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sunyata07
10 August 2009, 01:18 PM
Namaste,

After reading a transcript from a radio programme from the "Stand to Reason" website, a site that apparently advocates Christianity as being the best explanatory hypothesis for existence, I'm not only convinced some Christians are deluded in their line of thinking, they're also just plain ridiculous. In this article (http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5532) there's a commentary on the Hindu faith, listing out the flaws in the religion and the philosophy through logic. It just seems absurd that Christianity should try and dismantle another faith through logic! Honestly, this approach is new to me, and very odd. What annoys me to no end is how this person keeps mentioning that the Vedas are not historically valid documents, when the Bible itself could hardly be in any way called "accurate".

While this commentator seems to have a basic knowledge of Hinduism, seems to be missing the bigger picture in some of the teachings - something I imagine a lot of Christians researching Hinduism would also be prone to doing. One huge problem is how he seems to simplify the idea of maya, equating illusion and false reality with the idea of nihilism. That all of life is just a bad dream or that we're all working off bad karma in a series of lives that have no meaning because at the end of the day you won't exist. I wonder if this is just a result of the powerful invidualistic attitudes that exist in the West that to consider oneself as nothing more than apart of a greater whole is so repulsive. And then to contradict this notion, he describes the karmic cycle and morality of Hinduism as being "self-serving", even though he recognised that the faith believes in Brahman, in which case self-centredness is surely the polar opposite of identifying the Self. The commentary then tries to use rhetoric to try and pull Hinduism apart with:


I heard a lecture that was held at Hope Chapel last week by the fine apologist Dr. Greg Bahnsen. He suggested the next time you talk to someone from Eastern religion who believes that logic isn't really a valid way of finding truth, the conversation could go something like this. "You're thinking too hard. You're using logic. Logic isn't the way to find truth, experience is." You respond, "So you believe logic isn't the way to truth?" "Yes, that's what I believe." "Well then, you believe it is." "No, I said it isn't." "But you believe it is." "No, I said it isn't the way to truth. Experience is." "So you believe it is." "How do you say it is?" "Because your way of thinking accepts the notion of contradictions, so if experience is the way to truth, not logic, then experience also is not the way to truth. Logic is the way to truth and it isn't at the same time. The point being you can't even talk about your own philosophy if it's logically contradictory. It becomes nonsense to even discuss it."

Apparently its one valid way to go about "dealing with someone from Eastern religion" - as if somehow all of a sudden, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Shintoism and Confuscianism are all now suddenly the same religion, all with the same mode of thinking!

Just my thoughts on this article. There's a lot more, but I just wanted to know what some of you yourselves thought about it. I mean, I'm used to Christians bashing other religions considering their stand that their religion is the only religion. But to actually try and use logic in undermining other people's beliefs is plain egotistical and ultimately futile - faith cannot be rationalised. That is what makes it a "faith", something I would have thought Christians would have understood better than any other religion for all their narrowmindedness.

Eastern Mind
10 August 2009, 02:05 PM
Christians are deluded in their line of thinking, they're also just plain ridiculous.
.

This summarizes my take. But it doesn't mean I hate them. I just think they are at a necessary place for their soul's evolution, and after a few more lifetimes of this, they'll hit what yourself, SS, Star, Connie, myself, and others have hit. You want to slap yourself silly, "Why didn't I see this? Its so blatantly obvious!"

AQum Namasivaya

devotee
10 August 2009, 07:33 PM
Namaste Sunyata,

Let's see what is logical & what is not :

i) Creation : Abrahimic religions : In the beginning there was only God. God created everything out of nothing. He created man with clay & woman with the rib of the man etc. etc. God & the creation are materially different from each other.

