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Delve into the core teachings and philosophical underpinnings of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and New Age beliefs, unraveling concepts of divinity, reincarnation, and self-realization.
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Hinduism:God is one; everybody, including the anti-God, is the same one God and can say, “I am God”.
Teachings • The ultimate god, Brahman, is impersonal, but all other lesser gods are personal and the manifestation of the supreme god. • Man is the extension of the divine being: • He can apply his godly power to his daily life by meditating (Yoga) on his eternal godhood. • He will be able to release the divinity within himself and rise above materialism and reach towards love and peace.
Teachings • There is no false religion for Hinduism, because, everybody who brought a religion was the same supreme god. • Hindus worship demonic spirits, the living saints, animals such as cows, monkeys, snakes and others. • Gods exercise their power in favor of or in opposition to men (gods) and women (gods), depending on their respectful or disrespectful deeds towards those gods.
Teachings • Nothing is permanent: • The whole universe and every thing that exists, including gods, are subject to constant change. • Mountains, rocks and gods will pass away and others will take their places. • Each soul has many lives that die and are reborn again and again. • When a person or animal dies, only the physical body dies, the soul does not die but is reborn.
Problems • Impersonal and indescribable god cannot manifest itself into other describable personal beings. • A perfect God cannot multiply into inferior and opposite gods. • Inferior gods, who merge with one another, cannot make a perfect god. • Personal beings, who are describable, also cannot become impersonal and indescribable. • Also, Brahman cannot be perfect, if Satan (Shiva) lives in it and sin flows down from it into other inferior forms.
Problems • How can Brahman, who is impersonal, be also called “ultimate reality”? • Reality can be attributed only to a God that has personality and is describable, but not to an impersonal god. • Impersonal god cannot manifest itself, guide people, establish justice, peace and love among people. • Brahman, therefore, cannot be real.
Problems • Hinduism says that man will be able to release the divinity within himself through yoga and rise above materialism and reach towards love and peace. • Isn’t material spirit, god and good too? • If Brahman was the source of love and peace, why did it manifest itself into painful (inferior) beings but now tries to reach to its original state again? • Does really Brahman have peace and love while the enemy of peace and love, Shiva, lives in it?
Bible Condemns the Idea of ‘self-god’ • “In the pride of your heart you say, “I am a god; I sit on the throne of a god in the heart of the seas.” But you are a man and not a god, though you think you are as wise as a god.” (Ezek. 28:2); • “The Lord is One.” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29).
Buddhism:Man is the creator of God. The world we know it is not created by any supernatural being. It exists in the minds of those who perceive it. When the mind stops thinking, and awareness disappears, all that exists disappears.
Teachings • Mankind is significant and able to save himself. • He must rely on his own intelligence in order to get rid of pain and reach the state of liberation, nirvana. • Awareness and consciousness is part of a person. • There is no soul or self (anatta) for a person.
Teachings • Nothing is permanent or has a fixed identity because of cycle of death and rebirth; all things are transitory and subject to change. • Man’s present position depends on his behavior in the previous life.
Problems • What is light in Buddhism, since every man is the master of his own life? • It is a relative light, which can be taken as a light by one and darkness by his oppositions according to the variation in human thinking. • If it is relative, it cannot stop one to cause problem for others or threaten peace. • How does this relative light lead to nirvana, the state of perfect peace and happiness?
Problems • How can a man be his own savior or be trusted while he is the creator and gratifier of his own craving and pain? • Can Buddha (or any person) be his own real light and refuge since he believes that man is unreal? • If man is unreal, the light, peace and happiness in him are also unreal. • Buddha said, things exist only when man thinks and is conscious. Doesn’t this theory apply to his own Eight Fold Path?
Problems • Buddha does not belief in “soul or self”. • How then is he able to identify himself with his own Eight Fold Paths? • How is he able to say to his followers, “Follow my instructions”? • How can any of his followers say, “I can be attentive to the Eight Fold Paths? • If man is not permanent and is without soul, how is Buddhism able to offer a permanent hope to people?
Problems • If man is not permanent, then what part of man will carry itself to the next reincarnation or rebirth? • Buddha says, everything that exists is created in the mind of man. If so, why then is man not able to create one more thing, called soul? • If the word soul does not exist, then how is it that this word exists in Buddha’s vocabulary?
Problems • Is Buddha able to introduce a universal faith of peace and happiness while he himself believes that the universe is unreal and disappears when the mind stops thinking? • The faith in Buddha cannot be universal and does not have a permanent value. • Unlike the Buddhist belief, man is real and his soul is eternal, so that the permanent nature of his/her soul may link him to eternalpeace and happiness.
