Life Is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Life is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Sing His Praises
  • My Creed
  • Books I Love
  • Christmas Letters

Christ and Karma

4/19/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
I’d like to introduce you to my friend.

The introduction will not be literal, not now at least, though if you are lucky you will get to meet her in person.

I say that you’ll be lucky to meet her in person because Holly is a truly wonderful woman.   She has a pure and tender heart (ready smile, eagerness to help); she is a proactive mother who invests her full focus on the welfare and well being of her family (struggling to stay at home with her children, pondering how to teach them correct principles); and she is a seeker and finder of truth.

It is thanks to Holly and her honest heart that my understanding of and appreciation for my Savior, having already sprouted, did grow exceedingly.    To quote Alma, “my understanding was enlightened and my mind did expand.”  (Alma 32:34)

It is this story that I want to share today. 

In her quest to understand life and to make sense of existence, Holly has studied many religions.   She feels particularly drawn to Buddhism and its emphasis on peace.   

She taught me the doctrine of karma is that whatever you send out comes back to you.  In fact, it comes back multiplied. 

Our conversation left me puzzled.    How does one help a person who does not embrace the story of Adam’s fall to see the importance of a Savior?    What need is there of being redeemed from the Fall if one does not believe man has fallen?

The key that opened the door of my understanding came in the Book of Mormon.   In Alma 41:15 it says “…that which ye do send out shall return unto you again.”   Karma.  Somehow, reading about karma in the Book of Mormon led me to the realization that the law of karma is the law of justice.   We need a savior so that we do not have to get back what we send out.   The Savior is mercy and grace.   Christ paid for bad karma.  If we turn to Him, we do not have to suffer the anguish and agony that karma/justice holds for us.  He suffered for us and will save us, if we repent and turn to Him.

 

Pondering about Christ and karma, I came to another realization.   It is Christ’s willingness to take our bad karma upon Him that sets Him apart from the other great teachers of the earth.    Mohammed, Buddha and Lao-Tse (Taoism) taught compassion, humility, forgiveness, service, and love, just like Christ did.  But, unlike Christ, they did not offer to pay for our failures to live compassionately, humbly, and lovingly.   With them, we are left to suffer for our own mistakes.   Only Christ offered to pay for our lapses, to suffer for our mistakes.   

And He did not stop there.   “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind…and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, that he may know how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”   (Alma 7:11-12)   He experienced pain and sorrow of EVERY kind.  As a legitimately empathetic Being, He truly knows how to best comfort and guide us.  But He does not stop there.   Not only will He pay for our sins, He will help us with the sorrow and heartache that accompany sin.   In fact He will help us with all sorrow and heartache, be it caused by our sins, by the sins of others, or by life’s circumstances in general, if we will turn to Him.   

This enlightenment, this understanding of Christ and His role, is the gift that Holly gave me.    Thanks to her, I better comprehend why we need Him.

But I don’t want to stop here.   I want to tell you, as I told Holly, not just why I need a Savior but why I love my Savior.

I love Him because He has helped me with my sorrows and heartaches.   I love Him because He has paid for my sins.   I love Him because He has truly comforted me, lifted me, changed my heart, and given me peace and direction in this increasingly chaotic world.   

The bottom line about Christianity is that it works.   It works.   I know from personal experience that my Savior lives and that He loves me, that He forgives, comforts, leads, guides, and directs us when we turn to Him.

May the peace, joy, and light of the Christ child, son of Mary, grow and expand into the peace, joy, and light that Christ, the Son of God, offers to our souls.


Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    [email protected]

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.