Christianity vs Hinduism

[Crkroeger98]

I’ve recently come back to the faith after a decade and I was raised Catholic. I’ve definitely found peace in believing in God but I’ve recently had a pressing question, that as a good Christian apologist I can’t answer. Christianity stems from the ancient Abrahamic faith, but what of the east and the religious practices that stem from Hinduism that predates Judaism by 500 years. Who is right?

 

[adamhovey1988]

How do YOU know it predates Judaism? Judaism was originally oral. Just because there was no Bible or temple does not mean there was no Judaism. We live in a literate culture, and we take literacy for granted, but writing did not exist until the time of the Sumerians around 3500 B.C. The earliest writing in Hebrew, that we know of (which I think is dated too late) is allegedly around 1200 BC. Keep in mind, oral history is VERY important in my own family, and I think making the claim you do is underestimating it.

 

[Shakuhachi]

The age of a religion was nothing to do with the veracity of its claims.

 

[Batman2.0]

The bible actually mentions the first human beings(Adam+Eve). This means that it is acknowledged that there was a God( The God of the Christians and Jews) long before Hinduism started. Also, I would not put much trust in Hinduism, it is a very vague and broad religion as it encompasses many different ideas(a.k.a Jainism, Buddhism, etc.) Also, to put it bluntly, Hindus commit the sin of idolatry as they worship many gods(Vishnu, Shiva, etc.) Be at peace that there is one true God who existed for ever and always had the intention of establishing his church at the right time. God bless you!

 

[Dimmesdale]

No one here can resolve your questions comprehensively. And it isn’t wise to only look at one strand of evidence (how old something is).

I have some knowledge of Hinduism but I’m not going to proselytize. My advice would rather be to focus on what makes sense to you, what is most ‘real’ to you in a tangible way and not just in a theoretical way. Truth stems most of all from humility I think, so if you open yourself up to the truth and follow evidence sincerely (also resting in uncertainty - we can’t know everything) then the truth will open up like a rose, slowly but progressively. This is a much better approach in my opinion than pitting worldviews “versus” each other like in your title. Take things one at a time, before jumping into vast theoretical constructs. That’s my take anyhow.

 

[J-walker]

God created Adam and Eve who believed in Him before Hinduism started