# Apologetics with a Hindu



## Theoretical (May 23, 2006)

The other day I was sitting down having lunch at the university and someone I'd met a few weeks previously and I got into a fairly drawn-out conversation on a number of topics (issues with the school student-government-wise, American cultural problems, and then the big one - religion). This man has a rather strange religious background and set of beliefs, or it would be were it not for the Cafeteria religion so common these days.

He said he grew up Hindu and was originally born and partially raised in India (he's 22, returning to college after a hiatus), but whose parents immigrated here something like 10-15 years ago. Where it gets odd is the fact that he was still raised with Hindu traditions here, but he was sent to Catholic and Baptist private schools, and he has an extremely universalistic world view. He claims to be a monotheist, yet still considers himself Hindu (it's immediately obvious in conversation he holds utterly inconsistent beliefs - yet he doesn't realize it).

In our conversation he displayed what has to be the most frustrating phenomenon I've seen in a discussion/debate - he refused to disagree with me about ANYTHING and furthermore said he agreed with everything I was saying. For instance, initially in the conversation he said that God was everything (pantheistic concept), but later after I had made a fairly decent description of the Christian model (God separate and pre-existing-eternal outside of the Creation), he affirmed this very different belief. The man also has an extremely loose conception of how all religions are true. I said that while most world religions shared some commonalities as far as ethical and moral standards of conduct between men and other men, they differ fundamentally as to the relationship between Man and God.

It is frustrating to speak a different theological language and terminology than the person with whom I am trying to communicate. Pray for me as I go through continued discussions with this man, as we will likely see each other around a fair amount over the coming year given some shared campus services work. I truly understand what Schaeffer was talking about in his Trilogy about how fundamentally different a modern mind is from a Biblical one. 

Any suggestions on how I should handle future discussions (which will likely revolve around God's interaction with the world, the nature of the truth, and Christianity distinct and not merely a mimic of Hinduism of Buddhism of "Name your religion"?

[Edited on 5-23-2006 by Theoretical]


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## C. Matthew McMahon (May 23, 2006)

With the "New Agey" guys, I always deal with whether or not there is absolute truth. I would begin there.

Is there absolute truth?

"No, there is not."

Is that an absolute statement?

Etc.

They have to recognize that truth is something. In other words, they must learn first _how to think_ before they can think. They will never understand the propositions of the Bible if they can't think, or if they continue to violate the law of non-contradiction.


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## Don (May 24, 2006)

You may want to check out Keith Yandell's Philosophy of Religion book (Routledge Intro). I think it's one of the only (if not the only) PoR book that interacts with the Eastern religions.

He is a Christian and mostly interacts with one variety of Hinduism (Advaita Vedenta = all is one, et al). There are dualistic and monotheistic versions of Hinduism that he introduces. He also casts religions in the form of diagnoses and cures, and proceeds to examine the claims that they are all the same based on these criteria.


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## Theoretical (May 24, 2006)

Interesting...I didn't know there was such a thing as monotheistic Hinduism. That's something I'll have to check out. Thanks for the reference.


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## Theoretical (May 24, 2006)

Correction - I'll have to check out that BOOK. I have no interest in becoming a monotheistic Hindu
.

[Edited on 5-25-2006 by Theoretical]


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## Don (May 25, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Theoretical_
> Interesting...I didn't know there was such a thing as monotheistic Hinduism. That's something I'll have to check out. Thanks for the reference.



Yeah, Ramanuja held to Qualified Non-dualism (Vsistadvaita) and Madhva held to Unqualified Dualism (Dvaita). Both believed in an independent God and a dependent world, while Shankara (Advaita Vedenta) rejects this and holds to a qualityless Brahman. Advaita Vedenta holds that man's problem is his ignorance of being identical with Brahman and the cure is knowledge of this. I may be mistaken but I think that Advaita Vedenta may be the most popular. I had hoped he would have critiqued the others, but doesn't. I also think his critique of Theravada Buddhism is excellent (He discusses Jainism as well).


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## VirginiaHuguenot (May 25, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Theoretical_
> Correction - I'll have to check out that BOOK. I have no interest in becoming a monotheistic Hindu
> .
> 
> [Edited on 5-25-2006 by Theoretical]



Whew!


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## tellville (May 30, 2006)

I'm in * (I'm sure you can guess the country) right now. Currently, the state of *(where Vasco Da Gama landed!), though I will be going to * which is in * (the same state as * whose real name is *). Anyway, this may all surprise you, but I haven't met a Hindu yet who wasn't monotheistic. The difference with us is is that they believe God has manifested himself on earth in several different forms while we believe God has only manifested himself once on earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Ev in * is a funny thing. On one hand it is easier to talk with Muslims then Hindu's because with Muslims everything is black or white. Jesus is God, or he isn't. Christianity is true, or it isn't. Etc. Meanwhile Hindus are like "Yeah, Jesus is cool too! Yay Jesus! He is just one of the many manifestations." But on the other hand, evangelism is a lot easier with Hindu's because they tend to be a lot more open to other religions. Meanwhile, Muslims can be very closed to giving ear to anything but Islam. 

Also, I believe the pantheistic Hinduism is actually the least popular. Ironically, what is the common view of Hinduism in North America (many gods, pantheistic, etc.) is actually the minority view here. But that has just been my experience so far (and I think I read it somewhere  ). 

Anyway, those are my two cents from *! (BTW, my wife would probably know more as she grew up here)(Also she was an MK, not a native *)(finally, I'm not here as an actual *, I am on my honeymoon!)



[Edited on 5-30-2006 by tellville]


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