God and Hinduism

by Joel Stephen Williams

When the apostle Paul preached in Athens to the scholars there, he began by commenting that the Athenians were very religious people (Acts 17:22). Among the many altars and images in Athens, Paul had noticed one dedicated to "an unknown god" (Acts 17:23). The people of Athens did not want to offend any god that might exist, so in case they had overlooked some god, they erected an altar to any god that was unknown to them. Paul knew these people were worshipping in ignorance. He, therefore, proclaimed to them the identity of the unknown god, that is the true God of which the Athenians were ignorant. As Paul proclaimed the true God to the people of Athens, gospel preachers today need to proclaim the true God to the people of India.

Hinduism teaches that there is one impersonal ultimate reality, namely, Brahman-Atman, who is known through three personal deities, Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu, that represent creation, destruction, and preservation respectively.(1) While this is the doctrine believed by the more astute Hindus, the "common man of India is uncritically and perhaps limitlessly polytheistic."(2) Many Hindus honor any and all gods and goddesses, or at least believe it is alright for others to honor virtually any god. Some Hindus claim that their deities number 330 million.(3) Many Hindus adopt a particular god or goddess as a patron deity. This god may be the protector of family and home. Some Hindus believe a certain god healed a relative, such as a grandfather, from an illness; thus, the family worships that particular deity. Other deities are popular in a certain town or geographical district. Still other gods are followed by a caste or class of people.

The multiplicity of deities in Hinduism means many Hindus will go from one shrine to another, from one priest to another, in order to appeal to a particular god or goddess that is supposed to be able to help with a problem. For strength one might pray to the monkey-god Hanuman. To remove an obstacle, one might appeal to Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of Shiva. For help with sickness, for a good harvest, or for safety on a journey one might approach other gods.(4) To this one might add the ever-growing number of shrines and holy places to which people go to worship, to pray, or to bathe. Once a person finds a god whom Hindus think have helped them, that god becomes a patron god for those people. Certainly, India is a religious country full of spiritual people.

The people of India need to be told what Paul proclaimed long ago: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything....for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:24-25, 28). God cannot be contained within a holy house or an idol. God is not limited to a single function like strength or fertility. The one true God is great. He is everything good that the millions of gods are supposed to be, and he is more. Those in heaven before the throne of God are examples of a reverent attitude all should have toward God (Rev. 4:8, 11). They worship God, saying:

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!...
Worthy art thou, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for thou didst create all things,
and by thy will they existed and were created.

The God of the Bible is “one Lord” (Deut. 6:4). God declared to Moses: “I am the Lord your God.…You shall have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2–3; Deut. 5:6–7). Let us honor this one God.(5)

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(1) John B. Noss, Man’s Religions, 4th ed. (London: Macmillan, 1969), 207–17.

(2) Noss, Man’s Religions, 217.

(3) Noss, Man’s Religions.

(4) Noss, Man’s Religions.

(5) This article was originally published in a publication for India as Steve Williams, “God and Hinduism,” Progress 1, no. 3 (February, 1989), 5–6.