Karma: a warped worldview

It seems our society is fascinated with the concept of karma. I wonder if everyday Mr. Ordinary on the street understands what karma is; whether the fascination is one of ignorance, or a deliberate warping of the Word of God.

A quick search on YouTube of the word "karma" gives a result of 8.5 million videos.   Many of these show someone "getting what they deserve".   A Google search of "karma" gives 189,000,000 results.

You can even buy a GoPro Drone named "Karma".  There is a very sinister reason why GoPro chose this name.

In a media Q&A session in October 2016, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman ... took a philosophical approach ...  “We believe that when people share experiences, those experiences become more meaningful to the people that capture them,” Woodman said. “GoPro enables people to share experiences in such a way that the people who are receiving that story, in some ways, feel as though they experienced it themselves. Because the story was not captured from the sidelines, the story was captured from within the experience. So in this way, GoPro is an experience-transfer company. An experience-sharing company. And there’s an energy transfer in that. A chi transfer in that to a certain degree, potentially, a karma transfer to that.”    From http://mashable.com/2016/09/20/why-gopro-drone-called-karma/#OWWOqV5BaPqk

I realise that Woodman's explanation is a mish-mash of eastern mystic concepts with his attempt to roll karma and chi transfers into one transaction, but let's just focus on the karma part in this blog!

Carm.org defines the law of karma as a hindu concept in which "every thought or deed, whether they are good or bad, will count in determining how an individual will be born in their next life on earth", so intertwines consequences of actions with reincarnation.

The law of karma teaches that a person will be judged by their life on earth, and the "balance" of their actions will be either good or bad; there will be a credit or a debit.  A debit result dictates a return to a worse or lower form of life, but a credit result will provide rebirth at a higher form or in a higher caste. 

As with all cults and false religions, there is an element of truth and an element of deception.  Only through examination of the teaching carefully measured with the bible, can we discern the truth.

We see the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3, and from that point forward, all of mankind has been born with sin nature.   Romans 3:23 and other verses tell us that everyone has a sin problem; there is none without sin (except Jesus - see Hebrews 4:15)

As there is none without sin, and the punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23), man has a problem when it comes to his relationship with God.   Man's relationship with God was severed.   But in His grace, God sent His Son Jesus to take our place.   Jesus took all of mankind's sin upon Himself and opened the way for a restored relationship between God and man.   If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9, NIV).  

So we see that it is by grace alone that man is saved.   Not by works.   (See Ephesians 2:8-9).   Karma is a works-based philosophy that is without hope; there is no concept of restoration or redemption during the current life, so sin can not be atoned for.   Contrast this with salvation by the grace of God, which removes sin in its entirety and gives perfect hope.

So how does the concept of karma enter into western thinking?   It has probably crept in over the centuries as people travel and bring back eastern concepts, but also in a rapidly changing world we have much more cross-cultural experience and multi-ethnic communities.  As I stated earlier, there is an element of truth and an element of deception.   We've seen that the element of deception is false hope; a false hope for a better life. 

The element of truth is seen in Galatians 6:7b:  "A man reaps what he sows."   People love to see evil men being dealt with justly, but they prefer not to acknowledge the truth of the bible, otherwise they feel that they will have to deal with their own relationship with God, so it's easier to embrace an empty philosophy that feels good at the time.   Watching a bully get punched in the face by the victim, or an armed robber who has his firearm turned back on him make people feel good without any personal conviction or examination.

Food for thought:  maybe the application for believers is to embrace the enthusiasm of our friends when they talk about "karma" in the sense that justice is being administered by circumstances, and use this as an opportunity to point them to the truth of God's Word and His ultimate judgment.   For, make no mistake:  God will not be mocked (Gal. 6:7a)

PS:  Apparently having a GoPro makes me a hero

Take every thought captive

I subscribe to a weekly teaching page "GotQuestions.org".  This week's question/answer is quite good, so I've reproduced it below.

Question: "How can I take control of my thoughts?"

Answer: Many Christians struggle with this issue, especially in our highly technological world, but taking control of our thoughts is essential. Proverbs 4:23 states, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." The “heart” includes the mind and all that proceeds from it. Someone said that every sin we commit, we commit twice, once in our thoughts and again when we act upon those thoughts. It is easier to rid our lives of sin if we attack it at this fundamental thought level rather than waiting for it to become rooted in our lives by our actions and then try to pull it out.

There is also a difference between being tempted (a thought entering into the mind) and sinning (dwelling upon an evil thought and wallowing in it). It is important to understand that when a thought enters our mind, we examine it based upon God's Word and determine if we should continue down that path or reject the thought and replace it with another thought. If we have already allowed a habit to form in our thought lives, it becomes more difficult to change the path of our thoughts, even as it is hard to get a car out of a deep rut and onto a new track. Here are some biblical suggestions for taking control of our thoughts and getting rid of wrong thoughts:

1. Be in God's Word so that when a sinful thought enters our mind (a temptation), we will be able to recognize it for what it is and know what course to take. Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4) responded to each of Satan's temptations with Scripture that applied to the direction He knew His mind should take instead of beginning down the path of the sinful thought. When tempted to meet His physical need (turn stone into bread), He recited the passage about the importance of relying upon God. When tempted to serve Satan in order to obtain the glory of the world, He brought up the passage that says we are to serve and worship God alone and speak of the glory that belongs to Him and those who are His. When tempted to test God (to see if God was really there and would keep His promises), Jesus responded with passages that stress the importance of believing God without having to see Him demonstrate His presence.

