Points of Difference between Christianity and Hinduism

In the last blog we saw how from Upanishads of yester-years all the tenets of today’s Hinduism have arisen. We also saw many differences between Christianity and Hinduism. In this blog I want to deal with a ubiquitous comment of every Hindu, whom we come across in our daily walk, that all religions teach the same and that there is one God whom different religions call by different names. Like different rivers which finally merge with the ocean, all religions are just different paths to reach one God. Is this correct? Is Jesus and Shiva or Vishnu or even Allah the same? Do even Hindus believe this? Or is it their way of assimilating the other religions into their fold, while keeping theirs intact? Because, if all religions are the same then why is this furore over conversion in India? Again, if there are no differences between religions why do people fight over religion and kill each other all over the world, throughout man’s history? We will analyze some of these issues in this blog.

First of all, Hindus worship many gods. They have no compunction in including many others as they go; they would even worship Jesus as one among their many gods. They are polytheists. Bible teaches that there is One God and He is the true God and there is no other God besides Him.[1] It is a strict Monotheism. All three religions that arose from Abrahamic faith, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are monotheistic religions. This biblical God, Yahweh, whom Jews worshiped, is also worshiped as God by Christians, for Jesus called Him his Father.[2] Jesus also promised to send his followers the Holy Spirit, as a Helper and Comforter.[3] Though this God Christians know as the Triune God, it is not three different gods, but made of the same substance and constitute one, single Godhead. It is not three different gods making a triumvirate like the Hindu gods of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the sustainer and Shiva the destroyer. The Triune God, since beginning, starting with the creation of the world and in the working out of the plan of God for the salvation and redemption of the fallen human race,[4] and the on-coming final end of the world in consummation, have always worked as One.[5] So this is the first and the major difference between the two religions.

Secondly, though in Hinduism at the popular level many gods are worshiped as idols, in Brahminical Hinduism, which has Vedanta philosophy at the core as its belief, Brahman, their god, has no shape; it is one amorphous, effulgent, shining mass of consciousness, called Paramatman; there is no name or form or attributes. Christians hold their God as Spirit,[6] but we have in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who walked on earth, the very image of God.[7] God worshiped by Christians has attributes; He is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abounding in goodness and truth.[8] This is another major difference between the two religions.

Third, there is no karma theory and the connected caste system in Christianity. The hall-mark of Hinduism is karma theory, the cycle of repeated births and deaths and the resultant caste system. A person reaps the effects of his karma (bad or good deeds) done in the previous births; he suffers in this life, by being born in the lower castes and as out caste (Dalit), if he has done bad deeds in the previous lives; or enjoys life by being born in upper castes, if he had done enough good deeds in the previous births. The status of a person in the caste hierarchy is directly related to his karma. There is no escape from karma; even gods cannot forgive a person’s evil deeds; he has to pay it by suffering for it in the next births. This is the explanation that Hindus give for a person who is suffering in this life. They also do not believe in helping the suffering or the downtrodden to improve his life, because he has to pay up his penalty. Though this attitude is changing now, due to the influence of Christianity and the West, the basic attitude is that a leper or a man in the slums is paying his previous karma and he has to go through that. He is not to be helped. That will be interference with his fate!

Here in lies the major difference. In Hinduism no one, not even gods can forgive a person of his sins (mistakes, intentional and unintentional included); in Christianity, Christ has acclaimed that He, the Son of Man (another title of Christ), has the authority to forgive sins.[9] As a matter of fact, He is the only God who ever said that He has the authority to forgive sins. Peter in his very first sermon said thus to the people, who were cut to their hearts that they could be saved, if they repent of their sins, seek forgiveness from Christ and obtain remission of sins, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit.[10] We need do to do nothing; no working out our karma by doing good deeds; or trying to earn our way to heaven through good works. No, Jesus has done it all for us on the cross; he has paid the price for our sins; all that we have to do is to accept it in faith and seek His forgiveness, and then lead a godly life, guided and helped by the Holy Spirit.

Yes, Christians are always in the forefront doing good works, but that is not with an intention of earning merit before God, but because they have already been saved and included in the family of God, where they can call God their Abba, Father.[11] What a privilege and what a difference! Who dare say that there are no differences between various religions!

Another important difference is how the Hindu and Christian see the body. The former considers the body as a prison, which holds the spirit or soul captive; hence their mukti or deliverance is when the soul discards the body in death and rises above to merge with the Brahman. Nothing good comes out of the body for him. But in the case of the latter, the Christian, the body is precious because God created it and hence it is good; God created man in His own image;[12] secondly because the body is the temple in which the Holy Spirit resides.[13] How can that be evil? Body is good and when we die and are resurrected, it will be with the body that we will rise and stand before God for judgment.

