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Sharing Jesus With Hindus - 4/21/2008 10:55:18 AM
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ESpangler
Posts: 1
Joined: 4/21/2008
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In this time there is much attention given to Islam (appropriately so). How would the Lord of the church call us to respond in love to the Hindus of the world? About one of every six people living today is considered a Hindu. A 'world,' 'global,' or 'Great Commission' Christian understand not only God's Word, but also God's world and the work that remains. Furthermore, he or she gives more than mental assent to the need to respond.
What do Hindus believe? One site, committed to helping students respond, provides a basic but thorough overview:
http://www.dare2share.org/hindus
As God's missionary people, we're called to build bridges that allow us to share our faith with Hindus (and others). Hinduism teaches the incarnation of the god Vishnu; Jesus is the incarnation of God. This represents a point of conversation from which we may potentially move Hindu friends toward a discovery of truth. As a further example, one might begin by talking about the idea of 'avatar.' Literally meaning a ‘descent, or incarnation’ of a deity, the concept of avatar could most definitely be used to help explain Jesus’ incarnation. Several differences arise, which must be noted: Jesus was pre-existent (there was never a time when the Son was not) while Vishnu’s incarnations (avatars) are periodic and specific to time. Jesus is not just another avatar of Vishnu. Jesus’ primary purpose was to reveal the Father, point to the Father, bring the Father glory, etc. There’s more, obviously.
- Respectfully submitted . . .
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RE: Sharing Jesus With Hindus - 4/22/2008 12:06:45 AM
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Zhi
Posts: 940
Joined: 7/31/2007
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I have had several Hindu coworkers that I've had opportunities to witness to. I'll say point-blank that witnessing to Hindus is hard.
It's not that they refuse to accept Jesus as God, it's that they'd be happy to add Him to the list. The very, very long list. The website you pointed at kind of oversimplifies... a Hindu likes Brahma, sure. But Brahma can be a number of things, from an actual being, to just a general unknowable/impersonal "all stuff" concept, depending on what theology they ascribe to. In addition, each has his own personal god(s), his family's god(s), his village's god(s), his region's god(s), and a few more he just happens to think are kind of cool.
So, you have to do more than explain to a Hindu that Jesus is God, because he'll say "sure" and you'll think you've made progress when in actuality he's understanding it as "all of us are a little bit of Brahma, including you, me, Jesus, and that fly crawling on the wall". To explain our belief system (and most of them tend to be really curious from my experience) you have to start from the concept that there is only one God in our belief system, that He is not "everything", and that Jesus is His unique son.
_____________________________
The optimist says the glass is half full. The pessimist says the glass is half empty. The engineer says the glass is twice as large as it needs to be.
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