This content is an interview discussing the Christian gospel's universality and the challenges and strategies involved in sharing it, particularly with individuals from diverse religious backgrounds like Hinduism, and within the context of American culture.
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Hello and welcome to Cross Talk. I'm Wes
McAdams from Baker Heights Church of
Christ. One of the most beautiful things
about the gospel, the good news of Jesus
Christ, is that it is for everyone. No
matter who you are or where you're from,
the gospel is for you. Our special guest
today is doing a marvelous work
spreading the gospel to people from all
over the world. I'll introduce him to
you in just a moment. Stay with us.
Baker Heights Church of Christ presents
Cross Talk, a biblical discussion about
Today's guest is a native of India. He
is the preacher for the Church of Christ
in Clyde, Texas, and he's doing a
fantastic work with the refugees from
Nepal who are living here in Abalene. He
has a heart for people and a heart for
the Lord. I'm so excited to visit with
him today. Welcome to Cross Talk, David Peterson.
Peterson.
Thank you, sir. It's good to have you, brother.
brother.
Great to be here.
I'm excited about our discussion. I'm
excited about hearing your thoughts and
your perspective on on teaching the
gospel and and just being a Christian
and a disciple of Jesus Christ. But
before we really get into our subject,
why don't you tell us a little bit about
yourself and living in India? How did
you end up in Clyde, Texas, being a
preacher here?
Well, it's been a long journey. Um it'll
take a long time to speak about it.
Sure. But um I come from a Hindu
background but uh on the way uh when my
grandfather was converted to Luther
Lutheranism and uh from there we
channeled from there and walked on and
got into Catholicism where I grew up in
that. I became an alter boy right there
and uh I served in the Catholic church
and also uh went to school in the
Catholic organization
and well we had all that kind of an
influence uh from Catholicism more about
Christ and uh and a little background of
Christianity but again I was always
searching I was just searching because
um then I went from there uh even to
other denominations like uh to the
Methodists and Baptists and Assemblies
of God and so on so forth but at At the
same time I also was uh looking into
Islam and uh Buddhism, Janism,
Zorastronism and so you're kind of all
all around the place and especially if
you're coming from a Hindu background
which is a very tolerant religion and uh
you pretty much accept all the
religions. So you know I was there but
at the same time I was searching deep
inside. Well, one thing led to another
and to make things short, uh, finally I
said, I wanted to study this Bible and a
Methodist man really, a gentleman with
his wife introduced me to the Bible and
started reading a little bit. That was
my first take. And slowly and behold, I
got um, a scholarship from Faith
Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for
international students. That's where I
came in. And I studied there for a
little while while and then from there
went to Sunset finished my education
there went back to came to Philadelphia
where I did Asian missions and after a
little while I went back to India by
this time I've already been converted in
'89 uh converted to Christ and uh went
back to India got married and I served
there as a full-time and from there
again the church in Philadelphia called
me and they said Dave we want you to
come and work with the Asians uh you
know the Asian background. Well, I said,
"Okay." And so I and Susan came to
Philadelphia, started working there,
been there for a long time. And uh one
fine morning, uh the church in Clyde
called me up and they said, "Dave, uh we
want you to come and uh just be our
interim because we're looking for a
minister. One of the ministers has
left." I said, "Great, I'll I'll come
and preach there." I said, "Something
interesting," I said. So I came in and I
just uh was always waiting to get back
to Philly because my heart was in doing
mission work reaching to the Asians in
Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
Delaware.
I was the largest population of Indians
unreached Hindus and uh well God had
different plans in all this. God was
teaching me and uh planning his ways
step by step uh teaching me and helping
me to see the broad plan that he had and
while I was here finally the church said
well it looks like we don't have to look
further you we want you to be the
minister here and uh you know at first I
was not too ready for this and I said
Lord what are you doing here you're in
Clyde this is not my cup of tea
[clears throat] well it's interesting
the providence of God how within
probably a year or two at the church in
southern hills one of the sisters Pat
Cranfield got in touch with me and she
said Dave there's a couple of bhnes from
Nepal who are here I don't understand
them maybe you can see who these people
are and guess what the Lord opened the
mission fund right where I was ministering
ministering
and the rest is I'm here now for the
past eight years now right
that just
that's wonderful that and and many
people I'm sure that live in Abalene
don't realize ize what a mission field
Abalene is and and maybe you could tell
us a little bit about why that is the
case, but we have refugees from all over
the world living right here in Abalene.