Christians also have no such concept of merger with God as Hindus have. Creator God is always separate, pure and holy. Man in his death can never be so pure as to become one with God. The Creator and the created beings will always be separate.

Hindus see the world as an extension of Brahmans and believe that Brahman vibrates in all animals, humans and nature. That is also a reason why they are able to worship any and everything, including bird, animals and humans as gods. This is strictly prohibited in the Bible. No idol worship of any created being.[14]

Well, my friends, so if anyone is telling you that there are no differences between religions, he is simply ignorant or is trying to take you for a ride. There are deep and major differences. Only in the ethics, may be, some virtues as being good, god-fearing, respect to elders and parents, importance of alms-giving, etc, there is some kind of similarity. But in the core issues there are many deep and enduring differences. We need to be aware of these and be able to defend ourselves, when such casual remarks are thrown at us by our Hindu friends! And beware of the assimilating tendency and assimilating power of Hinduism!

---

[1] Exodus 20:3

[2] John 15:9 and many such passages

[3] John 14:25, 16:13; Romans 8:15

[4] Galatians 4:4-6

[5] Genesis 1:26;

[6] John 4:24

[7] John 1:14

[8] Exodus 34:6-7

[9] Matthew 9:6

[10] Acts 2:38

[11] Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15-16

[12] Genesis 1:27

[13] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20;

[14] Exodus 20:4

Upanishads of Hinduism

In the last blog we saw the beginnings of Hinduism in the Vedic corpus, which is really the Brahminical Hinduism. Besides the four Vedas, the last to be included in the corpus was Upanishads, called Vedanta, meaning Ved-anta, end of Vedas. You will be surprised to know that more than the Vedas it is from these Upanishads that we can trace the beginnings of today’s practicing Hinduism. This is also the Vedanta philosophy that Swami Vivekananda took to the West and gave a thrilling address in the Parliament of World Religions in September 1893 at Chicago, USA.

So what is this Upanishads? How did that come about? What are its main tenets? We will see these shortly. We learnt that the Brahmins had kept for themselves the top notch in the caste system they invented, even above the warrior kings. The reason being they had the monopoly of the Vedic mantras and rites, and conducted the sacrifices to please their gods. Now, the kshtryas resented this and some of the princes retired to the forests to meditate and fathom what could be the right religion for them to follow. They were not happy with the huge sacrifices of the animals or the chanting of Vedas, which gave the Brahmins the monopoly over the religion, and the consequent power over the people.

We know that Prince Siddhartha, getting restless and unhappy over the existing state of affairs, gave up his married and worldly life and became Buddha after his enlightenment. Many others, after a lot of meditation and thinking came to certain conclusions and collectively these are known as Upanishads. Some fifteen or so of these Upanishads have survived and a good reading of these will give us an understanding of it. We need to remember that these are philosophical musings of a disgruntled princes and aristocrats to overcome the monopoly of Brahmins in the religion. Philosophy is basically man-made.

Upanishads’ concept of god is that it is the Supreme Self or Paramatma, the first principle. It is an impersonal one. It is called Brahman, and exists as an undifferentiated homogeneous mass of consciousness. It is divine but not a personal deity. The Self or atman is the individual selves or souls. These souls, when they apprehend the Brahman and merge with it, achieve mukti, the final liberation from life. This involves the obliteration of all distinction as individuals. It is a merging of the individuals in the Paramatma. Thereafter pure oneness alone remains. It is avidhya or ignorance, maya or illusion that makes the individual souls, the atmans to think that they are separate.

Herein lies the first difference from Christianity. Christians know their God as a personal God, who interacts with them and with the human history. The reality of the world, and human beings and all other objectives are affirmed because these are reality and created by God. Even after redemption and salvation, human beings never merge with the Creator God; they remain as the created beings separate from the Creator God.

Because there is no distinction between Brahman the Supreme Self and the atman the Self of the beings, including man, Upanishads proclaim that self or atman is god. The famous statement is “Thou art that,” meaning ‘you are that,’ ‘that’ representing Brahman or Paramatman. The equation is Brahman=Atman. The human beings are no different from the divine which pervades the whole world. The world itself is seen as the extension of Brahman and not a reality. Brahman is the only reality that is all-pervading, the source of everything into which everything in the final act will merge. This is the understanding of religion and existence after death by Hindus even today.

