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Comparisons between Christianity and Hinduism
Comparisons between Christianity and Hinduism
An essay about the origin of Hinduism
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Hinduism: From a Christian View
Hinduism is regarded as the world’s oldest organized religion. Hinduism as a whole consists of thousands of various religious groups that have evolved over time. Hinduism has no recorded origin or founder and is applied to many of the philosophical and religious traditions found in India. The External Teaching or “Sanatana Dharma” is known as the religions collection of sacred texts. These texts while complex, encompass traditions and practices that share common ground but lack overall unity and consistency. To grasp the traditions and true understanding of Hinduism, one must first learn the history of the Aryans, the scripture, the God Brahma Vishu Shiva and the religions key ideas in relation to Christianity.
Hinduism also known as the Vedic culture, originated with a race known as the Aryans. They migrated to the Indian subcontinent thousands of years before the birth of Jesus Christ. The Aryans brought their own culture and soon after began to evolve to conform to their environment. Their original homeland which is believed to be located in current day central Asia, was known as the lost Airyane Vaejahi which translates to, “The seed land of the Aryans”. As the Aryan’s changed, the beginning stages of Hinduism began to form through Greece, Italy, Germany, France and Scandinavia.
There is a wealth of knowledge contained within the Hindu’s series of scriptures. They are organized into two main categories, Shruti revelation and Smriti tradition. Shruti describes all things heard and Smriti is all things remembered. Schruti literature is composed of the four Vedas, and the Upanishads represents the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Shruti ...
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...ns and religious philosophies. In the history of mankind there has never been a war between the Hindus and Christians over religious convictions.
The Hindu religion holds on to the idea that beliefs are what determines ones thought and attitude about life, which also directs a person’s actions. It’s the actions of a person that creates their destiny. Christianity follows in a similar pattern as a person’s actions and attitude towards life will have an effect as a Christian. While the Hindu’s believe in one Supreme Being they also believe in the laws of karma and reincarnation. There is one very important similarity between Christianity and Hinduism. The Hindus as well as the Christians share the belief that no religion teaches the only way to God’s salvation and that all religious paths are facets of God’s light, equally deserving of understanding and tolerance.
Unlike most religions, Hinduism has no specific founder, scripture or set of teachings. Hinduism has over nine hundred million followers today. The history of Hinduism is that it was found in the Indus Valley and it is an oral religion. Hindu’s believe in the three gods named Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is believed to be the creator of the world and creatures.
The Question of Origin: Hinduism believes everything has been in existence and is a part of numerous gods. In (Foundation of Indian Psychology Vol.2 Pg.116) the text Hinduism is a treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different people in different times of life. Over the centuries the Hindus beliefs are not literally interpreted by the scriptures and there ethics are derived from them.
Hinduism is an ancient religion. It has no known founder. It has several holy books. The most important of these is the Vedas, a collection of hymns. Hinduism like buddism believes in reincarnation. The goal of this religion is also to escape the birth-death cycle. Through Hinduism the entire Indian social structure was formed by creating the caste system. The major difference between Buddism and Hinduism is that Hindus believe in a god. Brahman is the spirit that encompasses all living things. There are several lesser gods who are believed to be incarnates of Brahman.
One of the most important elements in history is religions. The Hindu religion arguably began around 2,500 years before the Common Era (B.C.E.) in India. It was geographically based along the Indus River, which was called “Hindu” which the Persians named when they migrated to India. They also called the land Hindustan and its residents, Hindus. After that, the religion that had followed was called Hinduism. Today, almost around 800 million people practice the Hindu religion around the world.
Hinduism is made of many different religions and does not have one origin or single founder. The religion of Hinduism is very old, “300-100 B.C.E.--- The first trace of temple worship. Hindu people worship at the shrine, where Hindus make offerings to a murti. A murti is a statue of a god or goddess” (McMillan). In addition, other religions are based off Hinduism, “5000-10000 B.C.---Hinduism can be traced back to 5000-10000 B.C. Hinduism is a very old religion, many religions are based off of Hinduism, like Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism” (McMillan).
Hinduism is easily the oldest major world religion that is still in use today. It has not only survived countless attacks but has also thrived and has changed little to none in the last 2500-3000 years. "The Aryans are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber Pass, around 1500 BC. They intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated themselves into the social framework. The Aryans did not have a script, but they developed a rich tradition. They composed the hymns of the four vedas, the great philosophic poems that are at the heart of Hindu thought" (The Aryans and the Vedic Age, 2004, par. 2).
The comparison of these two religions is one that is full of differences with the occasional similarity. Mainly, I find Hinduism to be a religion full of positive aspects that give meaning and importance to any of its follower's lives. Conversely, Christianity is a religion that is steeped in contradiction and confusion. It uses guilt and dire consequences to push people into it arms. Where Hinduism allows for personal choice at a personal price, Christianity allows for personal freedom with almost no responsibility for personal action.