And you you mentioned already uh that
you work a lot with the Bhanese uh
refugees. So tell us about that work and
what you're doing and and a little bit
about those those those folks that
you're working with there.
Well, we have about uh 700 uh refugees
right here in Abalene.
Wow. And uh it was a whole complex group
of people coming all the way from Bhutan
to Nepal and over here. And uh it's
interesting their language text is the
same text that we use in India. It's in
the Hindi language. Wow.
So I can read the text and I can
converse with them. I mean God had this
all laid out. Uh yet they are all Hindu
background. They all have a Hindu
background. Some of them uh also are
priests. uh there are temple priests. Wow.
Wow.
Who are among these families and they
minister to these families. So I've been
working with them and teaching them
about u Christianity going back to the
uh to Christ to God himself the Bible um
and uh so that's where we are trying to
work and plant the church uh within that
community within their own community
within that same language speaking and
that culture that's what we are doing
right now right
God is using me
so the most of us probably aren't real
familiar living in in West Texas with
Hinduism and and what the beliefs are
what the mentality ity is there. So if
you would share with us I know that
that's a broad question but if you could
just share with us some about what does
the the Hindu religion teach what do
they believe what what is their
perspective on their worldview so to speak
speak
okay well Hinduism is pretty deep it's
it's complex uh I don't think we can
just uh put a date to it because it is
so uh so ancient uh but it is uh it I
the more I studied about Hinduism is it
dates you back slowly ly towards Judaism
and goes all the way to Abraham and
Exodus and all that background uh where
where all that calf worship the cow
worship all kind of fits in. Yeah.
Yeah.
So again they are very tolerant people
uh because of the background that they
have in India uh in ancient times the
Arians came in and uh the the Persians
and the Islamic people moved in. So uh
there was an amalgamation of all these
civilizations at that time and so it is
it is pretty complex but at the same
time they're very tolerant of all other
religions. Uh they they have many gods
30 million gods. Wow.
Wow.
Uh if you look at a normal family you're
talking with someone uh this person will
have uh family will have his own god
that he worships in his house. Then you
meet this person he has a whole
different god. And so there are several
different gods, several different uh
deities and in all of that they feel
Jesus is is a western god.
Uh they feel Jesus comes from the west
and then but the teachings are so strong
about Jesus uh that they also accept him
as one of the gods. So here is Jesus and
they take him and they say okay he's one
of the many gods. So they have really no
problem with Jesus and his teaching. But
uh uh but the problem is for us is when
we say he is the one true living god
that's where everything starts changing
but very tolerant folks very religious-minded
religious-minded
very god-fearing uh they have also uh
there is the supreme god that's Brahma
then there is vishnu and shiva sometimes
you feel like there's god the father god
the son god the holy spirit
and then you have the many
manifestations of uh of the deities from
these three gods and but in all these
gods the idea behind that is uh they are
all leading us back to the same god
we are all going in the same direction
maybe you have different you're coming
from different uh backgrounds with
different cultural backgrounds maybe you
come from Christianity or Islam or
Hinduism whatever or Janism or Buddhism
we are all under that umbrella we are
under that one supreme god and we are
all edited into that direction. A lot of reincarnation.
reincarnation.
You die and if you do good, you come
back in a better form. If you do bad,
you're going to come back in a bad form.
So the reincarnation
cycle keeps going round and round with
them. It gets pretty complex and there
is uh basically a lot of uh works
oriented salvation, devotion,
meditation, fasting. It is all included
in this in this religion. Uh but to sum
it all up, they're very spiritual-minded
people. There's a lot to learn uh about
Hinduism. Uh especially when you want to
teach them about Jesus. I would start of
studying about Hinduism before we get
into Christianity.
Interesting. So, so how is it that you
overcome some of those theological
obstacles? Because as you pointed out,
there's so many differences uh between
the gospel and there being one true God
and and this idea of millions of gods.
So how do you how do you help bring them
from where they are to where they need
to be to understand the gospel?
From my experience, what uh I I I mean
God has revealed this very clearly. You
can see u that we need to approach them
with a lot of respect and with a lot of
patience because the religion itself is
very complex
and it's not going to be easy for
someone like us from the western side to
just go in and say okay you need to
believe in Jesus there is only one God.
