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Some Catholics believed that a spiritual transformation takes place in the church and transforms the bread and wine into the actual body and blood of Christ. Others see it as symbolic. It should be noted that Protestants, for example, see matrimony and confession as a personal matter rather than a divine one; and they concentrate primarily on Baptism and the Eucharist in their sacramental rites. Nevertheless, there are sufficient Christian practices to unit these church branches under the rubric of Christendom: they all believe in the divinity of Jesus.
Having been personally exposed to these two world religions, (much more recently to Hinduism than to Christianity) I’ve come to respect both of them. I see many differences between the two but only a few similarities. However, both religions communicate very effectively their profound awareness of a deeper reality that surpasses the physical cosmetic world of daily living.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=258 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:27:42 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=257 Part 8 of 10

The correct way to practice Christianity (say church officials) is to perform its orthopraxy (which means right practice) accordingly to church authority. However, the practices based on competing religious beliefs vary depending upon which church doctrine Christians adhere to. The church is divided into three main branches: Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. Given their numerous subdivisions their sacraments while being a common practice to one may be uncommon to the others. Nevertheless, the main branches do have common practices that are uniquely Christian. Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants do engage in some of the same sacraments, more or less. Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony and Holy Order, Last Rites, Reconciliation or Confession, and Holy Communion make up some of the most important rituals.
The sacraments, according to the religious faithful and religious scholars, correspond to the spiritual nature of humankind and their relationship to God. Baptism (which commonly involves the water as purification) initiates the faithful into the spiritual world of God. The Confirmation strengthens the believers in their faith, as they grow into maturity. Holy Matrimony unites a man and a woman into a marital relationship, blessed by God; just as Holy Order unites a person to a special relationship devoted to God. Last Rites or the Extreme Unction is the Christian way of preparing the souls or the “dearly departed” for the passage beyond physical death. Reconciliation or Confession, a sacrament valued by Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the practice of confessing ones iniquities to a priest for the purpose of being forgiven by God for ones sins. Mass is a very important sacrament to the Christians fellowship. It is a reenactment of the Last Supper (it’s a very personal and intimate sacrament), in which Jesus gave his dispels bread and wine. The bread is Christ’s body and the wine is his blood.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=257 Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:50:10 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=256 Part 7 of 10

One of the most profound beliefs, without exception among Christians, is of the Resurrection of Jesus, three days after he was crucified. After death, he reappeared in another body (a glorified spiritual body) according to his disciples. This was proof to them that he was the son of God. For only the power of God could overcome the natural process of death. Jesus arose from a state of death entered hell, and after forty days, ascended to heaven to be with the Father.
Christians also believe in an afterlife. However, the reincarnation or transmigration of human beings from this life to the next, as advocated by the Hindus, is a strange doctrine to Christians. Church doctrine teaches them that man has but one life and one chance to get to heaven, to experience everlasting life, and to enjoy the beatific vision or the vision of God. The second coming of Christ and the “Day of Judgment” will determine the fate of every human soul, according to Holy Scripture. Humankind will be judged based on deeds and practices carried out within their life time here on earth.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=256 Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:25:16 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=255 Part 6 of 10
The Trinity resembles the Incarnation in that it to holds that God is or has another personhood or entity at the center of His nature. This entity is known as the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three different entities but they are also one substance. Again, as with the Incarnation, to the man or woman of logic this appears to be irreconcilable. However, to the faithful it is but another divine mystery that only God truly understands.
According to Scripture, the Holy Spirit is first made known to Mary, the mother of Jesus, by the Archangel Gabriel. He tells her that God has chosen her to bear his son. When Mary asked Gabriel how it was possible that a virgin girl would bear a son, Gabriel reveals Gods’ plan:
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee
shall be called the son of God (St. Luke 1:35).
However, this spirit was not known or realized as the third person of the
Trinity until it descended upon the apostles of Jesus after his death:
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one
accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of
a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting…
And they were all filled with Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
According to church doctrine, God- the Father, Jesus- the Son, and the Holy Spirit make-up the nature of the Supreme Being.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=255 Fri, 8 Aug 2008 15:52:53 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=254 Part 5 of 10
The Incarnation is the doctrine that holds that Jesus (The Nazarene who is believed by his followers to be the Messiah and whose teaching the church is based on) is God-Man. According to the church, God assumed a human body and walked on the earth to preach to mankind; the purpose of which was to save their souls so that they might have everlasting like in the kingdom of heaven. The concept that two completely different natures can at the same time be of one substance or nature is a contradiction in human thinking and logic. However, the power and knowledge of God transcends mere human understanding and mechanical logic. According to the faithful, feats of God and miracles are not entirely comprehensible to ordinary beings. God performs miracles, as Moses witnessed, that transcends human understanding. As far as Christians are concerned, the fact that this divine knowledge has been revealed is enough for them. Other religions have something like this; for example, the concept of the Incarnation maybe what the Hindus mean by reincarnation or transmigration from Jiva to the human soul and finally to Atman-Brahman.
Atonement is the doctrine of reconciliation. The purpose of God appearing on earth and walking among the faithful was to atone for the sin Adam committed in the Garden of Eden. Jesus pays the ultimate price (he was crucified) for Adam’s sin, thereby, making it possible for mankind to be saved. Sin, by Christian’s definition, is an act of transgressing against the moral and religious laws of God. Man has control over his life. He can choose between good and evil. Atonement makes it possible for humankind to be rewarded in the afterlife for their deeds, their belief in Jesus, and their steadfast adherents to the word of God. However, the very concept, not to mention the reality, of the sin of Adam and ultimate salvation is unacceptable to Hindus.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=254 Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:27:48 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=253 Part 4 of 10

