Isaiah 44:8-20 Jesus vs. Hinduism

Rev. David Holwick B Jesus and Other Faiths

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

January 10, 2016

Isaiah 44:8-20

JESUS vs. HINDUISM

I. East meets West.

A. The largest Hindu temple in the world.

1) The current Guinness Book of World Records holder for the

world's largest comprehensive Hindu temple is a

59-acre complex New Delhi, India.

But not for long - the world's largest Hindu temple is

near completion in Robbinsville, New Jersey.

The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha

(BAPS) temple, known as a mandir, is a 162-acre complex

which broke ground in 2009 and will be done in 2017.

According to THE TIMES of India, 2,000 artisans in India

are hand-crafting the stones in Italian and Indian marble.

It will have a youth activity center, visitor's center and

a food court.

There will be seating for 1,000 people. [1]

2) Hinduism is now mainstream in America, and is the second

largest faith in the states of Arizona and Delaware.

B. Hinduism has struck a chord with the new generation.

1) Recent movies highlighting the faith are EAT, PRAY, LOVE

with Julia Roberts and THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.

a) Not to mention 1982's epic movie GANDHI.

2) The Beatles probably started the ball rolling.

In 1968 the group realized that material success was not

enough to fill the void in their lives.

They decided to explore spirituality.

They traveled to India and met with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi,

the man who developed Transcendental Meditation.

He emphasized meditation and lots of sex.

He was quite popular with jet-setters.

So the Beatles wore flower necklaces and hummed mantras.

#30640

The Beatles finally got fed up with the Maharishi and left

and the meditation center in India has fallen into ruin.

But the popularity of Hindu religion continues to grow

here.

C. Most of us don't know much about Hinduism.

1) My own understanding is probably superficial.

a) Even if you practice yoga, you only think you know.

b) Much of the way Hinduism is practiced in America is a

heavily commercialized version.

c) Baptist leader Albert Mohler got in trouble for

criticizing yoga as a Hindu religious practice.

Legions of Christians said they benefited from it,

but he was actually correct - the origins are for

religious insight and not physical fitness.

#36217

2) I expect Hinduism to continue to grow.

a) More immigrants are coming from India.

b) Your neighbors may be dabbling in it.

c) How should you respond to them?

II. Know what Hinduism is about.

A. The religion is tremendously complex.

1) It covers a wide range of beliefs and practices.

2) Some Hindus believe in one god, others in millions of gods,

and a few in no god at all.

3) There are two main approaches:

a) Popular Hinduism, worshipping gods through offerings,

rituals and prayers.

b) Philosophical Hinduism, studying its complex belief

system through ancient texts, meditation and yoga.

B. Its timeline has parallels with the Old Testament.

1) Most scholars believe Hinduism began with the mixing of

Aryans and local people around 1750 BC, around the time

of the Old Testament patriarchs like Jacob.

a) The earliest worship focused on the forces of nature.

b) Later they developed the idea of personified gods like

Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.

2) The oldest Hindu religious writings are the Vedas.

a) They were written around 1000 BC, about the time of

King David in Israel.

b) The most important scripture for them is the

Bhagavad-Gita.

1> It was written around the time of the Exile of

Israel, around 500 BC.

2> These scriptures are not like the Bible or Qur'an,

but more varied. Many are very long poems.

III. Key religious concepts in Hinduism.

A. Brahman is the ultimate god and fills the universe.

1) It could be said that the universe IS Brahman.

a) All the other gods are aspects of him.

2) A little of Brahman (=god) rests in every human.

a) The goal of Hinduism is to discover the god in you.

b) As you gain insight and knowledge, you eventually

become complete and one with the universe.

1> This is known as Nirvana.

2> What keeps you from Nirvana is not so much sin,

but ignorance.

B. Salvation is gained by cycling through multiple lives.

1) Dharma: the law of the Moral Order.

2) Kharma: the law of Moral Consequences.

a) Good much come from good, and evil from evil.

