Feature: Connecting with the Divine…Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, New Age–all the same?

World religions: Hindu gods, Buddhism, faith in Jesus, Islam, New Age — are they all the same?

By Marilyn Adamson

We all want to make it through life with some degree of success, some sense that we did it right. And if others think they know how life can be satisfying, even meaningful, it’s at least worth checking out. What about the major world religions? Is there anything in them that would give our lives greater stability and value?

The following is an opportunity to look into the major world faith systems…Hinduism, New Age, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity.* Included is a brief description of each, its distinguishing characteristics, and what a person can gain from each. The author then presents for your consideration the ways in which Jesus’ teaching differs from the world’s religions.

*Each of these systems has sects with differing beliefs. The description given here focuses on the heart of that system. Other major religions, such as Judaism, could be discussed, but for brevity, we have chosen these.

Hinduism

Most Hindus worship one Being of ultimate oneness (Brahman) through infinite representations of gods and goddesses. These various manifestations of gods and goddesses become incarnate within idols, temples, gurus, rivers, animals, etc.

Hindus see their position in this present life as based on their actions in a previous life. If their behaviour before was evil, they might experience tremendous hardships in this life. A Hindu’s goal is to become free from the law of karma…to be free from continuous reincarnations.

There are three possible ways to end this cycle of karma: 1. Be lovingly devoted to any of the Hindu gods or goddesses; 2. Grow in knowledge through meditation of Brahman (oneness)…to realise that circumstances in life are not real, that selfhood is an illusion and only Brahman is real; 3. Be dedicated to various religious ceremonies and rites.

In Hinduism, a person has the freedom to choose how to work toward spiritual perfection. Hinduism also has a possible explanation for the suffering and evil in the world. According to Hinduism, the suffering anyone experiences, whether it is sickness or starvation or a disaster, is due that person because of their own evil actions, usually from a previous lifetime. Only the soul matters which will one day be free of the cycle of rebirths and be at rest.

New Age

New Age promotes the development of the person’s own power or divinity. When referring to God, a follower of New Age is not talking about a transcendent, personal God who created the universe, but is referring to a higher consciousness within themselves. A person in New Age would see themselves as God, the cosmos, the universe. In fact, everything that the person sees, hears, feels or imagines is to be considered divine.

Highly eclectic, New Age presents itself as a collection of ancient spiritual traditions. It acknowledges many gods and goddesses, as in Hinduism. The Earth is viewed as the source of all spirituality, and has its own intelligence, emotions and deity. But superseding all is self. Self is the originator, controller and God of all. There is no reality outside of what the person determines.

New Age teaches a wide array of eastern mysticism and spiritual, metaphysical and psychic techniques, such as breathing exercises, chanting, drumming, meditating…to develop an altered consciousness and one’s own divinity.

Anything negative a person experiences (failures, sadness, anger, selfishness, hurt) is considered an illusion. Believing themselves to be completely sovereign over their life, nothing about their life is wrong, negative or painful. Eventually a person develops spiritually to the degree that there is no objective, external reality. A person, becoming a god, creates their own reality.

Buddhism

Buddhists do not worship any gods or God. People outside of Buddhism often think that Buddhists worship the Buddha. However, the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) never claimed to be divine, but rather he is viewed by Buddhists as having attained what they are also striving to attain, which is spiritual enlightenment and, with it, freedom from the continuous cycle of life and death. Most Buddhists believe a person has countless rebirths, which inevitably include suffering. A Buddhist seeks to end these rebirths. Buddhists believe it is a person’s cravings, aversion and delusion that cause these rebirths. Therefore, the goal of a Buddhist is to purify one’s heart and to let go of all yearnings toward sensual desires and the attachment to oneself.

Buddhists follow a list of religious principles and very dedicated meditation. When a Buddhist meditates it is not the same as praying or focusing on a god, it is more of a self-discipline. Through practised meditation a person may reach Nirvana — “the blowing out” of the flame of desire.

Buddhism provides something that is true of most world religions: disciplines, values and directives that a person may want to live by.

Islam

Muslims believe there is the one almighty God, named Allah, who is infinitely superior to and transcendent from humankind. Allah is viewed as the creator of the universe and the source of all good and all evil. Everything that happens is Allah’s will. He is a powerful and strict judge, who will be merciful toward followers depending on the sufficiency of their life’s good works and religious devotion. A follower’s relationship with Allah is as a servant to Allah.

Though a Muslim honours several prophets, Muhammad is considered the last prophet and his words and lifestyle are that person’s authority. To be a Muslim, one has to follow five religious duties: 1. Repeat a creed about Allah and Muhammad; 2. Recite certain prayers in Arabic five times a day; 3. Give to the needy; 4. One month each year, fast from food, drink, sex and smoking from sunrise to sunset; 5. Pilgrimage once in one’s lifetime to worship at a shrine in Mecca. At death — based on one’s faithfulness to these duties — a Muslim hopes to enter Paradise. If not, they will be eternally punished in hell.

For many people, Islam matches their expectations about religion and deity. Islam teaches that there is one supreme God, who is worshippedthrough good deeds and disciplined religious rituals. After death a person is rewarded or punished according to their religious devotion.

Christianity — faith in Jesus Christ

Christians believe in a loving God who has revealed himself and can be personally known in this life. With Jesus Christ, the person’s focus is not on religious rituals or performing good works, but on enjoying a relationship with God and growing to know him better.

