Gospel Freedom vs. the Endless Ladder of Attainment, and Merit

  Blog »  
How Christianity Differs from Hinduism and Buddhism and
Other Eastern Religious Practices   Part 4
Gospel Freedom vs. the Endless Ladder of Attainment, and Merit  

Friday, July 17, 2015
Jeff Lampl

*Let’s look once again at the concept of karma – a concept we also found in Hinduism.  The key idea is that your deeds and thoughts in past lives, and in this life, will determine your future here and your future lives. The way out of this cycle is to try harder to do more good deeds than bad. But few if any ever attain perfection in this life. Christianity also affirms that we reap what we sow. But among the central tenents of the Christian faith is that God chose to help us by sending his perfect son to suffer on our behalf, taking upon himself our bad karma while crediting to our account his good karma, thus offering grace instead of endless judgment.  

Notice what the Bible tells us  

“For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.  So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”  For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”    2 Corinthians 5:19-21 (NLT)  

Because of this Gospel Message Christian believers pursue a life of love in response to what God has done for us, not seeking to win, earn or merit salvation, but in gratitude  

*This post was excerpted from Adam Hamilton’s study on Christianity and World Religions

 
Comment    

For more:   follow on Twitter @jefflampl