HINDUISM
Hinduism is a very diverse religious faith that began in India. It began during the “Iron Age” of India (which was the 12th to 6th centuries BC) and it has no single founder. There are many varieties of Hinduism embracing a complex and divergent set of views and thousands of “gods;’ and for this reason, it is difficult to isolate a unified set of beliefs related to Jesus. Hindu believers often hold a variety of views. Let’s try to give a “snapshot.”
Hindus believe Jesus Was a Holy Man
Hindus evaluate “spirituality” on the basis of behavior and practice. Virtues such as tolerance, love, non-violence, self-sacrifice and humility are held in high esteem and considered to be characteristics of “holy men” known as “Sadhu.” By this criteria, Jesus qualifies as a “Hindu Saint” on the basis of his life and teaching.
Hindus generally believe Jesus Was A Wise Teacher
They respect the teaching of Jesus and some have even committed themselves to this teaching. Mahatma Gandhi, for example, admired the teaching of Jesus greatly (particularly the Sermon on the Mount), even though he was not interested in Jesus as a true historical character. Gandhi, a revered Hindu teacher and holy man, saw Jesus as a symbol of superior ethics and revered His teaching. In his reading of the Gospels, (Ghandi was well-read, he studied the Torah, the Quran, and the Bible) Gandhi was particularly impressed by this Jesus whom Christians worshiped and followed. He wanted to know more about “the Christ, the Messiah.”
The late Pastor Frederick Pattison (founder of the Evangelical Network) told the following story: One Sunday morning Gandhi decided that he would visit one of the Christian churches in Calcutta. Upon seeking entrance to the church sanctuary, he was stopped at the door by the ushers. He was told he was not welcome, nor would he be permitted to attend this particular church as it was for high-caste Indians and whites only. Gandhi was neither high caste, nor was he white. Because of the rejection, the Mahatma turned his back on Christianity. With this act, Gandhi rejected the Christian faith, never again to consider the claims of Christ. He was turned off by the sin of segregation that was, sadly, practiced by this church (sound familiar to you?…I hope not). It was due to this experience that Gandhi later declared, “I’d be a Christian if it were not for the Christians.“ he respected Jesus’ teaching so much.
Now some Hindus are more than willing to acknowledge Jesus as divine, they just don’t see Him as ‘uniquely’ Divine. Hindus often worship many gods and goddesses (into the thousands, literally) and some are eager to include Jesus in their list of deities. They don’t, however, see Jesus as the only way to God. Instead, some see Jesus as the perfect example of “self-realization” (the goal of Hindu “dharma” – which in Hinduism is the religious and moral law governing individual conduct and is one of the “four ends of life,” meaning…things you should attain to…strive for.) Many Hindus see Jesus as a symbol of what ‘humans’ can attain, rather than a true historical person. They believe He is divine in his modeling, if not in His nature, but that He is not the only such model. While some Hindus may see Jesus as a God-man of sorts, they would also site other examples such as Rama, Krishna and Buddha as having attained that deity as well. They believe Jesus is simply one of many “ishtas” (forms of the divine) in the history of mankind.
BUDDISM
Buddhism is based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (a spiritual teacher from India who lived from approximately 563BC to 483BC and is known as “the Buddha” – yes, that little fat guy sitting cross-legged that you can find a ceramic statue all over the place. And by the way, if you have one in your house (you shouldn’t…but if you do) you better not let my Pastor see it; he’s been known to “stumble” into them, knocking them over and somehow shattering them…OK, I made that up….I think…but I’m pretty sure it’s something he would do if he had the chance. But I’m veering of course here, back to serious “musing.” Buddhism incorporates a variety of religious traditions, beliefs and practices. Like Hinduism, Buddhism provides no singular unified view about Jesus, they are kinda all over the board, although a number of Jesus’ characteristics are generally accepted by most Buddhists:
Most Buddists believe Jesus Was An Enlightened Man
They acknowledge and respect the fact Jesus lived a self-sacrificial life and had compassion on those who were in spiritual need. This kind of compassion is seen by Buddhists to be the key to happiness and enlightenment. For this reason, many Buddhists, including the 14th century Zen master, Gasan Jōseki, refer to Jesus as an “enlightened man,” but of course, not as “unique.”