Faith in Jesus Christ himself, not just in his teachings, is how the Christian experiences joy and a meaningful life. In his life on Earth, Jesus did not identify himself as a prophet pointing to God or as a teacher of enlightenment. Rather, Jesus claimed to be God in human form. He performed miracles, forgave people of their sin and said that anyone who believed in him would have eternal life. He made statements like, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”1

Christians regard the Bible as God’s written message to humankind. In addition to its being an historical record of Jesus’ life and miracles, the Bible reveals God’s personality, his love and truth, and how one can have a relationship with him.

Whatever circumstances a Christian is dealing with in their life, they can confidently turn to a wise and powerful God who genuinely loves them. They believe that God answers prayer and that life takes on meaning as they live to honour him.

Is there a difference?

In looking at these major belief systems and their views of God, we find tremendous diversity:

Are all religions worshipping the same God? Let’s consider that. New Age teaches that everyone should come to centre on a cosmic consciousness, but it would require Islam to give up their one God, Hinduism to give up their numerous gods, and Buddhism to establish that there is a God.

The world’s major religions (Hinduism, New Age, Buddhism, Islam, following Jesus Christ) are each quite unique. And of these one affirms that there is a personal, loving God who can be known, now in this life. Jesus Christ spoke of a God who welcomes us into a relationship with him and comes along side us as a comforter, counsellor and powerful God who loves us.

In Hinduism a person is on their own trying to gain release from karma. In New Age a person is working at their own divinity. In Buddhism it is an individual quest at being free from desire. And in Islam, the individual follows religious laws for the sake of paradise after death. In Jesus’ teaching, you see a personal relationship with a personal God — a relationship that carries over into the next life.

Can a person connect with God in this life?

The answer is yes. Not only can you connect with God, you also can know that you are fully accepted and loved by God.

Many world religions place an individual on their own, striving for spiritual perfection. Buddha, for example, never claimed sinlessness. Muhammad also admitted that he was in need of forgiveness. “No matter how wise, no matter how gifted, no matter how influential other prophets, gurus, and teachers might be, they had the presence of mind to know that they were imperfect just like the rest of us.”2

Jesus Christ, however, never alluded to any personal sin. Instead, Jesus forgave people of their sin and he wants to forgive us of our sin also. We all are aware of our faults, the areas of our lives that may cause others to think less of us, areas that we ourselves wish were not there…maybe it’s an addiction, a bad temper, impurity, hateful remarks. God loves us but hates sin, and he has said that the consequence for sin is separation from knowing him. But God provided a way for us to be forgiven and know him. Jesus, the Son of God, God in human form, took all of our sin on himself, suffered on a cross, and willingly died in our place. The Bible says, “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us.”3

God is offering us complete forgiveness because of Jesus’ death for us. This means forgiveness for all our sins…past, present and future. Jesus paid for them all. God, who created the universe, loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us. “This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.”4

Through Christ, God offers us real freedom from our sin and guilt. He does not leave a person’s failures on their shoulders, with a dim hope of becoming a better person tomorrow. In Jesus Christ, God reached toward humanity, providing a way for us to know him. “For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”5

God wants us to know him.

We were created by God to live in relationship with him. Jesus said, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty…and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”6 Jesus called people not only to follow his teachings, but to follow him. He said, “I am the way, and the truth and the life.”7 In claiming to be the truth, Christ goes beyond mere prophets and teachers who simply said they were speaking the truth.8

Jesus identified himself as equal to God, and even gave proof. Jesus said that he would be crucified on a cross and that three days after his death, he would come back to life. He didn’t say he would reincarnate someday into a future life. (Who would know if he actually did it?) He said three days after being buried he would show himself alive to those who saw his crucifixion. On that third day, Jesus’ tomb was found empty and many people testified that they saw him alive again. He now offers eternal life to us.

It’s a two-way relationship.

Many religions focus on a person’s spiritual efforts. With Jesus Christ it’s a two-way interaction between you and God. He welcomes us to go to him. “The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth.”9 You can communicate with God, who will answer your prayer, give you greater peace and joy, provide direction, show you his love, and transform your life. Jesus said, “I came that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”10 It will not mean that life will become perfect and free of problems. But it means that in the midst of life, you can relate to God who is willing to be involved in your life and faithful in his love.

This is not a commitment to a method of self-improvement like the Eight Fold Path or the Five Pillars, or meditation, or good works or even the Ten Commandments. These seem clear, well-defined, easy-to-follow paths for spirituality. But they become a burdensome striving for perfection, and connection with God is still distant. Our hope is not in following laws or standards, but in knowing a Saviour who fully accepts us because of our faith in him and his sacrifice for us. We don’t earn our place in heaven by religious efforts or good deeds. Heaven is a free gift to us, when we begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Would you like to be totally forgiven and personally come to know God’s love for you?

Beginning a relationship with God.

You can begin a relationship with God right now. It is as simple as sincerely asking God for his forgiveness of your sin and inviting him to enter your life. Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door [of your heart] and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him.”11 Would you like to begin a relationship with the God who created you, who deeply loves you? You can do so right now, if it is your heart’s desire: “God, I ask you to forgive me and invite you to enter my heart right now. Thank you Jesus for dying for my sins. Thank you for coming into my life as you said you would.”

The Bible tells us that “as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God.”12 If you sincerely asked God to come into your life, you have begun a personal relationship with him. It is like you have just met God and he wants to help you grow to know him better, to know his love for you, to guide you with wisdom in whatever decisions confront you. The book called “John” in the Bible is a good place to learn more about a relationship with God. Perhaps you might want to tell someone else about the decision you have made to ask Jesus into your life.

