HINDUISM
- gods for all seasons
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It shouldn’t surprise us
that Rome can incorporate Hinduism into the fold, for she too has many
saints.
Golf not going well? Pray
to St Nicklaus.
Television on the blink? St
Ophthalmia is the one.
Got the sniffles? St
Whoever will hear your prayer!
There is an interceding
saint on hand, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
It is calculated that there
are well over
330 million gods that Hindus can pray to. Rome has a bit
of catching up to do, but she’s not far behind. This is why Rome feels
that she
can only be enriched by the incorporation of Hinduism into the One
World Religious
Ecumenical Movement.
We’ll look at the aspects
of Hinduism through five headings:
1. Who is
God?
2. Who is man?
3. Salvation
4. Behaviour
5.Worship
and see how they stand against what God says in His
word - the
King James Version.
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“And the wheel goes round and round and round
like an ox treading the corn in circles with no hope for their sins.
Death must
seem a release...”
BACKGROUND
*About
four hundred years before Christ, India was conquered by people
(Ayrans) which
had developed the Greek culture.
* Hinduism
developed with lots of gods (Ayran imported and homegrown) mixed in
with the various
indigenous Indian traditions of meditation.
* Hindus
can be:
1.
Self negating ascetics
2.
Pious worshippers of a god
3.
Men of the world.
* Traditionally, Hinduism isn’t missionary minded.
* There are three main branches:
1.
The Sikh religion attempts to unite Islam and Hinduism.
2.
Jainism is the most ancient, pre-Ayran type of Hinduism.
3.
In the West, Hinduism is represented by Advaita Vedanta which
has the
inmost self joining an impersonal, ultimate god.
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WHO IS
GOD?
There are
millions.
1.
The chief of all gods is Shiva, a fierce figure who represents
both the
creative and destructive sides of divinity.
2.
Vishnu appears as a man many times throughout history in order to bring
a
message of salvation to men. Two of these appearances have been in the
form of
Rama (a benevolent king) and Krishna (impetuous, violent and erotic).
3.
They are all seen as manifestations of the one supreme being - Brahman.
He
desires the salvation of all men, but being completely above all
creation, he
is impersonal and uninvolved with life on earth.
4.
Because Hindu gods are not accountable to man, they have shed
restraints and
are often depicted with sexual imagery.
What’s God got to say about all this?
“...I am the first, and I am the last, and
beside me there is no God” Isaiah 44:6
Comment:
Someone’s right. It’s either or! Can’t have a foot in both camps.
“...choose
you this day whom you will serve...”
WHO IS
MAN?
Hinduism believes the material universe is not the
creation of a
personal loving God but an impersonal, unconscious emanation from a
removed and
impersonal Brahman. It has no beginning, no end, it’s an unreal
and an
illusion. Brahman is the only reality.
The universe goes in mega-cycles - being created and
destroyed every 4
billion years. Mankind is also seen as having no beginning or no end
but goes
through and endless series of re-incarnations. All present suffering is
the
result of being paid back for ones karma - which is the accumulation of
deeds
of past lives. Any present evil will be repaid back in future lives.
Hinduism
does very little in the way of social welfare to alleviate the
sufferings of
its citizens. They play out the horror of their lives, being prisoners
on a
never ending “Ferris wheel” of trying to save oneself. Life is
basically
painful and full of distress being controlled by the supreme impersonal
Brahman
who is removed from people.
What’s God got to say about all this?
“So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis
1:27
“What is man... thou hast made him a little
lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour...”
Psalm
8:4-5
Comment: Brahman
is impersonal and uncaring but the Christian God made and cares for his
creation and gives man the only way out - Jesus Christ.
SALVATION
The only hope for the Hindu is to somehow escape this
endless torture of
birth, death and re-birth by dissolving somehow into the unimaginable
depths of
Brahman. Hindus are given 4 yogas to help them:
1.
Jnana yoga (the way of knowledge) - salvation through philosophy and
the mind
to grapple with the unreality of the universe.
2.
Bhakti yoga (the way of devotion or love) - salvation through the
ecstatic
worship of a divine being
3.
Karma yoga (the way of action) - salvation by performing personal works
without
thought of gain.
4.
Raja yoga (the way of the royal road) - salvation provided through
meditation.
What’s God got to say about all this?
“All we like sheep have gone astray; and
turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of
us all.” Isaiah 53:6
“... that God was in Christ, reconciling the
world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to them...” 2
Corinthians 5:19
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have
everlasting life.” John 3:16
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any
man
should boast ”
Comment: Simple isn’t it? You can pay for your own sins or turn to
Jesus and
trust that he paid for them. Satan is a hard taskmaster!
BEHAVIOUR
It is desirable under Hinduism that as one gets older,
the wants and
urges of life will fade and hopefully you can renounce all worldly
possessions.
The pinnacle of Hinduism resides in “renouncing the fruits of your
labors”. The
horrors and inequalities of the Indian caste system lies in the notion
of
karma, which relegates the majority of people to poverty and
subservience.
Ingrained in the minds of all is that all human suffering is deserved.
What’s God got to say about all this?
“ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ...”
Galatians 2:20
“ Neither yield ye your members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,
as
those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God ” Roman 6:13
“ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...” Galatians 5:22-23
Comment: I guess
we can do it the hard way and in our own strength - the Hindu way, or
we can
get with God’s program - stop fighting Him and do it His way!
Hindus have the notion that they can acquire the
necessary
"spiritual brownie points" to escape their grinding wheels of
re-incarnations. This is obtained by contact with all manner of holy
objects
and persons. Houses and villages are well stocked with holy animals of
cows,
monkeys and snakes and their idol representations. Rivers are thought
to be
holy (e.g. the Ganges) and one can improve one’s karma by bathing in
them. Holy
men are highly revered and serving and worshipping them will have some
of their
holiness ‘rub off’ and be an aid to salvation.
What’s God got to say about all this?
“Wherefore God hath also highly exalted
him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name
of Jesus
every knee should bow ...and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11
Comment: Man! Ain’t Hinduism just plain hard work? Of course it
has to be, as
it’s man’s way and not God’s.
No wonder they feel right at home with the Roman
Catholics and vice
versa - they both have a system of good works for salvation, not
knowing at the
end of their life if they’ve been good enough. The Catholics, although
not
advocating re-incarnation as such, have their own "treading water"
scenario with purgatory, whereby fire will purge out remaining sins.
The One World Ecumenical Church Movement being headed up
by the Catholics
have only one criteria for entry - "Be obsessed with your own internal
purity!" Hinduism and Roman Catholicism (indeed Moslems,
Christadelphians,
Mormons, SDA’s, JW’s, and any other religion that won’t profess the
blood
atonement of Christ as full and sufficient to be received by faith
alone) are
what you can call DIY’s = "Do It Yourselfer’s".
It started back with Cain and Abel. Cain was the "Roman
Catholic"- the original DIY’er getting rejected for his righteousness
before God but Abel was the equivalent of the blood washed Christian
and it’s
been the same ever since.
Dear Friend, do you know God or should I say “Does God
know you?” If you
died right now where would you go? The Bible says that there are only
two
places when you die. “...it is appointed unto
men once to die, but after this the judgment” Hebrews 9:27.
You have to admire the Hindus - so dedicated and so sincere, but sincerely wrong! I call them “Satan’s martyrs” - hell here on earth and then hell for all eternity. Little do they know that earth will be the closest thing to heaven they’ll ever know, and after this, they’ll scream forever in the Lake of Fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
By HARLEY HITCHCOCK