What a buzz in the midst of 43 moms and toddlers! While some tots got more glue on their hands than the valentine cards, beautiful Sital and I started to chat. I asked her a question about her Hindu faith and cremation - and we could not stop talking! We compared our faiths in the best of spirits and talked about what happens to our souls after death, what happens to our bodies after death, how we can get to heaven and how we are comforted by faith in times of deep distress. There was some agreement such as that we have souls and that humans are walking around with big questions.
Sital told me about Hinduism and reincarnation and that a soul "wanders around" for 11 days after death before it is born again in another body, or thing. While we sat among all the little children, on baby chairs, she also told me that a person needs to be very good to go to heaven. I asked, how good? Sital said very, very good! She is really such a lovely person and laughed and said a 3rd time: she can't say how good - but really very good. I had such good news for her!
In contrast, to Hinduism, the Christian gospel is this: God's Son, Jesus, became a man, died a sacrificial death on the cross, making real forgiveness of real sins against the real God possible to those who place complete trust in Christ. All who do so can experience true forgiveness, know God and His purpose for their lives, and have the certainty of eternal life with Him!
“This is that mystery which is rich in divine grace to sinners: wherein by a wonderful exchange our sins are no longer ours but Christ’s, and the righteousness of Christ not Christ’s but ours. He has emptied himself of his righteousness that he might clothe us with it and fill us with it; and he has taken our evils upon himself that he might deliver us from them.” – Martin Luther
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin (deliberately and habitually). But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2
Do I tend to put my good works on scales aiming for more good than bad deeds - that's no good in the light of God's expectation of perfection. Heaven is a perfect place and God is not going to bend the rules to allow my sin in.What really stood out in the conversation was how impossible it is to get to heaven all by ourselves. We make calculations hoping that if the sum of our lives is more good than bad - and reckon we can claim heaven. So many spiritual paths, so many versions of heaven and getting there. And, let's face it, getting to heaven on the strength of good works is pretty problematic! Good works provide no measure for what is "good enough" Who has the final say on the standards that are to be met? Is it going to be the Ten Commandments, The Five Pillars of Islam, the Golden Rule. What is the cut-off point: 85%.? Any hands up for those who are perfect? Any out there who have kept all Ten Commandments perfectly? All the time? Zero defect? What if you pass the test in action but fall helplessly short in motivations? And how does God grade us - it is His evaluation, after all that counts. Does he compare us to Mugabe or to Mother Theresa?
What is sin after all? If God is the One Who welcomes me into heaven or sends me away, I should make sure how HE views sin. The Bible tells us that every sin, even the minutest infraction reveals the rebellion of my heart and that swings shut the gates of heaven. It just goes to show how woefully inadequate we are at securing our own salvation - how infinitely much we need Jesus!
Hindu Ways of Salvation aim to gain release from the cycle of reincarnation caused by karma – the consequences of past actions, in this or in previous lives.
A Christian Response to Hinduism
As Christians we concur with Hindus on a couple of points.
1) all is not right with the world and with human existence in it,
2)that the ultimate remedy to the human dilemma is spiritual in nature.
Beyond these two points, however, there's little common ground between Hinduism and Christianity. Let's note just a few of the more important areas of divergence.
First, Hinduism does not say that God created this world for a good purpose. It is common for Hindus to speak of God bringing the universe into existence simply as a "playful" exercise of His power. Also lacking is a conception of God as infinitely holy and righteous and as the One to whom we as His creatures are accountable for the way we conduct our lives.
The second major area of contrast between Hinduism and Christianity is the conception of human nature and of the source of our estrangement from God. According to Hindu teaching, man is divine at the core of his being. He is one with God! The problem is that man is ignorant of this fact. He is deceived by his focus on this temporal and material world, and this ignorance gives rise to acts that result in bad karma and traps us in the cycle of reincarnation.
According to the biblical teaching, however, the source of our alienation from God (and ultimately of all that is imperfect in this world), is not ignorance of our divinity, but our sinful rebellion against God and His purpose for our lives.
This leads to the third and final point of contrast – the way of salvation. According to most Hindu teaching, salvation from the cycle of reincarnation is achieved by our own efforts – whether through good works, meditation, or devotion to a deity. According to the Bible, however, our spiritual need is for deliverance from God's judgment on our sin and for restoration to a life under His direction and care. This salvation can be provided only by God's gracious and undeserved action in our behalf.
It is true that in certain Hindu groups there is a similar emphasis on God's grace (probably as a result of past Christian influence). But even here, there is a major distinction. The Hindu teaching about grace sees no need for an atonement for sin, but simply offers forgiveness without any satisfaction of the judgment on sin required by a holy God.
Before discussing the three primary ways of salvation in Hinduism, we must mention the four goals of life permissible to Hindus. Hinduism recognizes that in the course of many lifetimes people may legitimately give themselves to any of these goals. The first is the goal of pleasure or enjoyment, particularly through love and sexual desire. This is called kama. The second legitimate aim in life is for wealth and success. This is called artha. The third aim in life is moral duty or dharma. One who gives himself to dharma renounces personal pleasure and power, to seek the common good. The final aim in life, however, is moksha – liberation from the cycle of lives in this material world, and entrance into Nirvana.
