Company
Store /
Cell Phone Store
/ Shopping Mall
/ eBay Store /
Free Web Site Traffic /
Pharmacy
Visit our new
EasyBid Store /
Sci-Fi
Bookstore and
Digital Products Site
|
|
|
|
What is Karma? You can get a copy of this sermon by clicking this link
Many people from a Judeo-Christian background have had it explained to them, that karma, which is part of Hinduism, is sort-of like the Biblical teaching that a man reaps what he sows. Therefore, a cursory knowledge of the concept of karma seems to be valid according to immutable spiritual laws that are shared by practically all of the world's religions, and karma has the apparency of “Biblical soundness” for lack of a more suitable term. To an astute Christian; one who has run across the various “vain philosophies”[i] and “doctrines of devils”[ii] in his or her Christian walk, and can “spiritually discern”[iii] such things, karma is an abomination. Yes, the concept of karma is vaguely and superficially similar to the Biblical admonition:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. However, Karma (and Hinduism) makes a radical departure from the truth at this point. The Bible says very clearly: “... it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”. - Hebrews 9:27 The Hindus, and other Eastern religions believe in reincarnation; that one has many past lives, and that his lot in this present life, is the result of reaping what he sowed (so-to-speak) in a past life. They believe that a person can “come back” as someone else, or some thing else - an animal, or a fish, a bird, or an insect. The reason, they say, that a person reincarnates is that they have to “work off” their bad karma; to learn the lessons they failed to learn in their past lives. The end result of an unknowable number of past lives which, by the way, nobody can remember, is that one pays for his misdeeds in a past life, by reincarnation as a lower life-form or by a degraded existence in the present life. Conversely, one is rewarded in this life for good deeds in a prior life. There is no God or Creator to be an arbiter; it is all determined by the impersonal Karmic Law, to which no appeal for grace or mercy can be made. So perhaps one starts off by being born a mouse, let's say, and if you're a good mouse, perhaps in the next reincarnation you'll become a cat; then if you're a good cat, you get reincarnated as a human being, and so on and so forth until ultimately, you get reincarnated as a cow. If you're born a cow in India, you're in “fat city” for real, but nobody can make sense of karma if you are born a cow in the United States. If you're a good cow in India, you get to roam the streets of Calcutta and be treated like royalty, but no matter how good a cow you are in the United States, the next thing you'll come back as is a Whopper™ or a Big Mac™, or maybe a White Castle™ double cheeseburger. if you're a really good cow, maybe you'll end up at Ponderosa,™ Ruth's Chris™ Steak house, or Peter Luger's.[iv] Who knows? If you start as a mouse, and you're a bad mouse, then it is perhaps your karma to be reincarnated as a mosquito or a gnat. That's why the Orthodox Hindus wear gauze over their nose and mouth - they don't want to inhale any bugs that might be their Uncle Louie, or their Aunt Agnes on their way up to wherever it is that really good gnat or mosquito karma takes you. Oh, and by the way, how does one become a “good” mosquito? Don't bite any cows? Your guess (and the mosquito's) is as good as mine. Karma is the reason that millions of people in India, and children on the streets of Calcutta are starving to death, while beef on the hoof wanders unhindered and unrestrained through the streets of the city. The people in India; the higher “castes” (class) of people, who have the money, the food, the housing, and all the resources necessary to help those starving children in the streets of Calcutta, walk right past them without even a passing glance. Why? Because of karma! You see, the “reasoning” is that if one is born into poverty and is a beggar on the street, it's his karma. He or she must have done something really bad in a past life, and so their karma is to be punished in this life, in order to work off their bad karma. If I, being a wealthy class passerby were to help this starving child; If I were to alleviate her suffering by giving her a morsel of food, or a drink of cold water, it would interfere with her karmic development, and she would only have to suffer again in the next reincarnation. If you're poor in India, and you're a beggar, that's your karma; a beggar is all you will ever be in this life. If you're born into affluence, that's your karma, and the twain shall never meet. Therefore, if you're a poor beggar, you might as well be the best beggar you can be. The parents of these poor children begging on the streets sometimes mutilate their children; cut off a finger or an arm, poke out an eye, or burn and disfigure their faces, in order that people might be moved to pity for them, and in order for them to become better beggars so that they can pay off their karmic debt and have a better life next time around. The concept of karma is perhaps the cruelest lie ever perpetrated by Satan upon Mankind; it disguises cruelty and indifference as acts of compassion, and it flies in the face of God's grace and mercy: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation”. - Hebrews 9:28 Don't let anyone tell you that it doesn't matter what religion a person believes in; that salvation can be had any other way but through Jesus Christ. Don't let anyone deceive you into believing in anything that is not Biblically sound. The Bible tells us that “...ye shall know them by their fruits”. Jesus said: “And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward”. - Matthew 