Logical Analysis of the above : What was before creation ? God Only. If there was anything alongside God that would mean that there was eternal existence of something independent of God's power of creation. That would mean that God is not only the creator & therefore, negate the assumption that everything was created by God. Now, if it was God only there could not even be vacant space or anything which could be called "nothing" ----> so, even "nothing" could not exist before creation. Now, the logical questions arise : Where did God create the creation when even space was not available before creation ? From what material did he create the space required & other things ? Creating anything with nothing is the most illogical & completely un-scientific. In fact, this concept is illogical right from beginning. This assumes that God was something having some definite volume & mass within a large space & that large space was existent alongside God even before creation !
ii) Man is a sinner :
The assumption is that God is omnipotent, omniscient & just. Now, if God is omnipotent, nothing can happen without his consent ... nothing can exist without his consent. Again if God is omniscient, he must know not only whatever has happened in the past but what is going on in the present & what will happen in the future.
However whatever happened in the Eden Garden shows just the opposite !
a) Satan could exist without the consent of God. This challenges God’s omnipotence !
b) He could lure the innocent souls (Adam & Eve) without His knowledge & consent ! God was not aware that this was going to happen ! That shows that God is not really omnipotent & also omniscient.
c) God didn’t love Adam & Eve & had no sense of justice. Adam & Eve could be lured because of Satan’s plan & the weaknesses which were born with. So, the fault was in God’s own design. Why did he create something with such weaknesses which could get deluded by some entity called Satan ? Even an engineer knows weaknesses of the thing he designs & when the thing fails he doesn’t blame the thing but the fault in the design. Here, God creates a faulty design. He never tells Adam & Eve that there is some entity called Satan (as powerful as God to do things God never wants) who would trap them in his nefarious plan. ….. and when the falter, punishes the poor souls … Adam & Eve. No, sorry, he doesn’t only punish Adam & Eve but the endless generations which came after Adam & Eve ! Even if we assume that Adam & Eve were guilty, how the coming generations were guilty ?? Why punish them ? Has God any sense of justice ??



iii) Jesus was son of God :

It is the most ridiculous thing if we take it literally the way Christians take it. This assumes that God is something like man & produced son like we do ! Now, the questions arise : When was this son born & how ? If he was born to a human being there was no existence of Jesus before that then how can he be called the son of God ? How God becomes father here ? Did he sleep with the woman to whom Jesus was born ? If not, what is the meaning of “son” here ? Is the son his creation or has an independent existence ? If he is just his creation then why this fuss about having a “son” ?

If Jesus is eternal, then did he exist before creation ? If he did, why doesn’t God talk about Jesus in Genesis about him at the time of Creation ??

I can go on & on (on their ideas of heaven, hell, idol-worshipping hating, killing infidels etc. etc. ) but I don’t think it is really worthwhile do indulge in this exercise !

OM

sunyata07
11 August 2009, 10:41 AM
Namaste EM,

Thanks for that reminder. I know we will all one day merge with Brahman. I just keep forgetting that it'll take some of us a lot longer to get there.

sunyata07
11 August 2009, 10:52 AM
Namaste devotee,

Thank you for contributing. All very valid points you have on how "logical" the Christian understanding is of the Bible and Creation - don't get me started on their ideas of creation. I mean, never mind all the fossilised plants, sea animals and dinosaurs that have been shown to come from terrestrial ecosystems dating nigh on billions of years ago, or the fact that the Church have been disproved about some of the laws of the universe time and time again (Earth being flat, gravity, the planet being the centre of the solar system, etc., etc.), just take a look at the Bible and have a look at how all-knowing, all-powerful and all-just the One God is that he would actually shape man in his image, give him free will and yet have foreseen "man's fall". None of it makes a shred of sense.

I think you have only just touched the iceberg with the above points. But as you say, if we were to all start looking at the Bible "logically" I think we should be here for a very long time.

bhaktajan
11 August 2009, 01:26 PM
The first rule of spiritual life is "You are not this body, You are spirit-soul"

When Jesus rose from the dead it taught that we are not the body but spirit soul.
-- this is the sum and substance of his buisness here on earth 2000 years ago.

Thus, any simply and uneducated common person living in the Roman empire and throughout the known world at that time would be forced to reconcile the gosple of Christ's pastimes and immediately conceed that 'the soul is not temporal but transcendental, etc etc etc., and all conceeded with nothing other than faith to anchor this Philosophcal maxim'--such a thing is on its on strength enough to set the course of history for the proceeding two centuries . . .

There was more to Jesus's knowledge and mission, but he said that he could not yet reveal, at that time and place.

"We are not the body we are spirit souls" --everyone in history up until the present is beholding to Jesus for this revelation.

