Category: Bible Applications

What’s the Fate of those who have Never Heard the Gospel?

What’s the fate of those who have never heard?

I received the following questions from a student:

“One thing that I always have had a question about is what happens to people that never had the chance to hear about the gospel and/or weren’t God’s chosen people. For example, ancient Chinese or American/African Tribes; they never had a chance to hear about Jesus, so how can they be placed on the same scale with someone that rejected Jesus purposefully? Also, what about other cultures during the time of the Israelites? They weren’t God’s chosen people and couldn’t be part of the covenant.”

These are all really good questions and the answers to them may never satisfy us.

The Background to the Questions

These questions are ultimately questioning God’s rationale for condemning sinners to hell.  From Scripture we know that it is not God’s desire for humanity to perish in hell.  For example, in Ezekiel 33:11 the Lord says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.”  Peter also writes, “He is slow with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Since this is the heart position and desire of God, it is difficult for us to understand how and why he can then sentence members of humanity to eternal damnation.  God must do this because he is not only loving, righteous, and merciful, but also just.  These questions come from a knowledge that God has provided a way out from eternal death, and that is through having faith in Jesus Christ.  But what about those who have not heard about Jesus to have faith in him?  Since they didn’t receive an opportunity to hear the good news of the “way out” do they have a different standard of judgment or a different punishment than the rest?

The Biblical Data

Sin is the cause of death.  God did not create sin.  He created the world and it was good!  God did not tempt Adam and Eve and he has no blame for sin or its effects.  Since he is a just God, he must punish sin.  We might think that eternal death, or hell, is too strict of a punishment, but we are forgetting who the offense is against.  If a person murders someone, and the murder only takes a second to commit, the just punishment lasts for a lifetime, a life for a life.  Despite most crimes’ short length of time to commit, the punishments sentenced are far longer.  And in some cases, such as rape, many people think the sentences are not long enough, or severe enough.  What then about crimes (sin) committed against God, a being of far greater worth than a human being?  Consider that the crimes (sin) committed against God are committed for a lifetime.  When these considerations are taken into account, eternal punishment becomes more rational.  Lifelong crimes against an eternal God, justly bring eternal punishment.  (Genesis 1-3, Romans 1-3)

General Revelation is given to everyone.  These questions fail to recognize that God has revealed himself to everyone, even those who have not heard the Gospel message.  God has revealed himself in two different ways, general revelation and special revelation.  General revelation is what God has revealed about himself from what he has created.  Romans 1:18-20 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  This means that God’s general revelation places everyone in a state of guilt for their sins.  Everyone is left without excuse.

Special revelation is required for salvation; general revelation itself is not enough for salvation.  Special revelation is God’s direct communication of himself to mankind through his word and through the person of Jesus Christ.  Faith in Christ is explicitly required for salvation, as Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Faith receives the benefits of grace.  Scripture teaches that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Jesus directly speaks this truth to Nicodemus in John 3:16, stating, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   A person can only believe the good news of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, which served as a substitionary atonement for the penalty of our sins, if he or she has heard the good news!  (Romans 10:12-15)

And that’s the rub!

That’s what burns!  We’ve fallen short.  We deserve eternal death.  God has paved a way for salvation for mankind through the person of Jesus Christ.  For us to have that salvation, we have to hear the good news of that salvation and believe it!  But not everyone hears, yet they’re still guilty because of general revelation.  Everyone is left in a guilty state before God with no excuse and in need of Jesus for salvation.

A Christian Response

We ought to be thankful for a second chance at all!

Because God is not at fault in our sin, and because God suffered dearly in the process of bringing about salvation for mankind, who are we to question him?  God didn’t need to give anyone a second chance, but he did and he still does. If God chose to damn everyone, he would still be holy and just.

Who are the people who still need to hear the Gospel?

These questions seem to imply that the people who have not heard the Gospel are going to perish and suffer hell, not because of their fault, but because of God’s fault or the fault of the church for not sharing the Gospel with them.  This is totally, and utterly, not true.   Those who have not heard the Gospel are sinners!  They still deserve eternal punishment for their sins, and general revelation leaves them without excuse.