Another difference is quickly seen here with Christianity. Christians never consider themselves as gods. They are the created beings, created and separate from the Creator, God. God told Moses to go and tell the Israel people under slavery in Egypt, that His name is “I AM that I AM” and that “I AM” has sent Moses to them to deliver them from slavery.[1] It was never ‘you are that,’ or ‘you are god,’ but I AM, a positive affirmative proclamation of deity of God. This difference between the Creator God and the created beings, animate or inanimate, is not there in Hinduism. That is why we will notice even today Hindus can accept any one as god, and will build you a temple and worship you if you have done something good for the community.

The distinction that Brahman is separate and human beings or the world is separate from Brahman is the work of maya (illusion) or avidhya (ignorance). Because of this ignorance, human beings think the world is real and get involved in it and become enmeshed in samsara (life in general). They marry, give birth to children, raise them up and are so attached to them, all because of maya. They live and die and again and again take birth and live and enter into the never ending cycle of birth and death or the samsara. On achieving true knowledge that the Self is the Brahman, this ignorance ceases and the Self or Atman escapes from samsara, the world cycle of repeated birth and death, and gets absorbed in Brahman, shining as pure and effulgent as Brahman. 

Well, this in nutshell is the core of Upanishads. Because the world and its activities were considered as not real but imaginary, the best of Hindu minds went into contemplative mode rather than take interest in life and improve it. Objectivity was lost and creativity got lost as well. We had no industrial revolution or great Nobel Prize winners in our country mainly because science, physics, biology were all neglected as being not relevant and result of maya.

This concept of samsara, or repeated cycle of birth and death, got enmeshed with the caste system. It became rather a tool in the hands of the clever Brahmins, who not only embraced and incorporated Upanishad teachings within Vedic corpus, but also legitimized caste system with this concept of samsara. The idea of karma theory started to develop. The soul or atman took repeated births because of its deeds or karma. The accumulated karma of previous births led a person to be born in a particular caste. If the bad deeds or bad karma were more, then the person was born in a low caste or even out of the caste or even out of humankind, as an insect or a dog or a crow. If the good karma outweighed the bad karma, then he was born in the higher hierarchy of caste, even as a Brahmin. Thus a person with leprosy or any such disease or blindness or deafness was attributed to his bad karma from the precious births and lives. We see this trend even today.

What gave the karma theory more teeth as the Kshtrya philosophers agonized over the injustices happening in the world? How come bad things happen to good people in this world? What could be the reason why one person is born as a leper or blind or lame of deaf? They reasoned it out that it must be because of the person’s previous karma or bad deeds. This crunched the issue. A man-made reasoning, a finding that was possible with the tiny brain that we all have within our cranium, created such a horrible system, where people for centuries remained in a backward and low status thinking that they are suffering so in this life, because of their bad karmas of previous lives. So instead of improving his life, he was despondent that his fate or karma was the reason for his state and that it can never be improved. Fatalism and pessimism corroded the confidence of the population. It sucked the life blood out of India and her people suffered for millennia under the yolk of caste system and karma theory. It still continues in the rural areas in India.

On the contrary, in Christianity we see life as a gift from God, whatever may be the difficulties, we have the confidence that we have a prayer-answering God who knows what we go through and is concerned about our welfare. That is because Christ came and lived as a man in this world. The goal of religion in Christianity is not escape from the world; body is not a prison for the soul; we believe in a life after death, a bodily resurrection and a life lived in the glorious presence of God and Christ. Jesus died, but rose on the third day, giving us a hope that we will do so also.

There is only one life and that is this life which we are living. The destiny as to where we end up after death, whether in heaven with God and Christ eternally or in hell with Satan and his minions eternally, will be decided on what we do with this life. That is why Christ said “Repent and return for the kingdom of God is near.” The emphasis is not on doing good karma to earn brownie points but to repent of the wrongs done and accept Jesus Christ as God and Savior, who is able to forgive our sins and grant us the Holy Spirit, who is able to keep us on the path of righteousness.

We do good deeds not to earn salvation, but because we have already received salvation in Christ. Out of that gratitude and love for others which is the flow of love from Christ and God that we warn others to repent and accept Christ when there is still time. It is not arrogance that makes us urge others to accept Christ as the only true God, but because we know the dire consequences of someone who refuses so great a salvation.  Will you listen my friend and act today and save your soul? God guide you to decide on this matter of eternal consequence, so that you don’t regret later.

