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Christianity Today, May, 2007 |

Christian Vision Project

Christ, My Bodhisattva

Multinational businessman and politician Ram Gidoomal talks about 'translating' the gospel in today's world.

Interview by Andy Crouch | posted 4/27/2007 08:29AM

The popular conception of a missionary as a pale-skinned, pith-helmeted traveler in a distant, "primitive" land is amazingly hard to dislodge. Ram Gidoomal fits none of these stereotypes. But he is certainly ...

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Brenda~

Posted: April 30, 2007 11:54 PM

“Jesus as the BODHISATTVA (a being dedicated to assisting people to achieve nirvana [defined later]) who fulfilled his DHARMA (duties or right way of living) to pay for my karma (a force attached to a person because of the wrong he has done, which locks him into repeated testing until he gets it right) to NEGATE (to prove false or annul?) SAMSARA (the recurring cycle of birth, death and reincarnation that can only be escaped when all the karma accumulated from a person’s past lives has been resolved) and achieve NIRVANA (the state of being free from physical form, evil thoughts and suffering; an eternal existence of peace, happiness and awareness of truth, and becoming one with God).” I’m not sure if Mr. Gidoomal is teaching that reincarnation is false or that Jesus frees them from the cycle of reincarnation. I hope he’ll see that karma is myth, sin is wrong-doing and the consequence of sin is eternal separation from God after 1 mortal life, unless salvation is found in Jesus. Heb.9:27

Gary D. Robinson

Posted: April 30, 2007 3:56 PM


This is why I don't engage in reader response chains.

Joshua

Posted: April 30, 2007 1:22 PM

I am perturbed by some words like, "when they talk about sin I am going to think about karma.......I am going to accept Him on those terms "and "Jesus the bodhisattva who fulfilled his dharma to pay for my karma to negate samsara to achieve nirvana". First, one ought to receive Jesus on His terms not one's own and secondly the terms used are NOT equivalent of Biblical Truths because karma presupposes reincarnation and nirvana's meaning is very different from that of heaven or kingdom of God or eternal life. We should not preach false Gospel to win "converts".Honestly I suspect Mr.Gidoomal is a false convert. By the way I believe God doesn't need business people pay for the "boat trips".

don	Posted: April 29, 2007 10:00 PM

well, love that last comment on the website from helen thomas, what a bozo. Unbelievable..... anyway, i wonder what this guy thinks about the murder and mayhem that is going on in Iraq right now... That is the test for the current day. What does he think of his country's complicity in the murderous debacle of the USA and UK that at this moment raises a stench of immorality so high into the heavens that even God is nauseated? and those who voted for its leader, especially twice, are as guilty of depravity as any Pharisee that Jesus castigated in his day. And they call themselves Christians as those Jesus would approve us this repugnant situation... as though he would vote as they have... how disgusting >~ Don McLawhorn

George

Posted: April 28, 2007 9:16 PM

"Jesus as the bodhisattva who fulfilled his dharma to pay for my karma to negate samsara and achieve nirvana!" This is beautiful. God is greater than our hearts, greater than our language, greater than our culture. Whatever brings people to Christ is of God. How could it be tragic or evil if it helps people meet Jesus -in terms that are intelligible to them? Imagine what the world would be like if Christians had, from the beginning, approached other cultures with love and respect instead of scorn and arrogance? Sorry Greg, my brother in Christ, I disagree with your take, but I love you anyway in Him.

Connie Stewart

Posted: April 28, 2007 5:42 PM

Jesus accepts anyone if they are REPENTANT in their hearts of their rebellion against a Holy God. Whether a person relates to it as karma or whatever, God by His Spirt, draws them to REPENTANT. Only God knows their heart. Jesus Christ, God Himself, made it quite clear as to how He ACCEPTS a soul: "Whoever wants to come to Me, let him come." ... end of subject! It's called GOD'S GRACE. God looks at the HEART of a soul, and not the technic. Not Everyone who goes to church every Sunday will ake it into Heaven because God looks at the REPENTANT HEART, not how religious your doctrine is. If there is no REPENTANCE of one's ways, then there is no forgiveness..Remember, it was the 'religious' hypocrites of His day who opposed Jesus' teachings. His response to them was simply, "on the outside you appear HOLY, but on the inside (your heart) is like a GRAVEYARD." The LORD didn't stutter! He called a 'spade a spade.' GOD IS THE ONE WHO JUDGES THE HEART! Only He is the TRUE JUDGE!

Sandra

Posted: April 28, 2007 6:30 AM

You won't find the word Sin in the bible either....the bible was written in Greek etc... What the early Church founders did was to take the Good News and explain it in the language of the people they were communing with. That is what he is doing! Spreading the Good News. This is a wonderful article, thank you Christianity Today. Reading through some of the borderline racist and deeply ignorant comments though - sends chills through me to see how far some of our own are from Christs reality.

Chuck

Posted: April 28, 2007 5:05 AM

Before we say, "how tragic," when we hear of someone speaking of "the karmic salvation of Christ," we must consider a few things. First China from the 17th century onward was spiritualized in just this manner. The missionaries took the basis of Confusionism, Budhism and Taoism and used that basic understanding to show salvation history. Indeed did not Paul use Greek and Roman philosophy in his evangelistic endeavors? Second what happened at Pentacost and why? What I mean is that if we were to meet Christ on His terms, why didn't the apostles speak Aramaic and the Spirit provide the evangelized a translation. Third we meet Christ on our terms everyday when we pick up our particular translation of Scripture and read it. Even Christ used parables to explain His teaching. Without them we still wouldn't get it!

