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While I was on twitter the other night, I felt a little inspiration hit me (as always) 🙂
But wherever it came from, it cause me to write and post the tweet below.
If everyone actually knew how much #GOD cares for us…
everyone would be a #Christian.
— Deon Lundy (@dontaedeon) January 8, 2014
So after I had posted it, a good friend of mine mentioned me and asked what exactly I meant by it. So I explained by saying…
I meant that God displayed his love for humanity through the gift that we have found in Christ
…. Redemption
so he and I began to lightly discuss our beliefs and he directed me to an article that he thought explained Hinduism fairly well. ( feel free to Go Read The Article )
Although I knew a little about the belief, It did help clear it up even further for me. But after I had finished reading the entire article I found some misconceptions in the article regarding Christianity and Christian beliefs.
It is my hope that I can attempt to answer the questions that were presented in this article for the many people who have found themselves staring the same questions in the face only to get a blank stare in return instead of an answer.
( I will use excerpts from the article in this post to help better portray my viewpoint. )
Lets Begin!
In the article, the first statement that was made that I would like to address was when the writer wrote…
I was raised in the Christian tradition, like most kids in America. I went to Sunday school, I took part in the youth group, I attended service with my family.
[Fast-Forward]
However, as I grew older, I began to question what it was I was taught to believe in.I began asking questions like…
‘Why does God punish forever (Hell)?’, and‘Why do other people have such different ideas of who God is, even within Christianity?’
These are the first two questions I would like to address presented by the writer.
Many people have wondered the exact same thing, and too often when they attempt to ask these types of questions, they get a lousy response by professing Christians who don’t really know the answers themselves.
I too remember having many biblical questions that some Christians were unable to answer, but instead of losing faith in my belief I simply began to delve deeper into the bible.
I was convinced that If the bible IS true indeed, I would be able to find the answer to ALL of my questions within it, and even unto this day have I not been able to find an answer to a question written somewhere within the scriptures.
But the answer to the question “Why would a Loving God create Hell?” was quite simple once I began to study the scriptures myself. and we can find this answer in the scripture below
Matthew 25:41 “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”
In the book of Matthew, Jesus is telling his disciples future events as he does throughout his entire life-time!
But also hidden within the scripture, we clearly see Jesus declare exactly WHOM Hell was created for. It was created for Satan and his Angels!
If you would like more scriptural evidence to support the information just presented, please visit the link below.
( Read More supporting Scriptures )
But continuing, the writer also asked…
‘Why do other people have such different ideas of who God is, even within Christianity?’
although I would agree that there are some disagreements among Christians
(mainly regarding denominations and practices)
there is virtually no difference in opinion regarding the identity of God. anyone who is a true bible-believing christian cannot argue regarding the identity of the father when the scriptures clearly describe him to us.
(1John 1:5) Now the message that we have heard from his Son and announce is this: God is light, and there is no darkness at all in him.
(1John 1:6) If, then, we say that we have fellowship with him, yet at the same time live in the darkness, we are lying both in our words and in our actions.
(1John 1:7) But if we live in the light—just as he is in the light—then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from every sin.
(1John 1:8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and there is no truth in us.
(1John 1:9) But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.
(1John 1:10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make a liar out of God, and his word is not in us.
Here we can see that God is Light (good), and in him is no Darkness (Evil) at all.
So we can safely assume that anyone who proclaims to be a christian but denies this fact is not a real christian, but rather an imposter.
But lets continue dissecting Key Points in the article!
NOTE: In Hinduism, many Hindus consider themselves as Vedanta which means they believe in a monotheistic (single) “most-high” god, called Brahman
The writer continued to write…
Brahman represents the eternal and permeating presence of God, yet it also represents a God that is transcendent of the cosmos, who can witness the universe as something apart.
God is not only transcendent of the universe, but of existence itself.
Brahman is formless and genderless; He (she, it) represents the very fabric of reality. God is everywhere, and God is everything, and God is transcendent, or beyond, everything.
This concept of God, which tends to be very hard for people brought up under a different belief system to get their brains around (including myself), is found only in Hinduism.
This is one of the passages that I found most interesting in the entire article. Unlike Christianity, the God of Hinduism is said to be ALL things at ALL times.
But this would mean that Brahman is both Good and Evil simultaneously, or conversely it could mean that there is no real concept of Good or Evil because it is all said to be apart of Brahman.
