Hinduism

Hinduism is one of the oldest religions and has its origin from India. Hinduism is a pantheistic religion. Pantheism is a religious belief that includes the entire universe in its idea of God. All is God and God is all. According to Hinduism, God is an ultimate impersonal absolute (not a distinct personal or not an individual personality). Hinduism teaches a three-faceted god:

• Brahma, the supreme deity
• Vishnu is the preserver, the second god of the Hindu triad
• Shiva the destroyer

There are several Avatars (incarnation) of these gods. Ram is the 7^th Avatar, Krishna the 8^th and Buddha the 9^th for Vishnu. A 10^th is yet to come at end of this age (Kali Yug). In addition to these there are several other gods, demi-gods and demons in the heavenly realms.

Yugas (Ages): There are 4 yugas. (Satya, Treta, Dvapara, Kali)

There are four main castes: Brahmans (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas (merchants) & Sudras (servants). Beyond these four castes is a fifth, the Dalits, the outcasts.

The holy books are:

1. Vedas (Wisdom books). There 4 Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda & Atharveda) and they mostly Mantras and philosophical texts
2. Puranas: Stories of god, goddesses, universe creation etc
3. Upanishids: Doctrines
4. Mahabhrata (Epic) – the story of a great battle between the Pandavas and their 100 cousins
5. Ramayana (Epic) –  story of Rama, and his quest to rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon king Ravana
6. Bhagwad Gita – A part of the Mahabharata, a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, addressing themes of duty, karma, and the nature of reality. 

Nonnegotiable beliefs/doctrines:

1. All of lives is Unity (oneness): Connection b/w all form of lives
2. Life is a ‘Leela’—a play, a drama. The universe is simply a cosmic puppet theater for the gods. We are simply actors on a stage. Roles and duties are all divinely assigned and beyond human control.
3. Karma: Belief that all of one’s action in life both good and bad determine one’s next rebirth after death.
4. Every birth is a rebirth (reincarnation): Everyone has preexisted and that life, or history, is cyclical.
   • Brahmacharya: The first stage is a period of discipline and education.
   • Grihastha: The second is the life of the householder and active worker. 
   • Vanaprastha: The third is the loosening of the family bonds and attachments.
   • Sannyasa: And finally, there is the stage of the ascetic and the hermit.

The sages in saffron robes are people who have fulfilled their calling at the previous stages of life and have moved toward the stage of the sannyasa, the stage of denial to self, of freeing the mind from matter.

5. Moksha (Freedom from reincarnation): The essence of each individual is the atman (soul) and is part of the supreme soul. The goal in life, according to the Upanishads, is to achieve ‘moksha’, or salvation by unifying the self with the Brahman -the impersonal absolute. (end of cycle of rebirth).

There are several ways to attain moksha. One is by the way of knowledge (Jnana). 2^nd is the way of work and service (Karma) and 3^rd is the way of devotion and love (Bhakti). Possessing a pure intellect; with senses fully under control; casting aside attraction and aversion; living in solitude; eating little; controlling speech, body, and mind; always engaged in meditation and concentration; having no passion; having given up egoism, force, arrogance, desire, anger, and accumulation; devoid of the notion of “mineness” and being peaceful; such a man is qualified to attain Brahma, the absolute.

Implications of a Hinduist Worldview

1. Cosmic Junkyard

Hinduism has absorbed a wide range of ideologies, beliefs, traditions, and rituals from various religions and cultures over a long period. As a result, it now resembles a “cosmic junkyard” — a landscape filled with contradictory ideas, such as:

• Monotheism, polytheism, pantheism, and belief in an impersonal absolute
• Vegetarianism alongside animal sacrifice
• The belief that human birth is superior to that of animals, yet animals are often treated better than Dalits (“untouchables”)

2. Abstract Concept of God

Hinduism teaches the existence of both personal gods, who are to be worshipped, and an impersonal absolute, which is beyond worship. This results in a paradoxical concept of an “impersonal personal” — an idea that remains abstract and unresolved.