In the world’s religions a person has a relationship with teachings, ideas, paths, rituals. Through Jesus, a person can have a relationship with the loving and powerful God. You can talk with him and he will guide you in this life now. He doesn’t just point you to a path, a philosophy, or a religion. He welcomes you to know him, to experience joy, and to have confidence in his love in the midst of life’s challenges. “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.”13

I just asked Jesus into my life (some helpful information follows)…

I may want to ask Jesus into my life, please explain this more fully…

I have a question…

(1) John 8:12…(2) Erwin W. Lutzer, Christ Among Other Gods (Chicago: Moody Press,1994), p. 63…(3) 1 John 3:16…(4) 1 John 4:9…(5) John 3:16…(6) John 6:35…(7) John 14:6…(8) Lutzer, p. 106…(9) Psalms 145:18…(10) John 10:10…(11) Revelation 3:20…(12) John 1:12…(13) 1 John 3:1

What’s the difference between Christ and world religions?…What you’ll find in Jesus that you won’t find elsewhere…

What’s the difference between…Christ and world religions?

Let’s take a brief look at some of the major aspects of Jesus Christ, which stand in stark contrast to what’s in the world’s religions.

These are only a few of the differences concerning Jesus Christ. For further information on world religions, please see the article Connecting with the Divine.

A Muslim Looks at Muhammad and Jesus…The differences between Jesus and Muhammad…

A Muslim Looks at…Muhammad and Jesus

The Story of Abdul Saleeb

My name is “Abdul Saleeb.” I was born and raised in a Muslim country in the Middle East. Even though I lived in a very conservative Muslim society, I grew up in a somewhat of a liberal Muslim family. Furthermore, my Muslim upbringing was unique due to my mother’s serious involvement in Islamic sufism. So I can honestly confess that I have had first-hand experience of every aspect of contemporary Islamic movements. I personally did not consider myself very religious. At one point I even turned to Marxist ideologies thinking that they could provide real solutions to my country’s social ills. However, throughout all this time I never doubted the fundamentals of my religious faith. I thought of Islam as a faith with such high ideals that I did not consider myself worthy of the name Muslim but I wholeheartedly believed that Islam was God’s last and most perfect religion for all mankind, based on God’s final revelation, the Qur’an, and the prophet Muhammad, God’s seal of prophethood. My view of other religions (especially Judaism and Christianity) was that although they were fundamentally the same since they had all been revealed by one God, they were all inferior to Islam because all of them had to various degrees corrupted the original message of their founding prophets, something that we as Muslims have not done.

My religious views were radically challenged when I left my country because of its civil turmoil and went to Europe for the continuation of my studies. By the providence of God and because of various circumstances, I ended up enrolling in an InternationalChristianSchool.

A question I once asked my teacher revolutionized my worldview. I asked, “How come your word of God says one thing and our word of God says something different?” My teacher, not knowing much about Islam at all, gently asked, “How do you know the Qur’an is the word of God?” I was taken aback by that response. I had lived in a world in which everyone simply presupposed that the Qur’an was dictated word for word by God to the Prophet Muhammad and no one ever questioned that assumption. That brief encounter forced me to start on a journey, engage my Christian friends in hours of cordial discussion and debate about the truthfulness of the Christian faith.

Christianity and Islam

Like almost any other Muslim, my original reaction to the claims of Christians about Jesus Christ was that of utter shock. These claims not only seemed like plain blasphemy but also quite nonsensical. How could any rational being believe such things about an honoured prophet of God? Despite my fundamental theological differences with my friends, there was something about their life and faith that impressed me a great deal. There was a sincerity in their relationship with God and with other people that I had not encountered. So I would often tell them that I did not want to deny their faith but I just wanted to find a compromise so that I could hold to the truth of Islam and they could continue to hold to their faith.

However, I was in no doubt that their belief about Jesus was based on statements that the prophet Jesus had never actually claimed for himself. My difficulty in understanding Christian belief was very much along the lines that have historically separated Islam from Christianity.

I did not grant in any way that the Bible, especially the New Testament documents, were reliable when it came to reporting the words of Christ. Anything in the Bible that disagreed with the Qur’an was automatically rejected as being a corrupt teaching in the Bible.

My spiritual journey went on for months. Oftentimes I did find comfort in the Qur’an, but I was encountering more questions in that book than answers. For example, the violent tone of many of the Qur’anic passages (especially against the unbelievers but also against the Jewish and Christian people) began to bother me, when compared with the emphasis on love in the New Testament. One particular passage that troubled me, especially in light of my good friendship with many Christians, was in Sura 5:51.

“O ye who believe! Take not Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors; they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily God guideth not a people unjust.”

However, the most troubling section of the Qur’an had to do with the character of the prophet Muhammad himself. According to Sura 33:37, God sanctions Muhammad’s desire to marry the divorced wife of his own stepson, “in order that (in future) there may be no difficulty to the believers in (the matter of) marriage with the wives of their adopted sons, when the latter have dissolved with the necessary (formality) (their marriage) with them. And God’s command must be fulfiled.”

I vivdly remember the first time that I came across that verse in my study of the Qur’an. I began to sob with great sorrow and shame. All my life I had been told that Muhammad was the most perfect and ideal moral example for mankind and yet the Qur’an had a good number of examples of how the “revelations” could be so self-serving to the prophet himself!

Christianity or Islam

I immediately wrote a letter to my mother back home with some of these troubling questions that I was encountering. The response that I received to my letter from one of the most prominent religious leaders in my country was that I should just continue my secular studies and not focus too much on religion. On the other hand, as my understanding of the Bible was increasing many of my questions were beginning to get answered. Even as a Muslim I came to believe that the crucifixion of Christ was an undisputable historical fact that no honest person that deals with evidences of history could deny.