Quoting Scripture in a time of temptation is not a talisman, but rather serves the purpose of getting our minds onto a biblical track, but we need to know the Word of God AHEAD of time in order to accomplish this. Thus, a daily habit of being in the Word in a meaningful way is essential. If we are aware of a certain area of constant temptation (worry, lust, anger, etc.), we need to study and memorize key passages that deal with those issues. Looking for both what we are to avoid (negative) and how we are to properly respond (positive) to tempting thoughts and situations—before they are upon us—will go a long way to giving us victory over them.

2. Live in dependence upon the Holy Spirit, chiefly through seeking His strength through prayer (Matthew 26:41). If we rely upon our own strength, we will fail (Proverbs 28:26;Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 26:33).

3. We are not to feed our minds with that which will promote sinful thoughts. This is the idea of Proverbs 4:23. We are to guard our hearts—what we allow into them and what we allow them to dwell on. Job 31:1 states, "I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman" (NKJV). Romans 13:14 states, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Thus, we are to avoid periodicals, videos, websites, conversations and situations that will set us up for a fall. We should also avoid spending time with those who would encourage us down these wrong paths.

4. We are to pursue hard after God, substituting godly pursuits and mindsets for sinful thoughts. This is the principle of replacement. When tempted to hate someone, we replace those hateful thoughts with godly actions: we do good to them, speak well of them, and pray for them (Matthew 5:44). Instead of stealing, we should work hard to earn money so we can look for opportunities to give to others in need (Ephesians 4:28). When tempted to lust after a woman, we turn our gaze, praise God for the way He has made us—male and female—and pray for the woman (for example: "Lord, help this young woman to come to know you if she does not, and to know the joy of walking with you"), then think of her as a sister (1 Timothy 5:2). The Bible often speaks of "putting off" wrong actions and thoughts but then "putting on” godly actions and thoughts (Ephesians 4:22-32). Merely seeking to put off sinful thoughts without replacing those thoughts with godly ones leaves an empty field for Satan to come along and sow his weeds (Matthew 12:43-45).

5. We can use fellowship with other Christians the way God intended. Hebrews 10:24-25 states, "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Fellow Christians who will encourage us in the changes we desire (best if of the same gender), who will pray for and with us, who will ask us in love how we are doing, and who will hold us accountable in avoiding the old ways, are valuable friends indeed.

Last and most important, these methods will be of no value unless we have placed our faith in Christ as Savior from our sin. This is where we absolutely must start! Without this, there can be no victory over sinful thoughts and temptations, and God’s promises for His children are not for us, nor is the Holy Spirit’s power available to us!

God will bless those who seek to honor Him with what matters most to Him: who we are inside and not just what we appear to be to others. May God make Jesus’ description of Nathanael true also of us—a man [or woman] in whom there is no guile (John 1:47).

Recommended Resource: The Mind of Christ by T.W. Hunt

from https://www.gotquestions.org/QOTW.htm and https://www.gotquestions.org

Twice dead

Twice dead?  How can something be twice dead?

Jude 12 is a fascinating verse and gives us a clear picture of what not to aspire to.

...These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm--shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted--twice dead. (NIV, my emphasis)

It's a sad thing to see an uprooted tree.  Trees are a living organism and have strived to put down good roots and seek water for nourishment, so to see it overcome by environmental factors and subsequently fail is sad.   Uprooted trees all have a common factor though - their root system is not well established.   A healthy tree's root system tends to reflect the size of its canopy, but an uprooted tree does not have a strong root system.

Mark 4 gives us some insight:

... He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, "Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. "Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. "And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. "Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

"The sower sows the word. "These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. "In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." (NASB, my emphasis)

Matt. 7:19 tells of severe consequences for those who do not bear fruit:

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire

Matt. 7:16 and 20 emphasises that we will know false prophets by their fruit.  Matthew states twice in these verses,

By their fruit you will recognise them (NIV)

It's interesting that in Genesis 1 we see God creating each "after their kind".  The extension of this truth is that fruitless trees are of their own kind (in a spiritual context, this takes us directly back to Jude 12).

So the consequence of failing to produce spiritual fruit is uprooting by God who does not tolerate falsity.   Unfruitful and uprooted.   Twice dead.

It is refreshing to read Psalm 1 which contrasts the man of God with the wicked man of Jude 12:

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.   Whatever he does prospers.

Surely this contrast encourages us to re-evaluate our position in Jesus Christ and our heart-attitude toward bearing fruit.

Photo credit:  https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Uprooted_tree_on_Bronkham_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_298170.jpg