Check the numbers

For people who question and complain about the people who have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there is a “numbers” response.  Essentially, the numbers tell us that there are more people living now than ever before.  There are more Christians in this world than ever before.  We can travel to far off lands and communicate with more people all over the globe without even leaving our house because of the Internet.  This means that in this period of time, more Christians can reach more people than ever before in history.  This means it is time for Christians to quit asking why and what if about the unevangelized from the past, present, or future, and simply get to work sharing the Gospel.

Clean-up questions

There are numerous other questions that can be asked similar to the initial question of “what about the unevangelized?”

“What about the Gentiles during the Old Testament period?  They weren’t God’s people and couldn’t be a part of the covenant?” 

The response to this, I feel, is pretty simple.  They could be engrafted into the nation of Israel.  Rahab, the prostitute (Joshua 2), and Ruth, the Moabite (The Book of Ruth), are both prime examples of how Gentiles were included in the nation of Israel.

“What about the Israelites before Christ?  How could they be saved if salvation is exclusively through faith in Christ?  If they were saved apart from faith in Christ, couldn’t people today still be saved apart from Christ?” 

The Israelites before Christ still had faith in Christ.  The ones who received salvation had faith in the promises about Christ’s coming.  They recognized that they had broken God’s law and they trusted that he would show them mercy.  These promises date all the way back to the beginning of time, right after the Fall, when God promised that the offspring of Eve would crush the serpent’s head.  (Genesis 3)  Or the Abrahamic Covenant.  (Genesis 12, 15, and 17) Or the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49).  Or the promise given to David. (2 Samuel 7)  Since Jesus has been revealed, faith now is placed in him and not the prophecies of his coming for salvation.

Andy Wrasman2 Comments

2 Timothy 3:15 – God’s Word Makes Us Wise For Salvation

In my high school theology class we have 60 memory verses.  One of them is 2 Timothy 3:15.  The day before we had 2 Timothy 3:16 as a memory verse, so we had previously read 2 Timothy 3:16 in context, reading verses 11-17 of the chapter.  Therefore for 2 Timothy 3:15 we chose a cross-reference to this verse provided from a Study Bible, John 5:47, and read that verse in context comparing the context of John 5 and 2 Timothy 3.  Here are the brief notes of a 15 minute conversation that a student provided to be shared on this blog.  Our class would love to have comments and feedback.  Thank you!

Student notes:

2 Timothy 3:15 says, “And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

  • The main theme of 2 Timothy 3:11-17 is persecution.
  • God tells us that Scripture gives us everything we need for salvation and to stand up for ourselves.
  • He tells us not to give up, because we will be rewarded for a belief in Jesus Christ.

A parallel passage for 2 Timothy 3:15 is John 5:39 and we read it in context, reading John 5:31-47.

  • In this passage, Moses and John the Baptist give testimony about Jesus.
  • Moses testified about Jesus in the Old Testament.
  • Genesis 3:15, it talks about how Jesus will crush Satan’s head, which He did when He rose from the grave.

The people in John 5 are being called out when Jesus asks them how they will believe in Him, because they cannot even believe the words of Moses. They have studied the Scriptures diligently for salvation, but they won’t receive it since they don’t believe it.

Because Timothy believes, he will receive salvation. However, he will be persecuted by those who do not believe

Salvation comes from faith in Christ, and God’s Word reveals Him to us!

Andy Wrasman3 Comments

Contradict Movement – First Animation!

I saw a Go Animate video put together by a student for a class project.  It got me thinking, maybe I can make a Go Animate video for the Contradict Movement.  I managed to make a Jesus character and a Buddha character.  I wanted to share a lot of verses from Jesus’ own mouth, so this was a great way to do it.  About 95% of everything the Jesus character says in this video is all “words in red!”  That’s what I like so much from this video.

If the verses I have quoted in this video are all true, and I firmly believe they are, they are the best news anyone can hear!  There is life after death, death has been swallowed up in victory.  Jesus is our all sufficient Savior and he loves us all, so much, that he innocently died in our place, like a an exchange on death row!