Hiwaunis
11 August 2009, 07:29 PM
The first rule of spiritual life is "You are not this body, You are spirit-soul"

When Jesus rose from the dead it taught that we are not the body but spirit soul.
-- this is the sum and substance of his buisness here on earth 2000 years ago.

Thus, any simply and uneducated common person living in the Roman empire and throughout the known world at that time would be forced to reconcile the gosple of Christ's pastimes and immediately conceed that 'the soul is not temporal but transcendental, etc etc etc., and all conceeded with nothing other than faith to anchor this Philosophcal maxim'--such a thing is on its on strength enough to set the course of history for the proceeding two centuries . . .

There was more to Jesus's knowledge and mission, but he said that he could not yet reveal, at that time and place.

"We are not the body we are spirit souls" --everyone in history up until the present is beholding to Jesus for this revelation.








Pranam,
What you have said is interesting. However, it (spirit-soul) has been known long before Jesus was suppose to have been born. Spirit-soul, ie, atman is common throughout the Vedas. Therefore, we are not beholden to Jesus.

Also, I thought the resurrection (for Christians) is suppose to be taken literally.

Namaste,

saidevo
11 August 2009, 08:25 PM
A documentary film titled 'Zeitgeist' (2007) tells the story of the myths with which the story of Jesus was cobbled up. It points out the mythical similarities of Horus, the Egyptian Sun God, Attis, Krishna (?!), Dionysus, Mithra and Jesus Christ and explains how

• they all had a virgin birth on Dec 25,
• they all had 12 disciples,
• they all died by killing and were reborn after 3 days,
• they all performed miracles.

The significance of Dec 25 is also explained as the Winter Solstice has the shortest day and so shortest amount of sunlight, and about three days after it, sunlight time grows giving birth to a "God of light" or Sun God; the three stars on the Orion's belt (called the "Three Kings") align with Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, on Dec 25; Sun rises in the vicinity of Virgo (Virgin birth) and sets in the vicinity of Crux (crucifixion).

Check these links for how and where the 'logic' of Christian religion and theology was derived from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_document
http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

among many others that sure must exist.

satay
12 August 2009, 01:22 AM
Namaskar,

Christianity and logic...what an oxymoron!

The cult known as Christianity was started by a group of peasants for peasants. Logic has no place in Christianity. The whole system is based on 'faith'.

bhaktajan
13 August 2009, 12:33 PM
The first rule of spiritual life is "You are not this body, You are spirit-soul".

This is all that is required at the start of the "spiritual path of life".

This same maxim also is required to be understood for democracy to exists.

Human rights and civic life depend on this maxim to allow for civil liberties to be respected by the Leading Elites, inorder to avoid despotism.

TatTvamAsi
14 August 2009, 11:30 PM
Yawn! I guess Osama Bin Laden's view of America is really important to Americans isn't it? :D

jesus= rotting jewish corpse on a stick

End of story. next...

Sagefrakrobatik
15 August 2009, 12:43 AM
Well according to this video


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZJB0nOpjd8 Hinduism came from the Bible.

satay
15 August 2009, 04:43 PM
namaskar,


Well according to this video


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZJB0nOpjd8 Hinduism came from the Bible.

The link you posted doesn't work. In any case, Sanatana Dharma cannot come out of the scriptures of the peasants because sanatana dharma exists eternally, it has no beginning and no end. Historcially too, the composition of vedas began as early as 5000 BCE and as late as 1500 BCE. Peasants didn't collect the ideas of their guru and didn't start putting them in writing till at least 80 years after they hung him on the cross. So whatever the video might be claiming, it is wrong.

Thanks,

sunyata07
16 August 2009, 12:42 PM
Namaste Sage,

Do you think you could post a link to that video again please? I'd like to know what manner of idiot could possibly come up with such an insane concept and advocate such a ridiculous hypothesis on the internet.