You will lose them in a second. M
the best way to approach this is to
really study some of their sacred scriptures
scriptures
like the Vedas. Uh the Vedas there are
four different or five different Vedas.
They have their sacred scriptures like
we have the Bible they have Bhagat Gita
and there are several references of
light in these books of theirs. So once
we get to study this background, get to
know their scriptural backgrounds, we
are able to say, "Okay, I respect that.
I know where you're coming from. Now,
let me tell you about the the Jesus that
I believe in."
And so you start a conversation. And I I
personally believe to convert a Hindu,
it is not just overnight. It probably
might take you years. Like it took me
years. It's probably nearly uh 10 to 15
years for me to come out of that because
most Hindus they might say I believe in
Jesus because already in their mind they
believe Jesus is one of their gods right
right
so they tried to switch from Hinduism to
Christianity from Christianity to
Hinduism so you go back and forth but
there's not the true allegiance to Christianity
Christianity
so really what you need to be a great
good example of Christlike behaviors
Christlike princip principles in your
life that they see in you. They're
really watching you and saying, "Well,
let's see what is the big difference
between you and me.
Are you fasting like me? You're
meditating like me? Are you devoted to
the true God? Uh is your behavior? Is
your principles, your value system same
like mine? Uh do I see in you?" Now,
that's where the problem became when
Mahatma Gandhi came in the picture. One
of the the drawbacks for him was when he
saw that the Christians were not living
the real Christlike behavior, it turned
him out off and he says, "I don't want
to do anything with a religion that is
really not Christlike."
So, it gets very complex when you're
sitting with a Hindu. You better watch
out that they are really looking at you
through and through, right?
right?
And not just preaching to them,
right? It reminds me of what Paul told
to Timothy to watch your life and your
doctrine closely. And when you were
talking about uh you know talking to the
Hindu, it reminds me of of Paul in
Athens, you know, in Acts chapter 17
about how he he looks around and he
commends them uh saying, "I see that
you're very religious people and and you
have a an idol here to an unknown god.
Let me explain the god that you don't
know." And and so I I love the work that
you're doing. And that's very
fascinating stuff. I wish uh that we
would all inform ourselves a little bit
more about these these other folks and
and their perspective and their ideas
and where they're coming from so that um
as as Philip did with the Ethiopian
unic, we could begin where they are and
go from where they are to teach them
teach them the gospel. We have a lot
more I want to talk about. When we come
back, I want to ask David what sets
Christianity apart from other world
religions uh and get his perspective
even on our American culture. Stay with
us. We'll be right back.
More cross talk in a minute.
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Welcome back. We've been talking to
David Peterson from the Clyde Church of
Christ about his work teaching the
gospel to Bhutanese refugees. Welcome
back, David. I'm I'm really enjoying
this discussion and and I was really
interested to hear in the last segment
how you talked about uh your journey of
faith and and your journey through um
going and seeking out the truth and and
looking at all of these different
religious groups. So, as a person who
has a very unique perspective on world
religions, what would you say are some
of the the distinguishing
characteristics of Christianity? Why is
Christianity different than things like
Islam and Hinduism and and what what
sets what sets Christianity apart from
your perspective?
I think the bottom line in Christianity
for me especially for me and probably
for the whole world is the resurrection.
Uh the resurrection blows it all. Uh if
there is no resurrection then you you
you don't have a case right there.
That's right. uh especially when you
look at the the Christ and his uh
teachings but uh when he rose on the
third day and uh that he is in heaven
he's coming back uh that sets a whole
different uh stage. So when you're
talking with some of the Hindus, we talk
a lot about uh the Christ coming and
being God and being uh man and then
dying for our sins and uh also at the
same time uh being resurrected and
showing evidence of that resurrection
makes a big impact because we might do
it very logically and organized way of
teaching that. But before we get to
that, we're trying to build faith in
these people and uh and show who Jesus
is and his teaching and what uh what he
taught and uh what his love for mankind
and that message and um uh the
forgiveness of sins um the being the
sacrifice uh the one and only sacrifice.
See because in Hinduism too they have
sacrifices they have to please the gods
all the time and uh so they don't the
concept of sin is not too clear within
them like we have and in Christianity
you see how Jesus forgives our sins and
he is the sacrificial lamb uh that makes
a big difference for them because they
have been sacrificing and they didn't
understand what are they really
sacrificing what is the what is the type
and shadow concept for They don't see
that or they don't know that.
