Dear Professor Theophilus

I am a 20-year-old of Hindu background. My family always encouraged me to make my religion personal and take from it what I wished, and I have.

I have always stressed Dharma or right conduct in my life. But I recognize that I unconditionally love God above all. I personally believe there is only one God, and that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I believe there is a heaven and hell, and believe strongly in resurrection rather than reincarnation. I have read the New Testament, and I have gone to church many times.

Every Hindu has a different interpretation of his religion, and each day I realize that the Christian belief system is the one I uphold the most.

Am I a Hindu, or a Christian, or am I both? Will the Christian faith accept me, or is it too late? Being in college has allowed me to separate my beliefs from my parents', and I don't want to hurt them by "converting" religions, but this is how I've always lived my life.

Confused

Reply

Thank you for your good letter. Although you sign yourself "confused," I think a better description might be "conflicted." You want to follow Jesus Christ, but you don't want to hurt your parents. Your love for them must be like an arrow in your heart.

Your first question is "Am I a Hindu, or a Christian, or am I both?" So far you are someone who wants to becomea Christian. However, you must make a choice, because it is impossible to be Hindu and Christian both at the same time. When the Hebrew people entered the promised land, Joshua made plain to them the need for a radical choice among competing loyalties:

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Some Hindus says that there are many paths to God. Jesus, the only Son of God, taught that this is untrue. He did not make the choice softer for us than Joshua did; he made it even sharper. As you have read in John 14 in the New Testament, He said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me."

Your second question is, "Will the Christian faith accept me, or is it too late?" In Christianity, acceptance means acceptance by Christ. If you trust Jesus alone as your Lord and your sinbearer, forsaking all that is contrary to Him and coming into His Church, then He will not only accept you, but embrace you as a son. There cannot be a "too late" for anyone who turns to Jesus, because He is not willing that anyone should perish. All who follow Him faithfully will be welcomed by Him into His kingdom, for although He is the only door into life, anyone who is willing to enter the door may do so.

Your third question is unstated, but I will supply the words. "If I make the radical decision to follow the one true God through Jesus Christ, then will it be possible to spare my parents hurt?" I don't know; there are no guarantees. Jesus knew that some of his followers would be rejected by their families. Read and prayerfully consider Matthew 10:32-39, where he warns of the possibility. As he explains, the truth of the matter is like this:

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me."

Notice that He does not say that you must stop loving your family. What He says is that you must love Him even more. But consider this: If you turned away from Jesus Christ, you would not be truly loving them. You see, to love them is to want what is good for them, and the source of all true Good is in Him alone. He is the only hope for mankind — for me, for you, and for your parents. So if you love your mother and father, then surely you will want them to know Jesus too. It may be that you, you alone, are the means planned by God for them to learn of Him.

To put this another way, the decision to be faithful to the Savior is not just about your own salvation. It concerns their salvation too. Your decision to follow Christ may cause them pain now — but in the long run it may be the means of saving them from the infinitely greater pain of an eternity apart from God. You can be with them for eternity in heaven instead.

Emboldened by Christ's love, I pass on to you His invitation: Do become a Christian. Enter with us into the household of God; know His joy. But as you pray and enter His household, pray for your family to enter it too. Ask Jesus Christ to make you an open window through which they can hear His loving voice and come to Him.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

Dear Professor Theophilus

I thank you kindly for your quick and informative response to my questions. Your answers are both logical and informative, and I appreciate you taking the time to give me some advice. As a follow up, I think that I am beginning to let Jesus Christ into my life. However, though I have been questioning my belief system and assessing the principles by which I live my life for almost two years, I have not mentioned my thoughts to many people. I am worried that my "sudden" switch of religions will seem contrived and insincere to both my family and my Christian friends.

Secondly, now that I have finally made the mental steps to leave my old lifestyle behind for the love of God, what must I physically do? Anything? Do I have to join a specific church (rather than just attend)? Do I have to be baptized? Do I have to declare my faith to my friends and family right away, or can I integrate this declaration into my public lifestyle gradually? I am not torn in my love for God — I am torn about how to express it.

Perhaps I am wrong, but I've always seen Christianity as a "black and white" religion. Either you are in Christ or you are not, either you go to heaven or you go to hell — but what, other than loving Jesus more than life itself, makes you Christian? For the past year, I have prayed and worshipped, loved Christ unconditionally, and have lived my life by high moral standards. Recognizing that Christianity is not only a belief system but also a way of life, why can't I already be considered a Christian?

Reply

I'm glad that my letter encouraged you. Let's see if I can offer some counsel about the concerns you raise.

Yes, I can see that your family may worry that you have made your decision suddenly and without thought. This merely means that you have some explaining to do. Just tell them what you told me: That you have been deeply considering this decision for almost two years. Be sure to explain to them what you have found in Jesus Christ, and why you want to follow Him. Be prepared: Although you must be gentle and compassionate, if they try to dissuade you, you must stand firm.