The character of Christ himself, as manifested for example in his beautiful Sermon on the Mount, was gradually making a great impression on me. But for me the most impressive factor about Christ was the multitude of Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. Some of these prophecies were so specific and they were fulfiled in the life of Jesus to such a detail that it amazed me to see how God had taken hundreds of years of Jewish history to prepare the coming of the Messiah; prophecies ranging from Messiah’s ancestery, his manner and place of birth, his life and ministry to the circumstances surrounding his death by crucifixion. I was very attracted to Christ and yet I could not deny my own tradition and past. Becoming Christian seemed a definite betrayal of my own family and Islamic heritage. The tension in my life was so strong that I felt torn asunder between these two faiths.

But I still could not bring myself to accept that Jesus was anything more than a human being. Since he had never explicitly said, “I am God and you must worship me,” the Christian claim about Jesus was based on speculation and historically unreliable Gospels. Surely the incredible statements attributed to Jesus were invented by later Christians and put in the mouth of Jesus.

A Muslim Converts

In the midst of all this anxiety of thought, I woke up one morning and was suddenly struck by the meaning of a verse written by the prophet Isaiah in his ninth chapter. I had read this verse several weeks prior to that morning, but I had never understood its meaning. In Isaiah 7:14 we read,

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Isaiah then goes on to write in chapter 9,

“[…] in the future he (God) will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan the people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned […] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne […] from that time on and forever.”

I could not believe it! The fact that the Messiah was not going to be just a prophet but Mighty God himself, was therefore a truth that had been prophesied seven hundred years before Christ in the Old Testament, and not something that had been made up by Christians many years or centuries after Christ! It was God’s own promise that he will come in flesh (Immanuel = God with us) and will establish a kingdom that will last forever.

I came to trust in Christ, the next day on January 20, 1985. I cried uncontrollably as I was praying and turning to Christ in faith. I did not know why, and though I had never felt much burden of guilt, I was feeling a great sense of peace and relief from the burden of my sins. A greater satisfaction was the sense of rest in finally finding the truth about God and His revelation of love to mankind in Jesus Christ. A book that helped me (and several other Muslim friends of mine who became Christians around the same time that I did) tremendously in answering many of my questions about the deity of Christ and the reliability of the New Testament documents was Josh McDowell’s “Evidence That Demands A Verdict.” I highly recommend it.

Soon after my own conversion, I decided to dedicate my entire life to promoting the Good News of Christ among Muslims and especially the people of my own country. I later came to the United States and received my undergraduate and graduate degrees in Biblical and Theological Studies. I also co-authored a book called Answering Islam: The Crescent in the Light of the Cross.

Abdul Saleeb, Ramadan of 1996

My Experience as a Hindu Guru…A former Guru shares his life experiences and thoughts.

My Experience as a Hindu Guru

Growing up with Hindu beliefs

No matter how fulfillinglife becomes, there are always certain regrets when one looks back. My deepest sense of loss involves my father. So much has happened since his death. I often wonder what it would be like to share it all with him, and what his reaction would be.

We never shared anything in our lives. Because of vows he had taken before I was born, not once did he ever speak to me or pay me the slightest heed. Just two words from him would have made me unspeakably happy. How I wanted to hear him say, “Rabi. Son.” Just once. But he never did.

My Hindu beliefs and higher consciousness

For eight long years he uttered not a word. The trancelike condition he had achieved is called in the East a state of higher consciousness and can be attained only through deep meditation.

“Why is father that way?” I would ask my mother, still too young to understand. “He is someone very special — the greatest man you could have for a father,” she would reply. “He is seeking the true Self that lies within us all, the One Being, of which there is no other. And that’s what you are too, Rabi.”

Father had set an example, achieved wide acclaim, and earned the worship of many, and it was inevitable that upon his death his mantle would fall upon me. I had never imagined, however, that I would still be so young when this fateful day arrived.

When father died I felt I had lost everything. Though I had scarcely known him as my father, he had been my inspiration — a god — and now he was dead.

My Hindu beliefs and astrology

At his funeral, my father’s stiff body was placed on a great pile of firewood. The thought of his body being sacrificed to Agni, the god of fire, added a new dimension of mystery to the bewilderment and deep sense of loss that already overwhelmed me.

As the flames engulfed him, it was impossible to suppress the anguish I felt. “Mummy !” I screamed. “Mummy !” If she heard me above the roar of sparks and fire, she made no indication. A true Hindu, she found strength to follow the teaching of Krishna: she would mourn neither the living nor the dead. Not once did she cry as the flames consumed my father.

After my father’s funeral, I became a favourite subject for the palm-readers and astrologers who frequented our house. Our family would hardly make an important decision without consulting an astrologer, so it was vital that my future be confirmed in the same way. It was encouraging to learn that the lines on my palms and the planets and stars, according to those who interpreted them, all agreed I would become a great Hindu leader. I was obviously a chosen vessel, destined for early success in the search for union with Brahman (the One). The forces that had guided my father were now guiding me.

My Hindu beliefs and being worshipped by others

I was only eleven and already many people were bowing before me, laying gifts of money, cotton cloth, and other treasures at my feet and hanging garlands of flowers around my neck at religious ceremonies.

How I loved religious ceremonies — especially private ones in our own home or those of others, where friends and relatives would crowd in. There I would be the centre of attention, admired by all. I loved to move through the audience, sprinkling holy water on worshipers or marking foreheads with the sacred white sandalwood paste. I also loved how the worshipers, after the ceremony, bowed low before me to leave their offerings at my feet.

While vacationing at an aunt’s ranch, I had my first real encounter with Jesus. I was walking along enjoying nature one day and was startled by a rustling sound in the underbrush behind me. I turned quickly and, to my horror, saw a large snake coming directly toward me — its beady eyes staring intently into mine. I felt paralysed, wanting desperately to run but unable to move.

