Hinduism v. Christianity: Evolving or Set in Stone? Part II

I believe that there is so much involved in Hinduism that it is impossible to full comprehend, even for those practicing the religion. A Hindu Professor on a religious panel discussion here at Longwood in Fall of 2007 said, "Hinduism has so much in it. We have something for everyone, if you have it, and we don't, we will add it in just for you." To me that seems very wrong, how can you just decide to add something into your religion, without concern of doctrine and theology? But it seems like that is a common practice with Hinduism.

When talking to the honors student that is instructing my mythology class through the Hindu Myth portion, she herself being a Hindu practitioner, I found out that it is a common practice to mold Hinduism to suit your needs. There is a base for all Hindu beliefs. That base is Brahma (Ultimate Incarnation of the Most High God) then on top of him, is Krisha, Shiv, and Brahma (In a Lower Incarnation). Those gods, really just all originating from Ultimate Brahma, are the basis of all Hindu beliefs. After that you take whatever it is you need and throw it on top. So if you don't like something in the religion, you don't need to worry about it, it doesn't have to be a part of it for you.

But there is a problem with her theology that I found. We were discussion how new gods are popping up all over the place continuously. They come and go like fall leaves, she said. I asked her how this can be, how someone can just create a god, spur of the moment type thing. She replied saying that those of lower classes, without much education of the actual gods, just create their own gods to suit their needs. So if you have a plumbing problem, they would sort of create, let's say: "Pumbeoya - Goddess of the Waterways in our Sink." And then begin to pray to this "new god".

So the problem in her theology of the religion having a base and then build on top of it what you need is highly flawed. Because as she later put it, those of lower classes without education will not know about the base, so their creation of their own god or goddess is pagan worship, at least in my opinion. It seems like a lot of this could be seen as two priests sitting in a small dark room with a pencil and paper coming up with random names and little stories and feeding it to the people who will believe it. Of course I am sure that a lot of other faiths would view Christianity in much the same light.

All of this Hindu theology really doesn't make any sense at all for me. I get the point that it can be viewed as a very open, less controlling religion. That is very attractive to many people. But it is a religion without any consequences or punishments for those that break rules. The only thing that they have is karma. With karma, though, if you make a bad mistake, to fix it you just go and give money to the poor, or help your neighbor fix his roof. You can get out of trouble. There is nothing that will truly keep a practitioner accountable for what they do in life.

With Christianity, yes there is a book of laws, stories, lessons, wisdom literature, and revelations of the apocalypse that was written a few hundred years ago. But it is a living word, it is continuously changing. It is the Word of God given so his people may interpret his will. I will read a passage in Romans, and for whatever circumstance I am in it will shed light on what God may intend for me to do. Two weeks later, different situation, same passage, different intention for me from God. It is a living, changing word. Christianity is very much a relationship of love, faith, and trust in our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood, had his body broken, so that we may join him in paradise for eternity, not come back to this hell hole as a beetle or a rat if we were bad.

That relationship that we have with Jesus is continuously changing. If we do wrong in Gods eyes, we have to repent or he will punish us much the same way a father will punish his son, or a mother her daughter. We will lose favor with him, not love, just his favor and his blessings. So we repent of our wrong doings to create a right relationship with our Father in Heaven. We are continuously tempted to do evil, to do wrong and become sinful in his eyes. That temptation and ability to repent for our wrongdoings it was defines our relationship, changing it in the different trials and tribulations that we as Christians go through in life. Non-Christians are broken, and it shows in their daily lives, they are broken and have holes in their lives that no matter what they try they are unable to fix. As Christians we are very much broken humans, but we are also made whole through the actions of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The differences between Hinduism and Christianity become more apparent. Hinduism is a religion based upon the whims of the practitioner, and Christianity is a religion that is a relationship built on the trust and faith of the salvation and grace granted to us by the sacrifice of God's only son, Jesus Christ.

One thing I find very interesting, is that many religions or mythologies have a Jesus figure. How are Jesus Christ and Krishna the same? I will address what I believe on that issue in my next post.

In Christ's Love,

Eric