Complete Loyalty to God Only

Most relationship problems happen when we give to man what we should only give to God and expect from man what we should only expect from God.
Only God deserves our complete devotion, adoration, admiration and loyalty - no one else deserves it.
Only God can give us unconditional love, eternal security, unfading self-worth - no one else can.
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Seek God's approval only -because only God can love us as we are.

Hinduism And Christianity - The Differences

I have been trying to understand different doctrines lately and do a comparative study. Just wanted to share some of my observations.

Feel free to share your comments and observations.

Hinduism	Christianity
Brahma/God is unknowable	God is love
Sin does not exist; good and evil exist in the mind; there is no duality.	Man is basically sinful – which is the cause of all evil in this world.
God is inside man.	Man’s sin has alienated man from God.
Yoga/meditation/mystic practices are used to reach the God-head within oneself.	God’s forgiveness and purification through Jesus’s death (for man’s sins) unites man to God.
Self-realization is the highest goal.	Love is the highest virtue.
Moksha/salvation/heaven is attained through certain practices like meditation and doing other good deeds – man can work out his own salvation.	Man is incapable of coming out of his sin. He desperately needs God’s grace and mercy to be united back to God (or saved).
There is no one truth or one way. All roads lead to God.	There is only one truth and one way – which is repentance for sins and acceptance of the gift of grace through Jesus.
Reincarnation based on karma – this means that the soul can have many lifes through rebirths.	Man has only one life.
Idols can be used to worship God.	Idols cannot be used. One should worship in spirit and truth.

What About Those Who Lived Before Jesus?

Question
If Jesus is the only way to be united back with God (because he died for our sins), how were people saved before Jesus came into the world?

Answer
Jesus is every essence of who God is - in that sense, he is beyond space and time. He was with God before the creation of the world and will be with him through eternity.

Now when Jesus died on the cross, his sacrifice also goes beyond time (because God is beyond time). As humans, we think in terms of past, present and future because we are within time - we need to realize that God is outside time (something that is impossible for our mind to grasp).

"A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." - Psalms 90:4

Jesus's death has the power to forgive sins of those who not only lived after him - but also of those who lived before him.

"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." - 1 John 2:2

Now, we might wonder how will those who lived before him be aware of this forgiveness when the event has not yet happened. For those who lived before Jesus, their faith in God was counted righteousness for them. They did not have to understand the depth of the theology  but were just expected to have faith in God to receive the complete pardon that was available through the death of the Christ.

"And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith." - Genesis 15:6

 

I hope this explanation helped some.



 

Perfect Love and Perfect Justice - Possible With God

God is totally just and totally loving.
His sense of justice requires that we are punished for every sin.
Yet, his totally loving nature stops him from punishing us.

How can he be totally loving and just? -  and be GOD!!


The only solution was to take the punishment on himself.

When Christ died on the cross, he took the sins of the whole world.
Christ's death on the cross fulfils God's requirement for justice and allows us to be united back with him in love.



The only criteria for accessing the love of God, is honesty and repentance.
This gift of grace is available only to those who are honest with God about their sins and are willing to work with him to become better.

Let not guilt stop us from going back to God.
However big our sins our, he is inviting us with open hands and is willing to hug us - he loves us so much.



GOD DOES NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH SINNERS - HE ONLY HAS A PROBLEM WITH HYPOCITES.



The greatest tragedy is not physical death - it is spiritual death.
All of us will die one day or the other - but we need to take care of our spirit because it lives forever.

The Worst Sin

Competition is the worst sin that goes unnoticed.

It is rooted in pride and leads to jealousy.

It stems from man's original sin to 'be like God'

Competitions spreads disharmony, spoils relationships and leads to loneliness.

It is the Devil's favorite tool to keep man distanced from his neighbor; after all how can we love anyone when we are constantly competing?

This sin can be masked under the positive notions of performance and progress.

The most attractive of sins, even good, upright and seemingly righteous men can fall a prey to it.

Competition can be found everywhere in this world - schools, families, societies; in fact, can anyone tell me where there is no competition?

Competition is even encouraged by parents and leading institutions.

Let us pray that God helps us to overcome the spirit of competition and find the spirit of love and gentleness.

Let is build our self-worth on God's love and not based competing with each other.

Christ's People

Some people have heard of Christ but don’t know him.
Some people have never heard of Christ but have a relationship with him.

Who are Chirst’s people?

All those who are moved with compassion for the suffering belong to Christ.
All those who feel convicted of their sins and are seeking repentance belong to Christ.
The sick, the struggling, the weak, the outcasts, the destitute, the hungry and lonely are Christ’s people. These people will find Christ through their suffering and their inability to cope with life.
All those who seek God and his holiness belong to Christ.
All those who seek justice for the oppressed belong to Christ.

Let us not be fooled into thinking that those who belong to Christ are a bunch of elite theologians.


Christ can reveal himself to people in ways we will never understand.

Deny Self and Find Life in God

I cannot live for myself and God at the same time.

The desires of the self are never in harmony with the desires of God.

If I want to choose God, I need to reject/deny myself.

The desires of the self are pride, greed, pleasure and so on.

The desires of God are compassion, grace, sacrifice and so on.

Both desires cannot co-exist in a person.

One cannot deny oneself without the help of God.

It takes a lot of effort, sincerity and prayer time to understand the truth and joy of self-denial.

Just like Christ died for us to give us life, we need to die to ourselves (our carnal self) to receive the life that God is waiting to offer us.

Let us earnestly seek God’s grace in our effort to die to ourselves – so that we may find life everlasting in God.