Sagefrakrobatik
16 August 2009, 01:32 PM
Ignore This:

انا واع جدا عن اصولية هي تحديات تحريحيا هي تنتج ارشادزا ءف وعلم انا شاك وافكر شعوب الذي جدا سياسي ووطني هم جدا ذونموذ ايضا احدث تنوع اكثروالتعليم شي ء ماعليه ان غير نموذجيا املكل لا تما طف ل ضيف الافق لانه ليقاد ان حرب و مذابح و لاليء ثار عقل بعد افكر تربية السعب ليحدد فصه


http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBSPQvIqYs&feature=PlayList&p=38ECC301884F2E93&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=33


If that does not work then simply type in Sadhu Chellappa In you tube. He has what is called Agni Ministers a Hindu convert to Christianity.

Sagefrakrobatik
30 August 2009, 12:32 AM
Did anyone check it out? Im curious to hear the response.

atanu
30 August 2009, 10:05 AM
Namaste Sage,

I could not go through the link you have provided but read some other related material pertaining to sadhu chellapa.

My impression of conversions is that most of these involve fraud and bribery through inducement to better and cleaner life in prosperous west etc.. and has nothing to do with spirituality. Chellappa is no exception and is very clearly a paid agent of the vile Church. According to Chellapa et al., Jesus is foretold in Vedas and for that he uses the sacrifice of prajapati mentioned in Veda as an evidence among others.

From reading some of related material it is evident that the missionaries have a stated goal of evangelising, which is an evil goal carried forward with evil means, under utter ignorance of the need for self healing.

Missionaries of all hues understand the spiritual knowledge in terms of gross material body and its perceptions only. Two pages are cited below, the first one is very infantile, making no secret of the goal of the missionaries. The second one, in contrast, is much more subtle and apparently knowledgable.

http://www.jesus.org.uk/dawn/1995/dawn9525.html (http://www.jesus.org.uk/dawn/1995/dawn9525.html)

http://www.safne.com/jesusinvedas.htm (http://www.safne.com/jesusinvedas.htm)

-------------------------------

However, even in the second one, the final conclusion is as below:


But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," Deut. 30:14 (http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=Deut+30:14)] that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.


Wow! God certainly has not left Himself without testimony. Certainly, it's burried amongst the myths and teachings of the Vedas, but one thing is clear: these verses don't depict a Hindu avatar, they point to the Biblical Jesus.


Wow. How was that arrived at? Isn't the conclusion utterly infantile? The Deut. 30.14 verse has been mis-interpreted beyond recognition. Hindu scriptures also teach that life force is in the space of mouth and the whole Universe in the Heart. One who maintains the awareness centered within, transcends death, since life force transports all senses to their infinite nature and beyond the reach of death.

Then comes the bombshell that avatara is Jesus and not any Hindu. Holy Sh-t. This is how the universalism of scriptures is twisted as per one's preference. And the vilest and the one with muscle and money does it most. After an apparent scholarly exposition of Vedas and its teachings, the last para in blue fonts comes as a shock, as infantile and pure nonsense. Obviously, the scholarly prelude is a copy from other sources just for the sake of pushing the vile agenda.

Now, we know rAma is Agni-Varuna. Satapatha Brahmana says that Rudra-Varuna-Indra-Mitra are views of one Brahman from perspectives of one's development. Rudra is seen as cloudy flames due to mixing of envy etc (tamasa).; Indra is rajas, the full fledged blazing glory; Mitra is the movement towards sattwa guna; and Brahman is the coal whose fire is finally extinguished; and which is desireless shiva advaita Atman). Satapatha Brahmana also teaches that the above deities are quickeners and lighting of any fire and maintaining the fire for at least an year, quickens the progress towards Self.

Despite Hindu scriptures saying as above, some insist that without rAma nAma there will be no mukti. And similar other things.

In my opinion, all activity in this world, is driven by ego only; evangelising being the strongest state of rajasic ego. Our discussions and debates are also not exceptions.

But at least we have come to know of Gita teaching that one must transcend beyond all three gunas -- to fufill life's goal. It is a personal goal for everyone and thus is called Self Realisation. But missionaries, driven by rajasic ego, want to doctor others, forgetting that they need to first know the God in the Self.

They forget "Doctor Heal Thyself".

Om Namah Shivaya

Note: I agree with many here that the missionary activity has to be stopped and shown as what it is -- vile power grabbing motivation. But, I do not agree that Bible impels in such fashion. The Human ego impels one to gain dominion over others. And only sattwa can win over the vile designs of ego - shaitan.

