Humility East and West

 

 

11/29/18      Youzi  (click video here)

 

How might humility be viewed differently between East and West?

As I continue with my outreach conversations, I’m grateful that I’m learning about people and their beliefs beyond a superficial level. In talking with those of other religions, I’m discovering that we have both more and less in common than outward appearances might lead me to believe.

For example, I really felt I learned a lot about Hinduism from an Indian man named Youzi at the coffeeshop. Instead of talking about the different outward rituals and customs of both Hinduism and Christianity, I felt he really helped me really get to the heart of the differences – our basic concept of God Himself.

It may seem obvious to say the basic difference is between the one Creator God of Christianity or the many millions of gods of Hinduism, but nearly every Hindu person I have spoken with will say there is but one God, with many different manifestations.

What is interesting to me are the implications these two concepts have on our understanding of God’s character. Youzi was absolutely shocked to find that as Christians we worship a God whose main purpose is to receive all glory unto Himself, whose very presence strikes fear, awe, and reverence in the hearts of His creation, and who is jealous when it doesn’t.

The reason this is shocking to Youzi is because in Hinduism he must compare each manifestation of God with the many other manifestations available, and they are ranked by the level of humility they have achieved. A god with the ego of our Christian God would fall pretty low on the humility scale. He wouldn’t attempt to control people through fear, like the pathetic man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, and he wouldn’t become jealous if he doesn’t get enough attention like a jilted boyfriend.

But because God is the Creator and we are but the creation, we can’t compare God to an egotistical, fearmongering, and jealous wretch of a man. God is not to be judged by His creation. He is God and we are not. He deserves all glory and honor, and is right to demand it. He says ““I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42) Because there is one Creator, God’s glory is His alone.

God is right in commanding us to fear Him. He brought us into this world and He will take us out. He sustains our every breath and heartbeat. We deserve His righteous wrath in our sinful rebellion. In the Bible, the word “fear” is used at least 300 times in reference to God, and for good reason. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, because it is the foundation of our rightful place in relation to our Creator.

If we encounter a jealous man, we might say “Who does he think he is, God?” But God IS God, and has every right to be jealous of the comparatively cheap substitutes we put in His place. In Exodus 34 we read “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Any other “god” is simply a created being, spiritual or otherwise, that has no right to receive the worship only God deserves.

Youzi told me the God of Hinduism displays humility by appearing in a variety of humble forms, including sinful human beings. The God of the Bible appeared in but one humble form – the One sinless man, Jesus. And because He is God in the flesh, Creator, not creation, He deserves all the glory and honor of God.

Yet it is for this very reason that Jesus could display the ultimate in humility: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Phil 2)

The first temptation of man involved Satan’s enticement of Eve that “you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Could Hinduism be based on the same sort of evil enticement – the opportunity to be “gods” ourselves?

Are we part of the Creator or part of the creation? Will we worship higher gods until we reach their level, or will we worship the One High God for eternity? Both Hinduism and Christianity are religions that place a high value on the need for humility in their followers, but for fundamentally different reasons.

Thanks to Youzi for humbly explaining your heartfelt beliefs. Our conversation can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REZ5IvSvTWo on my YouTube channel.