The downside, the side that brings me tears, is that if the verses quoted in this video are all true, and I firmly believe they are and that there is historical proof that they are, then all must repent and call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.  Apart from Christ there is no salvation is what these verses claim, so it’s great that our savior is revealed, but they also reveal the depth of our sinfulness, we must be in Christ to be a new creation, to have eternal life.  Many are not.  Many actually believe that it doesn’t matter what we believe as long as we do good.  But all of us have fallen short of God’s standards and we aren’t good in his sight, no matter how much we serve the poor.  The only way to be seen as good in the eyes of the Lord is to have the righteousness of His Son, which only comes from faith in Christ.  Don’t fool yourself – yoga leads to death, the eight-fold path leads to death, the five pillars lead to death, observing the Laws of Moses leads to death, and so on and so on.  For it is by grace we have been saved, through faith, and this not of ourselves, for it is a gift, so that no man may boast.

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What is Law and Gospel?

What is Law and Gospel?
In this blog post, I follow the order and outline of the chapter, “Law and Gospel” found in Called to Believe: A Brief Introduction to Christian Doctrine, published by Concordia Publishing House and edited by Steven P. Mueller. 

Maintaining a proper distinction between God’s Law and God’s Gospel is of utmost importance.  This proper distinction is maintained throughout all of Lutheran systematic theology and is at its heart connected to the doctrine of justification.  All of God’s word comes to us in one of these two ways, Law or Gospel.  Anytime, any passage of scripture is read, one should ask the questions, what is the law in this passage and what is the Gospel.

To define God’s Law, it is that which God commands and demands of us.   Exodus 20 with the issuance of the Ten Commandments immediately springs to mind when asking what does God commands of us.  In Luke 10:27, Jesus boiled the Law down to two essential commands, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The Lord speaks the Law in even briefer terms in Leviticus 19:2 by saying, “Be Holy, because, I the Lord your God, am holy.”  James explains that if keep all of God’s law but stumble in just one area of the Law we are guilty of breaking all of God’s Law (James 2:10).  Throughout scripture, it is taught that if we obey God’s Law blessings will follow, but if we break God’s Law curses will follow.  From an honest look at what is demanded of us by God’s Law, it is evident that we have all broken it and the result of falling short of God’s Law is death, spiritual, physical, and eternal!

To define the Gospel, it is the work of God alone to save mankind.  The Gospel is not exhortation, it is declaration.  The Gospel is a gift which is freely given to us with no strings attached.  If there is any demand put upon us in our salvation, then it is no longer the Gospel being taught and shared.

Similarities and Differences

God’s Law and the Gospel are as different as night and day.  The Law brings death for all who break it.  The Gospel brings life.  The Law brings despair because who can fulfill God’s righteous requirements.  The Gospel on the other hand brings hope for all who receive it.  The Law judges and condemns us.  The Gospel sets us free!  The Law brings wrath and destruction upon sinners.  The Gospel brings love and restores the relationship of fallen mankind with the holy Lord.  The Law demands us to fulfill all God of commands.  The Gospel promises us life at Christ’s expense.

Despite being exact polar opposites in what they do and proclaim, the Law and Gospel share similarities.  Since they have both come from God, they are both good and holy (Romans 7:12).  Some make the error of saying that the Law is evil because it brings death to mankind, but that is a complete and utter lie.  Both of these apply to all people.  God’s Law is a standard placed upon all people, just as God’s Gospel is a gift given to all people in that Christ was an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:19 and 1 John 2:2).  It must also be said that God speaks both of these out of love.  He does not speak the Law out of hatred to us.  The Law is spoken out of love to us for our good that we might see our sinfulness and turn to him for our salvation.

3-D Law                 

When we read through the Bible we will see many different commands given.  Some of these were given to certain people in a certain time in history.  Should certain commands like animal sacrifices or laws about stoning certain sinners still apply to us today?  To fully understand how to interpret and apply all the laws present in scripture, a person must know and understand the three dimensions, or types of the law.  They are the civil-political dimension, ceremonial dimension, and moral dimension.

Civil-political law – These laws are the laws which are given to governments by God.  Romans 13:1-5 clearly teaches that all authority on earth has been given by God and we should thus obey the laws of the governments.  However, we should disobey these laws if the government’s laws directly contradict God’s moral law.  Does this mean that I should obey the laws of the Chinese government if I am in America?  No, but if I am in China I should obey the Chinese laws regardless of what country I am from.

Some of the laws we read in the Bible are laws given to the nation of Israel under the theocracy of God.  Since this nation no longer exists, we do not need to obey and follow these laws anymore today.  An example of this is the command to put to death homosexuals (Leviticus 18:22, 20:12).  This is no longer the law in America, where I live, so I shouldn’t put homosexuals to death, and if I did, I would actually be breaking my country’s laws, and thus breaking God’s law!

