In Reply to: Re: Religion of India...not such a simple topic posted by CB on January 10, 2009 at 06:53:27:
CB...to do all the aspects justice, I think is definetely in the "range of my impossibilities", timewise, intellectually...languagewise etc. so my response/attempt is consequently in serials...for starters: salvation is of the Jews is as you know, something Jesus said to the woman at the well...John 4:22...something I merely quote, but hold as utter truth & Paul would say first to the Jews (timewise) and then to the rest of the world...I am grateful, that Paul went westward & northward...not more eastward (Acts 16:6 onwards) & that it finally reached...also via Ireland...all parts of Germany...
that the Germans have heavily twisted the scripture, before & after Luther is not big news...one of the last sermons I heard in church was about the rich young ruler Luke 18...who asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life...with man it's impossible, but not with God, that is the stance of Jesus.We can't do it & yet there are millions of deceived people, who are bound by their "works-religion"....I think TF coined it: Do-it yourself-religions or something like that, in contrast to all by grace & I must say, there TF is really right on (2000year old truth, which they discovered for themselves)...it's all by grace....however, after you've received the gift of divine forgiveness, we shouldn't think, we could live & act as we please, lest we become a reproach to the cause by very bad lifestyle, pretty true...sad to say...for TF...
When I was with TF in India, a teacher-friend of mine wrote me to India and told me that, I don't have to evagelise in India, as they had their religion or something like that...him as a Lutheran...he gave me once a "deeply" theological book, an exegesis of an OT-expert of the book of Daniel...I nearly fainted at the rubbish I had to wade through....so much for the counsel of born into church Lutherans, sprinkled with water as a baby...
I think the historical Jesus is a theological buzz-word & books after books are written about the initial phase of Christianity where the most extremistic view is, that he never existed, a fabrication of some fishermen...strange, that they were willing to die for their concoction, not knowing what the future would hold for them...only people, who have no knowledge about the OT-prophecies about the Messiah can fall prey to such rubbish.
I once posted here an interesting article, how the Brahmin Chellappa found Jesus and what Prajapati/Purusha might have to do with it...it's fascinating:
So Jesus is the saviour also for Hindus etc...In the year 2000 I passed through a special entrancedoor of ST.Peter's cathedral/dome, does that give me any advantage, though the Catholics say so?... we just had visited Rome...does plunging yourself into the Ganges (at Kumbh Mela) give you any advantage/ merits as a Hindu?...salvation is a gift, it's by grace !
The national anthem of India is highly religious, foremost & in such a way, that it probably puts most/many anthems of nations to shame as far as respecting God & showing him reverence (reference) is concerned...I never knew that before....thanks for posting that anthem & therewith I got the translation
Here's for starters a link for some similarities between Jews and Hindus:
"Strange" though, that Christians are really met with lots of indignation from both staunch Hindus and Jews as well!
I will answer some more tommorrow, God willing etc. All the best!