Hinduism vs. Christianity

So these are some basic Hinduism beliefs of reality:

1. The soul is not created - it is eternal.

2. There is a finite number of souls in the material world.

3. There is an infinite number of souls in the spiritual world.

4. The material world will continue to come into existence for eternity.

5. We don't know whether God intended for our existence as souls, and we do not know what his goal is with us or why he would have intended for us to exist.

Here are some basic Christian beliefs:

1. The Great Hope - All Christians retain the great hope of the second coming spelled out in the book of Revelations. They believe that the material universe will come to a close at a certain point in time and Jesus will return to the Earth as king and will reign forever.

2. There will be no more material universe or material people. There will continue to be no reincarnations. Those who didn't get it right the first time will be tortured for eternity, while those who did get it right will live under the reign of Jesus for eternity.

3. There is not an infinite number of souls in the spiritual world. The number is finite, since everyone will get one chance to go through the earth process of weeding out the good from the bad.

4. God did indeed create us for a specific purpose, primarily the restoration of the earth from Satan. Satan came and destroyed it, so God created man to restore it. When this restoration process is complete, the ultimate goal is for Jesus to return to earth as King and reign under God for eternity. So the Christian God has a plan. He he has a purpose for creating man, and he has an ultimate goal for not only mankind, but the spiritual realm as well.


Hence, we see the slight differences between the Hindu and Christian God. The Christian God is hot tempered and harsh, however he has a plan of action in intentionally creating this universe and mankind.

The Hindu God is more laid back, however he has no real plan or ultimate goal for mankind.
 
nds1

5. We don't know whether God intended for our existence as souls, and we do not know what his goal is with us or why he would have intended for us to exist.
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why do you say that?

BG 7.18: All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider to be just like My own self. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he is sure to attain Me, the highest and most perfect goal.

CC Ādi 7.84: "'Religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation are known as the four goals of life, but before love of Godhead, the fifth and highest goal, these appear as insignificant as straw in the street.

etc etc
 
I say this is evidence for what the authors of the mythology believed or wished their cult followers to believe. It certainly isn't useful as "evidence" any other way.
 
SkinWalker said:
I say this is evidence for what the authors of the mythology believed or wished their cult followers to believe. It certainly isn't useful as "evidence" any other way.
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so in other words you believe that what the originators of scripture (whoever, whatever, wherever they were???) fabricated incidents to meet an ideal.

ever heard of a type I error?
 
I'm making no positive claims whatsoever. The fallacy lies with you, my apparently deluded friend. I said, very clearly and concisely, that the passages you put forth are only evidence that the authors believed or wished others to believe what they were saying. If you have evidence to the contrary, please, post it. Whether or not the passages are true is irrelevant.

I think you might want to re-evaluate what it was, precisely I said.
 
SkinWalker said:
I'm making no positive claims whatsoever.
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seems positive to me


Originally Posted by SkinWalker
I say this is evidence for what the authors of the mythology believed or wished their cult followers to believe. It certainly isn't useful as "evidence" any other way.

The fallacy lies with you, my apparently deluded friend. I said, very clearly and concisely, that the passages you put forth are only evidence that the authors believed or wished others to believe what they were saying.
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erm ... authors of mythology is perhaps not the choicest phrase for your esteemed neutrality in the matter
If you have evidence to the contrary, please, post it. Whether or not the passages are true is irrelevant.
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as above

I think you might want to re-evaluate what it was, precisely I said.
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I think you might want to re-edit your post
 
It *is* mythology. It *is* evidence for the belief of the authors. What is your evidence to the contrary on either point?
 
SkinWalker said:
It *is* mythology. It *is* evidence for the belief of the authors. What is your evidence to the contrary on either point?
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either you have a strange definition of the word "mythology" or you got your academic credentials over the internet (or alternatively, both)
 
Myth: a story of a particular culture believed to be true and features a specific religious or belief system.
 
nds1 said:
So the Christian God is very scrict, very harsh, and only gives you one shot to get your shit together on this earth. The Hindu God on the other hand is much more merciful and forgiving, and is much less harsh. The Hindu God will give you unlimited chances to get your shit together and enter the heavenly realm.
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Also, to a Hindu, God is very personal and a close associate - an uncle or a brother or mother figure who is always available kind.

I think there is some distance in Christianity.