God bless you and keep you.

Amen.

---

[1] Exodus 3:14

Origins of Hinduism

After having seen the origin of us, Indians, it is time now to move on to the origin of Hinduism. Our forefathers came out of Africa, who moved into Indian subcontinent some 65,000 years back, and spread all over the place. The previous occupants of the country, the Neanderthals just vanished once modern man set his foot in the country! Then came the Zagros Iranians with their domesticated cattle and agriculture around 7000 BC to the western India and mingled with the out of African forefathers. This led to the Harappan civilization, which had its high point in 2600 BC, but declined and disappeared around 1900 BC. They moved to the south and to the east. Last came the Aryans from Kazakh steppes of Eurasia around 1600 – 1100 BC through the same western corridors and mixed with the Harappan population. From the east we had admixture of Chinese and Australian tribes as well. This in short is our ancestry! Amazing, isn’t it?

Now the question is how did Hinduism rise out of all these? Origin of Hinduism is shrouded in mystery to say the least. Aryans when they came in confronted the declining Harappan civilization, who had mother-goddess worship, fertility cult, and a proto-Shiva sitting in yoga pose under a peepal tree with a trident. Harappans, who went to the south carried their beliefs. Even today we see a strong tendency of mother worship in the south, with names of goddesses like Kattamma, Madivalamma and so on. Harappans civilization was urban based, with sheep and buffaloes, a settled life with agriculture as the main stay.

Aryans were nomadic pastoral people, who brought into India horse, wheel and Sanskrit language. They had many gods, mainly the natural elements, like Surya the sun-god, Agni the fire-god, Indra the rain-god, Vayu the wind-god and so on. They sacrificed to their gods, which was very important to them. They sacrificed horses – ashvameda sacrifice, humans – purushameda sacrifice, and gifting away one’s property - sarvameda sacrifice.

As the Aryans moved gradually towards the east, the Gangetic valley, by 1500 BC they composed their first liturgy, the Rigveda. It had basically poems, some 1017 hymns grouped into 10 mandalas (books), which were chanted as mantras while performing the sacrifices. By chanting these, they believed that the particular god for whom they conducted the sacrifice, would come and grant their wishes. Their petitions were for victory in the war over the local indigenous leaders, prosperity, and increase in cattle wealth. To please their deities they offered the sacrifices. It was a magical chanting, which was the exclusive preserve of the priests, enhancing their prestige and power in the community.

Sama Veda, which contained some 1000 songs taken from Rigveda and rendered musical came next; Atharva Veda, the next Veda had 50 recensions, spells used by the priests while performing the sacrifices. Finally Yajur Veda which contained ritualistic passages of adoration and worship of gods in prose, and also a good amount of black magic and tantric rites; this is dated 500 BC.  

Thus from 1500 to 500 BC they had composed the four Vedas and this period is called the Vedic period. Each of these Vedas had their own Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. As they conquered more and more territory and moved into the whole of Indian subcontinent, which happened by 200 AD, they also formulated their own code of conduct and reorganized the society for their advantage. The way of life or ‘Dharma’ as they called it, prescribed on the population was Varnashrama Dharma. It contained four varnas, based on the color of the skin and the level of pollution, as they thought. Brahmins, priestly class, who were the priests, kshatryas, the warriors, vaishya consisting of the traders and the farmers and finally the Sudra, the servile class which was to serve all the other three upper classes. Sudras were mainly the local population, whom they had conquered.

The ashrama dharma contained the stages of a man’s life, the first being the student life, devoted to study, the Brahmacharya; next being the married man whose task was to earn and support all the rest, the Grahastha; then the elders who left everything under the care of their sons and moved to the forests along with their wives, to meditate and live an ascetic life, the Vanaprastha and finally the fully renounced Sunnyasa, who maintained himself by begging till he found his mukti or liberation.  

This classification of people and life sounds admirable, excepting that it worked fully for the enrichment and advantage of the upper classes and the oppression and exploitation of the lower classes. From 1500 BC to 100 AD, the Aryans had mingled with the local population, marrying with whomever they thought attractive or rich enough for them to marry. By 100 AD they brought in caste system with its regulations and restrictions on marriage. Genome studies show that the intermixing stopped precisely at this point and the most unjust practice of caste system started. Sub castes and subgroups emerged into which they accommodated people groups according to their influence, power, position, bargaining power and riches.