In that moment of frozen terror, out of the past came my mother’s voice, repeating words I had long forgotten: “Rabi, if ever you’re in real danger and nothing else seems to work, there’s another god you can pray to. His name is Jesus.”

“Jesus! Help me!” I tried to yell, but the desperate cry was choked and hardly audible.

To my astonishment, the snake turned around and quickly wriggled off into the underbrush. Breathless and still trembling, I was filled with wondering gratitude to this amazing god, Jesus. Why had my mother not taught me more about him?

My Hindu beliefs in question

During my third year in high school I experienced an increasingly deep inner conflict. My growing awareness of God as the Creator, separate and distinct from the universe He had made, contradicted the Hindu concept that god was everything, that the Creator and the Creation were one and the same. If there was only One Reality, then Brahman was evil as well as good, death as well as life, hatred as well as love. That made everything meaningless, life an absurdity. It was not easy to maintain both one’s sanity and the view that good and evil, love and hate, life and death were One Reality.

One day a friend of my cousin Shanti, whose name was Molli, came by to visit. She asked me about whether I found Hinduism fulfiling. Trying to hide my emptiness, I lied and told her I was very happy and that my religion was the Truth. She listened patiently to my pompous and sometimes arrogant pronouncements. Without arguing, she exposed my emptiness gently with politely phrased questions.

She told me that Jesus had brought her close to God. She also said that God is a God of love and that He desires us to be close to Him. As appealing as this sounded to me, I stubbornly resisted, not willing to surrender my Hindu roots.

What my Hindu beliefs did not provide

Still, I found myself asking, “What makes you so happy? You must have been doing a lot of meditation.”

“I used to,” Molli responded, “but not anymore. Jesus has given me a peace and joy that I never knew before.” Then she said, “Rabi, you don’t seem very happy. Are you?”

I lowered my voice: “I’m not happy. I wish I had your joy.” Was I saying this?

“My joy is because my sins are forgiven,” said Molli. “Peace and joy come from Christ, through really knowing Him.”

We continued talking for half a day, unaware of how the time had passed. I wanted her peace and joy, but I was absolutely resolved that I wasn’t going to give up any part of my religion.

As she was leaving, she said: “Before you go to bed tonight, Rabi, please get on your knees and ask God to show you the Truth — and I’ll be praying for you.” With a wave of her hand she was gone.

Pride demanded that I reject everything Molli had said, but I was too desperate to save face any longer. I fell to my knees, conscious that I was giving in to her request. “God, the true God and Creator, please show me the truth!” Something inside me snapped. For the first time in my life, I felt I had really prayed and gotten through — not to some impersonal Force, but to the true God who loves and cares. Too tired to think any longer, I crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

Soon after, my cousin Krishna invited me to a Christian meeting. I again surprised myself by responding: “Why not?” On our way there, Krishna and I were joined by Ramkair, a new acquaintance of his. “Do you know anything about this meeting?” I asked him, anxious to get some advance information.

“A little,” he replied. “I became a Christian recently.”

“Tell me,” I said eagerly. “Did Jesus really change your life?” Ramkair smiled broadly. “He sure did! Everything is different.”

“It’s really true, Rab!” added Krishna enthusiastically. “I’ve become a Christian too — just a few days ago.”

A caring shepherd not found in Hindu beliefs

The preacher’s sermon was based on Psalm 23, and the words, “The Lord is my shepherd,” made my heart leap. After expounding the Psalm, the preacher said: “Jesus wants to be your Shepherd. Have you heard His voice speaking to your heart? Why not open your heart to Him now? Don’t wait until tomorrow — that may be too late!” The preacher seemed to be speaking directly to me. I could delay no longer.

I quickly knelt in front of him. He smiled and asked if anyone else wanted to receive Jesus. No one stirred. Then he asked the Christians to come forward and pray with me. Several did, kneeling beside me. For years Hindus had bowed before me — and now I was kneeling before a Christian.

Aloud I repeated after him a prayer inviting Jesus into my heart. When the preacher said, “Amen,” he suggested I pray in my own words. Quietly, choking with emotion, I began: “Lord Jesus, I’ve never studied the Bible, but I’ve heard that you died for my sins so I could be forgiven and reconciled to God. Please forgive me all my sins. Come into my heart!”

Before I finished, I knew that Jesus wasn’t just another one of several million gods. He was the God for whom I had hungered. He Himself was the Creator. Yet, He loved me enough to become a man and die for my sins. With that realisation, tons of darkness seemed to lift and a brilliant light flooded my soul.

After arriving home, Krishna and I found the entire family waiting up for us, apparently having heard what had happened. “I asked Jesus into my life tonight!” I exclaimed happily, as I looked from one to another of those startled faces. “It’s glorious. I can’t tell you how much he means to me already.”

Some in my family seemed wounded and bewildered; others seemed happy for me. But before it was all over with, thirteen of us had ended up giving our hearts to Jesus! It was incredible.

Cremating the relics of my Hindu beliefs

The following day I walked resolutely into the prayer room with Krishna. Together we carried everything out into the yard: idols, Hindu scriptures, and religious paraphernalia. We wanted to rid ourselves of every tie with the past and with the powers of darkness that had blinded and enslaved us for so long.

When everything had been piled on the rubbish heap, we set it on fire and watched the flames consume our past. The tiny figures we once feared as gods were turning to ashes. We hugged one another and offered thanks to the Son of God who had died to set us free.

I found my thoughts going back to my father’s cremation nearly eight years before. In contrast to our new found joy, that scene had aroused inconsolable grief. My father’s body had been offered to the very same false gods who now lay in smouldering fragments before me. It seemed unbelievable that I should be participating with great joy in the utter destruction of that which represented all I had once believed in so fanatically.

