Well would you rather the whole world knows something about Jesus but was misinformed? I'm not sure that is the point of view the evangelicals hold. I think your gods may have caused you to fear Christianity somehow, perhaps you think it forces you to think in ways you don't like to think?
I wouldn't say that I
fear Christianity, per se. I do believe that it can have a harmful effect on my own culture if allowed to spread, but this is quite different from paranoia. As I've already mentioned, I take no issue with the free practice of Christianity in the world, so I think it is premature for you to say that I fear your religion. As I've said, what I disagree with is the spread of Christianity through missionary work. This is not a feeling that is alien to evangelicals. Here in America, evangelicals equally oppose the missionary activities of Christian groups like the Mormons. So perhaps you can relate to me better than you think, for I view evangelicals in muc the same way that evangelicals view Mormons.
Good, then you have indeed agreed that your own Hindu prayer would not be worship toward the God who redeemed Israel from Egypt.
No...I don't think I agreed to that. It seems to me that anyone who prays is praying to God, since there is only one after all. I do agree that a person who prays may have a poor understanding of God, though. Personally I think that Christians do not possess a correct understanding of God, but it doesn't mean I think you are praying to a different God. You of course will disagree, but this is my view.
Your next comments are perhaps best addressed point by point:
That is true actually, but the fact is that this Hindu prayer was not addressing the Holy God. I will continue teaching what God has shown me, that you can be certain of.
Fair enough. I likewise will continue believing what God has taught me, though I only intend to teach it to other Hindus. We both believe that God has taught us something, but upon comparison these teachings differ. Clearly one of us is wrong.
What I find interesting is that you seem to think that Christianity is merely a theory about who God is, one of the belief structures you can ascribe to.
Actually I do not think this. I do not think that Christianity is one theory among many equally valid ones. Just so we're clear: I don't think that all religions are equally valid. Like you, I believe that I am correct and you are incorrect. Really, the only difference between you and me in this matter is that I don't think you'll go to hell for being wrong.
Do you not understand that humans oppose God until they accept Him?
I intellectually comprehend what you're saying, I simply don't agree. I do not view all humans are virulently opposed to God. Some certainly are. But I leave apathy and misunderstanding as options.
What your religion does is make up some fluffy ideas about what God might be, a "transcendental glory", but when He speaks to you you refuse to listen.
I likewise think that Christians are making up ideas about God, and refuse to listen to him. In Hinduism we're often taught that no one can learn God's truth unless he himself allows it, which is why this does not distress me. Obviously you and I are going to be on opposite ends of the fence here. But I'm not sure how you can convince me that your view is correct and mine is not. At this point most Christians would tell me that the Bible is historically accurate and Hinduism consists of mythology (i.e. "my god rose from the grave and yours didn't"). However I have found these arguments to be wanting. If you have a good reason as to why I should believe what you said above, I'm perfectly willing to listen.
I can't really, I have never experienced the environment in those two countries. What I can tell you, to shed some light, is that every god is at war with the supreme God (otherwise they wouldn't call themselves a god), and they are capable of manipulating humans to insult the true God. Surely you won't be able to understand this since you've never accepted that there is just one God.
Just so we're clear, I am a monotheist (like most Hindus). Hindu monotheism is not the result of any Christian or Muslim influence; the Vedas teach that there is one God with many different representations. Those representations are what you may know as the Hindu Gods. Perhaps a loose analogy can be drawn to your Trinity, whereby three beings are viewed as one God. This analogy isn't perfect, but it will probably suffice.
As to your point: since I only believe in one God, the idea of other gods making war on the supreme God doesn't hold much relevance to me. Again, this isn't a problem of understanding on my part. It's simple disagreement.
So if I understand correctly, you've read the Bible and you disagree with Jesus, you don't care that other people agree with Jesus, but you've got a problem if someone tries to explain Jesus to a person who has never heard the truth about Him?
Well, you're partially correct. I've read the Bible, but don't take any opinion on Jesus. To be honest, the Bible is just too small for me to get a good idea of what Jesus is saying. Indeed, most of the three synoptic gospels is just the same thing written by different authors. Jesus' statements could be interpreted in many ways, and without more text I can't make an intelligent determination of what he's saying. Hindu Scriptures tend to be much longer, and there is more information upon which to form a theology. With the Bible, there are too many apostolic letters, and not enough story about Jesus. It's sort of like me asking you to form an opinion on American politics after listening to a five minute news conference with Obama.
Now as to explaining Jesus to people who have never heard what you have to say about him, in theory I wouldn't have any problem with this. The problem is that in reality, what you are talking about is solicitations for conversion. This is where I take issue.
I don't know what you refer to here. Some people believe we are born sinners, I don't think the Bible says that. I know the Bible says we are doomed to death because of sin, and we have all sinned so fall short of the glory of God. But that is due to the human spirit having been woken to the knowledge of good and evil when they ate the forbidden fruit, and the fact that humans can't possibly have a clear conscience all their life, therefore they will inevitably fall short of the glory of God. This was never intended you know, only when one of the other god's sought to oppose the true God did this happen. Perhaps you don't really understand what I meant, Jesus taking on the form of a human who was tempted as a human, never committed sin, therefore He is the only human who has ever lived up to God's expectation of innocence.
