A Missiological study of the influence of Hindu beliefs and practices upon the response to the Gospel among Hindus in Nairobi

Abstract

This is a missiological study of the influence of Hindu beliefs and practices upon the response to the gospel among the Hindus in Nairobi. It seeks to find out hindrance to the gospel message and thus build appropriate bridges for effective Christian witness to the Hindus in Nairobi. In order to achieve this, the researcher undertook an extensive review of the related literature. Mainly the data was collected through face to face interview to five pastors who are involved in Hindu evangelism, seven Hindu converts and five Hindus who have heard the gospel and have not responded to it. The interview questions were open ended. The findings clearly revealed that clearly revealed that, the Hindu concept of god, incarnation (Avatar), Karma (good deeds), Moksha (salvation), and Dharma (law) can influence Christian witnessing both positively negatively among the Hindus in Nairobi. Hindus and there is no need to defend the existence of God to a Hindu. But Hindus worship many manifestations of that are God where as Christianity restrictive to one and only one God. Hindus believe in ten incarnations of Vishnu to destroy sinners but the incarnation of Jesus Christ in Christianity is to seek and save the sinners once for all. Incarnation in Hinduism is inadequate. In Hinduism salvation means liberation from the cycle of births, deaths and rebirths and can be achieved in four ways. Christianity is rigid and offers one and only way to salvation and can be achieved only through Jesus. The doctrine of Karma (good deeds) is found in both Christianity and in Hinduism can attract Hindus to the gospel message. The concept of sin and sacrifice to atone for sins can easily be major theological block or bridge to Hindus. There are other Hindu concepts like devotion, idol worship, trinity, and festivals like Diwali, Easter and Christmas can be effectively used as bridges to communicate the gospel to Hindus in Nairobi. The caste system practiced among Hindus in Nairobi, their food habits (vegetarianism), dowry system, false assumption that Christianity is a foreign religion and foreign money is used for conversion and it is also a threat to Hindu culture and sovereignty can be major hindrance in advancement of gospel to Hindus. The success of the future evangelism is to contextualize the gospel message to Hindus and communicate it in a way that is relevant meaningful to their context.