Ceremonial law – These laws mostly centered on the Jewish tabernacle, later to be replaced by Solomon’s temple.  These laws dealt with the manner of sacrifices, Sabbath observance, Jewish festivals, purity and cleanliness, and temple practices and activities.  What’s important to remember about these laws is that they pointed to Jesus Christ.  Read Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement for a great example of how these laws foreshadowed Christ.  Other verses that explain the purpose of these laws are Colossians 2:16-17, Acts 10:9-16, John 1:14, Hebrews 8:13, and John 2:12-22.  When we read Scripture we need to decipher if the commands we are reading are ceremonial.  Some ceremonial laws can still be of benefit to observe today, but some of the laws, such as the ones dealing with animal sacrifices should certainly not be practiced because Christ was the atoning sacrifice for sin once and for all.

Moral law – God’s moral law might best be summarized with the Ten Commandments, but even then questions arise about the manner and method of what is required with observing the Sabbath and keeping it holy in light of Christ.  Jesus’ two essential laws “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” could serve as good summaries of the moral law.  This dimension, or type, of the law applies to all people throughout all time!

3 Uses of the Law

There are also three uses of the law, or functions of the law.  These can be considered as ways in which the dimensions of the law can be applied to our lives.  The three uses of the Law are as a curb, as a mirror, and as a rule.

1st use – Curb – Think of a street curb.  The purpose of a street curb is to prevent accidents and to keep cars on the correct path.  Likewise, God’s law functioning as a curb prevents and restricts evil in the world.  This use of the Law is given and applied to all people, whether they know it or not.  The laws of authorities and governments function as a curb by rewarding law-bearers and punishing law-breakers.  In addition to these laws, God has written his law upon the hearts of men as another way of curbing the external sinful actions of mankind.

2nd use – Mirror – When you look into a mirror, you must see your reflection, unless you are a vampire or you are on the wrong-side of a two-way mirror.  God’s law functioning as a mirror shows us our sin.  When we gaze into God’s perfect Law, we see our reflection – we’ve fallen short of God’s command and we deserve eternal punishment.  The second use of the law is necessary for us to know our need of a savior.  A good dose of the Law in this function leaves us in despair, but it is exactly what we need to drive us running to the cross of Calvary for our salvation.  This use of the law is for Christians and non-Christians alike.  Non-Christians need to hear that they are sinful before a just and holy God in order to come to repentance and Christians need to daily be reminded of their sinfulness, unless we become self-righteous or forget our utter dependence upon God for our salvation.

3rd use – Rule – Rule is the term commonly used to describe the 3rd use of the Law.  When the term rule is used, picture a ruler which gives a standard of measurement.  God’s Law likewise gives us a standard for which we can measure ourselves.  Sometimes, instead of using the word rule to describe this function, the word guide is employed.  Once a person has come to salvation, the Law no longer serves as an instrument to bring guilt and repentance, but as a guide for how God would have us live our lives.  This function of the Law only applies to Christians who are living under God’s grace, who follow the path the Lord has set before those who believe to follow in this life.  Interestingly enough, as soon as one starts to follow God’s Law – almost instantly, the 3rd use of the Law, the Rule, converts back into the 2nd use of the Law, the Mirror; again our sinfulness is made clear to us and we are again clinging to the Gospel.

The Good News

Gospel means good news.  After being dealt a crushing blow by the law which shows our sinfulness, we are in desperate need of a savior.  The Gospel shows us our savior – Jesus Christ.  The good news is that the condemnation which we deserve for breaking God’s Law has already been paid in full by Christ.  Christ who was sinless became sin and took the full wrath of God upon himself and suffered hell on the cross and died.  However, because of his faithfulness in fulfilling the Law and serving as a substitute for us to receive the punishment we deserve, God the Father had Christ raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit!

This entire process has been called the “Great Exchange.”  Our sins have been credited to Christ.  Christ’s righteousness has been credited to us.  This exchange occurs through faith in this good news!

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Philippians 2:5-11 “Christ Jesus: Who, being in very natureGod, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very natureof a servant,  being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Galatians 1:3-4 “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 2:4-9 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Distortion and Confusion Leads to Danger!

