The Story of India

I watched part of The Story of India on PBS last night. In part 2, The Power of Ideas, historian Michael Wood gives a history of the Buddha. I was interested by the fact that much of what he said about Buddha confirmed what a Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, a native of India, had often said before. Wood explains that Buddhism is about becoming better human beings. Worldly desires are bad and need to be stifled. He notes that even though Buddhism began in India, it is not the dominant religion there. He comments that Buddhism was a protest religion and is basically atheistic. Back to Zacharias. He says that he believes that one reason for Buddhism's popularity today is that "you can be good without God".

So I would say that Buddhism is still a protest religion. Not a protest against Hinduism, but against God Himself. We have an elevated view of man and a complete lack of comprehension about God's true character and attributes. I believe that if we could get a glimpse of God's true holiness and glory, we would be struck with how far short we fall by comparison. Our response should be to humbly come to God and ask Him to forgive our arrogance.