Saturday, April 19, 2014

What is Wrong if Hindus Accept  Jesus as an Avatar?

Hindus who are unclear as to why it is not OK to accept Jesus as an Avatar,  please consider the following:

(1) One cannot accept Jesus as an Avatar without accepting everything Jesus said is true.  The only source of what Jesus said or did is the bible.  One cannot accept Jesus as Avatar and not accept the bible. Jesus is a real person with a history of sayings and actions.  This history also ties him intimately to Old Testament and prophecies made there.  Jesus also speaks of Old Testament characters as real prophets.  You have to accept those prophets and all that they said or did.

(2) The moment you accept the bible, exclusivism is triggered which automatically implies that all things not verifiable historically in matters of divinity / God are suspect.  In particular, such non-verifiable claims will be deemed false if not in agreement with the bible.  

(3) Thus, bible becomes the primary authority and everything else is secondary.  Thus, if Bible says all gods other than Yahweh are false gods, you have to agree that other avatars cannot be God.  Thus, Jesus becomes your only Avatar or God.  All your itihasa turn into myths.  All avatars become false gods.  Murti puja becomes idol worship and the bible tells you that idol worship is devil worship.  You are forced to denounce everything other than Jesus.

(4) history-centric aspects of Bible are incompatible with the concept of Avatars.  Jesus alone is son of God.  Rest of the prophets are merely humans with special previleges.  God does not appear in human form in the Bible.  That very idea is antithetical to the notion of God sending his only son to save humankind.  Hindus cannot accept Jesus as an avatar and at the same time accept all history-centric aspects of the bible.  How can Hindus accept Jesus but not the essence of bible when bible is your only source of information on Jesus?  It is impossible.  If you accept Jesus, you cannot be a Hindu.  By reductio ad absurdum, Hindus cannot accept Jesus as an avatar.