I was baptized into Old Apostolic Lutheran and, although I have distanced myself from the church, it is the closest thing to an organized belief structure that I have to compare Hinduism to. The Old Apostolic Lutheran church, or OALC, and Hinduism have differing views on acceptance of other religions as well as wrongs committed during one’s lifetime. They both share the concept of an eternal afterlife once the soul has left this world. Old Apostolic Lutheran and Hinduism appear to be polar opposites, but they do share some common ground.
Old Apostolic Lutheran and Hinduism have opposing views when it comes to respect of differing religious views. Old Apostolic Lutheran preaches that it is the one true faith and that all other religions, including other churches that bear the name Apostolic Lutheran, are dead faiths whose practitioners are bound for hell. Hinduism preaches respect and acceptance of differing religions. Ramakrishna spoke of acceptance in the text saying, “Do not care for doctrines, do not care for dogmas, or sects, or churches, or temples; they count for little compared with the essence of existence in each [person], which is spirituality … Earn that first, acquire that, and criticize
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In the OALC, practitioners must seek forgiveness for sins committed. Forgiveness is not sought through confessions to a Father or to God, but rather by seeking forgiveness from the person wronged by the sin. Hinduism does not ask that the practitioners atone for their wrongs; instead it stresses karma: the subsequent life of their soul will reflect the manner in which the person lived the prior life. The text describes the concept of karma as “Our life is what we have made it. And we ourselves are shaped by what we have done” (45). Hinduism’s concept of karma is fundamentally different from the forgiveness-seeking nature of the Old Apostolic Lutheran