Om Namah Shivaya

sunyata07
31 August 2009, 09:17 AM
Namaste Sage,

I finally was able to have a look at the 'Hinduism from the Bible' video with Sadhu Chellappa. A lot of it sounds like the usual evangelical nonsense you hear from Christian converts and missionaries under the banner of faux Universalism! It is utter nonsense to suggest that the coming of Christ was foretold in the Vedas thousands of years before his birth, only for them to later turn around and propose that somehow all this was derived from the Bible which was compiled hundreds of years later. :confused: Honestly, saying the Bible is the only valid scripture and Christ is the salvation is one thing, but to acknowledge the truth in other teachings and then say these writing are derived from the Bible is not ignorance anymore, it's propaganda. I mainly feel sorry for individuals who don't know any better.

@ Atanu: I had a look at both sites, and I agree with you on the second site. It starts off as quite an acceptable description on what is taught in the Vedas and Upanishads, with some parallels here and there with Bible philosophy. I mean, it's clearly from a Christian perspective, but it is a lot more polished than other articles I've read before. The last paragraph though was just a sad reminder that at the end of the day, any Christian perspective on other religious scriptures like the Veda, etc. is just another chance for them to advocate their ego-driven ideas of their way of thinking which is the only way of thinking. It's effectively brainwashing. As you have pointed out, Atanu, 'Physician, heal thyself!'. These people that purport to know Christ are really deluding themselves - to understand Christ's message, you would have to understand yourself first, shed yourself of those false expectations you have garnered, all those fears, doubts and deluded notions that have become apart of your ego and blind you to the world. The Christian perspective of the universe acts as blinkers do on a horse, they narrow the ability to see beyond what is in front of them.

RamaRaksha
03 September 2009, 04:36 AM
You see their overriding desire to propagate their religion - they even roped God into this. Using God to threten people - if you don't believe in our God, you go to hell. Heaven is for members of this religion only. that's a cult IMHO.

Actually you need a template for everything. I belive that the Abrahamic religions made God in the image of their king. The King issues commands and judgements. In those days most Kings were men, so God had to be a man! When brought before the King, you fall to your knees and shake with fear, for this man can order your death. This is no democracy, you don't get to argue your case, you will be judged and you just have to accept it.

And so you have these people who fear God, but don't worry he loves you! But you better love him back or else! They have this great carrot of he will forgive you for all your sins and in you go to heaven! How nice!
So A Gandhi or Einstein is kept out while a murderer, rapist, pedophile get to waltz into this heaven! Hitler is enjoying heaven while Gandhi is sent to hell? What a horrible concept of God!

But they don't care! As long as it helps them convert others, that's all they seem to care about.

Eastern Mind
03 September 2009, 07:19 AM
Vannakam: I am beginning to get the idea that in India the Christians are more evangelical in general the the Christians here, in Canada. I'm not sure of the ones in the US.

Through my work in education, I met and worked with a ton of good Christians who respected my choice for being a Hindu and were wonderful kind citizens of the planet. The other day I was reflecting on this, and of perhaps 100 colleagues over the years, 50 were Christian, and only 3 were into scolding me. But all these were liberal Christians, seeking to help others as their main goal, not to convert. In our city, many social programs are run by Catholic Social Services, such as the Food bank, hospitals, women`s emergency shelters and the like. They do a ton of good work. No stings attached.

We had a Baptist church across from the school where I worked. They let us use their auditorium for awards events etc for free. Talking to their pastor, and about evangelism, narrow-mindedness, and the like, he said. `Those kind of people usually only come to our church once.`

Its not the religion, its the person, is my conclusion.

Aum Namasivaya

sunyata07
03 September 2009, 07:29 AM
Absolutely, RamaRaksha. And the sad thing is that a lot of Christians live with this mentality. There always seems to be this focus on the depravity of the sin itself rather than the consequences of that action (and I'm not talking about the divine retribution that supposedly comes with committing sins). Whether you've striven all your life to be a good person and do no harm to others and yourself, or have been an "acceptable" Christian with the blind eye turned for maybe some stealing and lying, or even a depraved murderer and rapist, if you repent in time before you die, you have a chance to get into heaven. In which case, I've always wondered: "why don't people, given their natural tendency towards hedonism, just enjoy life and repent their sins before they die?". Surely it won't matter either way as long as you "have faith"?