My heart shows me your fear and trembling. You are in dread that your parents may feel you are holding their motherhood and fatherhood in contempt — that you are declaring all their efforts in raising you to have been worthless. Yes, it is possible that they may think so, but you must assure them that this is not true. God the Father is the One from whom all earthly fathers and families take their name; His Son, the One in whom we find the pattern of earthly sonship. If somehow you have learned to follow Truth all the way to its source in God, then it may be that your earthly father and mother raised you "better than they knew." The best way to honor them for that is to acknowledge it, and to show them Christ.

You also wonder whether you must join a church, whether you must be baptized and how to begin to declare your commitment to Christ. Yes, you must join a church, because the Christian life is not a solitary moral life but a communal life; Christians are limbs of the Body of Christ. Talk with a minister about that. Yes, you must be baptized too. To enter into matrimony, you get married; to enter into the Church, you get baptized. Baptism is your initiation into Christ's people; it is the drama of cleansing and rebirth. By the way, it is also your first public declaration of your commitment to Christ — so I have begun to answer your third question too.

You can invite your family to your baptism; in fact, you should. This, more than anything else, will demonstrate to them that your conversion is not contrived and insincere. I think you will find that your Christian friends, far from being suspicious of your motives, will rejoice to have you as a brother or sister in Christ. I would not worry much yet about how else to witness to your faith. That is very important, but if you do the other things I have mentioned, follow all the Christian disciplines and pray about the matter, God will show you the way. Your faith-mates will help you too.

I think you already know what you must do. You are standing on the porch of the House of God; the door of Life is open. Christ Himself invites you in, and all the saints are waiting to greet you. Come in. Come all the way in, and join the feast.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS

Dear Professor Theophilus

Some time has passed since I last wrote. I've begun to take the steps you've suggested in showing my commitment to Christ. However, my life is starting to become a lonely one. My family is becoming alienated from me, not simply because our beliefs differ, but because they say my beliefs are not "accepting of theirs." I tried to explain to them that Christianity is not meant to be exclusive. Anyone who chooses to follow Christ and love Him unconditionally will be welcomed by God.

However, I'm starting to doubt this very statement. Among my Christian friends, I am the obvious outsider. Everything I say seems to be judged more harshly, and my thoughts on religion seem unimportant to most of them. They often say that they would never date converts, or people whose families don't support their beliefs. These statements hurt me and make me feel still more alone. The fact that my background isn't Caucasian may be an issue too.

In short, I don't feel I'm being accepted with open arms. Conversion to Christianity is separating me from my former lifestyle, but I don't fit in with the Christians around me either.

I have confidence that God will show me the way, but I don't know what it is.

Reply

I'm glad you've written again, and delighted that you've begun taking the steps that I suggested. Don't forget to be baptized! Now let's talk about the problems.

Naturally your new faith comes as a shock to your family. Although there is no way to be sure, your relations with them may become easier as they get used to it. I would encourage you not to cut yourself off from them, no matter how difficult the relationship may be right now. Love is work! They won't understand the love of Jesus Christ for them unless they see that same love at work in you. This will take time, and you must be patient with them. The New Testament word translated "patience" actually means "longsuffering," so love them with longsuffering. When they complain that you don't "accept" their beliefs, always explain that believing differently doesn't mean you don't love them; then try to turn the conversation away from yourself, because the issue is not you, but Jesus Christ. When you pray, seek His help to love your family as He does.

The more complicated issue is the attitude of your friends. The New Testament teaching about Christians of different ethnicities and backgrounds is clear. As St. Paul writes to one group of converts, "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all" (Colossians 3:11). My congregation sometimes sings a hymn which is based on what Paul wrote:

"In Christ there is no East or West, in Him no South or North — but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.

"In Him shall true hearts everywhere their high communion find; His service is the golden cord close-binding all mankind.

"Join hands, disciples of the faith, whate'er your race may be! Who serves my Father as a son is surely kin to me.

"In Christ now meet both East and West; in Him meet South and North. All Christly souls are one in Him, throughout the whole wide earth."

So if your nominally Christian friends really do judge all your words harshly and treat your thoughts on faith with indifference, then they are not thinking with the mind of Christ, but with the mind of unChristian prejudice. However, there are two complications that you ought to think about before drawing this conclusion.

First, make sure that you aren't merely projecting your own feelings onto your friends. Sometimes, when we feel different than others and out of place, we imagine that others are more critical of us than they really are.

Second, make sure that you haven't misunderstood some of their statements. You can't really blame a young woman for feeling anxious about having in-laws who resent her husband's faith (and maybe her). People who are considering marriage must discuss such problems with patience and sensitivity.

On the other hand, a statement like "I'd never date a convert" is inexcusable. It is hard for me to think of any explanation for it other than sheer bigotry. If that is indeed the problem, then I think you need new Christian friends — friends who are serious about "putting on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." That verse, by the way, is from the same passage in Paul's letter to the Colossians from which I quoted a few paragraphs ago; you should read the whole section.

Look for a congregation that is vigorously committed to the gospel and seeking to make new converts, as Christ commanded. A church like that will be delighted to welcome you. You might also find encouragement in other new converts. If you live in a city, there is a good chance you can even find other new converts from Hinduism. "Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).

May God bless you; you are bearing the Cross of Christ. I'll pray for you.

Grace and peace,
PROFESSOR THEOPHILUS