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Hinduism

Hinduism is a complex faith. According to many scholars, Hinduism is older than Buddhism.

Some facts about the Hindu faith

Hindu’s ancient written artifacts are sparse, inconsistent, and unreliable when tested for integrity. Writing them down wasn’t a focus.

God reaching out to us isn’t a major concern in Hinduism because serious practitioners are interested in “achieving Nirvana – the state of perfect nothingness”. Once your mind is completely blank, you become god-like and you meet all of the Hindu gods among which is the Brahma who is a major god responsible for creating Earth and the physical universe.

One of the key thoughts of Hinduism is “atman,” or the belief in soul. This philosophy holds that living creatures have a soul, and they’re all part of the supreme soul. The goal is to achieve “moksha,” or salvation, which ends the cycle of rebirths to become part of the absolute soul. History.com – Hinduism

Being part of God could be considered interacting with Him, but it’s more like integrating into Him. But if you become a piece of God, eventually there is no unique individuality. It’s like becoming part of God’s character. Would God need to create us in a physical universe, only to reabsorb us into Himself in higher dimensions, so that He has more character? Humans don’t even need to do that to add character to themselves. It’s called growth. We can’t claim to know God’s thoughts or reasons for doing things, but that seems like an unnecessary process when the final result is the same as not creating us at all – except that God has more character through absorbing His creation into Himself.

There are many minor gods and many paths to god recognized by Hinduism. It seems very subjective, giving people leeway to choose their own story about God. That isn’t an objective way to learn God’s story or the truth about God…

Hindu Written Artifacts

The Hindu god Brahma is the creator of the universe according to Hindu text, written in 1200 BCE. This is a long time after humans appeared on the face of the earth. That is less than half as long as Judaic Scriptures have been around. But Hindu Oral Traditions were practiced a long time before that.

There are Hindu-related archeological artifacts that date to a time older than 2,500 BCE. This leads to the claim that Hinduism is the oldest religion. However, archaeological findings have limited value since older artifacts that support other religions can be found in the future. Also, according to hinduwebsite.com, the relative importance of ancient artifacts is minimal as belief depends on individual interpretation…

Hinduism Is Complicated And You Can Tailor It To Fit Your Needs

Are God and Creation the Same? This is one of the most interesting questions, which led to a number of speculative philosophies in the past. Hinduism is complicated because it accommodates a diversity of opinions on almost everything, letting people draw their own conclusions from a variety of thought processes to satisfy their curiosity or choose their faith. Such diversity and depth of knowledge can confound even inquisitive minds and create a lot of confusion.

Are God and Creation the Same? This is one of the most interesting questions, which led to a number of speculative philosophies in the past. Hinduism is complicated because it accommodates a diversity of opinions on almost everything, letting people draw their own conclusions from a variety of thought processes to satisfy their curiosity or choose their faith. Such diversity and depth of knowledge can confound even inquisitive minds and create a lot of confusion.
Hinduwebsite.com

Many contemporary followers practice elements of Hinduism but not the full religion. And Hinduism influences the modern secular lifestyle. For example, the term “Karma” is in common use in English, and that term is derived from Hinduism.

Reminder: there is only one story that is true from God’s perspective

Change is uncomfortable

How does Hinduism grade against our criterion?

Our Criterion…
- – Hinduism dates as older than the written word, and though their written artifacts didn’t appear before 1200 BCE they do have artifacts dating much older than that. The artifacts help date Hinduism near the beginnings of humanity. There is no clear reference to a creation story attributed to God in their writings.
- – Hindi followers don’t consider Hindu writings important. Their methods of copying the originals are not reliable. Therefore, it isn’t clear if Hindu writings are true to the originals.
- – The guidance comes from humans who have learned the teachings of the faith. Where humans got that guidance from God is unclear.

Using the criterion we predetermined, Hinduism does meet some of that, but it doesn’t hit some key criteria. Hindu practitioners relied on passing along the tenants of their religion by Oral Tradition until 1200 BCE. Copying methods before the printing press are unreliable. Does the press re-print the original Hindu tenants? It’s impossible to say. Do you trust word of mouth? Remember the Telephone game. We will keep looking.

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