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Inspired by and replaces 'For Love of Hindus' 8-2015

Jesus Christ for Hindus

White for the Harvest

One of the world’s largest religious groups is the Hindus. This paper presents a way to do that in a ministry that cannot include a face-to-face interaction with the person to whom you are writing.

First, God loves them! He created them as a unique person, there is not another person like them in the world, and He loves THEM! He knows them, cares about them, and wants only what is best for them – but He will never make them follow Him - they must choose to come to Him, hear Him, accept Him, and trust Him of their own will. Neither will He accept simply one place among many others in their hearts and lives – He claims exclusivity.

Second, we must love them as God loves them. This means we do not take an adversarial position of debate, but a loving way of teaching and presenting Jesus. God loves them. They will be eager to accept Jesus as part of their religious culture, adding Him, so to speak, to their collection of all other deities.

Third, we must be single-minded in our ministry, not allowing ourselves to be distracted from our central mission of presenting Jesus to them as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We neither tell them they are wrong, nor do we try to make them feel good about themselves.

Understanding Their Beliefs

There are some things about the Hindu religion we must understand to be able to teach them.

Hinduism is an ancient religion with traditions and philosophies that have grown over thousands of years. While the largest population is in India, it has now spread across the world till it is the third largest religious group in the world (after Christianity and Islam).

While worship is an important part of their daily lives, their relationship with God is a relationship of works. They have many festivals and religious holidays through which they worship throughout the year. Their scriptures are called the Vedas, and the Bhagavad Gita is the most popular even though few read these scriptures.

Most Hindus may follow more “folk” Hinduism than “philosophical” Hinduism. Folk Hinduism is more animistic (everything around them has a soul and therefore is a powerful spirit to be worshipped) and thus are seekers of blessings. Therefore, praying for their needs is important since this is where they will often find Jesus to be God. Then, as they grow in Christ they will find Him more than just one who meets their needs and fulfills desires – He is Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all that exists.

They believe in reincarnation, an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

They believe in “karma” – that the good or bad deeds of their previous life determine who or what they are in this life, so there is no escape for them from their current troubles. This may mean they find the idea of sin difficult and the story of Adam and Eve’s first sin of pride and disobedience would be a great illustration of how we all have sinned.

They believe in “Nirvana” or “Moksha” – which they hope to achieve through good works so they can break the cycle of bad or evil they’re living in now.

Hindus generally think whatever appears in their scriptures has the approval of God. So referring to Old Testament scriptures about how biblical characters indulged in adultery, anger and other works of flesh may turn out counter-productive to share the Gospel unless we use the examples to show how these people did NOT follow God’s ways – sin – but were forgiven when they turned to God in repentance.

Ministering to Hindus

What Hindus need is Jesus – the Way, the Truth, the Life. He says He is the only way anyone can receive salvation and be able to come to God. Since they have many other gods, it is important to use the Title “Lord” in connection with Jesus – i.e. Lord Jesus.

As with any other religion, our purpose is never to attack their beliefs, just present Jesus Christ.

They need to know God has made them as individuals, He knows them and loves them very much, and He wants them to have a personal relationship with Him. He made them who they are today, they are not the result of some endless cycle of chance or even “karma” reincarnation. They have this one life, and death seals all the choices they have made in this life. A former-Hindu leader, who had become a Christian said, “All the old Hindu books, some being older than the Bible, only minister questions and give no answer. All the answers to all the holy books of all time are found in the Gospel of John.”

Learn to tell the stories of people in the Bible. Every situation in human life today can also be found in a person in the Bible. Tell their stories of how they did their own thing and failed, and how God did His work in them, how answers to all life’s questions are found only in the God who created all things.

Above all, tell the stories of Jesus. He lived a perfect life amidst incredible opposition from the religious leaders of His time. He healed the sick because He cared about the every-day people. He raised the dead and forgave sins because He has the power of God. He brought sight and hearing and speech to show His kingdom is one of wholeness for eternity. He suffered and died for the penalty of our sins. He rose from the grave to show He was the victor over sin and death.

Hindus often look for parallels to their faith to say all ways are same. Pointing out how Jesus is unique is more effective as it makes them think and question their old faith.

Prayer

There is no weapon available to us in this ministry as effective as prayer. There are many things we cannot explain to them because we cannot see them – we cannot see by body-language what they have not understood or has caused offense. What makes perfect sense to us may mean something quite different for them. However, we KNOW the Holy Spirit knows their hearts far better than we ever could. Since our battle is definitely not against flesh and blood, we must use Spiritual power against the spirit-being enemy.

Ask Jesus in your prayer to open your contact’s eyes and reveal Himself to them. Show them you are a person of prayer, that you believe in the reality and power of prayer. Hindus are very religious and respect others who openly demonstrate their own faith in the power of prayer.

Answering questions

As is true in every situation when you are witnessing of Jesus Christ to someone, there is rarely a spiritual benefit to arguing point-counterpoint with someone. 1 Cor 1:23 tells us the cross is foolishness or a stumbling-block to people, they will not be persuaded by logical argument that Jesus’ words are truth. The unbeliever cannot accept or understand these things because the Holy Spirit must be there to teach them – 1 Cor 2:14.

GMO has many templates available to you to answer some of the questions we get most, and Hindu templates are also available to you for some of these situations – please read these so you know where to find them when you need them.

Some fundamental scriptures for you to use are:

Below is a table of subjects with corresponding Bible characters and Scriptures you can use for specific situations (fruit of the flesh and of the Spirit – Galatians 5:17-23) most common with Hindu seekers.