Most Buddhists also respect the teachings of Jesus
Buddhists especially like Jesus’ teaching related to loving one’s neighbor and the need to demonstrate kindness and forgiveness. Jesus’ teaching related to compassion, for example, impressed the Dalai Lama greatly. Jesus is seen as someone who possessed the correct perspective on life and his teachings helped others to embrace the truth. Some Buddhists including the 14th Dali Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, have even recognized Jesus as a ” bodhisattva” (one who dedicates his life sacrificially to the service and betterment of others). BUT, while Jesus is seen as a wise teacher, He is not seen as divine.
Now the current Dalai Lama often describes Jesus as a “holy man” and includes Jesus in his list of such people. In fact, perhaps surprisingly, he does not typically elevate Buddha to a greater status than Jesus when discussing the two figures. The Dalai Lama has met frequently with the Pope in the early part of the 21st century and showed great respect for the teaching and person of Jesus Christ. (not the time and place to discuss the papacy, except that to many, it is, sadly I think, how they see Christianity…so the Dalai Lama meeting with the Pope…considered a big deal…)
SIKHISM
The history of Sikhism started with Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Guru in the fifteenth century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent (modern Pakistan and India). The religious practices were formalized by Guru Gobind Singh Ji on 13 April 1699. The latter baptized five persons from different social backgrounds to form the Sikh “Khalsa” or The first five, The Pure Ones. He was then baptized into the Khalsa fold. This gives the order of Khalsa, a history of around 300 years. Sikhs believe in One God, and the Sikh religion recognizes the equality of all human beings, and is marked by rejection of idolatry, ritualism, caste and asceticism.
Regarding Jesus (Yeshua), Sikhs do not believe that Jesus is God because Sikhism teaches that God is neither born, nor dead. Jesus was born and lived a human life, therefore, as Sikhs see it, He cannot be God. They do accept Jesus as a prophet, a Holy Man.
A much-used Sikh analogy to describe how they see Jesus is this: They say if God is like an ocean, then our soul is like a drop of water taken from the ocean. The drop of water can become one with the ocean but can never be label as the ocean itself. A human soul can become one with God and attain salvation but can never be label as God Himself. Therefore, Jesus could have been one with God, but not God Himself.
Sikhs believe there is one God who is all good, all knowing, and embodies truth. He is eternal and the sustainer of all things.
Sikhs believe Jesus isn’t the only way to God, they believe there were plenty of gurus who taught what Jesus taught. You can follow any of their examples and be just as good a person as Jesus tells you to be.
Some Sikhs ‘do’ regard Jesus as the son of God; saying that He taught the path of love and devotion to acquire the blessings of god, and that His sacrifice to get people out of sins is seen as a divine task.
BAHAIISM
Bahá’u’lláh, a 19th century Persian, claimed to be a messenger from God as he founded the Bahá’í Faith in 1863. Bahá’u’lláh taught all of religious history had been revealed through a series of messengers sent by God, and he considered himself to be the last of these messengers. Bahá’u’lláh recognized several leaders from prior religious movements and claimed these men revealed the progressive truth of God to each differing generation. Based on this perspective, Bahá’u’lláh accepted many of the claims of Christianity and affirmed many characteristics of Jesus.
The Bahá’í Faith describes Jesus as a “manifestation” of God and acknowledges Jesus was sent by God – the BIG “However” though is this – the Bahá’í faith places Jesus alongside ‘other’ messengers from major religious movements, including Abraham, Muhammad, the Buddha, Krishna, and Zoroaster.
The Bahá’í faith does acknowledge Jesus was born of a virgin through the Holy Spirit, just as the Bible maintains.
Following excerpt from “The Promised Day Is Come” by Shoghi Effendi, a practioner of Bahai)
“As to the position of Christianity, let it be stated without any hesitation or equivocation that its divine origin is unconditionally acknowledged, that the Sonship and Divinity of Jesus Christ are fearlessly asserted, that the divine inspiration of the Gospel is fully recognized, that the reality of the mystery of the Immaculacy of the Virgin Mary is confessed…”
The Bahá’í faith also acknowledges Jesus spoke for God while He was here on earth. In fact, the words of Jesus are considered in Bahai to be the words of God.
