Question:

I don’t know how to put this question right, but I’ll give it my best shot.   Hinduism is a religion that has been around many years. It teaches a lot about morals, our duties etc. In Hinduism, basically there is only one God and because of a power or a spirit called Brahman, the whole universe exists. Hinduism teaches that God, the Supreme Being, came to earth in various forms which include Krishna, Ganesh and many more. These forms of the Supreme Being are called avatars. Some Hindus say that Jesus, Buddha and all the wise men could be the avatars. They say God can appear on earth in any form. Their scriptures contain a lot of wisdom but I’m not saying that it is completely inspired by God. But do you think that Hinduism has some kind of influence of God? A verse in the Quran says that God had sent messengers to all nations in the past. Some Muslims today say that these nations had taken the message wrongly and start edfollowing God in their own way and also say that Islam is the true religion which is unfacbricated and the final revelation of God. I don’t believe in Islam and consider it false due to various reasons. But don’t you think God must have sent messengers to people of all nations in the past to have godly influence and live for God? Or else how can they know God and be saved? Do you think Hinduism was introduced by God and was later changed into something else? Can Christianity and Hinduism be connected somehow? Can it be such that all the avatars were real and Jesus carried the complete and true message of God and all (includingHhindus) are to believe in Him and follow Him?

Answer:

This is a complex question.  I believe that God has created us in his image and given us a conscience which allows us to understand on some level moral and ethical “truth.”  This is the reason that all humans see the need to know the higher reality of the universe and to worship this higher power in one form or another.  I believe it also explains why all cultures and people have significant amount in common with regard to what is morally right and wrong.  There is some “truth” in this sense, in all human religion.  I do not deny this. In fact, the biblical statement that we were made in God’s image explains the facts about other religions well.

But there is the question of whether any of these beliefs are “Truth” with a capital T.  Is Hinduism or Buddhism or Islam inspired by God or partially inspired by God?  Is there some authority in the Qur’an or the Baghavadh Gita?   I believe the answer is a very clear no.  First of all, Hinduism does NOT propose a single personal God.  Hinduism is essentially pantheism, which proposes that everything is God.  God is the universe.  God pervades the universe.  God is not a person.  We are, in a sense, God.  This is pantheism and this is Hinduism.  Hindus do NOT believe that a personal God created the universe.  They believe that God (Brahman) is co-existent with the universe and that the universe is eternal.  Well, we know from science that this is simply not true.  Hinduism is flat wrong on the most basic things–the nature of physical reality and of God.  Is Hindu scripture such as the Vedas or the Upanishads influenced by God? I am not sure what this would mean.  The important question is whether these writings are Truth (capital T) and authoritative. Hinduism is not, nor has it ever been Truth.  Do its scriptures contain wisdom?  Yes!  Is it Truth? No.

The same can be said about the Qur’an.  We can detect moral and ethical wisdom in the Qur’an for sure.  However, if the Qur’an is inspired, then Jesus was not crucified and he is not God.  Muhammad was very clear on these things. We cannot have it both ways here.  If Jesus is who he said he is, then the Qur’an is not Truth.  Period.  God may have sent messengers to the Arabs, as you propose, but Muhammad is not one of them.  This is a fact, proven by history.  How do I know that?  Because the crucifixion of Jesus is an established fact of history. Muhammad is therefore a false prophet.  Muhammad is not an avatar of God.  Krishna and Ganesh are purely mythical creations of human imagination and are most certainly not avatars of the God who sent Jesus.  There is literally no evidence that either Krishna or Ganesh ever existed, so obviously they are not God-sent avatars.

So, if you are asking whether there are elements of truth (with a small t) in other world religions, I say yes, definitely.  If you are asking whether they offer authoritative Truth (big T) from God, I say absolutely not. This whole different-paths-to-the-same-place philosophy, so common for Hindus does not make sense.

John Oakes