Christianity and its Compatibility with Karma

“Karma,” as defined by Miriam Webster:

Main Entry: Kar•ma
3: 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

Recently, I’ve found myself entrenched in a great deal of conversations where fellow Christians will spruce up interesting points in our dialogue with the word karma. It has always struck me as ironic how the western society has taken into its embrace such a strangely foreign and eastern concept as karma.

To the untrained eye, karma and all its alluring promises seem to be just what the average person could possibly ask for in life. That man that cut you off on your way to work? Karma would get him. That teenager who keeps checking his iPhone for text messages during the movie? Karma would hit him ten fold.

It appears that every unjust deed, whether grandiose or minute, that goes unpunished by society would eventually return to bite them in the derrière later on in life. But how is this cosmic judge that rewards every sin with bad circumstance and every good deed with good circumstance compatible with the Judeo-Christian upbringing of the west?

The answer is quite simple; the idea of karma in comparison to the principals taught by Christianity result in complete and utter conflict. These two ideas are incompatible. And the reason and justification of my proclamation is equally as simple.

Karma and its basic concept of ‘whatever goes around comes around’ doesn’t have room in it’s equation for the essence of Jesus Christ and his critical time spent suffering on the cross.

What is the essence of Jesus Christ’s time on the cross?

Forgiveness.

Karma in its grandiose upkeep of justice and universal balance of morality does not factor into its existence the importance of forgiveness taught by Jesus Christ.

One of the main pillars of Christianity is the belief that when one accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you are granted forgiveness and washed clean of the impurities of the original sin and the sins you have committed in one’s life. If you are Catholic or Orthodox, this purity is maintained through the holy sacrament of Confession. If one is Protestant, then this purity is maintained through internal self repentance and atonement.

Whatever the case, the beauty of Christianity is the idea that no matter how severe the sinner, if one is genuinely ready to embrace the idea of Christ as Lord and Savior and live life by the guidelines set by Christ, one can come clean of his ill deeds and start a new life; a life that is clean and rid of one’s old mistakes. This ideology of forgiveness is the ultimate reason why karma and it’s prevalent use today amongst the youth is so counter intuitive to the foundations of Judeo-Christian morality that western society as a whole has been founded upon.

In contrast to these fundamental beliefs, Karma is a simplistic math equation. If one commits a wrong doing, it will return to you no matter what. In Hinduism, Jainism, or Buddhism where Karma is a part of its central dogma, it states that karma does not merely take into consideration your current life, but even your next. If you committed a sin that went unpunished through karma in this life, according to these eastern religions, when you regenerate in your next life, karma would return the punishment of your previous sins, transcending time and being.

And if the Christian philosophy of being unable to live life completely absent of sin is true (have you seriously lived life without ever telling a lie?), could you imagine the vicious cycle of punishment karma has in store for you in this life or the next?

Do not get me wrong, whether it is the concept of Hell or the concept of earning passage through Purgatory (a Catholic belief), there is plenty of room for injustice to be punished within the Christian faith. However the ultimate difference is that Christians believe that judgment day comes through Jesus Christ and forgiveness is obtainable. Through Karma, judgment is simply a cosmic function in which wrong doing is input in and ill fate is spat out.

So the next time you sit listening to, “Karma,” by Alicia Keys while driving to your destination, think to yourself and imagine how scary and frightening the world would be if the universe knew no forgiveness and simply dealt a fair hand each time?

The New Tie-Dye Movement

For the longest time, as a resident of Las Vegas, I have waltzed my way through many velvet ropes and throngs of waiting people to make my way into the posh nightclubs that dot the strip. And as I happen to make this epic journey on frequent and regular bases, I’d like to share with you an interesting observation in men’s ware. I could not help but gaze upon the people dressed in black shirts with gold and swirling silver designs, encrusted to the neck in flashy rhinestones that glitter with every purposeful pose and stride.

No, I’m not talking about the multitude of scantly clad women in cocktail dresses lined with Swarovski crystals.

I’m talking about the boys up front in Ed Hardy shirts, courtesy of Christian Audigier.

These men, decked out in all colors of the rainbow (unfortunately all splashed on the same shirt), seem to be heralding in some type of hip hop meets the 70’s tie-dye shirt movement. There are dozens of these men at every premiere establishment in Las Vegas, looking like Vin Diesel trying to get away with wearing Jennifer Lopez’s stage ensemble.

The tragedy of this is atrocity is that these shirts range within the $100 range with the cheapest falling into the $60s category and some going as high as $250. Why on earth in this current recession, where a sale at Saks Fifth Avenue ushers in 75% off steals in designer labels, would anyone spend this type of money to look this ridiculous?

Are they possibly peacocking?

Often decadently designed with skulls and a generous amount of rhinestones, these damning bastards of Audigier are another blatant eyesore amongst the Las Vegas scene.

With the Euro outpacing the dollar and well dressed German, French, and British gentlemen crossing the Atlantic to capture the rapid price drops amongst the Las Vegas casinos, these poor Americans hardly seem to be able to put up a fight.