Is Hinduism Older than Christianity?

By Dave Sterrett

I just received an email from a reader of www.probe.org and thought I would start posting some of my responses. This is a quick email response and may contain some errors.

Here’s the Question I received from a listener of our ministry: Indian Hindu’s claim that Hinduism is the oldest religion, but Bible teaches us that God created all this in Jewish form, if so why those Vedas and upanishads say they are older than Bible?

My response: This question seems to be a complex question with multiple implications and I think we need to be careful to define some of our terms. First of all, even though God did create Adam and did have a special calling, promise and blessing on Abraham and his descendents, the Bible doesn’t say that “God created all this in Jewish form.” When God created Adam, Judaism was not necessarily in complete form yet, even though Judaism would descend from Adam and Abraham’s blood. Second, even amongst scholars of the writings of the Vedas, there is some dispute about when the actual writings of the Vedas were written. Some of them might date back to 1500 BC, but some Biblical scholars date the Exodus of the Hebrews around this time. Conservative Biblical scholars (and myself) hold that Moses was the primary author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible.) This would date the Pentateuch as being as old as some of the Vedas. But it is true that Christianity was started with Christ or technically after his resurrection. The New Testament was written in the first century. So, in one sense, one might claim that Hinduism, is older than “CHRISTianity” because it dates back before Christ. But if a Hindu apologist uses the phrase “Hinduism is Older than Christianity” kind of as a “Gotcha” statement trying to make something more credible because of it’s age, their implications include a couple fallacies. First, Hinduism has changed and added books with their Vedas over the years and it’s difficult to say all the Vedas are older than the Torah. Second, just because something is older doesn’t make something more true. This is the logical fallacy “Argumentum ab Annis” (argument because of Age) Just because a religion, a thousand years ago from a primitive group taught that child sacrifice was good to the gods, didn’t make their belief or their practice true or good. Even though one religious practice is older doesn’t make it necessarily better. However, God’s existence, his creation, the existence of Adam, and calling of Abraham existed in reality years before Moses documented in the Torah.

Perspective at 45 MPH

By Jason Autry

A few months back, I was nearly involved in a car accident and it would have been my fault. I’m being serious. I was listening to talk radio on the way to Panera Bread for a cinnamon crunch bagel when the collision almost occurred. The reason for my near miss had to do with the particular topic of discussion sounding from my dashboard. The talk show host and her panel were discussing the virtue of thankfulness and what we, as a nation, have to be grateful for. Then, without fair warning for a defensive driver, they launched into a dialogue about the poet, Maya Angelou’s 2002 appearance on NBC’s Today Show with Ann Curie that was re-aired in a “Giving Thanks” segment that morning. Knowing the persistent themes of this show and its viewpoints, I braced myself for the coming hilarity and boy, I was not disappointed.

Angelou was supposed to be lending her insight and poetic language to some questions about humanity’s various dilemmas, but instead delivered a rambling stream of consciousness about hula dancing, ignorance in a bucket, and the conditions of colonial slave ships. To make matters worse, Curie was shamelessly over emoting and speaking in a soft voice as if she was conversing with the Dalai Lama in Starbucks. Audio clip after audio clip revealed more dribble from Angelou and solemnity from Curie. Inside the radio show's studio and my car, the laughter and incredulity was reaching a fever pitch until it culminated in the Granddaddy of all quotes. When asked by Curie what was the one lesson above all others that she wished to convey, Angelou replied, “Probably the most important lesson is to know that you have been loved. The truth is to exist at all, you have been loved (keep in mind that this is directly from the transcript - I am not making this up). Whether the ancestors came from Eastern Europe trying to escape the little and large murderers, or whether they came from Africa unwillingly lying spoon fashioned in the filthy hatches of slave ships, in each other’s excrement and urine, they have paid for each one of us. If you can just ingest that little piece of truth, not facts, facts can obscure the truth, but the truth. If you can ingest that, suddenly some part of you is liberated. I have been loved. That is one of the great lessons to me.” Huh? Is that it? This is the profound truth that is supposed to liberate the oppressed psyche of humankind and bring freedom to the soul? To ingest, as she says, the vile atrocities committed against individuals in past and present societies, is to know that I have been loved? After I laughed myself into a frenzy over the incoherent nature of these thoughts and the commentary coming from the panel, I regained control of my car and avoided a head-on crash with the coming traffic.

