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HINDUISM, SIKHISM AND ISLAM: ARE THESE GOD'S RELIGIONS
INTRODUCTION
There are five major religions in the world that believe in the existence of God or multiple gods, and contain instructions for their adherents on how to live their lives and attain salvation. These in descending order of the number of adherents are: Christianity (2.4 billion), Islam (1.8 billion), Hinduism (1.15 billion), Sikhism (30 million) and Judaism (14.5 million). All these religions have their holy books complete and nothing is being added to them. Therefore, we should be able to understand what each of these religions stands for from what is written in their holy books.
Of all the holy books as to when they were compiled in their final form, the Old Testament of the Bible, the Jewish scriptures are the oldest, followed by the Hindu scriptures the Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Gita; then the New Testament of the Bible; followed by the Quran of Islam and the Guru Granth of the Sikhs.
It may be debated that the Hindu scriptures are the oldest, but scholars have not been able to know the approximate date they were compiled with certainty. On the other hand, there is absolutely no doubt about the approximate dates the scriptures of the other religions were compiled. So I am using the best estimates for the Hindu scriptures that scholarship could make.
The question I will answer in this book is whether these religions, followed by virtually all people in the Indian sub-continent (the number of Christians in India is about 28 million and the Jews is estimated to be less than 5,000) are God’s religions or not.
I will first discuss the Hindu holy books, followed by the Guru Granth of the Sikhs, and finally the Quran of Islam.
Are these Holy Books the Word of God
The first question we need to answer is “How do we prove whether the holy book of a particular religion is the word of God or not?” There are three ways to do so.
The first way is to demonstrate the holy book is NOT the word of God. One way we could demonstrate that is by proving that the holy book contains enormous amount of information that is simply too fantastic to be believed. It defies human reason.
The second way to prove that the holy book is not the word of God is to find some provable scientific or historical errors. Since we are trying to prove that the holy book is the word of God, it should contain no errors at all, because God cannot make mistakes.
The third way we can prove that the holy book is the word of God is seeing God’s Almighty power being demonstrated in its pages. The only way God could have demonstrated that is if He foretold numerous events that would come to pass, and they came to pass exactly as foretold, decades, hundreds or even thousands of years later. One, two or three events coming to pass exactly as foretold would not be convincing enough, as a few events can come to pass by chance, or coincidence. But if God foretold numerous events and they came to pass precisely as foretold, then there can be no doubt that the true God inspired those prophecies.
In fact, the God of Judaism and Christianity challenges the gods of all religions to prove that they are gods with these words in Isaiah 41:21-24 states (Moffatt Translation): “Now, the Eternal cries, bring your case forward, now, Jacob’s King (God) cries, STATE YOUR PROOFS. Let us hear what happened in the past, that we may ponder it, or show Me what is yet to be, that we may watch how it turns out; yes, let us hear what is coming, that we may be sure you are gods; come, do something or other that we may marvel at the sight!—why, you are things of naught, you can do nothing at all!”
Has the god of any religion dared to take up this challenge of the God of the Bible? No. Not one! God of the Bible further declares in Isaiah 46:9-10: “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand…”
God of the Bible emphatically declares that He alone is God and there is no other God. How has He proved that? By taking up His own challenge, foretelling the future numerous times and fulfilling all His hundreds of prophecies precisely as foretold. He has prophesied the establishment and then demise of great kingdoms. He foretold the blessings on Abraham’s descendants (the American and British peoples) and brought them to pass as advance proof that He’ll also bring His promises of eternal life to all of humanity also to pass. For proof of the fulfillment of all these prophecies, I urge Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to read either of my free books “Which Religion is True?” Or “Which Holy Book is the Word of God?”, available free at my website www.ChurchofGodMessage.com
However, one word of caution is in order here. One legitimate way God demonstrates His Almighty power is through miracles. But miracles described in a holy book are by themselves not proof that the book is the word of God. Miracles described could simply be lies. The point here is that like the atheist, do not reject a holy book as the word of God merely because it describes miracles. To prove that a holy book is the word of God, we must use one or more of our three criteria.
Now let’s analyze the holy books of Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam in that order to determine if they stand up to our tests that they are the word of God.
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