Responding to Reverend Zekveld’s
“A Comparison between the Two Credos: Christian and Sikh”
Updated Version
Baldev Singh
316 R Glad Way, Collegeville, PA 19426, USA
EMail:baldev6@aol.com
Abstracts
Sikhism has been distorted in literature largely because of the influence of Vedantic philosophy to represent it as part of Hinduism. Now some Christian theologians are using this flawed literature to compare Christianity with Sikhism. In contrast to that we know that Aad Guru Granth Sahib (AGGS) is the only authentic source to understand the Nanakian Philosophy (gurmiq, Gurmat). According to AGGS, Guru Nanak rejected all the essentials of Hinduism: incarnation of God, caste system, transmigration, karma, hell, heaven, gods, goddesses, and idol worship. Guru Nanak also rejected the method or approach of attaining salvation preached by the Semitic and the Indian religions. Moreover, while the fundamentalist Christians oppose the teaching of evolution even in the twenty-first century, Guru Nanak discussed and imparted credence to the subject of evolution of life about five hundred years ago, roughly 350 years before Charles Darwin. Furthermore, while the custodians of Christianity were investing despots with “divine rights” and the Hindu elite was hailing them as Ishwro va Dillishwro va (the king of Delhi is as great as God); Guru Nanak denounced them and their allies in no uncertain terms. He called for the establishment of just rule¾Halemi Raj (the rule of humility and benevolence). Nanakian philosophy postulates that the ultimate source of spiritual as well as temporal power is Godhead.
Introduction
In September 2004 Colonel G.B. Singh, the author of Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity came across a Web site, “Hope for Sikhs” operated by Reverend Tony Zekveld, Canada-based missionary. Expectedly his motives were to witness the Sikhs for the purposes of converting them to Christianity. G.B. Singh persuaded the Reverend to have an open debate on the Bible--God, soul, and heaven etc. on the pages of Sikh Spectrum, an online publication. At that time G.B. Singh asked me to add my comments on these topics from the perspective of Nanakian philosophy. This particular article is an updated version of my <U><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">“<A href="http://www.sikhspectrum.com/112005/tz.htm">A Comparison Between the Two Credos: Christian and Sikh: Rejoinder to Rev. Tony Zekveld.”
