Hinduism and Christianity
Our HINDUISM TODAY editors were contacted in 1993 by Christianity Today magazine to be interviewed for a major story called “Hindus in America.” Thus began a series of dialogs that added to their article crucial and often corrective insights to dispel common myths and misinformation about the world’s oldest religion. Perhaps most significantly, they agreed to publish our own nine fundamental Hindu beliefs. The editors of Christianity Today composed nine parallel Christian convictions, written in a series of intense sessions by the best theologians they could assemble. The resulting point-counterpoint—whose brevity is both its strength and its weakness—summarizes the cosmic perspective of two of the world’s largest faiths.§
On Revealed Scriptures
| HINDUS BELIEVE in the divinity of the Vedas, the world’s most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are God’s word and the bedrock of Sanātana Dharma, the eternal religion which has neither beginning nor end. |  | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE the Bible is the uniquely inspired and fully trustworthy word of God. It is the final authority for Christians in matters of belief and practice, and though it was written long ago, it continues to speak to believers today. |
On the Nature of God
| HINDUS BELIEVE in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE in one God in three persons. He is distinct from his creation, yet intimately involved with it as its sustainer and redeemer. |
On the World’s Creation
| HINDUS BELIEVE that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that the world was created once by the divine will, was corrupted by sin, yet under God’s providence moves toward final perfection. |
On Karma and Destiny
| HINDUS BELIEVE in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that, through God’s grace and favor, lost sinners are rescued from the guilt, power and eternal consequences of their evil thoughts, words and deeds. |
On Incarnation and Liberation
| HINDUS BELIEVE that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, spiritual knowledge and liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be eternally deprived of this destiny. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that it is appointed for human beings to die once and after that face judgment. In Adam’s sin, the human race was spiritually alienated from God, and that those who are called by God and respond to his grace will have eternal life. Those who persist in rebellion will be lost eternally. |
On Worship of Divine Beings
| HINDUS BELIEVE that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments as well as personal devotionals create a communion with these devas and Gods. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that spirit beings inhabit the universe, some good and some evil, but worship is due to God alone. |
On Spiritual Guidance
| HINDUS BELIEVE that a spiritually awakened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry and meditation. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that God has given us a clear revelation of Himself in Jesus and the sacred Scriptures. He has empowered by his Spirit prophets, apostles, evangelists, and pastors who are teachers charged to guide us into faith and holiness in accordance with his Word. |
On Noninjury and the Sanctity of Life
| HINDUS BELIEVE that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsā, “noninjury.” | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that life is to be highly esteemed but that it must be subordinated in the service of Biblical love and justice. |
On the Way to Salvation
| HINDUS BELIEVE that no particular religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine religious paths are facets of God’s Pure Love and Light, deserving tolerance and understanding. | | CHRISTIANS BELIEVE that Jesus is God incarnate and, therefore, the only sure path to salvation. Many religions may offer ethical and spiritual insights, but only Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. |