The result was India, which was thriving so far having a wider influence, especially after Emperor Ashoka, who sent his son and daughter and others to the nearby eastern countries to spread Buddhism. This grew into a Greater India, as the cultural conquest and influence of India spread to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, China and even Japan. With the restrictions introduced, India started to look inward and all the initiatives of the population were curbed and there was no innovation or motivation or upward mobility guaranteed by hard work, which a poor or a hardworking man could look forward to. Each one was fossilized in their own caste and sub caste. Birth determined it all. By weaving religious beliefs into the caste system, they nailed the system deep in the psyche of the population.

The priestly class or the Brahmins were all powerful as they controlled the access to gods and prosperity; they kept the kings or warriors in good stead because they wanted security; the kings themselves needed the Brahmins to legitimize their rule; the farmers and traders were tolerated, but the Sudras and the outcastes were oppressed and humiliated and exploited. Outside the caste system existed the primitive tribal communities, who were not even included in the caste system, but were outcastes. They are the Scheduled caste and Scheduled tribes incorporated into our constitution at independence. Gandhi called them Harijans, as if the change in name would alter their condition; now they call themselves Dalits and are still fighting for their rights and economic liberation.

Women were suppressed and put down. Harappan culture gave women importance as they had practiced mother worship. Moreover they practiced matriarchal system, where property passed through the women in the family. Aryans being pastoral were patriarchal and had male gods and gave importance to males. To suppress the independent indigenous women folks, and to keep them subjugated, they brought in child marriage, lowered social status for widows and even introduced sati, where young widows, married to older men, were burnt on the funeral pyre of the dead husbands, which was supposed to bring vimochana (liberation) to the whole family.

They organised settlements into villages, ‘gramma,’ after clearing the forests, where representatives of all the four castes were settled; the Sudras and outcastes were demilitarized, their weapons removed and given no right to carry weapons; they could not buy any piece of land or own land in their names. They were not to learn and recite Vedas, but were kept in ignorance. They were made dependent on the upper castes for their livelihood and survival. Birth in a particular caste became a death warrant. No possibility of improving their fate; it was all written.

All these were happening when in the far distant Israel, Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose on the third day, proving God’s plans worked not through oppression and exploitation, but through love and sacrifice. Jesus Christ liberated human beings from the hold of sin and oppression. By the first century, 100 AD, when India was closing, the New Testament had been written and the disciples of Christ were on their move spreading the teachings of Christ all over the Roman Empire, and dying as martyrs.

Yes, Thomas, the disciple is said to have come to India and thus brought in Christianity to India, but it will take a full 1600 years before missionaries would come to India and spread Christianity in a meaningful way. I am referring to the Tranquebar Mission, which was established in Tharangambadi in today’s Tamil Nadu, by two German missionaries, Ziezenbalg and Plutschau in 1706 in the Danish East India Company premises. 200 years of British rule brought in modernity to India, and the much needed social liberation to the lower castes, outcastes and women in India. Still India is steeped in ignorance, superstition and poverty, especially in the BEMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and former Uttar Pradesh), which the politicians exploit to come to power.

Well, that is the history of Hinduism’s origin and development. We cannot pinpoint a time or date when the name Hinduism was given to this amalgamated religion. May be the Greek visitors like Magasthenes, who visited India in 303 BC, and Chinese pilgrims like Fahien, who came in 399 AD, referred to Hinduism as the religion practiced by the inhabitants of Hindustan. But one thing is certain, the religion that Aryans brought in and established was Brahminical Hinduism, which ran for a long time above the surface of the common or popular Hinduism practiced by the people, whom they conquered and oppressed. The Brahmins had to accommodate the gods of the local population and Shiva and Shakti (Kali or Parvati) came to be the major deity of Hinduism. No one worships Agni or Indra or Varuna today. It was a gradual process of accommodation and assimilation that went on for 3500 years to produce the mammoth Hinduism of today.

Does it sound a depressing tale to recount? Yes, it does, especially for those who do not fall in the upper two or three castes of Brahminical Hinduism. May be it is so unjust, because it is a code of life prepared by human beings, for their own selfish reasons and to preserve their own position in the society and to exercise power and control. In contrast is the Law commanded by God to Moses, is humane, with concern and care for the poor, the suffering and the downtrodden. One is a man-made religion; the other is God-given religion. May be there lies the difference.

World Religions - Hinduism: Our Origins

This blog is coming after a long gap due to various reasons. Well, now that I have started I thought I would deal with the world religions. Would you be interested? Having known Christianity and Christ, it is good to find about the tenets, faith, believes and practices of the other major religions of the world, if only to know what they mean and practice and may be also to compare with Christ and His teachings.

