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To: James C. Bennett
I'm quite aware of what Hinduism is...as well as what it is not. It is not Christian.

They just recently opened another Temple....and have statues of Mary and catholic Saints throughout...along with all the others common to Hinduism.

It is a religion which incorporates all faiths now...there are no boundaries. It's each man for himself...literally. There is no Salvation as each man earns his way, but then you are also familiar with that...as well as reincarnation plays a primary roll. Sadly the countries who practice this have much disease and many health problems....very underdeveloped and where they are developing it is generally outsiders who are building it up...because the general populations beliefs in Hinduism do not inspire people to succeed. Additionally the attitude is why bother when you will have a second chance and a third via reincarnation. It is a foolish religion...and opposes Christianity by it's teachings.

32 posted on 10/01/2010 10:03:58 PM PDT by caww
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To: caww; James C. Bennett
Hinduism is basically not a religion but a meta-religion, a clubbing of various religions together. It has some commonalities like the Ramayana and Mahabharatha, but those are also not common to all hindu groups and many Hindu gods and goddesses are local deities incorporated into Hinduism -- like Bhavani in Maharashtra, like Ayyappa in Kerala. Also, Hinduism itself has changed from Vedic times when it called Varuna and Agni as Asuras (in the sense of senior Gods), to the post-Vedic period when they became lesser supernatural beings, to the post-Buddhist, Christian contact when the Asuras got relegated to demonic personalities.

Hinduism also incorporated deities like Ganesha who started out as a slightly "evil" (not the right term) figure symbolising the might and strength of raging elephants (around 1 AD we see references to Ganapati as such), to the post-Islamic invasion of the 11th century to Tilak's use of Ganeshutsav as a rallying call against British colonialism.

you also see the incorporation of historic personas into godhood like in the Mahabharatha and Ramayana and also Maheshasura (probably a Greek or Indo-Greek or Gandhara-Bactrian-Indo-Greek warrior with bulls horns on his helmet fighting in Bengal and being repulsed by a local cheiftainess who became Devi/Durga).
40 posted on 10/02/2010 2:07:06 AM PDT by Cronos (This Church is holy, the one Church, the true Church, the Catholic Church-St.Augustine)
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To: caww; James C. Bennett

Also, do note that the Bhagavad Gita is also Krishna urging Arjuna to fight and kill his cousins. I have respect for Hinduism and think that it deserves the same level of respect in Christian countries as it accords to Christianity in India, also that Hindus are Christians allies in the war against Islam, BUT, I do note that there are serious differences, which mean that while we can respect each other, we must respectfully disagree on a lot.


41 posted on 10/02/2010 2:09:34 AM PDT by Cronos (This Church is holy, the one Church, the true Church, the Catholic Church-St.Augustine)
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