Sola Sisters: truth xchange

Thursday, December 27, 2012

We're All Hindus Now?

Dr. Peter Jones
Truth Xchange

Christian talk show host Janet Mefferd recently had Dr. Peter Jones of the Truth Xchange on her show to discuss the growing influence of Hinduism in America, even among professing Christians. This is a very important topic, because in my experience, many Christians today seem to grasp the religious syncretism and idolatry of the Old Testament at only an intellectual level. You would get head nodding all 'round if you brought up the topic of religious syncretism, with your Christian friends affirming oh yes, that would be bad, very bad indeed, if Christians today were to try to syncretize their religious practices with forbidden pagan religious practices! Of course, the problem is that they might say this while they're tucking their yoga mats under their arms and heading out the door for a yoga class. This is the kind of disconnect that Dr. Jones addresses in this very informative interview. From the show:

"(Newsweek author) Lisa Miller cited polling data (in the 2009 article We Are All Hindus Now) showing that, conceptually at least, (Americans) are slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians in the ways we think about God, ourselves, each other and eternity. We do see it on a superficial level, of course, with our culture mainstreaming terms like karma, and yoga, and nirvana, avatar, and mantra.......How did this happen? And where is this trend headed? And most importantly, how should Christians think biblically in this day and age to avoid the spiritual pitfalls of openly - or unwittingly - embracing Hinduism."