Why not start with Hinduism, a religion at our own doorsteps, practiced by the majority in India? As a religion practiced by 83% of people in India, we are so much steeped in its traditions and practices that sometimes it becomes our way of life too, especially in the cultural context. For one thing almost all our friends in school, college and the place of work, be it government office or corporate office or professions like medicine or engineering are invariably Hindus. You name it, wherever it is and whatever it is, we have mostly Hindus as our colleagues and clients. So all the more important that we know what makes them tick! Don’t you think so?

Before delving into Hinduism would you like to know a bit about Indians and how they came about? What be their origins? Where they always Hindus or was there something else to it? When did it all start?

We all know that in the ancient world the powers that were knew about India. Geographically people who lived beyond the Sind River in the subcontinent were called Indians. Bible talks about the King of Persia, Ahasuerus, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia.[1] Modern commentators associate him with King Xerxes I of Achaemenid Empire, who reigned from 486 BC to 465 BC. The world famous Macedonian Alexander the Great came up to Indian shores in 326 BC, after conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, in his desire to conquer the world. After conquering much of Indus valley in North West of India, he had to return as his troops mutinied.  

But, what are the origins of Indians? Where did they come from - within India, or from outside the subcontinent? Recently I came across a fascinating book which traces the origins of early Indians.[2] The author bases his conclusions among other things on archaeological evidences and the modern DNA testing of genomes of populations and even DNA extracts from the long dead and buried remains of fossil human beings. Interesting, isn’t it?

The ancestors of Indians came from Africa! Amazed? Yes, it is proved now that the modern humans from Africa crossed over to the Levant (modern day Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Israel), crossing the Red Sea into the Arabian peninsula during the glacial period and colonizing that area, some 80,000 years back. From there one group went westward to populate the now European continent, while some of them left eastward to greener pastures and came to India, and then on wards to populate East India and further more to Australia.

All human beings have been proved to be thus the descendants of a single population of Out of Africa migrants, who moved into Asia around 70,000 years ago and then spread around the world. How good to know that we are all interconnected, genetically, culturally and historically, especially in these days of caste and racism.[3] Was it Eden the Garden of biblical fame from where this first migration took place? I wonder! How do you reckon?

In India these people, the modern humans, entered around 65,000 years back and spread over the complete subcontinent after conquering the Neanderthal people, our genetic cousins, in the subcontinent. They seemed to have entered by land in the northwest and some through the sea from north to south. The closest direct descendants of these migrants, one can see today in the Little Andaman Island and Onge and in the tribes living there.  

All of us Indians, even today carry 35 to 50% of the genome from these First Indians! Can you believe that! Who would have thought that we carry our African forefathers’ genes even today in our population! Shall we take a genome test to determine our descent? What do you say to that suggestion? Wouldn’t it be terribly interesting!

The next wave of migrants to India came from West Asia. Agriculture is said to have developed in the Fertile Crescent area (Upper Egypt, Levant and today’s Iraq; basically area from Nile river to Euphrates and Tigris rivers) around 9700-5000 BC. Plants like wheat and barley, and animals like goats were domesticated during this time. This led to a population explosion and further migrations. They took their plants and animals and migrated!

A group of these agriculturists, from the Zagros area of present Iran, migrated to India via the north western corridors around 7000 BC and they mixed with the First Indians who were already there. Excavations in Mehrgarh now in Baluchistan in Pakistan show that the mixed population was there from 7000 BC to 2600 BC. And they were the ones who sowed the seeds of Indus Valley civilization of yore, which lies now in Pakistan, and Harappan Civilization spread over present day India in Gujarat, Haryana areas, both being contemporary of Sumerian civilization. Harappans had significant Iranian agriculturist ancestry and thrived between 2600 BC and 1900 BC. Do you know that we, modern Indians, carry this West Eurasian (West Asians including people of Fertile Crescent and Iran) genes in our genomes? Mind blowing, isn’t it? And very interesting, don’t you think so?

Yes, we are all the product of mix of the First Indians, who arrived from Africa, and then the Iranian. There is more to follow. Harappan civilization declined in due course around 1900 BC, mainly due to repeated droughts in the area. They moved over to the other parts of the subcontinent, especially to the south and the east. That is how the south Indians have this mixed blood of Harappans, which contained the blood of the Iranian agriculturist migrants.