In a sense this was my cremation ceremony — the end of the person I had once been…the death of a guru. The old Rabi Maharaj had died in Christ. And out of that grave a new Rabi had risen in whom Christ was now living.

(Note: If you would be interested in a detailed account of Rabi’s conversion, read his book Death of a Guru. Rabi is presently based in Southern California and is involved in evangelism all over the world. He invites you to write: East/West Gospel Ministries, P.O. Box 2191, La Habra, CA90632.)

For further info on Hindu beliefs, you may want to read Connecting with the Divine.

God is an Elephant?…Where does this popular analogy fall apart?

God is an Elephant?

adapted from David A. Horner

There is a popular analogy used to show that all religions are valid ways to describe God. Religion professors especially love this philosophic analogy, because it equalizes all religions, making all religions equally “true” in their description of God.

The analogy is this: there are four blind men who discover an elephant. Since the men have never encountered an elephant, they grope about, seeking to understand and describe this new phenomenon. One grasps the trunk and concludes it is a snake. Another explores one of the elephant’s legs and describes it as a tree. A third finds the elephant’s tail and announces that it is a rope. And the fourth blind man, after discovering the elephant’s side, concludes that it is, after all, a wall.

Each in his blindness is describing the same thing: an elephant. Yet each describes the same thing in a radically different way.

According to many, this is analogous to the different religions of the world — they are describing the same thing in radically different ways. Thus one should conclude that no individual religion has a corner on truth, but that all should be viewed as essentially equally valid.

This is a powerful and provocative image, and it certainly seems to capture something of the truth.

If God is infinite and we are finite, it is reasonable to believe that none of us can fully capture His nature. But does this philosophic analogy demonstrate the truth that all religions lead to God? To conclude that it does would ignore several points…

First, there is a fact of the matter: the elephant. What the blind men are attempting to describe is in fact an elephant, not something else. Just so, there are factual questions regarding God. “Does God even exist?” is a question of fact, much like, “Was Abraham Lincoln ever President of the United States?” If so, it would be true whether anyone believes it or not, and to deny it, one would be mistaken. Thus, not all opinions, whether concerning elephants or the nature of God, are equally true.

Second, all four blind men are, in fact, mistaken. It is an elephant and not a wall or a rope or a tree or a snake. Their opinions are not equally true — they are equally, and actually false. At best, such an analogy of religious pluralism would show that all religions are false, not true.

Third, and most important, the philosophic analogy does not take into account any kind of special revelation. If a fifth man were to arrive on the scene, one who could see (and who was able to demonstrate his credentials of having sight), and he were to describe the elephant as an elephant, then it would change the analogy entirely.

Jesus Christ, unique among all religious leaders of history, claimed to be such a “fifth man,” a definitive revelation of God. Many of the people who watched Jesus’ miracles and heard him speak were offended by his clear statements about his deity. “This was why [they] sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”1

Jesus however, invited us to believe in him if we want our search for God satisfied… “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”2

Want to check out Jesus’ reliability to be this “fifth man”? See the feature article Beyond Blind Faith.

(1) John 5:18 …(2) John 6:35

Jesus, Religions, and Just War…Do religions perpetuate violence?

Jesus, Religions, and Just War

What causes religious wars? Can religious tolerance avoid such wars? What were Jesus’ comments on this?

by Paul Copan

Who of us hasn’t heard the claim that “religion leads to warfare?” We’re familiar with sweeping military campaigns in the Middle East and North Africa in the name of Islam. In the name of Christ, Crusaders marched to take land back that was previously under Christendom. In 16th and 17th century Europe (1550-1650), wars between Protestant and Catholic rulers brought much bloodshed. There have been czarist pogroms against the Jews–often with religious justification. Mohandas K. Gandhi was killed by a militant Hindu in 1948; Sri Lanka‘s prime minister was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959.1 In our day, we’ve seen Catholics and Protestants clashing in Northern Ireland. In India, we’ve seen Hindus and Muslims fighting one another. Buddhists and Hindus have been fighting in Sri Lanka. We’ve seen the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the death of Salman Rushdie because of his Satanic Verses.

Does religion lead to violence and religious wars?

Several observations are in order:

1) It’s overly simplistic, against what author Regina Schwartz has claimed,2 to say that “monotheism” has brought “violent legacy” to Western societies and that non-Western religions have no association with violence.

2) Much of the blood shed in the 20th century was the result of atheist ideologues. It’s ironic that religion gets the blame for violence, but critics of religion are silent when a secular or atheistic faith–such as that of Stalin or Mao Tse-tung–wreaks utter destruction on millions upon millions of lives.

3) Thus what we must look to is the essential teaching of what a religion says, not merely at its abuse, and judge it from that perspective. Is taking up the sword in the name of Jesus to promote Christianity consistent with what Jesus affirmed? We could ask the same of Islam or Hinduism.

4) Thus it is not religion per se that perpetrates violence, but a certain mindset that seeks to use an ideology or a religious justification to control people’s thinking and restrain the most fundamental freedoms.

5) Where freedom of conscience or religious freedom or women’s rights are being abused, all of us must reject this as wrong. Sometimes this may mean calling on the carpet those who claim the same religious affiliation as we do, but they utilize violent ends to promote their religious system. For example, where were the people to condemn the Ayatollah Khomeini’s death wish (fatwah) upon Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses?

Religious wars within the same religion.

