Apologetics

The Hinduism Worldview
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Abstract
Religious views are a pertinent issue for every believer. In a time of so much religious revolution, it is essential to approach individuals of different religious affiliation with understanding and knowledge. This will prevent confusions and chaos that arise from misunderstandings. It is essential for a Christian willing to evangelize to understand the nature of the other persons religion in order to approach them with an unarmed position which is however not disoriented. This means that effective evangelization must begin with an open position towards the other. It must also be informed on ones concrete conviction about the positivity of their own religious views. This can be achieved through a proper comparison of the two worldviews. This paper analysis the differences and similarities between Hinduism and Christianity with regards to God, humanity and the meaning of existence. The findings indicate numerous differences as well as similarities.
Religious themes encompass a significant segment of an individual life. In most cases, religious people who account for 84% of the global population derive the meaning of life from the religious teachings. This makes a comparison between these religions a valuable tool for mutual existence. It is also important for Christian evangelists who wish to be more useful in their missionary work. This is because real evangelism can only arise when proponents are neither armed nor disoriented but understand the essence of both religious backgrounds to efficiently communicate the background.

A worth difference to consider includes the religious worldviews variation between Christianity is Hinduism.
Hindu religious texts do not explain the origin of life clearly. There is a unitary creates who is the Brahma and is considered the impersonal but ultimate God. Brahma creates and destroys everything periodically. Due to his impersonal nature, he is continuous with nature. He periodic destruction occurs in phases of 4billion (when Brahma is awake) years for the creation and 4 billion (when Brahma is asleep) for destruction. The smaller gods who are a creation of Brahma help in the creation process. This view compares with the Christian worldview in that God is the origin of everything. Brahma creates in Hindu while God creates Christianity. In both accounts, creation God is helped by his creation to advance creating process. (Kärkkäinen, 2014) He contrast is that while it is endless and periodic in Hindu, it took seven days to accomplish in Christianity.
As with other creation, the human being is continuous to Brahman. Although he is superior to other creation, he achieves his right perspective when acknowledges himself as continuous with the Brahman. To achieve this, the self is lost as it identifies itself solely with the Brahman. If not, the humans’ soul will reincarnate in lesser forms such as animals. In both worldviews, the human is more important that all the other creation. The difference is that in Christianity man is given dominance over all the other animals whereas in Hindu, everything is continuous with the Brahman hence man has dominance over animals.
Hindu teachings of life purpose encompass the Moksha (enlightenment), Artha (prosperity), Kama (desires), and finally dharma (purpose). These statuses are defined by the caste status that one is born into. Moksha, however, is the ultimate goal for everyone which is the ability to alienate oneself from temporal desires and expectation and unites himself with Brahman. In both, the primary aim of existence is union with God. The difference is that in Hinduism, it occurs through the alienation of self so that only Brahman lives. In Christianity, man is created to love, serve and honor God and to live eventually with Him in eternal bliss. The Christian will enjoy this ultimate union with God in person. (Neufeldt, 1997)
Morality in Hindu varies with caste. Right and wrong therefore depends on the person. However, the biggest mistake is ignorance or lack to attain Moksha. The punishment to Ignorance is getting trapped into the cycles of life although this does not change man’s continuity Brahman. Morality is similar in both entities as it means both adhere to preset values. The difference is that there are a different set of rules for people in Hindu but only one for all Christians.
In Hindu, there are reincarnation ideologies. If one dies before reaching ultimate enlightenment, their soul is born into another form. This continues until the self is completely able to annihilate itself and only Brahman exists. The similarity with Christianity is that the ultimate goal is union with the Devine. However, there is a difference in the form in which the unity is attained. In Hindu, it is through annihilation of self, in Christianity through personal union with God. (Vineeth, 1997)

References
Kärkkäinen, V. (2014). A constructive Christian theology for the pluralistic world (1st ed.). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Neufeldt, R. (1997). Book Review: “Jesus in Neo-Vedanta, A Meeting of Hinduism and Christianity”. Journal Of Hindu-Christian Studies, 10(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1161
Vineeth, V. (1997). Self and salvation in Hinduism and Christianity (1st ed.). New Delhi: Intercultural Publications.