Thanks for explaining. I'll try not to take us any further down this side tangent.
Well, I only hope I can make it clear. What spirits do think your teachers listen to, if they aren't listening to the Holy Spirit of the One True God?
I hope to be equally clear. I believe that Hindu sages and the authors of our Scriptures listen to God (specifically the one responsible for creating the universe), and convey his truths. I don't think the authors of the Bible are listening to any spirits, whether good or bad.
I have no idea. That's none of my business. My role here is to make sure that when I meet people who have been deceived about Jesus, I will give them information from the point of view of a believer rather than a disbeliever.
I find it very unfair that those people who don't believe what Jesus says would have any impact on the beliefs of those who are searching to know about Him. And those were His instructions to us. If we want eternal life, we must put down everything we wanted to do with our lives and get to work telling people the truth about Him.
Mark 8:34-35
Are you saying you find it unfair that people who disagree with Christianity should voice such disagreement? That's sort of like saying that a judge should only listen to one side of a case before rendering a verdict. When judging any issue, one should listen to all legitimate points of view. This is wisdom on the part of the judge, not unfairness on the part of one of the contenders.
It has mostly got to do with how the person's heart is approaching the Lord of all. What I saw in that Hindu prayer is not the type of reverence you would have if you were addressing the Holy God. Rather, this guy seems to think His man-made god is worth speaking to, but do you actually know how it makes God feel when someone addresses a person who opposes Him? Effectively what you are saying is that God doesn't deserve His crown, but this spaghetti monster does.
Now I'm even more confused. The average Rabbi hates Jesus and thinks that he is responsible for all the ill that has befallen Jews throughout the centuries, but he has a good heart in approaching the Lord? I'm sure I'm misunderstanding you somewhere.
Anyway, since I don't agree with your claim that Hindus worship man-made gods, the rest of what you've said is of course not going to have much relevance to me.
Well how a person treats another comes down to their personal biases and as you say, what they think about the other person. I don't think you can paint us all with the same tar brush, I've met Jews too who claim to know there is one God, but also claim to be atheists! I know blanket statements are always going to offend someone. I guess the fact that some Jews do accept Jesus just shows that the teachings of a religion are not always working in the best interests of the person it serves.
The Jews you refer to constitute an extremely small percentage of the Jewish population. Like Hinduism, Judaism is a religion with strong cultural ties, and conversion to Christianity is highly frowed upon. Those Jews who become Christians are eschewed by the rest of their community, and this discourages conversion in general. Alas, it's irrelevant, because any Jew who offers a prayer in the U.S. Congress will be a Jew with mainstream beliefs, i.e. he will reject Jesus as the Christ. If you want to clear this up, we could look up the names of some Jews who have prayed in the U.S. Congress and look them up. So I'm still not clear on why evangelicals have such a fascination with Jews.
Well it is true, if you want to be Christian you have to accept the Holy Spirit in your life. If however you just want God to speak to you when you read, all you need to do is listen to what the Holy Spirit says when you read. However, if you've made friends with other spirits, you might not be so inclined to trust what The Holy Spirit says. That is what I see to be a problem for you, that clearly you're happy to entertain ideas about pagan gods, but when it comes to the idea of the One True God, it's obviously not something you're going to do.
Again, what you're saying isn't going to be too relevant to me, since I obviously don't regard Hinduism as paganism (and perhaps you could provide me with a definition of paganism, just so that we're on the same page), and I don't believe your statement that I commune with demons. On the contrary, I believe that I am worshiping the "One True God." So in fact I
do believe in a similar monotheistic theology as you do, and my failure to believe in your Bible is not due to closed-mindedness on my part.
Well I guess you made your decision about the value of Jesus' life, seeming to think that He represents a false god. Perhaps have a think about what you might say to Him when the time comes.
Ah, the threat of hell. Since I don't believe in an eternal hell, you'd have to convince me of its existence before you can threaten me with it. But as to the life of Jesus, I think I've been quite clear in saying that I have no opinion.
I think if you are to be honest, I'm not actually making that request. Perhaps there is some spiritual activity within you that convicts you when you read the words I say. Nonetheless, I do hope that one day you'll consider the matter of who Jesus is with regards to speaking the truth about Him. This man Jesus, as you ought to know, is not just another guy with a beard 2,000 years ago, but He was chosen by God most high and the world rejected Him. It's actually quite a serious matter, you must choose one side or the other. I would challenge you to think about what you might stand to lose by giving some respect to what Jesus says, and if you don't mind sharing with me, I'd like to know what you're afraid of
I'll tell you what I'm afraid of when I stop beating my wife.
As I said earlier, I do not fear your religion. But if we may be honest, you
are requesting that I convert to Christianity, are you not? I know you think that Jesus is unique. I think that Hinduism is unique; in all the world you will not find another religion quite like it. Since only one of us can be correct, the uniqueness of Jesus doesn't validate Christianity. Now I have already told you what I would lose by converting to Christianity. And since I don't share many of your theological views, I thus see no reason to entertain your solicitation for conversion.