The writer continued…
So, when a Hindu refers to Vishnu, Ganesha or any of the other gods, they are actually referring to a form of Isvara, the personal aspect of God.
Just like people have many sides to their personalities, so does God (Isvara).
God can be the destroyer, the creator, the lover or the hater, the wise or the foolish, just like you can. In fact, you are all those things at times because God is all those things, all the time. Indeed, your part of Brahman is also transcendent – it is a part of God, and part of you and the universe, yet separate.
As we can see, Brahman is ALL things…
But In Christianity, we can see from the before mentioned scripture that although God is all-knowing, all-seeing, all-present, and all-powerful…
He is not All-Things.
I John 1:5 tells us that God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Although Brahman is said to be “All-things”, many Hindus still believe in a concept of Good and Evil.
For Example….
If you ask a Hindu if Adolf Hitler was Good or Evil, the majority of those that know who he is would reply “He Was Evil”
… But wouldn’t that mean that Adolf Hitler was Brahman as well?
because Brahman is all things, It cannot be broken up into Good & Evil because the two are ONE under Brahman.
Therefore how can a person’s “Karma” affect them negatively if there is no concept of Good and Evil? or Right and Wrong?
The concept of Brahman can be a dangerous philosophy for a christian because it merges both Good and Evil into one massive category, Brahman.
And If Brahman is both Good and Evil, then it can cause us to believe that our actions do not matter because Good is Evil, and Evil is Good.
But this goes against our natural instinct of Right and Wrong!
Under the premise of Brahman, It can be implied that there is nothing Good or Bad, But rather Good and Evil are both merely human interpretations of actions.
But no matter where we go, we can see a consistent set of “Morals” among humans even in different cultures. It is almost as If it is Instinctive.
For Example:
If someone made you very angry, would you Kill them?
What If you could kill them and get AWAY with it, would you do it then?
If your answers to both of those questions were “No”, then you should ask yourself…
“Why not kill them If I could get away with it?”
The answer would most likely be…
“Because it is wrong“
But under Brahman,
These are just illusions that don’t really exist, they are simply Brahman.
But if you were one of those readers who agreed that you would NOT kill someone, no matter how angry you got… you just made an instinctive Moral Judgement.
Although there are some readers who would INDEED kill someone if they had the chance, this does not remove the fact that they knew what they were about to do was wrong. But we have the Choice to override our conscious and disobey the things that we instinctively know is indeed right.
But these instinctive moral values that continue to remain constant are clearly explained to us in the bible!
(Jeremiah 31:33) The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
(Jeremiah 31:34) None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know the LORD, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Here we see God clearly tell his prophet that he would write HIS LAW on the hearts of humans, and NO ONE would have to teach a human what is right and wrong because they will INSTINCTIVELY know right from wrong, even down to the children!
The writer also touched on the topic of reincarnation in which he said…
“If we are all bound to a destiny of sharing an eternity as one with Brahman, how can we be eternally punished in Hell – or spend an eternity in Haven? It doesn’t make sense for God to, on the one hand, wish everyone to be one with Him, and on the other condemn souls – parts of Himself – to eternal punishment.”
This is a common misunderstanding regarding the concept of eternal life and eternal death. The bible tells us that it is God’s will that EVERYONE be with him where he is…
BUT, when God created mankind he gave us our own free will. He will not dictate our choices although he very well could.
God loves humanity so much that he gave us the ability to love him or not. God doesn’t condemn souls to hell, the souls condemn themselves to hell by not accepting his gift of eternal life.
Of course God wants everyone to choose eternal life, but he will not make us choose it… It is our choice to make.
(John 3:16) For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.
The Writer Continued…
“It also doesn’t make sense that God would reward souls eternally based on such a short period of spiritual learning. If our purpose is to learn everything God has to teach us on a spiritual level, then how could anyone possibly do it in the span of a single lifetime?”
Here is another misunderstanding, God’s love for us is not Knowledge-Based, nor is it works-based. It is based on one concept… The acceptance of his free gift of eternal life!
All we have to do is say “Yes”, and turn our hearts toward God. That’s It! He will take care of the rest
We don’t have to EARN his love, he already loves us!
He loved us so much that he gave his only son, as a sacrifice to save us from our sins.
(1John 1:9) But if we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing.
God’s love is a Free gift that he has openly extended toward us, all we have to do is Just Accept It
Will you accept God’s Free Gift? Its close than you think 🙂
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