When Strangers Come Knocking---Part 9

This is the next installment of my series to be published the first Monday of each month.

There are members of false sects, like Jehovah's Witnesses, that come knocking door-to-door hoping to convert you. Instead of ignoring them, it is we who should try and convert them. In 1 Peter 3:16, our first Pope writes, "But in thy hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks thee to give the reason for the hope that thou hast. But do this with gentleness and respect,..." Before the Great Apostasy, the Church would send missionaries to the ends of the Earth to make as many converts as possible.

Those in false religions don't always come (literally) knocking at your door. It may be a Hindu at work who wants you to try yoga. It could be a "Christian Scientist" who lives next door and invites you to come to their reading room. Each month, I will present a false sect. Unlike the Vatican II sect, I do not see them as a "means of salvation" or possessing "elements of truth" that lead to salvation. That is heresy. They lead to damnation, and the adherents of the various sects must be converted so they may be saved.

In each month's post, I will present one false sect and give an overview of:

• The sect's history
• Their theology
• Tips on how to share the True Faith with them

Hinduism

There was a time when the word "Hinduism" evoked images of Mahatma Gandi sitting in a lotus position and telling people to "Be the change you want to see in the world." The pagan religion is no longer almost exclusively comprised of Indians being catered to by Mother Teresa (but not converted by her). Famous converts to Hinduism include actress Julia Roberts, rock singer Adam Levine, and comedian Russell Brand. The attraction seems to be that Hinduism is non-dogmatic, teaches that we are "divine," and allows people to live as they wish because of the evil doctrine of reincarnation.

Hindu is a Persian term that means "the people and culture of the Indus River region." Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world today with about 800 million adherents. It is the predominant faith in India, where it comprises 82% of the population. Hinduism does not have an individual founder.  Scholars typically trace its origins to around 1500 B.C. in what is now known as India.  It began as a polytheistic and ritualistic family of religions with various sacred rites performed by the heads of particular households or tribes.  As time passed, the rituals became increasingly more complicated, and the need arose for a specialized priestly class to learn and administer them.  During this period, the Vedas were developed (and later written down) to instruct Hindu "priests" how to perform these rituals.

Hinduism does not have an official set of beliefs.  There is no formal creed one must accept to be Hindu. Instead, Hinduism is a quite diverse set of various religious beliefs and practices. Scholars do not typically define Hindusim in terms of common doctrine, but rather by loosely shared rituals, traditions, and religious inclinations.  Nevertheless, in an attempt to make sense of the broadness of Hinduism, it is worth noting some beliefs that are common to a large number of Hindus, even if they are not required by all.

Brahman: There is one supreme, impersonal reality called Brahman.  Brahman is the source of all things, but is not a personal creator. Brahman is, rather, the divine essence of all that exists. Brahman is impersonal, eternal, and beyond all human comprehension.

"Gods and Goddesses:" Many Hindus worship various gods and goddesses. They often believe that these beings can be appeased or appealed to through rituals and offerings in a temple, at a home shrine, by a sacred river, or in other places. Hindu scholars often explain that the millions of local and household gods and even the major Hindu gods such as Brahma (creator), Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (destroyer) are all expressions of the one divine essence, so that all Hindus are, in a sense, worshiping the same divinity. Despite these protestations, they cannot escape the fact that they are, in essence, polytheistic. The Hindus worship them as distinct entities, and not just a different manifestation of Brahman.

Karma/Reincarnation: According to Hinduism, our primary problem is that we are ignorant of our own divine nature. We have forgotten that we extensions from Brahman, and we have attached ourselves to the desires of our separate selves, or egos. The law of karma is essentially the moral equivalent of a natural law of cause and effect.  It basically says that we reap what we sow.  However, our actions not only affect us in the present life but on into future lives, which is why there is reincarnation. Any act of personal will is karma, and its effects keep us bound in the endless cycle of reincarnation.

Samsara: The perpetual cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that an individual endures until the balance of their karma is removed.