Did you know before the Protestant Reformation and breaking away from the Catholic church, many Western Catholics actually advocated the belief that "faith alone" could get you into paradise? Yes, that's right: faith alone! That's a pretty sweet deal, isn't it? Just believe and you will be saved.

Faith is important, I won't deny the Christians that. But blind faith is dangerous, and ultimately as we have seen, it is destructive.

The template idea you suggested is definitely something you can see in any religion. I'm not saying that templates are in anyway a negative; they provide a kind of psychological economy to the mind in understanding thoughts that go beyond the physical. As you say, early Christians would have been used to a rigid autocracy - whether it be the Roman emperors or the later various sovereigns of Europe, all of whom would have claimed their right to kingship was God-given. The early Roman emperors themselves, before making Christianity official or even acceptable in the empire, used to claim they were gods, or else sons of the gods. That would mean hereditary kingship (after the fall of the Roman republic) is through a divine bloodline. God, you could argue, was the progenitor of any line of kings. The God in the Bible was the ultimate judge and lord, the sole entity which could grant you salvation or damn you to hell. In some ways it was inevitable that they saw God as a King-like figure who had the power of life and death (salvation and damnation) over all his subjects. How many times is God called as "the King" and "the Judge" in the Bible?

I also find it very interesting that so many of the depictions of God in Renaissance artwork and Christian iconography depicts Jehovah as an almost exact replica of the Greek pagan god, Zeus with the white, long beard and his residing in the clouds. Look at the similarities between Mother Mary holding the baby Jesus and then have a look at how similarly the goddess Isis is holding the infant Horus in her arms. And now for the scariest part, google "Jesus" images and count how many depictions of him are as a white man. A bit far removed from what I would have thought Christians were used to reading about in the Bible.

ohmshivaya
03 September 2009, 07:31 AM
..If that does not work then simply type in Sadhu Chellappa In you tube. He has what is called Agni Ministers a Hindu convert to Christianity...

Below is a brief write-up on Chellappa's background, in case anyone is interested. This might clear things up a bit, about chellappa's bizarre 'revelations' about christianity and his tendency to constantly thumb his nose at Hinduism and Hindus.

While some christian evangelists could be safely ignored (after a while they begin to realize that they aren't attracting much funds or attention from foreign churches, and subsequently become quiet, physically exhausted from all the wiggling of the fingers when thumbing the nose), others, on a massive ego trip or as an act of sheer vengeance, attempt to inflict maximum damage to society, often going at any lengths, including engaging in criminal activities and joining forces with terrorists, militants, etc, to destabilize the society. It remains to be seen what kind chellappa turns out to be.



Saffron attired evangelist masquerading as Sadhu


Born in a Hindu family and raised in and around a temple, Chellappaa claims to have complete knowledge of the Vedas, Upanishads, Ithihasas and Puranas. As the temple priests and other scholars could not clarify his doubts on some questions, one day (15 May 1967) he decided to commit suicide by jumping from a running train. As he was about to do so, he claims to have heard holy verses of the Bible; he got down at the next station and went straight to the Church, where he claims to have seen Jesus and received answers for all his doubts through divine blessing.

As per orders of Jesus, he became a Christian and travelled throughout the state converting thousands of Hindus to Christianity. He became a full time evangelist in 1974 and founded the Agni Ministries. Since 1982, he has been running a Tamil monthly magazine, “Agni,” for Tamil people worldwide. As per orders of Jesus, he has been planting new churches since 1995, and has so far planted 27 churches and appointed 27 pastors for effective harvests. He has appointed four full-time evangelists and established a full fledged office with four faculty and other staff.

Sadhu Chellappaa has written over 28 books in Tamil and two in English. He claims his book "IS CHRISTIANITY A NECESSITY?" is always in demand and is likely to go into reprint for the fifth time. Another book, BIBLE AND BAGAVAT GITA, VARANASHRA DHARMA sells like hot cakes! He has travelled widely abroad, meeting evangelists and church leaders in pursuit of name and fame.

