The death of Jesus on the cross is testimony to how much God cares. Jesus was as much God as He was man. He could have called 10,000 angels to rescue Him at any time. But he willingly submitted to a horrible death—& He did it because He cares.
God will save those who call on Him. He has promised to do so. Even in India, people know who Jesus is. For example, I once read a book by a high caste Indian named Ravi Maharaj. He related an incident where his mother, a good Hindu, said to him, ‘If you’re ever in a dire situation & all else fails, call on the name of Jesus’. She knew about Jesus from the tireless work on missionaries in India. If you think about it, I bet you can name at least one from your own memory.
Anyway, Ravi did eventually call on Jesus, & some time afterward he became a Christian. That is what is required, Strider: a person’s willingness to respond to God. He died on the cross & provided the way to salvation. Still it’s not automatic. All a person needs to do is appeal to Jesus, but they have to do that much at least.
I think that this might be an example of how the world’s major religions are NOT the same, though you often hear people say that they are. Notice that the article said that religion plays a role, though they didnt say how. Supposedly India has done away with the caste system, but evidently not really. I’ve never been there and know its a big country with a lot of people. That being said, this is one of the things that’s always concerned me about Eastern religions is their passivity in relation to vulnerable people and obvious injustices like this. Lets face it. Stuff like this is why some people think the British in India wasn’t such a bad thing.
I had a friend who was an adherant of new age, Eastern-type religion say that the caste system in India was good in that people were freed up to achieve consciousness. They didnt have to worry about questions such as what career to pursue, etc., that was decided based on their caste. So they could concentrate of achieving consciousness. Whatever. I’ve just never been impressed with Eastern religions.