There is one more important migration to occur, the third and the last great migration into India, this time from the Eurasian Steppe, the land between Black Sea and Caspian sea, the steppe pastoralists. These are the Aryans, who came from Kazakh Steppe, around 2000 to 1000 BC. One group of them went to Europe. The other group via present day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan came to India from the northwest and mixed with the Harappans. These are the people who brought with them the horse, wheel and the Sanskrit language, which will later give rise to the Aryan culture, the Brahminical Hinduism. When these Harappans migrated to the south they gave some of this Aryan blood to the south Indians also. Around the same time there was influx from the southeast Asia around 2000 SC to eastern India. 

So the Indians are the mix of First Indians (from Africa) and Zagros agriculturists of Eurasia, and the Steppe pastoralists from Eurasia as well, and from the east Southeast Asians, all of course, to a varying extent.

Wow, what an incredible journey! Hope you enjoyed it. In the next blog we will examine Hinduism and learn more about it.    

---

[1] Book of Esther, Chapter 1, verse 1

[2] Joseph, Tony, Early Indians: The Story of our Ancestors and where we came from, Juggernaut Books, 2018

[3] Charles Darwin, of Evolution fame, in 1871 itself had indicated that modern humans originated in Africa.

Did Jesus Say, “I Am God?”

That is an interesting question, isn’t it? Did Jesus say that he was God? Did he say, “I am God; worship me?” Well, in the OT, you know that Yahweh, God of Israel, declares at least 164 times that He is God. Moses starts the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1 with God declaring Himself, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” He goes on to say that they shall have no other God beside Him. Well, the critics ask, where in the NT Jesus has said that he was God. Hmm, good question!

His distracters further say, Jesus never said that he was God, but it was his followers, his disciples, especially Paul, who made a God out of him. Jesus not only did not say that he was God, but silenced the demons when they declared that He was the Holy One of God.[1] Why did he do that? Again when Simon Peter made his Nazarene declaration that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus though he appreciated this bold declaration, told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was Jesus the Christ.[2] Why so? When the rich young ruler came running and addressed him ‘Good Teacher,’ Jesus told him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, that is God.”[3] Why this denial? Well, my friends, we will try and systematically examine the issue to understand the reason behind all these. Come with me, let’s explore the Scriptures!

Jesus always referred to himself by the title the ‘Son of Man,’ at least 48 times. What does it mean? Jewish Rabbis traced the ‘Son of Man’ reference directly to Daniel 7:13-14, where it pointed out to the much awaited Messiah, Christ. But others have been called by similar names. For example the prophet Ezekiel is called ‘son of man,’ at least 90 times in his book of prophecy, starting with Ezekiel 2:1! What do you day to that! Again, Luke calls Adam the son of God, while tracing the genealogy of Jesus![4] God calls King Solomon “My son!”[5] Daniel himself is called the ‘son of man,’ by the angel.[6] In such cases, ‘son of man’ referred to their humanity as mortal beings.

So what is so special about the “Son of Man” of Daniel 7:13-14? For one thing it is in capital letters, so does not refer to ordinary mortals. Secondly Daniel in his vision saw “One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven!” He was brought before the Ancient of Days, God, and was given an everlasting dominion, glory and indestructible kingdom, that all the people of the world would serve him. Now this is a pointer of the Messiah, the Christ, no doubt. While describing the end time happenings to his disciples, Jesus paints himself in a similar picture. He says, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven and … they will see The Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”[7] Jesus is confirming the prophecy of Daniel and is applying it to himself, as the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven to whom dominion and kingdom were given, whom everyone worshiped. Is this direct enough for you?

Second confirmation of Jesus’ deity-ship is the ‘I Am’ statements of Christ in the Gospel of John. More importantly, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”[8] Jesus is claiming god-ship here because he is using the same title that God gave to Himself in front of Moses before sending him to Egypt to face the Pharaoh. God tells Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and that Moses should tell the children of Israel, “I Am has sent me to you.”[9] The moment Jesus said he was I AM, the Jews took up stones to pelt him, because he dared to equate himself to God! That was blasphemy and the punishment was death by stoning! Jesus just hid himself and went out, passing right in the midst of them and escaped.[10] So Jesus did consider himself as God, it was the Jews who had problems with that!

Third, Jesus declared that he had the authority to forgive sins! That was blasphemy, for Jews considered only God can do that! When the paralytic was let down with the bed on his was lying, Jesus heals him and says “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” The ever vigilant scribes present on that occasion murmured, why is this man speaking blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Jesus replies them saying he said thus so that they may know that “the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.”[11] Well, the scribes couldn’t take it because they considered Jesus as a mere mortal, arrogating to himself godly prerogatives!