Bahá’u’lláh described Jesus as a divinely wise teacher whose words contained the deep wisdom from God Himself, for instance, this except here from Gleanings from the writings of Bahaullah, regarding Jesus:
“The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.”
Bahá’u’lláh also described the nature of Jesus in a manner consistent with Biblical teaching. In one of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings (the “Book of Certitude”), Bahá’u’lláh claims Jesus had two natures: a divine nature and a human nature.
Now, to be CLEAR, Bahá’u’lláh also said this was true for all of God’s “manifestations,” including – of course – himself (amazing how that works, hmmm). Bahá’u’lláh saw Jesus as a bridge between a perfect, inexpressible and transcendent God and physical humanity.
The Bahá’í faith acknowledges Jesus performed miracles while here on earth. Bahá’u’lláh described Jesus as someone who could heal the sick and give sight to the blind – again, from the book Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah
“We testify that when He came into the world, He shed the splendor of His glory upon all created things. Through Him the leper recovered from the leprosy of perversity and ignorance. Through Him, the unchaste and wayward were healed. Through His power, born of Almighty God, the eyes of the blind were opened, and the soul of the sinner sanctified.”
The Bahá’í also acknowledge Jesus died on a cross and this death and (spiritual) resurrection were offered to redeem fallen humanity – but they do NOT believe in His Diety or Bodily resurrection…only a Spiritual resurrection.
ZOROASTRIANISM
I include this simply because there are some who claim this ancient Persian religion, which seems to have originated about 4000 years ago, was arguably the world’s first monothesitic faith. Thus, perhaps inevitably, some claim it is where Judaism and Christianity actually birthed from; since many Zoroastrian concepts, including the idea of a single god, heaven, hell and a day of judgment, some say were first introduced to the Jewish community captive in Babylonia (think the times of the book of Daniel). This discounts, of course, that, I believe, Daniel and the Hebrew people already had these concepts……anyway, not the place to argue this and due to Zorostrianism predating Christianity, I couldn’t find any stand in Zoroastrianism on Jesus…although I’m sure current practitioners have a stand on Him.
Anyway, just a bit about this ancient religion. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three Persian dynasties, up until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century A.D.
Zoroastrian refugees, then called Parsis, escaped Muslim persecution in Iran (Persia) by emigrating to India where Zoroastrianism now has only about an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 worshipers worldwide, mostly practiced today as a minority religion in parts of Iran and India.
A couple interesting tidbits before we close. Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the rock band Queen, was of Parsi descent, and practiced Zoroastrianism. Also, if you are an enthusiast of the series “Game of Thrones” you should know American novelist George R R Martin, creator of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, which was later adapted into the H.B.O. series Game of Thrones, developed the legend of Azor Ahai from Zoroastrianism.
In it, a warrior demigod, Azor Ahai, defeats darkness with the help of the deity R’hllor, a fire god which Martin may have modeled after Ahura Mazda the Zoroastrian God who supposedly created three ancient Zoroastrian fire temples, known as the great fires, at the beginning of time. Archaeologists have, of course, searched for these places but unlike BIBLICAL Archaeology, they remain unclear whether the great fires ever existed or were purely mythical…because they can’t find any evidence of them…period.
OKAY, enough of all THAT! Now we have an idea what most of the other major “non-Christian-claiming” (I say that because we haven’t included “Psuedo-Christian” cults…that’s for another day) religions of the world say about Jesus (Yeshua). You can see they all account for Him, and respect Him, but they all deny the TRUTH about Him, that He is in fact, GOD. So THAT is our next muse topic/series: who does YESHUA HIMSELF say He is; who does the BIBLE say YESHUA IS; and who does FATHER GOD, YAHWEH, El Elohim say Yeshua (Jesus) is. That’s our next Muse series along our journey. we’re gonna lay down “THE TRUTH!”
So that’s it for this Pilgrim for now, Be Blessed until we meet again…Shaloam, Shaloam…I’m out!
One Pilgrim's Journey 