HINDUISM WORLDVIEW TRUTH TEST/REALITY CHECK
*If you aren't familiar with the preliminary axioms for testing truth, please click here before continuing.*
CORRESPONDENCE--
Hinduism says the world is an illusion--Maya. In other words, we're not real. This doesn't correspond to reality. After all, even Hindus look both ways before they cross the street.
Additionally, if I'm an illusion and I don't really exist as an individual self, then how is it that I could have accurate, factual knowledge that I don't exist? There is a contradiction here.
Does Charlie Brown know he's a cartoon character? I doubt it, because Charlie Brown is fictitious. He only exists in our imagination and therefore can't know anything. For me to claim that I know I don't exist turns out to be self-contradictory. It goes against the classic philosophical axiom "Cogito ergo sum" (I think therefore I am).
Conclusion: Hinduism fails the CORRESPONDENCE view of truth (it does not correspond to reality).
1. LOGICAL CONSISTENCY--
Hinduism is a pluralistic religion (claims all religions lead to God) by nature. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all contradict one another. Since some religions contradict each other, all religions can be WRONG, but they cannot ALL be correct (this violates the law of non-contradiction). The fundamental tenet of Hinduism (all religions lead to God) violates the law of non-contradiction.
Conclusion: Since Hinduism violates the law of non-contradiction, it fails the truth test of LOGICAL CONSISTENCY.
2. EMPIRICAL ADEQUACY--
Is there any evidence to support what is being claimed? Anyone can make a claim, but that doesn't make it true. What facts or datum back up those claims? This test separates mythology from the historical claims of Christianity. Polytheistic religions, like Hinduism, are not based on fact, but philosophy only. Christianity, on the other hand, is based on specific historical events: that there was a man named Jesus, that He taught his disciples, that He was crucified, and that He was resurrected. The center of Christianity is that in His crucifixion Jesus Christ provided salvation for us, and His bodily resurrection from the dead was God’s public confirmation of His Son’s divine authority.
Conclusion: Hinduism fails the truth test of EMPIRICAL ADEQUACY.
3. EXPERIENTIAL RELEVANCE
Hinduism claims all distinctions are illusion (“Maya”). It makes no ultimate distinction between good and evil. This doesn’t ring true with the things we seem to know about the world (torturing babies for fun is OBJECTIVELY EVIL in any state, any time, and any possible place in this universe!).
The Christian worldview, by contrast, takes evil and good seriously, fully acknowledging both the true nobility and true cruelty of man (Francis Schaeffer’s terms). Man’s nobility is real, explained by the fact that we’re made in the image of God. Man has transcendent value. That’s why we fumigate termites, but not people, because human beings are innately more valuable than animals. Man’s cruelty (his sin and true moral guilt) is real, explained by the fall.
The Christian worldview can explain coherently the solution to the problem of man’s cruelty (fall): The solution to guilt is not denial; it’s forgiveness. Christianity’s answer resonates with the deepest intuitions we have about ourselves and our world.
"The Christian faith is the only faith that gives you a satisfactory strength and explanation for suffering... I have debated many Hindu scholars; they have never been able to give an answer to the origin of evil."--Ravi Zacharias (Christian philosopher, born and raised as a Hindu in India).
Conclusion: Hinduism fails the truth test of EXPERIENTIAL RELEVANCE.
SUMMARY
Here are the results of how the Hindu worldview corresponds with reality and coheres with our experience:
1. LOGICAL CONSISTENCY>>> FAIL
2. EMPIRICAL ADEQUACY>>> FAIL
3. EXPERIENTIAL RELEVANCE>>> FAIL