Hinduism is unlike many other religions in that it does not have a single founder or text, but is more like an umbrella in ways of life. In death and life for the Hindu, “The ultimate goal of the soul is liberation from the wheel of rebirth, through reabsorption into our identity with the Oversoul (Brahma)-- the essence of the universe, immaterial, uncreated, limitless, and timeless” (Leming & Dickinson, 2011, p. 134).
Hinduism is the 3rd most popular religion in the world followed by Buddhism, together they are followed by 22 percent of the world’s population. These two religions are alike in many ways, and are tied together by Asia, where they have deep roots in its culture and history. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are similar in many ways, very important and large differences separate the two. No one and nothing can ever truly prove either religion is better than the other because that is up to personal beliefs and opinions, but many more people around the world prefer Buddhism over Hinduism because of its beliefs and practices.
hinduism The term Hinduism refers to the civilization of the Hindus (originally, the inhabitants of the land of the Indus River). Introduced in about 1830 by British writers, it properly denotes the Indian civilization of approximately the last 2,000 years, which evolved from Vedism the religion of the Indo-European peoples who settled in India in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. The spectrum that ranges from the level of popular Hindu belief to that of elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very broad and is attended by many stages of transition and varieties of coexistence. Magic rites, animal worship, and belief in demons are often combined with the worship of more or less personal gods or with mysticism, asceticism, and abstract and profound theological systems or esoteric doctrines. The worship of local deities does not exclude the belief in pan-Indian higher gods or even in a single high God. Such local deities are also frequently looked down upon as manifestations of a high God. In principle, Hinduism incorporates all forms of belief and worship without necessitating the selection or elimination of any. It is axiomatic that no religious idea in India ever dies or is superseded-it is merely combined with the new ideas that arise in response to it. Hindus are inclined to revere the divine in every manifestation, whatever it may be, and are doctrinally tolerant, allowing others - including both Hindus and non-Hindus - whatever beliefs suit them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu, and because Hindus are disposed to think synthetically and to regard other forms of worship, strange gods, and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong or objectionable, they tend to believe that the highest divine powers are complement one another. Few religious ideas are considered to be irreconcilable. The core of religion does not depend on the existence or nonexistence of God or on whether there is one god or many. Because religious truth is said to transcend all verbal definition, it is not conceived in dogmatic terms. Moreover, the tendency of Hindus to distinguish themselves from others on the basis of practice rather than doctrine further de-emphasizes doctrinal differences. Hinduism is both a civilization and a congregation of religions; it has neither a beginning or founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization. Hindus believe in an uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, and all-embracing principle, which, comprising in itself being and non-being, is the sole reality, the ultimate cause and foundation, source, and goal of all existence.
‘ The oldest Scriptures in all of India and the most important are called the Vedas. All Hindus recognize the Vedas as the true origin of their faith because of the spiritual meaning behind them.’2 It is obvious that the Vedas are the main resources of the spiritual of Hinduism. Then we can give some information about Vedas, world’s oldest spiritual teachings.
Partha and Swasti Miller (1982) recall that the religion has “no founder as such, unlike Christianity and Islam”, despite it being derived from the first Indian settlers in 5,000 BCE, who were later conquered by the Aryans. It is from this colonisation that the Aryans introduced the “four Vedas” (Miller and Miller, 1982), which later merged into the Vedic Hindu faith. Today, Hinduism is acknowledged by its followers as a “philosophy” (Lovat et al., 2006), as well as being concerned with the ideology of pantheism: the belief of spiritual immanence, as opposed to transcendence, exemplified in religions such as, Christianity, Judaism and Islam (Rinehart, 2004). Therefore, as stated by Vineeta Sinha (2011), these predominantly “spiritual and personal attributes” of the Hindu faith are the foundations of the philosophy’s core beliefs, rituals and
Hinduism is a very complicated religion from an outsiders prospective. When I think about it I never have really given any thought to what Hinduism is, so what is this religion, what do they believe in, what are the social and cultural influences and what is the desire for liberation from earthly existence?
There are many cultural and societal influences that have made Hinduism vital to the region in which it originated. Hinduism can be traced to the Indus Valley Civilization that took place in 4000 BC to 2200 BC. India was a land of diverse cultures, religions, races and ethnicities. Hinduism was the unifying umbrella that brought peace to the land. The belief in Ahimsa or non-violence reduced warfare. In Ancient India, the caste system brought about social order but later this system decayed and gave rise to social ills. Many other cultures and invaders of the region influenced the development of Hinduism over the centuries. When the Indo-Europeans invaded India during 1500 to 500 BC, their religion of Vedas also greatly influenced the indigenous beliefs of Hinduism. Over 80% of Indians still practice Hinduism in modern India. The Hindus brought up in Hindu families are so steeped in the various Hindu traditions from infancy that they are totally imbibed into the Hindu religious system. The sages and seers over the ages held a prominent place in the religious beliefs of the region and their teachings of non-violence, unity, prayers and a life of righteousness have greatly influenced Hinduism.
Like discussed before in this essay Hinduism and Christianity both share quite a lot when exploring the path to salvation. Just because they are opposite sides of in regards to the religion they actually have a lot more in common than that of the