Gospel to Hindu World: Episode 1

“Why did you change your religion?”

“What did you get by following Yeshu dharma?”

“Christianity is a beef consuming religion!”

“You forsook our ancestor’s culture and religion to follow foreign culture!”

“Shame on you, dollar thirsty people!”

…

Many of us, who have been converted from Hinduism to Christianity, have faced these painful objections. We literally feel as if we are aliens among our own families and relatives. I don’t mean to say that everyone hates us when they know we have become Christians but often time, we have to go through painful moments and even there is no one to wipe our tears.

By our own life situation, we happen to accept Christ. Some become Christian because of healing whereas some become Christian via Gospel sharing. Nevertheless, our decision becomes irritating for rest. Some are boycotted from the family while some face severe persecution. 

No doubt, Jesus has commanded us to share the gospel and love our neighborhoods as we love ourselves. We face every kind of persecution and pain but we keep on sharing with people what Jesus has done in our life that is the hope of this world. Indeed, many people visit church to see what we do and they carry queries about our faith as well. However, some people change their mind and decide to never go to church after they visit once.

The problem of people not visiting the church again and not adoring our faith is none other than ourselves. Its bitter but its true! We have been a barrier because of wrong and faulty approach we take while sharing gospel to our Hindu neighborhood. Remember what Gandhi has said about Christians that he loved Christ but not Christians. Sometime we delve into our own faith and corresponding worldview in such a narrowed framework, we happen to forget religious pluralism environment around us.

We often try to evaluate and measure Hindu world by Western Biblical worldview and thus there begins severe problems. I have often heard numerous complains whenever I happen to interact with friends. Some common complains include Christians abusing their deities as demons, protesting their culture and tradition, mocking their practices, etc. This truly is a severe issue.

Before defending ourselves, I would like to take this journey from another path. It is high time for us to change the way we interaction with Hindu world. Since we belong to the same religion in the past, we, as Christians now, should understand the environment better than anyone else. We must learn to act rightly. Its not technique that I am presenting here to bring Hindu world to Christ but first it is self-realization of Christendom that we are doing great errors while interacting with Hindu world.

It is true that Christian life is not life of emotions but again this is some sort of inhuman notion. Our struggle is real, our wound is real and our pain is real. No matter if our Hindu neighborhoods accepts Jesus or not its their choice, but its our duty to present them the water of life and in right approach.

Even the life of Jesus was not easy. He struggled more than us. Yet, he had right way of preaching kingdom of God and gospel to the people. God has left great examples for us like Paul. God is same even today and he is there to direct our feet and our mission. Let us be ready to share gospel to Hindu world but wisely and humbly.