Have You Unwittingly Embraced Karma?

© 2018 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

Today, I spoke with a professing Christian who invoked the idea of “karma.”  However, belief in “karma” is incompatible with belief in Christ.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “karma” as follows:  “the force generated by a person’s actions held in Hinduism and Buddhism to perpetuate transmigration and in its ethical consequences to determine the nature of the person’s next existence.”

Inherent in the idea of karma is belief in reincarnation (the person’s “next existence”).  The Bible declares that people don’t repeatedly transmigrate from one life to the next in an endless repetitive cycle.  Instead, Scripture teaches that each person lives once and then faces God’s judgment.

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28)

There is only one “hereafter” and it lasts forever.  If our status in eternity were determined by our performance in this life, all of mankind would be without hope.  We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s righteous standard of perfection.  This is a result of mankind’s fall in the Garden of Eden.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)

“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12)

Scripture clearly declares that blessing in the afterlife comes only by grace through faith in Christ the Redeemer.  He died a bloody and sacrificial death, and rose again, to pay sin’s penalty for His people.

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:5-7)

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36)

Are you trusting God the Son, Jesus Christ, or are you trusting “karma?”

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