And when you bridge this, when you
bridge Christianity with all the Old
Testament laws and the sacrifice, it
makes a a lot of sense for them. You
don't even have to be a Jew. Even for
the Hindus, you take them back all the
way back and see uh some of the
sacrifices that they did. Even me
myself, some of the sacrifices I did,
maybe not uh sacrificing a lamb or a
goat or something like that, but some of
the rituals that I did at home. Like I
used to worship the tree or I used to
worship my bike and I would put a flower
around it and I would bow around it and
say God bless me as I begin my journey
today. Uh some kind of a sacrificial
meditation rituals that I did but why I
did it nobody had a clue about that. But
one thing is also true is in Hinduism or
some of these other religions is you
really don't ask a question. You don't
ask question why you do this dad uh why
am I doing this? Well, this is how
grandpa did it. So, we did it and you do
it and then I my kids do it. No
questions asked. This is the tradition
pass one from the other. Only in
Christianity are we able to ask
questions and have answers from God's
divine book.
That is wonderful. In fact, that reminds
me of a story that somebody just shared
with me this past week of a young man
who grew up in a Hindu household and he
came to worship with us and he was very
surprised that that both in the
preaching and in the Bible classes that
there were all kinds of questions and
that we were teaching and that we were
learning as opposed to just kind of
going through rituals and going through
these kind of things. So, it was very
interesting to him. Uh, and speaking of
our our American culture, that's I I
want to also kind of bring it home for
for those of us that have never known
anything different. Uh, Christianity and
and being an American and all those
things sometimes are so uh intertwined
and and our Christianity gets maybe a
little skewed because of our our view of
our American culture. So, as a as
somebody who has seen other uh cultures,
looking in at the American culture, what
are some of the things that that are
kind of our obstacles that we need to
overcome? what what things make it
difficult for us to be true disciples of
Jesus living in an American culture.
I think one of the bigger challenges uh
being in as an immigrant here is the
distraction factor I call it. Right?
The distraction is so much and uh you
you are distracted every day daily from
your meditation from your walk with God
and and the life that's busy and uh
sometimes we take freedom in the sense a
little too further out uh it's like uh
you do what you want I can do what I
want and uh you don't have to get into
my space you know that kind of a
concept. So we take that freedom and we
don't have any accountability in that
and uh one of the problems that we face
is we lost the the concept of the
holiness of God. The holiness factor is
totally lost because uh we try to put
God into our kind of western uh culture
and make it fit into our culture. uh
whereas God operates from a whole
different angle what God wants and uh
that becomes a determinant and that's
the difference sometimes if you see with
some of these religions the belief
system is so strong in them that they
they their rituals whatever they may be
uh whatever the meditations that they do
some of that might be very bizarre for
us even the sacrifices or something
might be something very weird for us but
deep inside their faith is is really
tuned into the so-called gods. Uh
they're really devoted and the question
for me really is is there a devotion
that I have like that a pure devotion uh
not try to be distracted and uh let's
see how we can fit this and make me
comfortable. Um that's where the the
issue really lies,
right? You know, and you when you were
talking about the sacrifices and things,
I think that that's something that we
need to understand because of the
sacrifice that's been made for us. The
fact that God would sacrifice himself,
would sacrifice his own son, that he
would come wrapped in human flesh and be
our sacrifice, not a sacrifice that we
give to appease God, but one that he
gives uh to atone for our sins. That
that's an amazing concept that I think
that someone from an eastern culture
might understand a little bit better
than we do sometimes here. And and like
you said that that devotion that
reverence uh that sometimes living here
we just don't seem to to grasp that sometimes.
sometimes.
I I was talking with a a Hindu gentleman
uh very close friend of mine. He's comes
from a a Jane background very
spiritual-minded people. Uh some of them
even uh have some kind of a cover over
their their faces so that they don't
breathe anything. the strictly
vegetarians and stuff like that. And he
said, "Uh, Dave, I know you're a
priest." Uh, according to them, they
know I'm a priest. Uh, why do you drink
wine? He said, "And, uh, what one of the
questions that came up is, uh, how come
you are supporting this homosexuality in
in the in the priests, the priests are
okaying that and the women leading and
things like that. I mean, he had looked
at some things and he heard some things
and he said, "This is not how Jesus
would approach this. I don't think Jesus
would uh u kind of go for this. See, he
had that much background about Jesus to
say this something is wrong here. So
they look at sometimes at Christianity
and and wonder why are these guys doing
something like this which is not really
uh in the scriptures kind of uh this is
not what Jesus would approve. So if
you're not careful, they're always
watching you. Is your Christianity real?