Other forms of yoga include jnana, raja, and karma or karmic. Jnana yoga, in many ways, attempts to reach God in the opposite way that bhakti does. It reaches God by knowledge and it is practiced by Hindus and yogis who are reflective by nature, but a intuitive kind which deepens as he achieves oneness with God. Raja yoga is concerned, in part, with knowledge also. However, it is the scientific mind and the embracing of hypothesis that it is most concerned with. The word psycho-physical is used to indicate that this form of experimental yoga involves practicing mental exercises and formulating hypothesis to describe the reaction it has on the body.
The last major form of yoga which is practiced widely in Hinduism is karmic yoga. This form of yoga looks for God through the activity of work. It concentrates on diminishing ones’ ego and self-interest, which keeps one separated from God. It promotes the interest of God and the good.
Karmic yoga, however, is unlike the other disciplines in that it depends directly on jnana and bhakti yoga to carry the karmic message in order to achieve union with God; it cannot achieve this union in any other way. Dom Denys Rutledge condenses all the above yoga’s into a short and simple statement:
Expressed in the broadest and crudest term in seems to be regarded as
a withdrawal from the more superficial to the deeper planes or layers of
reality spoken in early yogi literature as “sheaths” surrounding the inner
real self which is identical with God.

Christianity’s relationship with God is as spiritual as Hinduism. Its basic principles, beliefs, and practices are in some ways the same, but to a very large extent they are strikingly different in contrast. The basic principles of Christianity are found primarily (although not exclusively) in the church doctrines of the Incarnation, Atonement, and the Trinity.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=253 Fri, 1 Aug 2008 14:50:18 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=252 Part 3 of 10

The basic beliefs of the Hindu religion, as I understand it, centers around the God-head, “Brahman” and the life force of Atman-a spiritual aspect of Brahma. Jiva, the spirited soul sent by God, occupies individual bodies from the simplest to the most complex (the human body) in a process known as reincarnation or transmigration. There are those among the Hindus who believe that Atman ultimately merges its identity with Brahman, the God within, and loose its own individuality. However, others believe that some aspect of Atman will always remain, separate from Brahman allowing individuals to experience God’s radiance and love in the beatific vision.
In his book, The World Religions, Huston Smith put it this way:
Some say the individual soul passes into complete indemnification with
God and loses every trace of its former separateness. Others wising to
taste sugar not be sugar, cherish the hope that some slight differentiation
between the soul and God will still remain- a thin line upon the ocean that
provides nevertheless a remnant of personal identity that some consider
indispensable for the beatific vision (p. 66).