I’m so glad we have a Muslim represented here; it is precisely such persons of influence whose voice can contribute to bringing about necessary changes in Islamic-based societies around the world so that it will fit into the global village in which we find ourselves.3 For example, Muqtedar Khan (a Muslim from India, now living in Michigan) of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy boldly wrote after 9/11, decrying intolerance in the name of Islam:

The Israeli occupation of Palestine is perhaps central to Muslim grievance against the West. While acknowledging that, I must remind you that Israel treats its one million Arab citizens with greater respect and dignity than most Arab nations treat their citizens.Today Palestinian refugees can settle and become citizens of the United States but in spite of all the tall rhetoric of the Arab world and Quranic injunctions (24:22) no Muslim country except Jordan extends this support to them. While we loudly and consistently condemn Israel for its ill treatment of Palestinians we are silent when Muslim regimes abuse the rights of Muslims and slaughter thousands of them. Remember Saddam and his use of chemical weapons against Muslims (Kurds)?. Remember Pakistani army’s excesses against Muslims (Bengalis)?. Remember the Mujahideen of Afghanistan and their mutual slaughter? Have we ever condemned them for their excesses? Have we demanded international intervention or retribution against them? Do you know how the Saudis treat their minority Shi’as? Have we protested the violation of their rights? But we all are eager to condemn Israel; not because we care for rights and lives of the Palestinians, we don’t. We condemn Israel because we hate “them.”

These are bold words, but they are utterly necessary for changes within Islam to take place. The same sorts of measured and firm denunciations are in order when abuses against humanity take place in the name of any religious traditions–including my own.

Religious tolerance without religious wars.

6) Thus, truth-claims regarding religious uniqueness in themselves do not perpetuate violence–hence, a word about religious pluralism:4 Although the Dalai Lama rejects the existence of a Creator God, I still appreciate what he does for promoting peace. He claims that Tibetan Buddhism is “the highest and complete form of Buddhism.”5 Furthermore, full salvation or even the practice of compassion is impossible to achieve unless you accept the doctrine of emptiness (sunyata)–the absence of inherent or independent existence. Everything is emptiness. In an interview in the early 1980s, he claimed that the state of liberation is one which “only Buddhists can accomplish.”6 I would disagree, but our differing views needn’t perpetuate violence or militancy. They needn’t keep us from fighting for human rights, religious freedom, the right to life and liberty for the most vulnerable of human beings.

In fact, people who call themselves religious pluralists believe they have a virtue that the Dalai Lama or I do not have–they believe that their viewpoint is the correct one, and that our views are erroneous. So try as we might, we can’t escape truth-claims in religion. But the question is: how will we treat people who disagree with us–with dignity and respect or as enemies? Disagreement can co-exist with respect. I myself attended a Muslim mosque for two years, and I was blessed to meet many wonderful Muslims and to eat in their homes. Tolerance doesn’t mean accepting all views as true (which is impossible, since we don’t truly “tolerate” those who don’t agree with our pluralism); it means putting up with what we take to be erroneous or false in another person’s thinking but respecting the person’s right to think and choose differently since he has been made in the image of God too.

Does Jesus oppose religious wars?

7) The Christian church is not a theocratic nation (Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world; otherwise, my servants would fight”), but Christians ideally should live within national boundaries to seek the well-being of that nation. Sometimes, they may be called upon to defend that nation’s existence (or that of another vulnerable nation) against an aggressor’s attack.

Contrary to what many believe, Jesus’ words about “turning the other cheek” after someone hits you on the right cheek are dealing with personal insults, not with acts of violence or force. Rather, Jesus said, “When insulted, be willing to take another insult.” Assuming that persons in Jesus’ time were generally right-handed, a hit on the right cheek is a back-handed slap, which even today in the Middle East expresses a gross insult. This idea of a slap as an insult is seen in Lamentations 3:30: “Let him give his cheek to the smiter and be filled with insults.” This slap would be roughly equivalent to spitting in someone’s face in our society.

Jesus is not saying, “Don’t defend yourself when you are attacked” or “Don’t help a woman who is being raped” or “Don’t defend your country when it is being attacked.” He is not negating the judicial principle of an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”; he speaks against the abuse of that judicial principle to justify personal retaliation or vengeance.7

When are religious wars just?

Although there are some pacifistic Christian groups which I respect, I believe good biblical reasons can be given for advocating a just war as a last resort to bring about lasting peace: Governments, when operating as they should, must bring order and punish evildoers. God approves of this arrangement, as Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Pet. 2:14 indicate. Even though war is never neat and innocent civilians will be killed, the Judeo-Christian tradition is realistic in recognizing human self-centredness and sinfulness which may necessitate force to keep evil from spreading its tentacles further, to restrain violence.

If a war is ever to be fought, its principles should be just, keeping in mind both human beings as made in God’s image and the reality of human sinfulness:8

1) JUST CAUSE: The only morally legitimate reason to go to war is for self-defence (or for defending a nation in moral need of defence)–or if there is very strong reason for a pre-emptive strike (e.g., a “rogue nation” with “dirty bombs”): “If this rule were universally followed there would be no aggressors and no wars.”

2) JUST INTENT: The only morally legitimate goal in war is the restoration of peace, with justice for both friend and foe: “Vengeance, subjugation, and conquest are unjustifiable purposes.” Sometimes there may be “unintentional effects” (killing civilians) which accompany the intended effect of restraining violence.

3) LAST RESORT: “war should be entered upon only when negotiation, arbitration, and compromise, and all other paths fail; for as a rational being man should, if at all possible, settle his disputes by reason and law, not by force.”

4) LAWFUL DECLARATION: Only a lawful government has the right to initiate war. Only the state–not individuals or parties within the state–can legitimately exercise this authority.

5) IMMUNITY OF NON-COMBATANTS: “those not officially serving as agents of the government in its use of force, including POW’s and medical personnel and services, should not be permitted to fight and are not to be subject to violence.”

