life’s management. God provides just such a formula—a complete principle for life’s management.
Human beings are not like machines controlled by a mechanical system, nor are they like animals that are governed by their instincts. Human beings enjoy freedom. They take decisions about their actions of their own free will. Now the question arises as to how to keep man on the right course, how to make him consistently disciplined in his behaviour. History shows the ineffectiveness of all worldly measures in this connection, whether—social pressures, enforcement of the law of the land or the appeals of reformers.
Experience shows that the pressure of society is limited, if not totally ineffective. There are so many loopholes in the law that it is not difficult for wrongdoers to find a way out. The reformers’ bid to reform people are nothing but appeals and appeals alone cannot bring about a revolution in human life.
The truth is that for the attainment of disciplined behaviour, it is essential for one to be convinced of the existence of a power far superior to himself, a Being who is aware of man’s activities at every moment; who can reward and punish man, and from whom it is impossible to escape.
There can be only one being of this nature and that is God. Belief in God functions at two levels at the same time. On the one hand, man finds in God a guardian who is aware of all his activities and who has unlimited power to chastise him. It is not possible for man to escape God’s chastisement. Belief in God compels man to steadfastly adopt a proper attitude in all situations, privately as well as publicly. Only then can he save himself from the wrath of God.
Another point is that belief in God is a storehouse of limitless hope. Man can lead his life in this world with the conviction that if he incurs any loss because of treading the path of truth, or if he suffers from any other adversity, he will be able manfully to endure it. For if he adheres to the path of truth, God will grant him a reward in the form of eternal paradise, and there can be no reward greater than this. It is not possible for man on his own to bind himself to moral values or adhere to justice. This is possible only when he is convinced of the fact that he is under a super power—a super power who observes justice to the extent of perfection; for whom it is fully possible to guide man to the true path and also punish those who deviate from this true path. This present, limited world is totally inadequate for punishing a criminal. Similarly, this world is also inadequate for granting great rewards for one’s good deeds. The concept of God tells us that God can create a far better world free from all the limitations of the present world, where reward and punishment both can be satisfactorily awarded.
The concept of a living and powerful God is necessarily accompanied by the concept of accountability. And the concept of accountability guarantees right thinking and right actions on the part of man. It makes man cautious by reminding him of God’s chastisement. Moreover, this gives him the conviction of receiving God’s reward if he adheres to the right path at all costs and in all situations.
The concept of God provides man with an ideology in which loss is turned to gain and in which adversity brings with it good tidings.
