Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Debunking Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s False Assertions About Jesus – Part 1


About Sadhguru

            Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev’s website portrays him as, “…a yogi and a mystic…Named one of India's 50 most influential people, Sadhguru's work has touched the lives of millions worldwide through his transformational programs. Sadhguru has a unique ability to make the ancient yogic sciences relevant to contemporary minds, acting as a bridge to the deeper dimensions of life. His approach does not ascribe to any belief system, but offers methods for self-transformation that are both proven and powerful.”1

            Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is one of the leading voices of Hinduism.

False Assertions

            Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev makes many false assertions about Jesus and Christianity per se. Find below, a few:

            1. Jesus’ Existence?

            Sadhguru alludes to Jesus’ nonexistence. He said, “Krishna did not exist. Jesus did not exist. What does it matter to you?”2 By asserting that Jesus’ existence does not matter, he merely stops short of saying that Jesus did not exist. So he could be categorized as a Jesus Myther, though not in its strict sense.

            Jesus’ existence is a matter of great concern. If the historical Jesus3 did not exist, then Christianity cannot exist.

            As to the existence of historical Jesus, there is no doubt whatsoever, not even an iota of doubt exists. Historians are convinced about the existence of the historical Jesus.

            Here are a few testimonies of hostile witnesses about the existence of the historical Jesus:4

The testimony of a hostile witness is very powerful (cf. Criterion of Unsympathetic Sources). Dr. Bart Ehrman is one such hostile witness. He is a much acclaimed and widely respected scholar.
Bart Ehrman is a hostile witness since he does not believe in the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. A hostile witness (in this context) has no bias or no need, whatsoever, to affirm in the existence of the Historical Jesus.
Bart Ehrman believes in the existence of the Historical Jesus. Significantly, Ehrman emphasizes that scholars who have genuinely studied the evidence pertaining to the existence of Historical Jesus believe that HE existed, “Mythicists have often gotten upset with me for pointing out that almost no one with any qualifications in the requisite fields of scholarship agrees with them.  I can see why that would be upsetting.  My sense is that some of them think that I’ve been rubbing their noses in it.  But that isn’t really my intent.  My intent is to point out to anyone who is interested – for example, someone who just doesn’t know what to think – that those who are qualified to speak knowledgeably on such subjects are virtually unified on one view (there was a historical Jesus of Nazareth) and opposed to the other (he is a complete myth).”4
This should do it!
If every serious scholar believes in the existence of the Historical Jesus, every claim that attempts to disregard the Historical Jesus are insincere and hypocritical. Therefore, these hypocritical claims ought to be disregarded.
Bart Ehrman is not the only secular scholar who believes in the existence of Historical Jesus. Here’s more from the website of Answers In Genesis:5
Here is what some scholars have written about the Jesus Myth (these statements are not just from conservative Christians—the first four are critical scholars who have rejected the miraculous elements of Christ’s life).
Of course the doubt as to whether Jesus really existed is unfounded and not worth refutation. No sane person can doubt that Jesus stands as founder behind the historical movement whose first distinct stage is represented by the oldest Palestinian community. (Rudolf Bultmann)1
To doubt the historical existence of Jesus at all … was reserved for an unrestrained, tendentious criticism of modern times into which it is not worthwhile to enter here. (Günther Bornkamm)2
I am of the opinion (and it is an opinion shared by every serious historian) that the theory [“that Jesus never lived, that he was a purely mythical figure”] is historically untenable. (Willi Marxsen)3
To sum up, modern critical methods fail to support the Christ-myth theory. It has “again and again been answered and annihilated by first-rank scholars.” In recent years “no serious scholar has ventured to postulate the non-historicity of Jesus”—or at any rate very few, and they have not succeeded in disposing of the much stronger, indeed very abundant, evidence to the contrary. (Michael Grant)4
Contemporary New Testament scholars have typically viewed their [i.e., Jesus mythers] arguments as so weak or bizarre that they relegate them to footnotes, or often ignore them completely. (Robert Van Voorst)5
The total evidence is so overpowering, so absolute that only the shallowest of intellects would dare to deny Jesus’ existence. (Paul L. Maier)6
On a side note, do remember that every claim of Jesus Mythers can be rejected by proving them to be incorrect. There’s an abundance of resources [on the internet] to help us achieve this.
Here’s an example: Jesus Mythers contend that Nazareth did not exist, hence Christ did not exist. But Bart Ehrman debunks this contention by ascertaining that [Palestinian] archaeologists believe that Nazareth existed because they have discovered evidence for its existence. He goes on to add that the existence of Nazareth is not even a point of debate among Palestinian archaeologists.6

            2. Jesus a Success?

            Sadhguru alleges that Jesus did not live a successful life! He said, “At the age of 32 you got nailed. Had a terrible death. You call that a successful life? No!” 5

            Sadhguru, evidently, has not understood the Christian perspective of success.

            Success, according to the Historic Christian worldview, is defined in the spiritual context and not the material or the hedonistic:6

For Christians, success can never be measured by money. When people say to me, "That man's worth ten million dollars," that tells me he's wealthy, but it doesn't prove he's successful. In some cases, it could mean the opposite. For instance, if Mother Teresa, whom I consider a tremendous success, confessed she was hoarding a million dollars, I'd think she was a hypocrite. Money would prove her a fraud, not a success.
The measurement of success is simply the ratio of talents used to talents received. What you are doing with what you've got, plus who you are becoming. Are you a growing, maturing Christian? Whether you work in business, or in Christian work, or as a day laborer, professional, or academic, if you are a maturing Christian, using a large percentage of your talents, you are successful. Be glad.
The person doing the most with what he's got is truly successful. Not the one who becomes the richest or most famous, but the one who has the closest ratio of talents received to talents used.
An unsuccessful person, on the other hand, is one who didn't use the chances he or she had. He could have developed himself, he could have made a contribution to life, he could have become a mature Christian, but he didn't.