3. Denial of Sin

Since Hinduism teaches that all reality is ultimately one, it lacks a consistent framework for distinguishing between good and evil. Sin (Paap), refers to actions (karma) that are harmful, unethical, or contrary to moral order and is not about disobeying God. The concept of sin becomes meaningless in such a worldview.

4. Denial of Human Equality

An individual’s birth is believed to be determined by karma (a moral debt from past lives). Roles and duties are seen as divinely assigned, often leading to a fatalistic acceptance of one’s social status and circumstances.

5. Karma and Rebirth

Hinduism places the burden of moral debt on the individual across multiple lifetimes. One must pay endlessly through suffering, ritual, and rebirth governed by Karma. How does Reincarnation, or repeated births make sense when a person has no idea what the previous births were and what decisions he or she made that resulted in their present life? They do not know what they are paying for, or how to pay for it, or when they have paid it.

6. Caste-Based Morality and Law

Ethics were not universal but role-based. Dharma meant duty tied to birth, not moral responsibility shared by all. Legal systems derived from the Smritis imposed punishments based on caste rather than the severity of the crime. Upper castes, especially Brahmins, were largely exempt from severe punishment, while lower castes faced harsher penalties for lesser offenses.

7. Fatalism

An individual’s birth is believed to be determined by karma (a moral debt from past lives). Roles and duties are seen as divinely assigned, often leading to a fatalistic acceptance of one’s social status and circumstances. Suffering is explained as deserved, inherited from a previous existence, and therefore justified. This worldview normalizes inequality and sanctifies oppression.

8. Based on Superstition

Many aspects of Hinduism are based on superstition rather than empirical evidence. Illness was attributed to evil forces requiring priestly intervention through rituals, sacrifices, and offerings. These approaches offered little practical relief to the afflicted and at times, contributed to social evils, criminal practices, the spread of disease, and higher mortality rates.

9. Social Exclusion and Dehumanization

Untouchability institutionalized social segregation. Lower castes were excluded from temples, wells, schools, and public spaces. Physical contact was treated as pollution. Women, especially from lower castes, faced compounded oppression through gender and caste discrimination

Bible’s response to the Hinduistic Worldview:

A worldview built on impersonal ultimate reality, cyclical history, and birth-based duty inevitably normalizes inequality, diffuses moral responsibility, and renders suffering both deserved and unredeemable.

The Holy Bible presents a radically different vision of reality and human life. Scripture teaches that God purposefully created every man, woman, and child. God determined from the beginning where each one was to be born. The race of each person is sacred. No race is superior to another. Humanity is not divided by graded worth but united by a shared Creator.

The Bible also teaches that life and history move in a straight line, not an endless cycle. “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Human life is therefore a single, meaningful journey marked by moral accountability, not repeated attempts to repay an unknown past.

According to Romans 2:15–16, God has written His moral law on the human heart, providing an internal moral compass that applies to all people. Good and evil are not defined by caste, community, or convenience, but by the objective standard of God’s Word. Ethics are not hierarchical or negotiable. They are universal.

Jesus Christ Himself claimed to be the fixed point of reference for truth—the standard by which all moral judgments are measured. This is why the biblical command to love one’s neighbor has no caste qualifier. There is no theological allowance for excluding the “untouchable,” the diseased, or the marginalized.

Humanity’s problem, according to the Bible, is not ritual impurity or karmic residue, but sin—a moral rupture between humanity and God that cannot be repaired by human effort. And the solution is not endless repayment through suffering, ritual, or rebirth, but forgiveness.

The Bible declares that Jesus Christ canceled all moral debt completely and decisively by taking it out of the way and nailing it to the cross. We need not do anything to pay for our debts. It was all paid in full.

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13–14).

Nothing more needs to be paid. No ritual, no rebirth, no suffering cycle remains. The cross ends the economy of spiritual debt. Suffering is not explained away as deserved fate but confronted as an evil to be resisted, healed, and redeemed—because God (Jesus Christ) Himself entered human suffering and bore its weight.

This is the invitation of the gospel: not an endless cycle of moral uncertainty, but forgiveness; not fatalism, but hope; not debt without memory, but grace with assurance—found in Jesus Christ and His cross.