God/s
Christianity is a monotheistic religion with a theistic doctrine – meaning it only recognizes only one God, whose creation of the world was borne out of nothingness. Therefore, Christianity is practically intolerant of other religions given that it deems that the path to salvation leads to God. Salvation, in this case, is against sin, and in Christianity, only God can save people from the pitfalls of sinfulness. With that, adherents of Christianity are advised against committing sin so that they can follow God through the path of salvation. On the other hand, Hinduism is both a polytheistic and monotheistic religion with a pantheistic doctrine – meaning its acknowledgement of different levels of truths, all relative to experience, enables the masses to recognize the existence of several gods and the mystics to accept the supremacy of Brahman. The world, according to Hinduism, is borne out of experiences defined by different levels, with reincarnation eventually leading to enlightenment. It is in such area where Hinduism greatly differs from Christianity – it is very tolerant of truths, subject to levels, as those enable adherents towards enlightenment, unlike in the case of the latter where the only truth is God and the only way to reach it is through salvation from sin. Therefore, Christians and Hindus have vastly different conceptions on gods – intolerance by asserting God as the only truth and salvation as the way leading to it is advocated under Christianity, while tolerance by recognizing various truths according to experience leading to the recognition of different gods, with Brahman being the most supreme, is held under Hinduism.
Religious Texts
Christianity relies on the Bible, which is divided into two testaments – Old and New. The Bible, for adherents of Christianity, contains the truth that leads the way to salvation from sin towards God. Hinduism, for its part, is dependent on the Shastras, scriptures that are designated into two classifications: Shruti and Smriti. Shruti scriptures, which derive from heard traditions, are classified as either the Vedas or the Upanishads. The Vedas are composed of four kinds: the Rig Veda (royalty), Sama Veda (chants), Yajur Veda (rituals of sacrifice) and Atharva Veda (incarnations). The Upanishads number up to 108 kinds, with the most important being the following (in alphabetical order): Aitareya, Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isa, Katha, Kena, Mandukya, Mundaka, Prashna and Taitiriya. Smriti scriptures, which stem from memorized tradition, include the following important types: Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata and Ramayana. Evidently, Hinduism encompasses a vast range of literature that provide insights on its religious doctrines, many of which are based on tolerance, compared to Christianity that treats the Bible as the only basis of truth in its religious teachings.
Important Figures
Christianity recognizes a multitude of important figures – Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament, and Jesus Christ and his apostles and disciples in the New Testament. Saints – those faithful who are able to reach Heaven, the kingdom of God, by following the path of salvation also serve as important figures under Christianity. Hinduism, for its part, recognize the existence of gods, the most supreme one being Brahman, and cows as sacred creatures. It is noteworthy to point out that the important figures of Christianity experience revelations of God as chronicled in the Bible, while those of Hinduism detail their experiences in a mystical light through the Shastras.
Guiding Principles
Christianity teaches the way to God through living a life free of sin, which is the path of salvation. God is known as the way, the truth and the life and in reaching Him, adherents have to avoid sin throughout their lives through His teachings in the Bible. With that, adherents can ultimately reach either Heaven with God or Hell away from Him once they die, depending on whether or not they have lived through a life of sin. On the other hand, Hinduism teaches various levels of truths that enable adherents to experience their wants in life: pleasure, power and altruism being the worldly ones and enlightenment being the transcendent one. Given that, there is no universal truth in Hinduism unlike in Christianity, given that each level of truth provides experience to adherents until such point that they reach enlightenment.
Rituals and Practices
The rituals and practices of both Christianity and Hinduism reflect their respective beliefs, as stated in the foregoing. Christians, with their desire to reach salvation, go to mass in churches, typically held on Sundays and presided by a priest, hear the Word of God and receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ through a process called the Eucharist. Hindus, in their journey towards enlightenment, commit rituals in temples, where they appease the gods by ringing bells and presenting offerings, and recite mantras from the Shastras, oftentimes presided by a priest.
Belief in Afterlife
Christianity invokes the belief in an afterlife as part of the truths it teaches. Adherents of Christianity believe that death ultimately brings them to either Heaven or Hell, depending on the way they lived their life as they encounter sin as a challenge. Those who have chosen a path to salvation – a life that stays away from sin, are assured of a place in Heaven with God. On the other hand, those who choose sin over salvation is deemed to prefer a life away from God, to which death would bring them to Hell. Therefore, Christianity deems that its adherents observe the truths that lead them to God by leading a path to salvation and a life devoid of sin. However, Hinduism believe that afterlife, for them, can bring them either reincarnation or enlightenment. As a religion cognizant of a collectivity of truths, which in turn leads to the belief of enlightenment through a multiplicity of truths over salvation via one coherent set of truths, Hinduism treats individualism and free will as merely a delusion, henceforth denying the existence of sin and consequently a Hindu equivalent of Hell. When a person dies, Hinduism believes that he is reincarnated, sometimes in the form of other living beings, with the cycle continuing until he reaches enlightenment.
Historical Milestones
In terms of history, Christianity relates to a coherent set of historically-defined instances wherein the existence of its important figures have been part of world history and are therefore verified as real persons. In other words, one could claim that Christianity, with its beginnings throughout the Roman Empire and the way it flourished throughout historical periods in Europe up to the present times, has a more solid historical basis. On the other hand, the historical milestones of Hinduism is vastly deemed as mythological as best. The rather vague and dubious history of Hinduism stems from the time of the antiquities, with its practice having been observed during the time of the Gupta Empire.
Symbols
Christianity is best distinguished through the use of the crucifix as a symbol, which symbolizes the way Jesus Christ was martyred. Statues of saints also predominate as symbols of Christianity. Hinduism, on the other hand, treats cows as sacred, henceforth enabling it to become one of its prominent symbols. Statues of gods also characterize the symbolic qualities of Hindu temples and are thus deemed sacred.
Works Cited
Kreeft, Peter. "Comparing Christianity & Hinduism." Catholic Education Resource Center (CERC). CERC, n.d. Web. 9 December 2014.