10:42; Mark 9:41 A greater disparity between karma and Biblical charity is hard to imagine; there is no comparison, and any apparency of similarity is due mainly to ignorance of one or the other. Karma itself is an oxymoron; it is a paradox caused by a contradiction, because if you think about it, it is a “Catch-22”. How does one improve his or her karma? By being a “good” mosquito, or a “good” mouse, a “good” cat, or a “good” human being. What is “good” if it cannot be defined by an immutable standard? How, and in what sense is a rich man “good”, if he does not feed a helpless, starving child begging at his feet? To tell you the truth, I don't know, and I don't want to know! According to a book of the same title as this article (I plagiarized the title on purpose), someone who helps a starving child, takes upon himself some of that child's “bad karma”. In that sense, I cannot see how anyone in a position to help that child has any moral impetus to do so. If he is “good” by any definition - even by a Godless, secular definition - he must help that child. This “good” act should improve his karma (you would think), but instead of or in addition to (take your pick) giving him “good” karma, he also gets a dose of “bad karma” because he interfered with someone's “karmic evolution” - and that's really the only thing one can call it - so that the person he helps, ends up not learning the “lesson” (as the New-Agers would say), and has to “repeat the course” so-to-speak in his or her next reincarnation. I'm not kidding, folks! This may sound stupid to a Christian or a Jew, but it is doctrine in India, Pakistan, and many other places. The alarming thing about it is that intelligent people believe it. Scary! Even more frightening from a Biblical perspective is that these “doctrines of devils” and “vain philosophies” are finding their way into many other countries via the “New Age” cults. We know them by their fruits. As a Born-Again Christian, I rejoice in the fact that Jesus Christ came to pay MY “karmic debt”; else, I'd be an amoeba right now.
“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief”.
“Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows... He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed”. - Isaiah 53:4a, 5 We take a look at the sorry state this world is in; and where we find the greatest departure from true Christianity; where we find the most diametrically opposed doctrines and beliefs, there we also find the greatest portion of needless human misery and terrible suffering. Who is feeding the starving children of Calcutta? Christians are. Who builds the hospitals and orphanages there? Christians do. Mother Teresa, God bless her, was a Christian. You can bet she is not a reincarnated cow roaming the streets of Calcutta!
“Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; shew me thy faith without works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works”. The fate of nations, and the lives of millions of people, hang in the balance of what they believe. A nation without God is doomed to despair and destruction - and the God I speak of here is not Buddha, Shiva, Baal, Confucius, ad nauseum, but the Lord of Lords and King of Kings - the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not Allah or Wakuntunka, or a “higher power”, but El Elyon, El Shaddai, the Elohim of Genesis 1:1; Creator and ruler of the universe. Of all the Satanic lies ever perpetrated on Mankind, karma is second only to Darwinism (“Evolution”), and we see that “evolution” has much in common with karma. Both beliefs have brought about unprecedented plagues of suffering and death, and it is only the truth that will end it. Man could not pay the debt for sin, no matter how many “past lives” he had. Humankind cannot even learn from his own history; over and over, and over again, he believes the same lies from the politicians, and seeks to have the freedom without the responsibility. How then, can he “learn” lessons from past lives that he cannot even remember, when he can't learn the lessons of the present life that he can vividly recall? My friends, karma and “past lives” are doctrines of demons; it is a lie and an illusion, and it is not in the least wise true. Wherever this philosophy prevails in society around the world, human survival along all of the dynamics[v] is seriously suppressed. Poverty, hunger, disease, suffering, and death follow. There is no “wisdom” in the Eastern “New-Age” religions; there are no absolute truths to stand on; there is no personal God and no salvation in any sense - just an endless cycle of lives, and karma that is always “bad” to one degree or another. To rescue a man, or to rescue a nation, all that is required is the love that Jesus Christ preached about and exemplified with his life. A billion pounds of food, and relief supplies sent to India is nothing compared to preaching Christ and Him crucified; for to dispel the lies of Satan and change their belief from a lie to the truth, will enable those people to finally be able to fend for themselves. “Come”, said Jesus, “and I will make you fishers of men”. The truth shall set them free.
۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩۩ FOOTNOTES [i] “Vain Philosophies” – Colossians 2:8 [ii] “Doctrines of Devils” – 1 Timothy 4:1 [iii] “Spiritually discern” – 1 Corinthians 2:14 [iv] All names of restaurants and steak houses - Peter Luger's and Ruth's Chris are reputedly the best steak houses in the country. [v] “Dynamics” – Dianetics and Scientology define Man’s eight "drives" | |||||
Company Store
/
Cell Phone Store
/ Shopping Mall
/ eBay Store /
Free Web Site Traffic /
Pharmacy Context Links
by Amazon FILES ON THIS LEVEL PREVIOUS / NEXT IN THIS
GROUP
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