Gina	Posted: April 28, 2007 3:32 AM


Excellent and inspiring! Thank you for including this article.

Hadassah Chee

Posted: April 27, 2007 11:06 PM

In Eastern culture, past sins is the sin of our fore-fathers which is a generation curse and unless we believed that Messiah Yeshua is our Lord and savior, and repent of our past and present sin, one will never be set free. Christianity has also been polluted with the western cultures which is not biblical. I believed Yeshua is full of grace and compassion that he will set all free unconditionally at His time, His ways not ours. (Isasiah 55:9) My hope is He will unite the hearts of belivers everywhere, that together we might see His purposes fulfilled throughtout the eartth.

Gary	Posted: April 27, 2007 10:38 PM


Greg and Mercedes, I suppose you are saying that the biblical meanings of sin are different from and do not include karma. Is karma not similar to "original sin"? At least that is my interpretation.

Patrick Gann

Posted: April 27, 2007 7:46 PM

Here we go again... Does anyone here mean to tell me what when Ram Gidoomal and like-minded followers of Christ reach the pearly gates, they'll be rejected because they understood Christ's salvation in terms of *Karma* rather than *Sin*? Honestly! If Satan is truly out to obscure truth, and it would seem he is, do you not think God's grace is enough to compensate for a mistake in doctrinal understanding? I wonder how many things we misunderstand about the Gospel; yet all we need to do is confess Christ as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead.

Susan

Posted: April 27, 2007 5:26 PM

What a WONDERFUL article! This is a great example of Jesus speaking to a person where they are, meeting them where they need to be met. Jesus defied definition and for good reason--what we define we control. I believe that's the rationale of some of my sisters and brothers in Christ who insist that the gospel be couched in western European terms. This man has a living, breathing relationship with his savior, whatever terms are used to describe it.

John Pierce

Posted: April 27, 2007 4:17 PM

While Ms. Fields makes good points, it is very easy for those who have not had experience with foreign cultures or languages (if Ms. Fields has had either one, I apologize) to fail to understand what might be needed to translate the gospel into local experience. Applying her reasoning, Paul was wrong in his presentation of the gospel, because he used none of the agricultural illustrations which Jesus employed. But Jesus preached to an agrarian society, while Paul was sent to the more cosmopolitan Greco-Roman world. See his Mars Hill discourse (Acts 17: 22ff) for an excellent illustration of how he contextualized the gospel without changing it. There has to be a starting point, and for Ram it was "karma" rather than the unknown concept of "sin." As such folks mature in the Christian life, their understanding grows.* Still, as I said, Ms. Fields makes some good points, and we must always be careful not to water down the truth. It can be a fine line to walk!

Richard Wagstaff

Posted: April 27, 2007 4:01 PM


I think Gidoomal has heard God in his own cultural terms. If we want to criticize the use of another word for sin (doing it our own way) we had better go back to the original Hebrew and Greek and forget the English, Western word "sin". Call it what you want. God has paid for it and and freed us from whatever law. He has "graced us".

Mercedes Fields

Posted: April 27, 2007 3:24 PM

Satan doesn't care how far off the truth you are, as long as you miss the mark in some way shape or form. It's kind of like rat poison. You may not know it, but 97% of the contents in rat poison aren't deadly, but it's that remaining 3% that will kill you. That is how a lot of people's ideals are; their faith is so close to the truth in so many ways, but they still don't match up with the word of God, which has the ultimate say so. I don't know what this fellow is talking about, but my God died for my sins... Not for Karma. I'm praying that in all his success he still finds time to seek God a little more, becuase cleary he has not gotten the full revelation of Jesus Christ.

Matt	Posted: April 27, 2007 2:23 PM

I think that business is a great way to build relationships with the secular world, and to allow people to witness your life and build a good reputation with the "outside world" as Paul tells Timothy in 1st Tim. 3:7 regarding selection for church leadership. As far as being saved from karmic debt, I think we should be glad that people from different cultures are freed from their own unique shackles that were holding them down, and karma is just one of the ways to say that you need to earn your way through life by way of good deeds. Not too different from the Pharisees in the New testament relying on the Law for salvation. Also not very different from the way many Christians live life now. Like Greg said, by grace only. Praise God.

Judy Harper

Posted: April 27, 2007 2:04 PM

"This man has yet to be free of his cultural paganism." How can we Westerners, we of the Easter Bunny, Easter eggs, Santa Claus, we who light candles , ring bells, and bow before steeples, we who taint the gospel of JESUS CHRIST with materialism and nationalism and cultural pride -- how can we accuse a non-Western Christian of cultural paganism? Did Jesus--a non-European Jew-- live, die, and rise to buttress and perpetuate our cultural notions or to reconcile all from a fallen and lost world who will believe and follow Him?

Greg Zenitsky

Posted: April 27, 2007 1:03 PM

"The Christians I met spoke of sin in this life, but that was meaningless to me. Karma was what mattered. So I decided, When they talk about sin, I think of karma, and I believe Jesus died for my karma, so I am going to accept him on those terms." How tragic! You don't "accept" Christ on your terms and you won't find the word karma in any of the texts. He chooses you on His terms alone. By faith in Christ alone by His grace: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, Eph 2:8 ESV

Alan	Posted: April 27, 2007 12:24 PM


A very good article - enjoyed it. Plenty to think about.... Good to see somebody actually living and doing God's work in the real world!

Helen Thomas

Posted: April 27, 2007 11:51 AM


And this is why the Gospel of JESUS CHRIST becomes tainted. We are continually trying to make the LORD GOD in our image and likeness. This man has yet to be free of his cultural paganism.

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