Problems • Buddha believes that awareness and consciousness is part of a person. This contradicts his own belief which says, “nothing exists”; • If nothing exists, how then that thing can be aware of conscious? • Stages of existence and the methods of operating choices make a person winner or loser. • If there is existence (or are beings), then the values of the super being will draw our attention to excellent values.
Biblical View • Humanity needs an absolute standard of peace and happiness in order to effectively achieve genuine peace and happiness amongst all individuals (2Cor.5:18-21; Col.1:20).
Taoism:Yin (darkness) and Yang (light) are the two opposite and at the same time complementary characters that flow down from Tao (god) into every inferior spiritual and material being.
Teachings • God is impersonal and the manifestation of everything in the world. • All aspects of life in the world are in harmony; masculine with feminine, hard with soft, sweet with sour, hot with cold, light with dark, good with evil, right with wrong, true with false, big with small, black with white, etc.
Teachings • Taoism attributes the darkness, passivity and regression aspects of life to Yin and calls it the female gender of the law of nature, whereas all positive aspects of live are attributed to Yang and is called the male gender of the law of nature.
Teachings • A Taoist must do everything calmly, live in harmony with the nature and welcome the consequences whatever they might be good or bad without any judgment, because his self or inner being is in perfect harmony with Tao. • To avoid trouble, Taoists should not chase the pleasures of the world and upset the balance between Yin and Yang.
Problem • Taoism has the same problem of the impersonality of god in Hinduism. • Tao is the creator of both good and evil. Instead of rescuing people from evil, he himself has created evil and furthermore has called people to bow down to evil. • For this reason, justice and salvation have no meaning in Taoism. • Thirdly, Taoism encourages passivity towards evil and rejects human activity in every dimension of life against evil.
Problems • Has human history proven that good and evil go together? • No one achieves peace and happiness from dualism or impurity. • Darkness cannot be in the service of light, and visa versa.
Problem • Since Taoism attributes every evil thing to Yin and call it the “female principle of darkness”, this has affected the place of women negatively in society. People call women shy, unassertive, narrow-minded, disorganized, hard to work with and use these words as a subtle excuse to block their promotion in society.
New Age:Everything, including Satan, is supernatural and spiritual—equal to God, part of God, and God a part of everything. There is nothing natural in its real sense. Matter is the illusionary manifestation of the supernatural.
Teachings • God is impersonal and unknown. • Individuals have power to remove barriers, to rise to a higher consciousness and unite with each other, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and all others, through their divine attributes and thereby change society. • Good and evil are one and the same; there is no absolute truth or morality. • Since everybody is “god” and has nothing less than others, s/he therefore does not need to get approval from others for what s/he thinks, says or does; s/he is the source of all truth.
Problems • Matter is supernatural and impersonal. If this is the case, why is it then called ‘matter’ which is a personal and describable term? • Personal feelings and experiences are the measuring tools for the truthfulness of a claim but not in comparison with any set values or with others’ feelings and experiences. • If everything is good, why then are New Agers trying to unite since disunity is also good? • If every religion is good, why don’t they join another religion but instead are encouraging others to join their religion? • If every thing is good, then there will be no need for a set law to condemn the attitudes of those who oppress others or trample their rights.
Problem • If God is impersonal and unknown, how can God be witnessed then? • How do we know God is Holy if he is unknowable? • How does impersonality express personal words (in writings) that describe values or attributes?
Biblical Views • Only a personal God can reveal and relate Himself to His creatures. • Jn. 1: 1-3, 14; Mt.11:27b. • The revelation of God makes reconciliation (salvation) possible here on earth. • Only the knowable God can make Himself known. • The testimonies of the followers of the known God is trustworthy.
Biblical Views • The God of “personal man” must be personal. • The personal God can relate Himself to His personal creatures. • God touch His creatures in creation. He touches them in salvation too. • The prayers (and cries) of every nation to their deities prove that their consciences are not consistent with their religious beliefs. • Impersonal God cannot hear or be omnipresent. • To a personal man a personal Creator and Redeemer makes sense.
Biblical Challenges • Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one (Job.14:4). • Can imperfect lead to perfection? (1Cor.13:10) • If the root is not holy, so are the branches (Read Rom.11:16b).
Do Christians need a reasoned approach to evangelism?How can this ministry be strong and wide spread?Is God calling you to play a role in this ministry?Dr. Daniel Shayesteh719-271-52277spirits@gmail.com