Chellappaa is believed to have met Dr. Billy Graham at the itinerant Evangelists Conference at Amsterdam in 1983; his life story appeared in "Challenge" magazine published by Campus Crusade, USA. But his ‘Sri Lankan connection’ is telling! A regular speaker at the Impetus Conference in Colombo for Third World Pastors and Evangelists, Sadhu is a close friend of Dr. Colton Wickramaratne, Senior Pastor of People’s Church, Colombo and his ministry has ‘saved’ numerous Buddhists and Hindus in Sri Lanka.

Most Sri Lankan Tamil Hindus who are scattered as refugees through out the world have been converted to Christianity through his ministries. Rev. Colin Dye, Senior Pastor of Kensington Temple, London, the largest church in England, interviewed Chellappaa and his story appeared in "The Edge," a leading British Christian magazine, in its May 1996 issue.
(http://www.agniministries.org/ (http://www.agniministries.org/) and http://www.agniministries.org/Testimony.aspx (http://www.agniministries.org/Testimony.aspx)).

Sadhu Chellappa’s ‘Agni Ministries’ (AM) are governed by “Evangelical Action Team of India” (EATI), founded by him in 1980 in Coimbatore, with 20 persons in the Board of Directors; he is the ‘Managing Director’. EATI concentrates on conversion activities in the guise of services in Education and Health. The main objective of EATI and AM is to Plant Churches and Harvest Souls, for which purpose they recruit Pastors and Evangelists and conduct training courses for them. They teach distorted versions of Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh scriptures and other books relevant to those Indigenous religions and train recruits how to use those scriptures (by comparing with Christian concepts and Bible stories) for converting the gullible sections from those faiths. They send trained recruits to set up ‘Prayer Cells’ to facilitate planting of new Churches in predominantly Hindu areas. The recruits also teach at Bible schools and colleges. EATI and AM have tie-ups with international missionaries, mainly for fund raising, which makes harvesting easier.
(http://www.agniministries.org/AboutUs.aspx (http://www.agniministries.org/AboutUs.aspx) and
http://www.agniministries.org/EATI.aspx (http://www.agniministries.org/EATI.aspx))

Sadhu Chellappaa audaciously claims, “Diwali, the festival of lights, is a Christian Festival; Animal Sacrifice is a Christian culture adopted by Hindus and Gayatri Mantra actually glorifies Jesus. The Vedas, the ancient Indian sacred writings had anticipated the coming of Christ to take away the sins of man. They call Him Purusha Prajapati the creator God who would come as a man to offer himself as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Vedic quest of the Indian people, because the Vedhas are incomplete without Him, just as the Old Testament was fulfilled at the coming of the Messiah”. He waxes eloquent on ‘You Tube’ on “Hinduism came from Bible”
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBSPQvIqYs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syBSPQvIqYs))


http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=778

nac
04 September 2009, 07:04 AM
How absurd! Since when are Middle Eastern religions MORE logically rigorous than Dharmic ones? They won't even let themselves entertain the idea that another religion is correct for a single moment. With a few exceptions like Judaism and Baha'i, most Abrahamic religions make a virtue out of blind faith, xenophobic irrationality and menticidal tendencies. The day will come they realize that their only means of converting others has been through personal conviction.

satay
04 September 2009, 11:21 AM
namaskar,



Sadhu Chellappaa audaciously claims, “Diwali, the festival of lights, is a Christian Festival; Animal Sacrifice is a Christian culture adopted by Hindus and Gayatri Mantra actually glorifies Jesus. The Vedas, the ancient Indian sacred writings had anticipated the coming of Christ to take away the sins of man. They call Him Purusha Prajapati the creator God who would come as a man to offer himself as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Vedic quest of the Indian people, because the Vedhas are incomplete without Him, just as the Old Testament was fulfilled at the coming of the Messiah”. He waxes eloquent on ‘You Tube’ on “Hinduism came from Bible”


Hmm... It is no secret that Christmas is a stolent pagan festival. Since vedas and vedic rituals predate (validated by historians) christian cult and its rituals, how is it possible that vedic rituals can be adopted from something that didn't exist at that time?

If vedas anticipated the coming of jesus, and this Chellappaa believes in that, then he is actually accepting the authority of the Vedas. Thus Chellappaa can safely burn his bible as he is in fact a Hindu.