I'm getting disgruntled thinking of Christians who believe in "karma." The law of karma states that there is an accumulation of good and bad karma and that the total net differential is one's karma. This is the belief that bad deeds (there is a causal relationship between deeds and events) catch up to you and you can offset them by good deeds or "good karma." It is analogous to the business executive with a private jet that plants trees to offset his carbon footprint (his guilt).
Ultimately, it leads to the belief that you are judged by whether your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds to get into heaven. That is to say, some deserve heaven and some don't.
Buddhists and Hindus believe in "karma" and that everyone is an island suffering his own "just dessert." The Hindus of India have trouble with the lower castes because they think they are getting what they deserve. "If someone is suffering, that's his karma." Buddha taught that we are all an "island to ourselves." Remember the disciples asking Jesus "Who sinned, the baby or the parents, that he should be born blind?" They say, "What goes around, comes around." During the "killing fields" of Cambodia in the '70s, the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was torturing 300,000 refugees and it was the Christians that showed mercy, not the Buddhist monks. You might say they thought they were getting their comeuppance.
I believe in the "Law of the Harvest", and that we reap what we sow, according to Gal. 6:7. Remember what Hosea said: "They sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7). If we sow to the flesh we will reap destruction, and if we sow to the Spirit we will reap eternal life (our destiny respectively). There is a way out with the Lord, and that is mercy and grace. Psalm 103:10 proclaims, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." That is the essence of Christianity: We get what we don't deserve (grace) and we don't get what we do deserve (mercy). I heard one guy say that all he wanted from God was what he deserved! Well, do I need to point out that we all deserve hell? Thank God that there is a God of a second (or third, etc.) chance! God doesn't keep a record of all our sins to hold against us, but has thrown them to the bottom of the sea and sent them as far away as the east is from the west. (Cf. Mic.7:19; Psalm 103:12.)
The big dilemma is how do you explain the sufferings of Christ and of Job? I have heard it said by a wise man that if we suffer it is so that others won't have to, and if we don't suffer it is because others have. Thank God for forgiveness and a fresh start; we can be born again to a new life in Christ no matter we may have botched up our life. We are all a "work in progress." "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground..." (Hos. 10:12). karma is a word that should not be in the believer's conversation, except in disapproval. In summation: karma is balderdash and hogwash. (We have a personal loving God that cares for us individually who knows each of us and has a plan for our lives.) "He has not dealt with us according to our sins...." By and large, karma is simply a mechanical, iron-clad law of cause and effect for good and bad deeds and their effects. Soli Deo Gloria!
Ultimately, it leads to the belief that you are judged by whether your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds to get into heaven. That is to say, some deserve heaven and some don't.
Buddhists and Hindus believe in "karma" and that everyone is an island suffering his own "just dessert." The Hindus of India have trouble with the lower castes because they think they are getting what they deserve. "If someone is suffering, that's his karma." Buddha taught that we are all an "island to ourselves." Remember the disciples asking Jesus "Who sinned, the baby or the parents, that he should be born blind?" They say, "What goes around, comes around." During the "killing fields" of Cambodia in the '70s, the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge was torturing 300,000 refugees and it was the Christians that showed mercy, not the Buddhist monks. You might say they thought they were getting their comeuppance.
I believe in the "Law of the Harvest", and that we reap what we sow, according to Gal. 6:7. Remember what Hosea said: "They sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind" (Hos. 8:7). If we sow to the flesh we will reap destruction, and if we sow to the Spirit we will reap eternal life (our destiny respectively). There is a way out with the Lord, and that is mercy and grace. Psalm 103:10 proclaims, "He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." That is the essence of Christianity: We get what we don't deserve (grace) and we don't get what we do deserve (mercy). I heard one guy say that all he wanted from God was what he deserved! Well, do I need to point out that we all deserve hell? Thank God that there is a God of a second (or third, etc.) chance! God doesn't keep a record of all our sins to hold against us, but has thrown them to the bottom of the sea and sent them as far away as the east is from the west. (Cf. Mic.7:19; Psalm 103:12.)
The big dilemma is how do you explain the sufferings of Christ and of Job? I have heard it said by a wise man that if we suffer it is so that others won't have to, and if we don't suffer it is because others have. Thank God for forgiveness and a fresh start; we can be born again to a new life in Christ no matter we may have botched up our life. We are all a "work in progress." "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground..." (Hos. 10:12). karma is a word that should not be in the believer's conversation, except in disapproval. In summation: karma is balderdash and hogwash. (We have a personal loving God that cares for us individually who knows each of us and has a plan for our lives.) "He has not dealt with us according to our sins...." By and large, karma is simply a mechanical, iron-clad law of cause and effect for good and bad deeds and their effects. Soli Deo Gloria!
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