Through the lens of Christ my Savior, I can see (and live) closer to the reality of eternity because the view is more clearly defined. The errors of worldly thinking are many.
Ravi Zacharias once explained that: “For the hindu, ‘karma,’ the moral law of cause and effect, is a life-defining concept. Life carries a moral debt (or even debts) that are paid in a ‘cyclical’ pattern of rebirth until all dues are paid to fullness. The hindu religion conveys an ‘inheritance of wrong,’ which is lived out in each successive life. Karma to the hindu is a way of repayment of a sin-debt, but the debt is never satisfied.”
It is like trying to repay a loan with compounding interest by paying only the minimum payment. Therefore, the cross-payment of Christ’s sacrificial atonement is so dramatically definitive – so complete. The religions of the world all have the works of humans as the way to pay their way to God – the way to propitiate God. Religion is mankind’s repayment plan. Christ is God’s repayment plan – the debt paid by Christ.
The hindus and buddhists, the muslims and all religions should be relieved, even thrilled, to hear the Gospel of Good News. The deep-seated culture of religion (mankind’s way) is so deeply ingrained that only the Holy Spirit can turn on the light switch. If the religious, non-religious, and ignorant will but seek the Creator, God, by His Holy Spirit, will send a message with the Gospel of salvation.
Christ offers forgiveness without minimizing the debt. What a glorious answer to man’s hungering heart – his guilty position before God.
The Gospel offers full restoration through one man, Christ, because by one man we all fell. It is God alone who has restored man to Himself – mankind must accept God’s plan of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
Life is not a cyclical event without a first cause as the hindu and buddhist believe. Pantheism gives one a moral reasoning through karmic fatalism. Man cannot escape the sin he is in, only Christ can reach into the slave market of our sin nature and extract us from slavery.
God, through Christ, and by the Holy Spirit, offers peace for the struggles of man’s soul. Humanity struggles for a relationship with Creator God. Christ is God’s answer – the only way to find peace with God – the only way to satisfy the inescapable hunger of man for a relationship with the Divine Creator.
What Adam lost, Christ found.
Christ is the escape from the inescapable place. Study the Cross-Word of God, then share it. The love of all humanity, in friendship, opens heart-doors.