With analysis like this in the public discourse there is no wonder our world is drifting aimlessly in search of meaning. So-called experts and gurus are spoon feeding us these baseless philosophies and empty ideas about how one can gain clarity and redemption in this life and beyond. I can tell you that my mind, when pondering such questions, does not drift off to the horribleness that took place in the grottoes of slave ships nor does it conceive of the genocide carried out in the chambers of Auschwitz. When seeking spiritual purpose, my mind’s eye does not immediately retrieve shocking images from 9/11. I focus rather on something more eternal; more hopeful; like the words of 1 John chapter 4 verses 9-10: “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” This is the most important lesson to grasp. This truth (and fact) must be ingested in order for real liberation to occur. The truth that Jesus, God’s Son, loved me before I was conceived in my mother’s womb and then because of that supernatural love, left the bliss of Heaven to live and die a violent, substitutionary death on the cross so that I can experience freedom in this life and then realize eternity in God’s presence. To reflect on what Martin Luther called "The Great Exchange" described in Matthew 27:45-50 as Christ became sin so that I may be made the righteousness of God in Him and nothing else in the annals of history, is to know I’ve been loved. To receive this measure of grace is the epic recognition. The Apostle Paul said it best in Romans 5:8, “God showed his own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!”

If one was to ask me if I am inspired by the travails, tragedies, and sufferings of those who persevered through unimaginable hardship in order to live a free and boundless life, my answer to them would be a resounding yes. I am equally inspired and humbled by those who were not fortunate enough to stand on the other side of their hardship, but left only an encouraging story to cling to. I also get emotional and my spirit is roused by mankind’s heroism, courage, selflessness and unabashed desire. However, none of them hold ultimate authority over the preservation of my eternal soul nor does their blood ensure my salvation. That curse; that duty; that honor of transcendence belongs solely to Jesus Christ and it is by his stripes that I am healed. It is by ingesting the magnitude of His sacrifice for me that I know I am loved. Unfortunately, that message will probably not be featured on the Today Show but it is the good news that a seeking world desperately needs to hear.

Magi Astrologers, Vedas, Sacred Scriptures

By Dave Sterrett

I just received a question regarding Magi Astrology and its relation to the sacred Scriptures and I thought I would give a quick response.

Here’s the question: Since Vedas were written by Aryans and Aryans consisted of people from Iran too or former Persia and Magi were the astrologers from the royal court of the king of Persia. They were there to worship Lord Jesus on his birth. (Matt. 7) So the question is “Is Vedas influenced by the Word of God. Or Does Vedas points towards the Lord Jesus Christ”?

My Response: The answer is No. The Vedas do not point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Something to consider. Isn’t it at least possible, that the Magi, who could have been highly educated and wide read, had either read the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or other writings with quotations of Hebrew prophets like Daniel, Micah and other authors? Didn’t Persia take Babylon into captivity which previously had taken the Hebrews into captivity? Isn’t it at least possible to believe that astrologers from the royal court were well-read in religious literature from other countries and traditions (including possibly the Hebrew Scriptures which a copy could have been taken from Babylonians and then later passed onto the Persians.) No where do the Vedas make prophetic specific reference into the future, about the Lord Jesus Christ born in Bethlehem, of the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesse, and David who would be crucified, buried and on the third day raised to life. If it did include such language, the reasons would be because the words were picked up from the Old Testament or oral traditions, not because of supernatural revelation to the Vedas.