3) Reincarnation: repeating life cycles until you get it right.

a) A key component of reincarnation: the caste system.

b) Each person has a status in life and must keep within

its boundaries.

1> If they do well, they move up and eventually reach

salvation.

2> If they do badly, they move down, perhaps to an

animal form.

3> You may require millions of reincarnations to

reach Nirvana.

C. The three paths of salvation.

1) The Way of Works, or religious duty.

a) Some of the duties would be familiar to us, like

attending services, but other are very extreme.

2) The Way of Knowledge.

a) Coming to understand you have no existence as an

individual.

b) Meditation and self-discipline help you arrive at this.

3) The Way of Devotion.

a) You can be devoted to the gods, and also to your family.

b) Love of the god is the primary motivation for it.

IV. Why Hinduism is attractive to many in the West.

A. Reverence for life.

1) Many Hindus prefer a vegetarian diet and none eat cows.

a) The concept of non-violence against all life forms

including animals is important to many.

b) They believe in methods of food production that are

in harmony with nature and that are compassionate.

2) Strict sexual ethic.

a) This may surprise some, because Maharishi Yogi and

others have promoted what seems like promiscuity.

b) Most Hinduism is actually very puritanical.

1> There is no kissing or nudity in Indian movies.

2> Purity is important to them.

3> Violating sexual standards can lead to harsh

punishment, even death.

B. Emphasis on the inner life.

1) Meditation -- not so much to connect with god, but with

yourself.

2) New Age Movement has adapted many of these ideas.

C. Toleration.

1) It is an eclectic faith - no sin for them to have a

Christmas tree in their house.

a) Jesus can be just another god in their pantheon.

2) Life is a series of cycles rather than a linear line from

birth to death to judgment.

D. Beauty.

1) Hinduism is full of ceremonies and pilgrimages and colorful

characters: sleeping on beds of nails, etc.

2) Colorful festivals and temples.

V. Hinduism has a downside.

A. Much of its content is based on idols.

1) Hinduism comes the closest to classic idolatry.

a) Their temples are filled with carved images that are

worshipped.

b) By some estimates, their faith has 330 million gods.

2) Modern idols are no more effective than ancient ones.

Consider Isaiah's mockery of idolatry and this situation:

Southern Baptist missionaries in India watched from their

balcony as a 10-foot idol on a trailer was pulled

a narrow alley.

A low tree limb soon blocked the progress.

It took them 45 minutes to figure out what to do.

Finally, a child removed the top of the makeshift temple

covering, barely giving the idol enough room to pass

under the tree limb.

The missionary noted, "They're expecting this god to

remove obstacles in their lives, but he can't even

remove a tree limb. #36026

B. Caste system.

1) Institutionalized racism that creates social inertia and

perpetual poverty. Tied to concept of reincarnation.

2) Related - overly close ties with nationalism.

a) Atrocities at birth of nation of India.

b) Riots with Muslims and Christians.

3) Christians need to remember that our own racism has had

a negative impact.

a) Gandhi once tried to attend a church but they wouldn't

let him sit with the white people, so he left.

C. Works righteousness.

1) Back in 1980, a German businessman named Ray decided to

become a Hindu.

An Associated Press article said he completed his

initiation by piercing himself through the cheeks

with a 1/4-inch thick, 4-foot-long steel rod.

Then he pulled a chariot for 2 miles by ropes attached

to his back and chest by steel hooks.

Other initiates walked through 20-foot-long pits of fire.

Some put on shoes with inner soles made of nails.

Others hanged themselves in the air spread-eagle from hooks

embedded in their backs.

#5871

2) Christianity is not as torturous - for us.

a) We gain nothing from torturing our bodies in acts of

devotion.

b) We gain everything by putting our faith in a God who

was tortured for us.

In the novel "Life of Pi" about a Hindu boy who

survives on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, the boy

recalls hearing about Jesus for the first time.