Moksha:  The liberation (the word moksha  means "freedom") from samsara and true enlightenment. In many forms of Hinduism, it means the realization of one's union with the universal essence of Brahman and thus one's complete union with all things. It is similar to the Buddhist belief in nirvana.

Enlightened Masters: Many Hindus accept various enlightened masters, avatars, or other wise persons who can serve as guides to faithful Hindus.  These individuals serve as examples and provide direction for those who want to achieve moksha or enlightenment from the suffering of samsara.

No One True Religion: Hindus believe that there are many paths to God. There is not one true religion or one right way to find Brahman.

(Sources for the above: See "Hinduism" in The Compact Guide to World Religions by Dean Halverston [1996], See also Nos and Nos Man's Religions [1980]).

Reincarnation: Doing Life Over Until You "Get It Right"

On December 7, 1977, Eldon McCorkhill (age 33) and Linda Cummings (age 28) were having drinks at a bar in Redlands, California. Their conversation eventually came to the subject of life after death. Cummings said she was firmly convinced that reincarnation was true. A spirited debate ensued, as McCorkhill was not a believer in cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. They argued all the way back to McCorkhill's apartment; once there, he took out a loaded gun and handed it to Cummings, saying, "If you believe in this, let's see what you'll come back as." Linda Cummings took the gun, pointed it at her head, and without hesitation, pulled the trigger. (See San Francisco Examiner, December 8, 1977).

Truly, the most horrific doctrine of the Hindus is reincarnation. Reincarnation is the belief among both Hindus and Buddhists that you will be "incarnated" (given a body) again ("re-") in order to progress and work out your karma (good and bad deeds) and ultimately escape the cycle of rebirths by attaining moksha or nirvana (a state of perfection which usually, but not always, involves the extinction of the self into "Oneness"). There are seven themes that are common in all variations of reincarnation:

1. A goal of ultimate perfection for humanity.

2. An evolution towards perfection that is achieved through reincarnation.

3. Your karma will affect the type of reincarnation you have; a bad karma will mean a rebirth in a worse or lower state, while a good karma will mean rebirth to a better or higher state.

4. Your self survives death in successive afterlives.

5. You get multiple chances to make amends for the wrongs you've committed.

6. You will always be reincarnated in a body susceptible to die until you reach moksha.

7. There are multiple planets, universes, and dimensions upon which you can be reincarnated; it is not limited to Earth.  

The True Church of Christ has always taught--along with the Apostle St. Paul---"(Just as)people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (See Hebrews 9:27). The popularity of reincarnation and Eastern Mysticism is rampant in the Vatican II sect, with many "priests" and loony "nuns" practicing yoga, un-Catholic forms of meditation, and "centering prayer," all of which is opposed to authentic Catholic teaching and is linked to Hinduism.

Here are but two reasons (apart from Church teaching) that reincarnation is both false, and the very idea of cycles of rebirth is not "giving people more chances," but actually quite evil:

1. One lifetime is enough to decide your eternal fate. What difference does it make if a person lives 7,000 years in various incarnations or 70 years in one lifetime when compared to eternity? Are not both infinitesimal when compared to eternity? Everyone is given ample opportunity to get to Heaven, and no one goes there unless they choose it! Not all experiences admit of second chances. The Hindus are fond of comparing life to a test that a kind teacher lets you retake if you fail. I could just as easily analogize to someone committing suicide by shooting himself in the head. There is no "do over," and the result is permanent. Provided that the person was of sound mind, the choice was freely made.

2. Reincarnation does nothing to explain evil and is unjust unlike Hell. Children can be baptized because they did nothing wrong in contracting Original Sin. It is simply the deprivation of sanctifying grace caused by the Fall of Adam. In a similar way, if a wealthy couple squanders millions of dollars, their children will be born into a poor state through no fault of their own but those children can work their way to wealth. Children who die without baptism are generally thought to enjoy some natural happiness (Limbo) because of no personal fault. Contrast this with reincarnation. In what sense does your self continue? If you have no memory of what you did in a past life (and you may not even exist as the same gender or on the same planet/dimension), in what sense do you survive death? If there is no bodily continuity, memory, or intellectual awareness, it seems like you're suffering for what someone else did, which is unjust.

