Part Two: India—A Faulty Foundation

(By AiG-US speaker Geoff Stevens, who lectured in earthquake-stricken India last December. Read part one of this commentary on the spiritual state of India.)

February 20, 2001

The chaotic streets and roads of northern and central India mentioned in part one of this article are a telling example of Hindu theology. There is little Christian influence, and no road signs—it is a total free-for-all! There is no right way to drive; and just about everything is tolerated.

Imagine being in a fast-moving car (with no shock absorbers) dodging trucks, buses, and scooters (all moving as fast as they can go), along with bicycles, pedestrians, and all the animals doing their own thing trying to get to who knows where. For one not previously exposed to this, I reflected on James’ admonition of life being just a vapor--and this teaching takes on significant meaning in India. The prevalent ‘every-man-doing-what-is-right-in-his-own-eyes’ scenario is the heartbeat of India’s major religion, Hinduism.

(In Southern India, however, there are road signs. People drive in a little more civilized way. My Christian friends who know India well say that this is likely due to the Christian theology that has impacted the culture of southern India.)

When you delve deeper into the culture as a whole, you see a lack of respect for human life, including a mistreatment of women. This is not that all surprising when you remember that animals are worshiped in Hinduism, and in most cases are treated better than beggars.

I have never witnessed humans in such despair and hopelessness as I did in India. I think to a large degree this comes from the teaching that death and suffering over long periods of time are unchangeable and thus natural. To the Hindus, death and suffering are the ultimate saviors–life goes on through reincarnation. But the image of God in man cannot find this at all satisfying; there is no hope in this, only despair.

Now the world news about the earthquake has once again exposed the world to India’s impoverished condition. What is worse is that these dear people have to wrestle to accept that all this death and suffering is natural and ultimately liberating. People suffer greatly today, and have for thousands of years in India. Why?

On a personal level, I was totally shocked and deeply disturbed by the sorrow and utter hopelessness of India. It was hard for me to remember that these people were made in God’s image. Absorbing all of this, the thought hit me: these people don’t live nearly half as well as a very poor family in America. I began to cry out to God as to why He didn’t do anything — didn’t you care? Why was India like this?, I pondered.

Then I began to think Biblically. God, of course, does care. Just the fact that our team was there was the result of a God that did care. At one time, these people did have the truth in their ancestry (we all today have descended from Noah and his sons). Somewhere along the way, they lost it. India has been in spiritual darkness for over 4000 years. What a picture of a country that has almost totally rejected the truth of God! Millions upon millions have suffered and had a meager existence, and then spend eternity in Hell! These people have been suffering physically and spiritually because their great great (and so on) grandparents rejected the truth of God thousands of years ago!

What I learned in India can be boiled down to one sentence: Theology governs nations! There is a right theology about God and a wrong theology. Proper theology is revealed in the Word of God, the Bible. Twisted theology (or a twisted view of God) is the result of either rejecting the Word of God, or accepting some of it but twisting other parts. India’s social problems are not ultimately the result of poverty, government policies, over-population, or a decaying environment, but really the outworking of its theology.

Our beliefs about God direct the way we live. Right now many Christians in Western nations are compromising the truth of the word of God by adding the evolutionary belief of millions of years. Little do they realize they are giving their children a twisted view of God who appears cruel, allowing millions of years of death and suffering before the first man appeared. They are teaching that death and suffering have always been with us.

If we compromise God’s Word and believe that death and suffering have existed for millions of years, in time it will lead to despair, just as it does in India. If the church compromises on this issue, what will become of those nations that still have some vestige of Christian influence? It probably didn’t take too many generations past Noah for his descendants to depart from the truth of God.

Pray for the people of India, and that the Gospel will penetrate the hearts of its one billion people.