Properly administering Law and Gospel can be very difficult.  Sometimes it can become easy to distort Law and Gospel from their proper biblical sense and thus it becomes easier to apply these two concepts to our lives, but if we do so we are in grave danger of losing the Christian faith.  The following are possible examples of how Law and Gospel can be distorted or confused:

  1. Weaken the Law.  If we weaken the Law we turn God’s Law into a commandment that we can fulfill.  This is utterly wrong because it is impossible for us to live up to God’s perfect and holy standard.  If a person hears again and again a message that says that they can “do it” then he or she will literally start to think that they can.  Weakening the Law leads to self-righteousness in which one no longer needs Christ because righteousness has already been achieved by a person who thinks he has fulfilled the Law.  Or, in this weakened state of the Law, a person thinks the Law can be fulfilled by one’s own merit and that person will strive for perfection but will fall short of it again and again.
  2. Hear only Law.  If a person hears only the Law, that person is left in utter defeat because he or she will always fall short.  It’s Mission: Impossible.   It can’t be done.  However, many people go to church and only hear the Law.  The messages given are all Law-centered and speak only of what the Christian should be doing.  This might be ok for a while if the hearers do know the Gospel, but over a period of time, this will lead to guilt and depression and sense of inadequacy.  Often times, if the Law is only preached, then the Law is being viewed in its weakened state because it is being viewed as an obtainable standard, when it is not.
  3. Mixing Law and Gospel.  The Gospel is God’s work alone to save mankind.  However, sometimes there is the tendency to insert our work or a level of performance into the Gospel.  An example of this might be to say that if a person truly believes in God they wouldn’t sin in certain areas or to certain degrees.  Another example of doing this is setting a prerequisite to coming to faith.  I once heard a preacher say that you had to get the filth out of your life to come to God in a message that was directed towards non-Christians.  This of course is completely false.  If we had to get the filth out of our life to become Christians, no one would be a Christian.  Anytime the Law and the Gospel are mingled, salvation is in doubt because our works our involved and not just God’s.
  4. Hear only Gospel.  If a person hears only the Gospel, this can lead people to think they can do anything they want, because God loves them and will always forgive them.  It might even lead them to think that they can believe anything they want and worship anything they want because they’ll always be forgiven.  While, it’s true that God always forgives us on account of Christ’s work, but if our sin is left unchecked by only hearing the Gospel, our sin could grow to the point that we love our sin so much that we reject faith in God and replace him with the sin that we love so much.

S.O.S.

Both the Law and Gospel are needed.

Law S.O.S. – Shows our sin.

Gospel S.O.S. – Shows our Savior.

We need both of these.  Without the Law to show us our sin, we don’t need to know our savior.  Without the Gospel to show us our savior, we would constantly strive for the perfection that God’s Law demands of us and always fall short, or we would just give up and live in guilt until facing our coming judgment.  The two complement each other and go hand in hand.  Because of this Christians need to hear both Law and Gospel.  However, sometimes we need to hear one and not the other.  If a person feels the weight of his or her sin and is in a state of confession, dosing on more Law would be utterly wrong.  This person desperately needs to hear the good news of the Gospel.  If a person is unrepentant, sinning away and has no sorrow or contrition, then that person needs to hear the Law.

Anytime we read the Bible, we need to ask ourselves “What is the Law in this passage?” and “What is the Gospel in this passage?”  If we find that a passage only has Law, we should seek to find the Gospel in related passages, and conversely if a passage only contains Gospel we need to find Law in related passages.

We should always listen to every sermon carefully and recognize how the Law is used in it and if the Gospel is free of the Law.  If you ever come away from a church gathering, feeling guilty and questioning your salvation, check to see if the message preached only contained Law, and if so, run to the Bible and read clear Gospel proclamations!

Above all remember that out of love for us, God shows us our sin and out of that same love he graciously shows us our savior.