Right? Are you living that Christlike life?
life?
And sometimes apparently it sounds like
they have a better understanding than we
do. And I say we in a very general
sense. Obviously you're not accepting of
homosexuality or those kind of things.
But but sometimes people in the name of
Christianity under the guise of
Christianity um are are are putting
forth some things that even an outsider
can look at scripture and say, "Well,
that doesn't match up. That that doesn't
fit." And and we must if we're going to
teach other people, we've got to live
what we're teaching, don't we?
Exactly. That's where this holiness
comes in the picture. And that's
something is just uh we are not able to
grasp it ourselves.
And for them, that is very important.
Here is God himself coming in laying
down his life. Is that what you say?
It's a God that is a holy sacrifice.
And so that is deep for them,
right? you know, and maybe sometimes I
take it for granted. You know, I've been
in Christianity for so long. Yes, he
died. He came, he died. Uh he's gone.
He's coming back. Sometimes I take it
for granted. Uh I'm doing the Lord's
supper. You know, I know what it is and
all that. But the holiness, uh the
things that are set apart, uh something
different, they take that very serious,
very seriously. Right.
Right.
And that's something that we ought to
take seriously, isn't it? that that the
New Testament says, "Be holy, for I am
holy." And that we ought to be living
that same kind of holy life. And when
they look at us, um that's a big
turnoff, I suppose. Uh when they look at
our life and they say, "Well, you're not
you're not living a holy life. You're
not living a reverent life. You're not
living a life that's devoted to this God
that you say that you you you serve and
you worship." And and we have to we have
to let any religion stand or fall on its
own merits rather than by those that
that claim to follow it. But if we're
going to teach people, if we're going to
spread the gospel to them, we have to
not only teach them the truth, but we
have to be living it as well.
Living it as well.
Yeah. David, I really I really Man, I
love all this stuff. I wish that we had
more time. Uh if you could leave our
viewers with with one last thought, what
would it be?
Um I think um last thought I was
thinking was to
I think we need to have an awareness of
God who God is really you know sometimes
again like I said uh we kind of will
take it for granted that we've been in
the church or we've known Christianity
for so long but uh if you're not careful
u you got to know who this God is what
he has done for me and how I can respond
to him and God has laid that out clearly
in the word of God.
Absolutely. David, I so appreciate you
being here today and I appreciate your
thoughts. We've got more to talk about.
Stay with us. We'll be back in just a moment.
moment.
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Thank you so much for watching Cross
Talk today. I hope you enjoyed this
discussion with David Peterson. I so
appreciate him coming on the show today
and I appreciate the work he's doing to
spread the gospel. Folks, the world
needs Jesus Christ. Jesus said about
himself, "I am the way and the truth and
the life. No one comes to the father
except through me." At Baker Heights,
we're committed to taking the good news
about Jesus to people right here in
Abalene. No matter who they are or where
they come from, we want them to hear
about Jesus. We're also committed to
spreading the gospel in other parts of
the world through our mission efforts.
In Romans chapter 10, Paul said that God
will save anyone who comes to him by
obeying the gospel. But someone has to
teach them the gospel. Paul wrote, "How
then will they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how are they to
believe in him of whom they have not
heard? And how are they to hear without
someone preaching? And how are they to
preach unless they're sent? As it is
written, how beautiful are the are the
feet of those who preach the good news.
If you've never obeyed the gospel or
you're not sure what it means to obey
the gospel, we would love to study with
you. You can give us a call at Baker
Heights. The phone number is 325-692-6974.
If you have obeyed the gospel, then I'd
invite you to join us in helping to
spread that good news throughout Abalene
and throughout the world. They will
never hear the gospel unless someone
tells them. Let's tell people if you
have a question about something you've
heard on the show today or a question
about any spiritual issue, you can send
us an email. The email address is
questions atbakerheights.org.
We may even include your question on on
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from the answer as well. We hope you
enjoyed this episode of Cross Talk. If
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