            In stark contrast to the Historic Christian Biblical theology, Sadhguru’s definition of spirituality attempts to dethrone God from the domain of spirituality, for he claims, “Unfortunately, today, spirituality is the most misunderstood and misrepresented aspect of life. The way it is being presented worldwide, some of it is utterly ridiculous, a lot of it is crooked, much more of it is well-meaning but stupid…Spirituality is not about right and wrong or about God and heaven. Spirituality is about exploring the ultimate limits of who you are.”7

            Spirituality, in the Christian worldview, is all about God. It’s about man’s response to his Creator and Sustainer – the alpha and omega.

            Christ did not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive; this is Ravi Zacharias’ precise reflection of Christ’s mission.8

            Sadhguru does not comprehend this aspect of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is imprisoned in his eclectic new-age worldview.

            The success or failure of God incarnate - the Lord Jesus Christ’s life can neither be measured in terms of his age at the time of his death nor the nature of his atoning death.

            Christ came to save mankind, and save them, HE did (cf. Luke 19: 5,10). If you and I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved. Romans 10:9 says, “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (NET).

            Christ’s life was thus a grand success.

            Sadhguru has made a few more false assertions about Jesus Christ. More to follow...

Endnotes:

1https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/sadhguru

2https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVmirUq74Lk , 8:24, entitled What Sadhguru Says About Jesus | Sadhguru Ramayana | Sadhguru Latest On Lord Rama; Published Dec 9, 2018.

3The historical Jesus is the Jesus historians can prove with reasonable certainty and apart from faith, says Michael Licona.

4https://rajkumarrichard.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-to-communicate-our-belief-in-jesus.html

5https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVmirUq74Lk , 7:14, entitled What Sadhguru Says About Jesus | Sadhguru Ramayana | Sadhguru Latest On Lord Rama; Published Dec 9, 2018.

6https://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/bible-answers/spirituallife/christianview.html?start=1

7https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/blog/article/hello-interviews-sadhguru-the-material-and-the-spiritual

8https://www.rzim.org/read/just-thinking-magazine/threads-of-a-redeemed-heart

Websites last accessed on 10th September 2019.

3 comments:

S Mathew said...

Well written

Yeswanth said...

Can you also contemplate on the other side of these musings. These are my thoughts as I'm interested in reading all religions. And also you should share your firm belief about this.

When sadhguru was asked what according to him is the most important thing in life?
He replied "sense".
In fact it is true. We don't do anything if we are not able to get any sense of what have to do.isn't it? We do things only when we feel it makes a sense to us, be it eating in a proper way or following a sleep time table.

And now,when I recently thought about christianity & bible from this point of view, in the very first book of genesis (in chapter 2) itself we can see that the serpent coming to the woman and saying that the fruit doesn't do any harm. But does it make any sense that an animal is talking to humans and convincing to eat a fruit.
Even if we think that in those days, even animals used to talk, and as time passed by, their talking ability got reduced & perish and now only birds like parrot can only mimic our voices. But is there any historical proof for it? No.

And when god comes to know about this thing, he says that the serpent will live the lowest life possible, crawl on it's stomach, and he also says that he will create hatred between the serpent's heirs & the woman's heirs. Even does this act makes any sense? As some great thinker once said : "Hatred is the emotion of a non creator."
I don't feel like I should respect god for that. Ans even after that, when it is said in bible that through this act, the sin enter this
World.


Now lets see at the hindsight. So, after many thousands of years, the birth of jesus christ happened. And it was said in john 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Now the basic question in my mind is that if god loved the world so much, then why did he waited for that many thousands of years,even after seeing people suffering from pain & agony? Why?

He should've done it at the moment when eve ate that fruit isn't it?

I'll furthur bring swami vivekananda to in this picture,
He says "how dare you say that a man is weak"

when a child was born, how will you say that he has inherited the sins done by his parents? And why should he feel guilty as if he is already a sinner. If the child who has just born is termed as a sinner due to the sins done by his parents, in which way doesit make a sense?

If you have an believable answer, do write it back to me.

Raj Richard said...

Dear Yeshwanth,

First, my apologies for not responding earlier although your thoughts certainly warranted an immediate response.

Second, here's my response:

1. The most important thing in the life of a Christian is God, for God alone is worthy of worship and worship is the preeminent aspect of a Christian's life.

2. You are alluding to the notion that since animals do not speak (or that we have not heard animals speaking), the Bible is false. If God can create the universe from nothing, then a snake or a donkey talking (Numbers 22:28) is not a big deal.

3. You say that God cannot be angry. I am not sure about the premises that you employ to arrive at this conclusion. Anyhow, the metaphysics of anger is that it should exist in the presence of evil, and be only directed against evil. God is certainly justified to be angry at the act and the agents of evil.

4. The timing of Christ's incarnation: Your argument can be sustained only if God did not provide a way of salvation to those existing before Christ. But the Bible clearly states that God provided a way of salvation to all those who lived before Christ. Hence, the timing of Christ's incarnation is not an aberration.
Also please refer to: https://www.gotquestions.org/fullness-of-time.html

5. Since you have not mentioned, I am not sure of the premises that led to the statement "how dare you say that a man is weak.." So without the premises, the statement remains an opinion. So I will refrain from commenting.

When Christians say that we are sinners from birth, we are not alluding to a notion that we have sinned from birth, rather we are prone to sin and that we will sin eventually. No human can claim that he/she is perfect/sinless.

Third and finally, reg. "believable answer" --> I can only provide reasonable answers to your questions. Believing it or not is in your domain.

God bless you, brother. Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts with me.