 

 

 

 

Andy Wrasman3 Comments

Hinduism – Connecting Hindu Beliefs to the Gospel of Jesus Christ #2

Paul spent time in the market place, observing and interacting with the Athenians.  When he was asked to address their questions about the message he was sharing, he first began by praising their religiosity.  He acknowledged the gods they worshipped and used an idol they had built to the unknown god as a connecting point to present Jesus, “the unknown god.”  He then quoted one of their poets, not Scripture, to make another connection to the Gospel.  He started with them, where they were at in their relationship and knowledge of God, addressed their questions and concerns, and built a bridge to the Gospel.
About 500 BC, there was a big shift in Hinduism.  It was during this time that the Upanishads were written, as a collection of meditations and teachings based on the Vedic texts.  Upanishads means “sitting near.”  This gives the image of a pupil sitting near a teacher learning.  I relate the Upanishads to the Jewish Talmud.  The Talmud consists of a massive quantity of writings from Jewish priests and teachers on traditions, history, and interpretation of the Scriptures.  I also liken the Upanishads to the footnotes in many Study Bibles – an explanation of the text and a backdrop to the history and traditions of the time the texts were written.  However, the Upanishads take more liberties for personal interpretation than the Talmud and Study Bible notes.
It’s from the Upanishads that some key teachings of Hinduism arise and take root.
Brahman – Brahman is the divine essence that is at the heart of all things in the universe.  This teaching ultimately says that there is only one divine reality and that we are all united in it, in fact we consist of it.  This one divine reality also means that there are not many gods, just Brahman.  I like to think of this as the Force in Star Wars – it’s all things.  Hindus compare Brahman to salt in water.  It’s there, but you don’t see it, and it’s in all parts of the water and can’t be separated from the water (but it can be, right?).
Atman – At the same time that all things are one, we still maintain our individuality.  Brahman at the individual level in humanity is called Atman.  Atman can be compared to our soul – that which makes us unique.
Maya – This word means illusion.  The reason we don’t see and grasp the divine oneness of all things is because of Maya.  It’s just an illusion that we see ourselves as separate from one another.  This illusion is what brings rise to selfishness, pain, and suffering.
Samsara – Samsara is the cycle of death and rebirth.  When our bodies die, the divine within us does not.  Our soul is reborn into a new body.
Karma – This is the moral law of cause and effect.  Karma determines the direction of our rebirth according to Hinduism.
Moksha – This is liberation from Samsara and the yoke of Karma.  When a person reaches Moksha, they are no longer reborn but are completely united with Brahman, once and for all.  Little is said about how to obtain Moksha in the Upanishads.  It’s essentially up to the individual to discover self-realization of their oneness with Brahman, thus escaping bondage to worldly existence.
Making the Connection between Hindu Beliefs and the Gospel of Jesus Christ
At first glance, it might be difficult to envision how a connection from these Hindu concepts can be made, but it can be done.  I’d like to be adamant that these connections, in no way mean that Christianity and Hinduism have the same teachings!  That is far from the truth.  All I am doing is pointing out similarities, which can then open the door for presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For example, it’s very easy to say, “Oh, Christians hold a similar belief.  We believe the same thing concerning ___________, but we don’t believe ___________.  Instead, the Bible teaches _________.”
Hindu Teaching:
Brahman – Brahman is the divine essence that is at the heart of all things in the universe.  This teaching ultimately says that there is only one divine reality and that we are all united in it, in fact we consist of it.
 brahman
Christian teaching:
Acts 17:28 In this verse, Paul is recorded as having said, “For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring.”
Connecting to the Gospel of Jesus
 
Christians hold a similar view as Brahman in that we believe that it is from God that we live and move and have are being.  Colossians 1:17 even teaches that Jesus holds all things together.  However at the heart of each and every one of us, Christians disagree with the Hindu understanding that all is divine.  Christians however recognize that all things in the universe have come from God, but that all things do not consist of God, because God created the universe out of nothing by speaking it into existence.  This however does not mean that we believe God is far off from us.  Paraphrasing what Paul shared in Acts 17, God is still at the heart of all our lives; we have our being because of him, and he determined the times set for us and the exact places that we should live.  In this way, Christians agree with Hindus that God is at the heart of all things, but we certainly would not say that all things are God.
Jesus is very near. Everything that lives and breaths, because of him. In Christianity, God is at the heart of all things; Christ holds all things together. However, this does not mean that all things are divine as Hinduism teaches.
This still has not made a connection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The connection to the Gospel will come in the next blog post by connecting Karma, the cosmic law of the universe in Hinduism, with the Law of God, and Moksha, the liberation from Samsara, with the pardon from the penalty of breaking God’s Law found in the Gospel of Christ.

Andy Wrasman7 Comments