The Search for God Page 5.7
So after all our thought processes, after just evaluating religions based on what we know and seeking answers to fundamental questions we as humans cannot answer, I find that we are left with two basic choices: Judaism and Hinduism.
Now, as most of you know, each of these religions has numerous offshoots, textual differences, and theological implications. What we want to know is, what would we expect to see in history based on our God hypothesis? We have an eternal, timeless, transcendent, all-knowing, omnipresent being.
Seeking answers to fundamental questions
This goes back to our article “What is god?” Remember, mind and relationship. Does god have a mind and does god desire a relationship? In addition, how can we know ultimate reality without the highest God speaking? We only speak of the realms we know and experience.
So let’s compare some essential differences
Communicator
We started our search looking for communication from an all-knowing being. We want certainty about ultimate reality. Both Hinduism and Judaism have such a being: eternal, omnipresent, transcendent, timeless, all-knowing.
The difference in how these beings communicate differs in both method and personal relationship. In Judaism, Jehovah seeks to communicate directly with humans. Jews state that this transcendent being condescended to speak to mankind.
In Hinduism, Brahman is so transcendent that he is not really a being, but more a state, that through his creative power makes lesser beings who then make lesser beings who then make the world and humans. Our communication comes from manifestations of these beings and incarnations of these beings to other humans.
So in Hinduism, we get surrogate communication and in Judaism, we get direct communication. Both are valid forms of communication. However, we are seeking verification of knowledge. So to me, direct communication would be preferred.
I mean, imagine you are in a company and your boss who heard from his boss who said the CEO wants you to be on an investment committee. Okay great, we expect communication that way, maybe you are excited maybe you are not.
But if the CEO came to your office, sat down, and said, “I want you on the committee,” the weight and importance of that request and communication changes. In the other situation, maybe everyone was passing the buck, maybe you just are not that important. But when the main leader comes and talks, many things change.
Maybe this is just my pride speaking, but I prefer the God of everything to speak. This happens in Judiaism, but not Hinduism. Our relationship then forms with the highest being and not just our immediate superiors.
The second issue with communication is that the Hindu gods like Vishnu, the lesser god, becomes incarnated into a human multiple times to communicate or verify the truth. The issue becomes, how does this incarnated god verify the information given?
This brings us to the next issue, which is verification.
Prophecy
I have harped on this idea many times, but I cannot stress the importance of verification. In Hinduism, we have a couple of beings outside of time, Brahman and Vishnu. Vishnu is said to be the creator of each universe and lives outside our universe.
Vishnu then became incarnate in Krishna with 9 manifestations previously. If Vishnu lives outside of time, then I would expect these incarnations to have knowledge beyond a normal human and should be able to provide foretelling of the future to prove the knowledge is correct.
Yet, I don’t find Hindu prophecy is greatly touted or clearly revealed. In Judaism, there are repeated instances of a coming messiah or coming judgment on nations or Israel. Sure, I understand that faith and belief are important components of any religion, but faith also involves trust.
I am going to have faith and belief in a religion or a God I can trust. If Jehovah or Vishnu knows everything, then he would understand the important role foretelling would play in the trust believers would have in the knowledge provided. Yet, I don’t find any verified prophecy in Hinduism, but only in Judaism.
Polytheism
Clearly, in Hinduism, multiple gods are given authority and play a prominent role in the religion, and many are worshiped and appealed to. In Judaism, there is a strict monotheistic view that even though angels and other gods are mentioned, only Jehovah God commands worship.
To me, Hinduism seems like a well-structured polytheism with plenty of philosophical principles. It would be like if we mixed Socrates, Plato, and the Greek Pantheon. The idea of Brahman God is the same idea I was able to work out with observation and the realization that this God would be so transcendent that God must speak with humans.
So we have a choice: a monotheistic religion with a single God who communicated with humankind or a henotheistic religion with a God who does not communicate directly, but manifests lesser gods to make everything and speak with humans.
Hinduism seems very gnostic, like what was worked out in the Hellenistic world over 2000 years ago. Speaking of Christianity supplanting Gnosticism, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian polytheism, what I also see is that the claimed branches of Christianity and Islam have spread significantly.
I understand that considering the growth and greater number of Judaism branches as probably fallacious reasoning, still, I wonder if such a God might not have a role in such a spread. We have to ask ourselves what the purpose of communication is.
One purpose is truth, another is providing information. Each of these religious systems is purporting to claim the truth about ultimate reality. The divine beings manifested and incarnated or spoke to humans. Why? If they spoke, how widely do they want to spread this knowledge?
If you were an all-knowing God, how would you do it? One conclusion is that Brahman doesn’t care. By Hinduism’s own admission, Vishnu is sleeping. Does Hinduism have any other all-knowing deity residing outside of time? Shiva, the destroyer?
Clearly, these are two very different religious systems that are not compatible with one another, which means only one can be correct or both can be wrong, but both cannot be correct.
One says the eternal God did not speak, the other says the eternal God did speak. In Judaism, we have a God with a mind who desires a relationship. In Hinduism, we don’t know. Vishnu wants a relationship, but he is not the highest being.
So for me, I will first examine the religion that claims the eternal, timeless, all-knowing God did speak. Therefore, in our search for God, it’s either Brahman or Jehovah.
I will further investigate Jehovah of Judaism. This being checks all the boxes, provides knowledge from himself without an intermediary, and verifies that knowledge through prophecy.
What Next?
- Can the text be trusted?
- Can the communications from Jehovah stand up to scrutiny for logical contradictions or falsifiable prophecies (can they be proven false)?
- Have any of the prophets lied or imagined these communications?
- Are the words we have today reflective of what Jeh ovahactually said?
- Has Christianity or Islam supplanted and overtaken Judaism as many claim?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Only Judaism and Hinduism meet all the criteria outlined. Judaism and Hinduism are incompatible, so only one can be correct or neither. If either one is correct Judaism fits all the criteria of reason and expectation.
- Why is that significant?
- I will examine Judaism for the answers humans seek.
- If you agree, the next steps.
- If you disagree, please consider reading.
If you enjoyed this search, then join me in the next book In Search of Jehovah’s Words.
References and Links
- New World Encyclopedia – Brahman
- Crystalinks – Hindu prophecy