Fourth, the way Jesus taught was different from all the other prophets amidst Israel. Prophets always used the formula, “Thus says the Lord,”[12] thus acting as the spokespersons of God. But Jesus taught with authority, he usually said, “I say unto you,” giving his own interpretation of Moses’ Law, and setting aside many of the commands given by Moses.[13] People wondered who this could be![14] He was not only the Lord of Sabbath[15] but also of the Law! 

Fifth, Jesus categorically stated people needed to believe in him to obtain salvation. He said, “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in you sins.”[16] Clearly Jesus addresses himself as “He,” here, indicating his divinity. Faith in Jesus Christ is crucial to salvation of the souls. Without our sins being forgiven, we can never hope to get to heaven and inherit eternal life. For that faith in Christ is essential, and faith that He died for us on the cross and has the authority to forgive our sins, if we repent and ask him.

Sixth, Jesus said “I and my Father are One.” Again the Jews took up stones to stone him, because of blasphemy, for being a man, he dared to make himself God![17] The Jews just couldn’t believe that Jesus, a mere carpenter could be the Messiah. They had expected the Messiah to be a military leader, who would break the yoke of Roman rule and liberate them. Here, Jesus was showing no signs of such activity but instead was claiming to be equal to God. Total misunderstanding of the Messiah and his role by the Jews! And that led them to reject him and crucify him in the end.

Seventh, Jesus performed many miracles and to the skeptics of his time, he said even if they will not believe him when he declared himself as “Son of God,” they should at least believe in his works.[18] He also told the same to the disciples of John the Baptist who came questioning on behalf of John, whether he is the “Coming One” or are they to look for another. ‘See the things I am doing, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, deaf hear, dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.’[19] These are the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah 35:4-6; 61:1. On seeing and hearing what he was doing, there should be no doubt left in the hearts of God’s people that he was what he was claiming to be, the Son of Man.

Lastly, after resurrection, when Thomas acclaimed Jesus Christ to be “My Lord, my God,”[20] he realized the ultimate truth. His disciples saw his resurrection as the proof of his divinity and worshiped him.

We will quickly see why Jesus silenced demons calling the Son of the Holy One and instructed his disciples not to tell others that he was the Christ. In case he had been open about his identity, with the misunderstanding the Jew had about the role and identity of Messiah, they would have stoned him to death long time back. Jesus’ ministry time on earth, which was just three and a half years, would have been further cut short. He would have hardly had time to train his disciples, deliver his teachings, perform the miracles and all the things he did, if he had died earlier. So he was being more prudent and waited till God’s time. In the end he did reveal his identity before the authorities during his trial. When the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus answered in the affirmative, “I am.” He alluded directly to Daniel 7:13-14, when he further said, “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”[21] This made the high priest exclaim, what more proof we need, he is blaspheming and is worthy of death. That nailed him to the cross.

So you see my friend, the skeptics are wrong all the way through. Jesus knew he was Son of God, the Messiah and the Christ. He was conscious of his deity-ship and was fulfilling the Will of God by sacrificing himself on the cross or our sins. He was being careful of revealing his identity early and spoiling his earthly ministry. And so, his disciples didn’t make him God; he was and is God, God eternal. Disciples from day one preached that Jesus was Lord and Christ.[22] It was not invented later after a few decades.

Are you clear about these facts my dears? Never stumble on the divinity of Jesus Christ and never be ashamed of proclaiming Him as God, worthy of worship. Like Thomas declared, Jesus Christ is our Lord and God. Never let go of that truth.

Bye then, till we meet again! God bless you and keep you.

---

[1] Mark 1:24-25

[2] Matthew 16:15-17, 20

[3] Mark 10:17-18

[4] Luke 3:38

[5] 1 Chronicles 28:6

[6] Daniel 8:17

[7] Matthew 24:30

[8] John 8:58

[9] Exodus 3:14

[10] John 8:59

[11] Mark 2:5-7,10

[12] Ezekiel 11:15

[13] Matthew  5:18, 20, 22, 26, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44, etc.

[14] Matthew 7:28-29

[15] Mark 2:28

[16] John 8:24

[17] John 10:30, 31, 33

[18] John 10:37-38

[19] Matthew 11:3, 4-6; (my paraphrasing!)

[20] John 20:27-29

[21] Mark, 14:61-62

[22] Acts 2:36