Reincarnation also offers no solution to the problem of evil. For example, if someone is born with no arms because they assaulted people in a prior life, and they assaulted people in a prior life because before that life they couldn't control their temper, whence did evil originate? It's an infinite regress of past lives with no explanation. How did suffering begin in the first place if each life of suffering was caused by past bad karma? Moreover, there would be no free will in the view of reincarnation. Eventually, everyone will come to some "moksha." So it doesn't matter if you're Hitler or St. Francis of Assisi, you both get to the same place regardless of what you do. On the other hand, Heaven and Hell are freely chosen with the wicked punished and the good rewarded.

The Vatican II sect helps spread the wicked doctrine of reincarnation (and Hinduism in general). At Vatican II, Nostra Aetate para. # 2 states:

"Thus in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an unspent fruitfulness of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek release from the anguish of our human condition through ascetical practices or deep meditation or a loving, trusting flight toward God."

This is a false representation because it leads the Catholic to see Hindu mythology and philosophy as valid, as if they might effectively "search for" the "divine mystery," and as if Hindu asceticism and meditation bring about something similar to Christian asceticism. In what sense does worshiping the demon-"gods" of Hinduism comprise a "loving, trusting flight toward" the True God?

Reincarnation was explicitly condemned in the schema of what was to be the Dogmatic Constitution De Deposito Fidel Pure Custodiendo, which was drawn up by the greatest anti-Modernist theologians during the preparatory phrase of  Vatican II. "Pope" John XXIII and the other Modernists saw to it that the schema was rejected prior to the start of the Council because of its paucity of "ecumenical" character.

Proselytizing Hindus

Hindus are very difficult to pin down because they accept one religion is as good as another. Therefore they vary in their beliefs. Try to show them the inherent unfairness of reincarnation, as stated in the two points above. If reincarnation is true, why bother to be moral? You keep coming back and can do whatever you want. If someone "reincarnates" as an animal, on what moral grounds will they be judged? Hindus do not limit reincarnation to people. If the Hindu you are trying to convert is Indian, it is so wrapped up in the culture, conversion is extremely challenging, to say the least. We are called by God to try, and that does not mean every attempt will be successful.  

Hindus recognize a large number of books as sacred scripture (shastras). Most Hindus are familiar with only a few of these. The most popular is the Bhagavad Gita, which is a song recounting the interaction of prince Arjuna with the "god" Krishna; it expresses the hopes to which many Hindus aspire. The great diversity in beliefs and practices among Hindus reflects a number of factors, not just the sacred books, so arguing against the books will not help much. 

Going against their polytheism is a good approach. When we speak of God, we are talking about the Supreme Being. God is ultimate and eternal. God is, as St. Anselm wrote, "that than which no greater can be conceived." There cannot be two Supreme Beings for the obvious reason that neither of them would be supreme. There cannot be several ultimate realities because none of them would be ultimate. The only way around this is to lower the bar for what it means to be a god, which is generally what polytheists do. The "gods" are often born or formed at various times and might be limited to particular places. The "gods" have power over certain things and sometimes even need things from people. Men form idols with their own hands and must guard them against theft and shield them from the elements because the "gods" cannot protect their own sacred images. How does this make sense and qualify the Hindu "deities" as truly "gods"? 

Conclusion

Hinduism is a false, polytheistic, pagan religion with ill-defined beliefs. It is largely based on cultural tradition. It appeals to Westerners who like the demonic idea of reincarnation, and that we are all "divine." People can (and do) change their minds. There have been many converts to Traditionalist Catholicism; I converted my own parents and one of my close friends from law school. You can be God's instrument to free someone from the demonic "gods" of Hinduism, and the Satanic doctrine of reincarnation--with the horrible implication that morality doesn't matter because you can "do life over and over again." We need to understand, and try to impart to others, the correct idea that this life is the one and only chance you have to gain eternal salvation, so you had better get it right.