He recalls how the Hindu gods came to earth "with shine

and power and might."

Then he says,

"This Son [Jesus], on the other hand, who goes hungry,

who suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad,

who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who

has to put up with followers who don't get it

and opponents who don't respect him - what

kind of god is that?

It's a god on too human a scale, that's what."

This Hindu boy understands Christ better than most

Christians.

#28941

VI. How Christians should approach Hindus.

A. Don't be judgmental or condemning.

1) (My sermon title might suggest this approach - "vs.")

2) It is best to keep a positive approach since they can

appreciate many Christian concepts.

B. Appreciate their emphasis on the inner spirit.

1) Too many Christians are cold in their faith.

2) Show Hindus that God's love is real to you.

C. Emphasize our personal God.

1) We do not become One with Nothingness - our personalities

will exist forever.

2) Our God is cares about us as individuals and seeks to

perfect us, not obliterate us.

3) Jesus came to deliver us from suffering and give us

eternal life, which we cannot gain on our own.

D. Many Hindus have discovered Jesus in a personal way.

Yash* was born in a Hindu village in India.

It was his desire from childhood to know who is his god.

He used to follow all kinds of Hindu rituals, rules and

regulations.

At first, he wanted to know the real and true god, but he used

to think, "Who is that true god?"

On Thursday in his village, they would worship the banana tree.

They poured water on the roots of the banana tree and wrapped

the tree in clothes.

Then they would read religious books under the tree.

It didn't seem like the true god to Yash.

One day, a sadhu (a Hindu holy man) came to him and told him

to perform a ceremony with milk on the banana tree roots.

He did this for one month but it didn't seem to work.

One day a man who was totally blind and couldn't even walk

properly came to their village

He began to tell them about Jesus and telling them about idols.

He was saying that idols have eyes but cannot see, ears but

cannot hear, and mouths but cannot speak.

Yash questioned the blind man.

"Your hair is so long. Your legs are so weak. Your clothes

are so dirty. You have not taken a bath in many days.

How can you speak such good words from your mouth?"

Then the man told Yash to visit his church.

He went and saw them singing and praising God and preaching.

Yash liked it.

One night he had a dream.

The idol came and told him that he should not go to church.

Another day he had a dream, a vision in which he saw a fire.

In the midst of this fire, he saw Jesus Christ.

That was when he decided to become a Christian.

He became baptized and wants to go back to his village and

preach.

Yash wants many people to come to Christ through him.

#24834

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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:

[1] “World's Largest Hindu Temple Being Built in New Jersey,”

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, NBC News; <http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/worlds-largest-hindu-temple-being-built-new-jersey-n166616>.

# 5871 “What Hindus Have To Do,” Roddy Chestnut Collection. No references

are given, but see "Man 'Initiated' Into the Hindu Faith,"

The Dispatch of Lexington, North Carolina, August 13, 1980;

<https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1734&dat=19800813&id=G5gbA AAAIBAJ&sjid=x1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4753,4579944&hl=en>.

It is attributed to the Associated Press out of Kuala Lumpur,

Malaysia.

#24834 “I Worshipped Many Idols,” staff writers, Baptist Press,

July 31, 2007; <http://www.baptistpress.org>. “Yash” is a

pseudonym to protect the convert.

#28941 “God On Too Human a Scale,” Brian Mavis, www.sermoncentral.com

newsletter, December 20, 2004.

#30640 “Giving God the Silent Treatment,” Rev. Mark Brouwer, Bridgewood

Church (Christian Reformed) of Savage, Minnesota;

<http://www.bridgewood.org>.

#36026 “He Can’t Even Remove a Tree Limb,” Marcus Rowntree (pseudonym

for missionary, Baptist Press, October 1, 2009;

http://www.baptistpress.org.

#36217 “The Subtle Body — Should Christians Practice Yoga?”Dr. R. Albert

Mohler Jr., President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,

September 20, 2010; http://www.albertmohler.com.

These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be

downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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