I see this same beatific vision as analogous to the Christians’ belief that the human soul, along with the sainted soul will enjoy the vision of God in heaven.
However, to reach the God within, while one is experiencing life in his current body, yoga is practiced as a way of uniting the self with God into what is know as Samadhi, in which the self is completely absorb. This intimate connection with God can be achieved by practicing yoga in a variety of ways. The Hindu or yogi who attempts to reach God by engaging in bhakti yoga is seeking the divine through the power and practice of love. This is one of the most, if not the most, popular methods of yoga. Although Christians are not yogis, they can relate to bhakti yoga more than any other yoga because it conforms to one of their basic beliefs which is the practice of love in the name of God. In his book,
In Search for a Yogi, Dom Denys Ruthledge describes and defines what I take to be the essential concept of yoga:
The yoga system aims at a progressive withdrawal from the material
world, apparently with the idea that the ultimate vital principle in man that
normally manifest itself through the bodily senses could, if abstracted
methodically from operation through the senses, where it is limited to the
immediate object of these, operate in a manner analogous to sight,
hearing, smell, ect, but with unlimited power, unrestricted by the material
extension of space-time (p. 51).
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=252 Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:17:10 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=251 Part 2 of 10
The guiding principle behind Hinduism is the law of karma which is a doctrine that operates under the moral law of cause-and-effect. It teaches that the present situation a person finds him or herself in is a result of past conduct in a previous life. If individuals find themselves in a privilege position or situation, it is do to right actions or correct conduct acted out on their part in another human self, in a previous life. On the other hand, the disfavorable circumstance one is presently suffering is due to his or her own misconduct that also happened in a past life. Good or bad luck or fortune is ruled out entirely. Troy Wilson Organ has addressed the concept of karma in his book The Hindu Quest for the Perfection of Man. He writes:
The Hindu could not believe that these lives would be determined by
chance. Rta at work is the succession of mortal lives was called
karma. This word, which means action or deed in Sanskirt, maybe
described as the concept of natural causality in the moral spear…
The doer of good becomes good, the doer of evil becomes evil.
One becomes virtuous by virtuous action, bad by bad action (p. 120).
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=251 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:50:59 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=250 Understanding Some of Ideas behind Hinduism and Christianity
Part 1 of 10
Unlike Christianity, Hinduism does not draw on a long tradition of sacred revelations inspired by God. Nevertheless, a supernatural entity does manage to reveal its existence in ways that are unmistakably divine and spiritual to the followers of the faith. Hinduism and Christianity both have large followings but in predominately different parts of the world. Hinduism is practiced in many parts of the world; but it is concentrated in the far Eastern part of the world, just as Christianity is concentrated in the Western part.
The scriptures or writings that Christians appeal to in the practice of their faith are from the New Testament, Church doctrine, and partly from the Hebrew Bible, where it has its roots. Hindus appeal to the writings found in the Shruti, which are made up of the four Vedas, the Brahmans, Aranyakas, and the Upanishads. They also appeal to the writings or books found in the Smriti which are made up of the Purans, Tantras, Ramayana, Manusmirit, Vjishnumsmriti, and Mahabharata which encompasses the Bhagavad-Gita, the most popular book in Hinduism.
However, I do not think that Hinduism or Christianity lie neatly in this book or that book, but in the basic interpretation, principles, beliefs, and practices of the people who follow and adhere to the letter and spirit of these two world religions; for the faithful followers, their religion is a way of life.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=250 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:02:38 -0500 http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=249 Retrospective
Part 11 of 11
A company that lacks justice in the treatment of its employees lacks a corporate soul (the practice of decency). Sooner or later its employees will treat it or mistreat it accordingly. Companies that look out for the people at the top and ignore the middle and bottom rungs soon collapses. It does so because it lacks a humane spiritual infrastructure (that is to say, people who dedicate themselves to the well-being of the company). The American workforce is among the most productive in the world. Yet, it takes two income earners to buy what one could 30 or 40 years ago. This is a big part of what is making people angry and anxious. Let us be perfectly fair to big corporations and understand that they are not social or welfare institutions existing to better mankind for its own sake; but money making for profits organizations existing to generate wealth. No thriving or prosperous society could ever do without them. To think so is foolish. Nevertheless, it must also be recognized that because of the rise and power of the business world in the 19th and 20th century and because of a deeper understanding of economic justice, the government and religious institutions are not the only ones society looks to for social responsibility. Will the American business community live up to corporate responsibility that society is asking for? With the help of their workforce, I think there is a real chance. But in truth, only time will tell.

REFERENCES
Andrew, E, L. (1996, February 28) AT&T Chief, Who Cut Jobs, Defends Pay.
New York Times. P. C5.
Heineman, H, E. (1996 February 28) America’s Hated Companies.
Journal of Commerce and Commercial. P. A6.
Keller, J, J. (1996, January 3) AT&T to Cut Workforce by 40,000 in Restructuring.
Wall Street Journal. P. A6.
Keller, J, J. (1996, March 18) AT&T Tries to Put New Spin on Big Job Cuts.
Wall Street Journal. P. B1
Sthal, L. (1996, April 4) 60 Minutes, CBS.
]]> General http://www.bbd4u.com/blog/index.php?itemid=249 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:28:24 -0500