Sharing Christ With Hindus

But it was not only simplified it was vitalized. I found that when I was at the place of Jesus I was every moment upon the vital. Here at this place all the questions of heaven and earth were being settled. He was the one question that settled all others.

A Jain lawyer, a brilliant writer against Christianity, arose in one of my meetings and asked me a long list of questions regarding things of the Old Testament. I replied, I think I can answer your questions but I do not feel called to do so. I defined Christianity as Christ. If you have any objections to make against him I am ready to hear them and answer them if I can.” (Christ of the Indian Road p.2-4)

In sharing faith with a Hindu bring the initial focus to Christ. Do not become side tracked by other issues. These other question the Hindu has regarding the Old Testament or practices of Christians should be put off until Christ is fully presented to the Hindu.

When explaining sin to a Hindu it is better to avoid examples such as, idol worship is wrong. It is better to use personal examples such as, you may have promised something to your mother and broken that promise. That is sin and separates you from God. A Hindu has no doubt broken their own moral code regarding honesty or respecting parents. Bringing this to the Hindu mind is more likely to bring genuine repentance than a broad statement such as all idol worship is wrong.

Remember that Christ is not a foreign god for the Hindu. Christ was active in creation and Jesus is the creator and maker of your Hindu friend. God created your Hindu friend for fellowship, and that fellowship is broken as a result of sin. Christ loves the Hindu and knows intimately each Hindu and has the number of hairs on each Hindu numbered. He died for them and the image of God in the Hindu is restored when he accepts Christ who loved him and died for him.

V) Fit the context of the situation

There are a large number of diverse thoughts within Hinduism and a large collection of Hindu writings. The major emphasis in Hinduism despite the large number of ancient texts is by oral tradition. There are thousands of Swamis having their own ashram or spiritual retreat center that emphasize a variety of themes. All of this leads to a great diversity in Hinduism.

Because of this great diversity there is not one theme that can be used in sharing Christ with Hindu. In one situation you may want to emphasize peace as Raju did in this example. Raju wrote: Raman shared at our prayer meeting that Mona has been saying that she needs “shanty”/peace. I told him that my testimony is about peace. So, we went to see her that afternoon. She was so cordial with us. Raman told her that we came to talk to her about peace. As I shared, she listened so intently. At the end, she asked me, what did I pray that I was able to find peace. I was able to share so openly with her. Raman prayed for her at the end. She is very close to the Kingdom!!!

To share the Gospel with Hindus we need to think about what is unique to each situation and adjust accordingly. Just as the example with Mona required a Biblical response in the area of peace the next situation could require a different approach. Beside peace, some common themes for Hindus include, Truth, Vegetarian Diet, Yoga, Herbs, Knowledge, Wealth, purity, Ancient Tradition, One god thousand names, Meditation, etc.