Thanks.
 
nds1 said:
5. We don't know whether God intended for our existence as souls, and we do not know what his goal is with us or why he would have intended for us to exist.
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lightgigantic said:
why do you say that?

BG 7.18: All these devotees are undoubtedly magnanimous souls, but he who is situated in knowledge of Me I consider to be just like My own self. Being engaged in My transcendental service, he is sure to attain Me, the highest and most perfect goal.

CC Ādi 7.84: "'Religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation are known as the four goals of life, but before love of Godhead, the fifth and highest goal, these appear as insignificant as straw in the street.

etc etc
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Wow you really dissproved me there.

Oh, that's right. The scripture you quoted from is referring to the goals of man, not of God himself. God is talking about MAN'S GOAL, not HIS OWN GOAL in the scripture you used.

Nice try though.

Find me the scripture that says what the Godhead's goals are, then we can talk.
 
nds1 said:
Wow you really dissproved me there.

Oh, that's right. The scripture you quoted from is referring to the goals of man, not of God himself. God is talking about MAN'S GOAL, not HIS OWN GOAL in the scripture you used.

Nice try though.

Find me the scripture that says what the Godhead's goals are, then we can talk.
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obviously the normative descriptions found in scripture are god's desire
 
nds1 said:
LG, what is God or the Godhead's goals?
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vedanta sutra 1.1.12


BG 4.8: To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium.

god desires that dharma (or the way things should be used properly) be prevalent as opposed to adharma (the way things should be used improperly)

thus the material world is the proper place for those who insist on doing things improperly
 
Okay, fair enough. LG, I read a little of Hindu prophesies, especially this one:

All the Hindu scriptures are agreed that when conditions have reached this point, when things have deteriorated and mankind has sunk to the lowest depths of moral degradation, then the Lord will again manifest Himself as the Kalki Avatar.

When Vedic religion and the dharma of the law books have nearly ceased and the Kalki Yuga is almost exhausted, then a part of the creator of the entire universe, the blessed Lord Vasudeva [Vishnu], will become incarnate here in the universe in the form of Kalki.

Baha'i scholars have demonstrated that the prophecies in the Manu Srmiti and other books indicate the exact date of the end of the kalki Yuga and the coming of the Kalki Avatar.


LG how much of this do you agree with? Also, how does this coexist with the Book of Revelations and the second coming of Jesus?
 
nds1 said:
Okay, fair enough. LG, I read a little of Hindu prophesies, especially this one:

All the Hindu scriptures are agreed that when conditions have reached this point, when things have deteriorated and mankind has sunk to the lowest depths of moral degradation, then the Lord will again manifest Himself as the Kalki Avatar.

When Vedic religion and the dharma of the law books have nearly ceased and the Kalki Yuga is almost exhausted, then a part of the creator of the entire universe, the blessed Lord Vasudeva [Vishnu], will become incarnate here in the universe in the form of Kalki.

Baha'i scholars have demonstrated that the prophecies in the Manu Srmiti and other books indicate the exact date of the end of the kalki Yuga and the coming of the Kalki Avatar.
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Their calculations are speculative - they insist that we are in to the new satya yuga by dint of industrial technology (which is absurd since the social ills of kali yuga, - drug abuse, abortion, lawlessness, violence, quarrel, etc - certainly haven't diminished due to technology - in fact one could argue that they are more inflamed because of it - basically they insist that kali yuga goes for 4350 years instead of 435 000 years - they have no sound argument for this based on scripture and it appears to be an attempt to add prestige to their founder (which is another symptom of kali yuga)
Besides this, there are many symptoms of kali that have not yet manifested (still another 430 000 years to go ... )


LG how much of this do you agree with? Also, how does this coexist with the Book of Revelations and the second coming of Jesus?
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I am not to familiar with revelations - but there is certainly a striking resembelance between descriptions of kalki (riding a white horse to strike down miscreants) and descriptions given in the bible
 
LG,

Why isn't Jesus considered a Maha Avatara, or one of the ten great incarnations of Vishnu?

Why do you think these Kalki white horse predictions in Hinduism came after the book of revelation was written by John?
 
nds1 said:
LG,

Why isn't Jesus considered a Maha Avatara, or one of the ten great incarnations of Vishnu?
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jesus displayed himself as a servant of god rather than god himself (god the father and jesus the son)

Why do you think these Kalki white horse predictions in Hinduism came after the book of revelation was written by John?
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after?
what do you mean?
 
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