6) LIMITED OBJECTIVES: Since the goal of war is peace–not the destruction of the enemy nation’s economy or the destruction of its political institutions.

7) LIMITED MEANS: “only sufficient force should be used to resist violence and restore peace.” “Sufficient” does not necessarily mean decisive victory.

C.S. Lewis, writing during WWII, said that “war is very disagreeable.”9 Be that as it may, evil and aggression are a reality, and we may be doing more harm by ignoring or not stopping evil. He said that a society of pacifists won’t remain pacifistic long!

Only liberal societies tolerate Pacifists. In the liberal society, the number of Pacifists will either be large enough to cripple the state as a belligerent, or not. If not, you have done nothing. If it is large enough, then you have handed over the state which does tolerate Pacifists to its totalitarian neighbour who does not. Pacifism of this kind is taking the straight road to a world in which there will be no Pacifists.10

Jesus said that those who are peacemakers are blessed–not just peacekeepers, but those who actively seek to unite parties at odds with one another. In the Christian faith, this is best exemplified by Jesus, in whose death we see, in the words of St. Paul, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.”

© Paul Copan, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

Reprinted by permission from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (www.gospelcom.net/rzim).

This article on religious wars is an excerpt from a panel discussion, used by permission. Dr. Paul Copan is a Visiting Assistant Professor at TrinityEvangelicalDivinitySchool, travelling speaker, and author of True for You, But Not for Me and That’s Just Your Interpretation.

(1) Even as recently as today, there was a Buddhist monk, Pramaha Sayanjerasutho, who was arrested after firing his AK-47 into the air in Thailand’s parliament building to protest police harassment (“Monk Threatens Thai Parliament,” BBC News, 22 May 2002; found at http://news.bbc.co.africa/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_2001000/2001557.stm).

(2) The Curse of Canaan: The Violent Legacy of MonotheismChicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997.

(3) It must be acknowledged by Muslims that their religion has not simply sought to defend itself, but has been aggressive and ruthless and expansive. For meticulous documentation of the influence of Islam and the not-always-positive relationships of ruling Muslims with Jews and Christians (which Muslim apologists tend to paper over as “tolerant”), see the writings of the Egyptian Jewish author Bat Ye’or: The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam and Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide (both published by Dickinson Farleigh University Press).

(4) For criticisms of religious pluralism, see Paul Copan, “True for You, But Not for Me” (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1998); Harold Netland, Encountering Religious Pluralism (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001); Gavin D’Costa, The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 2000).

(5) Kindness, Clarity and Insight (New York: Snow Lion, 1984), 45.

(6) José Ignacio Cabezón, ed. The Bodhgaya Interviews (New York: Snow Lion, 1988), 22.

(7) Some observations on Jesus’ comments in the Sermon on the Mount:

(8) Taken from Arthur Holmes’ essay (“Just War”) in Four Views on War, ed., Robert Clouse (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 4-5.

(9) The Weight of Glory and Other Essays (New York: Macmillan), 39.

(10) Ibid., 44.

Two Kinds of Truth…Can Jesus be “true for you, but not true for me”?

Two Kinds of Truth

Can Jesus be “true for you, but not true for me”?

by Mark Hansard

One day not too long ago I was talking to a student on campus about Christianity. He was bright, intelligent, and I could tell he was well versed in science and philosophy.

“Christianity is good for YOU,” he said, “but it’s not right for ME. I think you ought to believe whatever makes you happy and gives you peace.”

“Well, you could be right about that,” I said. “I’m not here to cram my opinions down your throat. Let me throw some ideas out here, and see what you think about them. There are two kinds of truth,” I said. “There’s opinion, or preference, like ‘I like chocolate ice cream.’ Some people like chocolate. Some like vanilla. Some major in accounting, others in Spanish.

“Then there’s another kind of truth, like scientific truth. For instance, gravity works whether you believe in it or not. Before gravity was discovered, apples still fell to the ground, right?”

“Right,” he agreed.

“Now most people think religion is on the same level as OPINION,” I went on. “Like a favourite ice cream flavour. But the Bible indicates that spiritual truth is more like the LAW OF GRAVITY. It is true whether you believe in it or not.

“Now, the question of whether the Bible is true or not is another issue,” I said. “But the idea is this: the Bible says that our sin has separated us from God, and the only way to solve that problem is through Jesus Christ.

“You can believe whatever you like,” I said. “I’m not here to force you to believe my way…But if you’re right and I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing. When I die, I simply turn to dust. If I’m right and you’re wrong, you could spend eternity separated from God. Isn’t it worth at least looking into?”

I could tell it made him think.

Most people find the idea of Christianity being the only way to heaven as repugnant. And I don’t blame them. It sounds arrogant. Heck, some Christians ARE arrogant. But I think most of the time the turnoff people feel is a simple misunderstanding. When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life,” he wasn’t being boastful and saying, “I am the best. And I’m only going to let people into heaven who follow my way.”

Rather, it was like saying, “There is only one way across the Grand Canyon. You can’t jump across, walk across, or drive across. You have to take a helicopter.” The nature of the problem means there is only one solution.

Our sin makes it impossible to reach God. If we’re trying to gain acceptance with God by our “good” life, we’re stuck. If we’re trying to be religious to reach God, we’re stuck. However, God could reach us. Jesus Christ came so we could be forgiven, so we could have a relationship with Him. We can try to get to God by good works or religious efforts, but Jesus was saying that won’t work.

Jesus not only said, “No one comes to the Father except by Me,” he also said, “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” Now, if there were other men, who were God, I guess there would be other ways to heaven! But Jesus is the only person in history I know of who fits the requirement!