Hindus recognize three possible paths to moksha, or salvation. The first is the way of works or karma yoga. This is a very popular way of salvation and lays emphasis on the idea that liberation may be obtained by fulfilling one's familial and social duties thereby overcoming the weight of bad karma one has accrued. The Code of Manu lists many of these rules. Most important among them are certain rituals conducted at various stages of life.
The second way of salvation is the way of knowledge or jnana yoga. The basic premise of the way of knowledge is that the cause of our bondage to the cycle of rebirths in this world is ignorance or avidya. According to the predominant view among those committed to this way, our ignorance consists of the mistaken belief that we are individual selves and not one with the ultimate divine reality called Brahman. It is this ignorance that gives rise to our bad actions which result in bad karma. Salvation is achieved through attaining a state of consciousness in which we realize our identity with Brahman. This is achieved through deep meditation, often as a part of the discipline of yoga.
The third and final way of salvation is the way of devotion or bhakti yoga. This is the way most favored by the common people of India; it satisfies the longing for a more emotional and personal approach to religion. It is self-surrender to one of the many personal gods and goddesses of Hinduism. Such devotion is expressed through acts of worship, puja, at the temple, in the home, through participation in the many festivals in honor of such gods, and through pilgrimages to one of the numerous holy sites in India. In the way of devotion, the focus is on obtaining the mercy and help of a god in finding release from the cycle of reincarnation. Some Hindus conceive of ultimate salvation as absorption into the one divine reality, with all loss of individual existence. Others conceive of it as heavenly existence in adoration of the personal God.
For further reading about what Hindu's believe, please google the bethinking website.
Hinduism claims one sixth of the world's population, with over 750 million followers worldwide. Hinduism is the wellspring of a good deal of New Age thinking. Many believe that due to its eclectic nature, Hinduism has the potential to serve as a major vehicle for uniting much of the non-Christian religious world.
The appeal of Hinduism to Western culture is not difficult to comprehend. For one, Hinduism is comfortable with evolutionary thinking. As modern science emphasizes our physical evolution, so Hinduism emphasizes our spiritual evolution. As much of modern psychology emphasizes the basic goodness and unlimited potential of human nature, so Hinduism emphasizes man's essential divinity. As modern philosophy emphasizes the relativity of all truth claims, so Hinduism tolerates many seemingly contradictory religious beliefs. As a religion that also emphasizes the primacy of the spiritual over material reality, Hinduism appeals to many who are disillusioned with strictly material pursuits.
Though there are some core beliefs common to virtually all Hindus, there really is no "Hindu orthodoxy" – no hard and fast dogma that all Hindus must believe. It's actually a family of gradually developing beliefs and practices.
Foundational Hindu Beliefs
We now turn our attention to two core beliefs of Hindus: (a) what they believe about the source of evil and suffering and (b) what they believe about life after death.
The first of these core beliefs is the doctrine of karma. The word karma means "action". But the religious concept has more to do with the results or consequences of actions. The doctrine of karma states that every thought and action results in certain consequences borne by the actor or thinker. If a person lies or steals, he will be wronged in some way in the future. Hindus believe that all suffering is due to one's own past actions, in this or in a previous life. Some believe that karma implies strict determinism or fatalism (that one must simply resign himself to living out his karma). Most, however, believe that though our present is determined by our past, nonetheless we can influence our future by conducting ourselves in a proper manner in the present.
Some have equated the doctrine of karma with the statement in Galatians 6:7 that "whatever a man sows, that he will also reap". It is certainly a biblical teaching that our actions have consequences – for good or ill. But this is not the same as believing that every experience in life is a consequence of one's own past actions. This is definitely not a biblical idea.
The second core belief of Hinduism is the doctrine of reincarnation, or transmigration of souls, called samsara. Since it is impossible that all of one's karma be experienced in one lifetime, the Hindu scriptures state that after death individual souls are "reborn" in this world, in another body – human or otherwise. The nature of one's rebirth is determined by the karma resulting from past actions.
Closely associated with the doctrine of reincarnation is that of ahimsa or non-injury to living things. This is the core moral value of Hinduism, the protection of all life (which is ultimately divine), and is the main reason why some Hindus are vegetarian.
Also associated with reincarnation is the caste system. According to Hindu teaching, there are four basic castes or social classes (and thousands of sub-groups within the castes). Each has its own rules and obligations pertaining to nearly every facet of life. At the top are the Brahmins or priests. Second in rank are the Kshatriyas or warriors and rulers. Third are the Vaisyas or merchants and farmers. Below these are the Shudras or laboring class. Salvation is possible only for the top three castes, who are called the "twice born." Outside the caste system are the untouchables or outcastes. Though outlawed in India in the late 1940s, many in the countryside are still considered outcastes.
One's caste is determined at birth by his or her own personal karma. Attempts, therefore, to bring about social change or to improve one's social position would appear to run contrary to the law of karma and the caste system.
It's little wonder that the chief aim of the Hindu is to experience release or liberation from this cycle of death and rebirth caused by karma. Hindus call this liberation moksha.
