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Hare Krishnas At Schoolies

by Ruthie Alekseeva  
12/09/2023 / Christian Apologetics

Ill-Informed

Is this guy for real? Andreana thinks, as she takes one hand off her steering wheel and turns the volume on her car stereo up.

“That’s right folks,” the radio announcer says. I’m Leonard Mollenbeck, and you’re listening to 185 FM. I hope you enjoyed that ad from our show’s sponsor, Happy Cat Meaty Treats.

Now, as I said before the break, the Schoolies festival is on again this week. That’s when our grade 12 high-school graduates celebrate the fact that they’ve finished school, forever. I saw the Hare Krishnas down there too, dancing and singing, and I thought, How wonderful.

Yes, Andreana says, I did hear him right. He’s praising the presence of Hare Krishnas at Schoolies. Does this guy even know what he’s talking about?

“But who else do you think I saw as I passed by there the other day?” Leonard Mollenbeck continues. “That’s right God-botherers. There they all stood holding up signs that said, Repent of your Sins. Not only that, but the ground around them lay carpeted with Jesus-loves-you leaflets that these God-botherers had handed out, which the school leavers, after reading them, had promptly dropped on the ground. I’ll have more to say about that after this song.”

God-botherers? Andreana thinks, as a  strumming guitar begins playing in the background. Boy, it saddens me that that’s his view of what those Christians are doing down there.

Reality Check

In the last few weeks of November and the beginning of December, many Australian high-school graduates celebrate the end of their schooling by renting a beachside-hotel unit with their friends, so they can party, get drunk and have sex. Many parents have reservations about giving their children permission to go and, before school ends, schools remind graduates of the dangers of binge drinking, taking drugs and having sex without using a condom, which gets ignored during the schoolies revelries that eventuate after the last day of school finishes.

Some people, like the radio announcer above, view schoolies as a bit of fun, but you don’t have to think very hard at all to foresee the harmful short-term and long-term consequences that mixing drugs, alcohol, sex and young people together can result in, and that’s why I’m glad that almost every year a bunch of Christians attends schoolies, offering them literature about the eternal penalty that the sins they plan on indulging in results in and information on how they can have their sins forgiven if they ignore the warnings of those Christians and commit the sins of drunkenness, illicit drug use and fornication anyway.

The real-life radio announcer I mentioned above called these Christians God-botherers. It’s true that sometimes inexperienced or gung-ho street preachers and evangelists don’t always show finesse or speak with a gracious and merciful spirit but the mere presence of these Christians at schoolies shows they have loving hearts that desire much better for the schoolies partiers than the schoolies partiers desire for themselves. Christians who attend schoolies hope their preaching will prevent not only the earthly consequences of drunkenness, illicit drug use and fornication but it’s eternal consequences on Judgement Day.

That shows a lot of love, especially when you consider that these Christians often don’t know any of the revellers personally. The Christians show up because they’ve sometimes experienced the headaches, vomiting, pancreatitis and pain of alcohol-induced nerve damage; the depression, anxiety and insomnia after a drug high and legal issues when authorities catch illicit drugs in your system; and the unwanted pregnancies which often end in abortion, rape allegations and broken emotional attachments that casual sexual liaisons can cause. Above all, they care about where these kids spend eternity, so why would this radio announcer have any problem with “God-botherers” turning up at schoolies?

 

Blinded Eyes

This radio announcer derided these Christians because he’s ignoring what schoolies is all about. He’s also ignoring the truth of what Hare Krishnas believe because while the Bible classifies drunkenness as a sin, it does not forbid the drinking of alcohol entirely. Hare Krishnas can’t use any substances at all. Substance use is forbidden outright, so although this radio announcer, and people like him, view Christianity as a religion of restrictions, it gives more freedom than many religions that the mainstream media favours. For example, Buddhism has five moral precepts, one of which says that Buddhists should not consume intoxicating alcohol or drugs. Islam also forbids any drinking of alcohol whatsoever and both religions believe in the existence of Hell.

Although the Bible forbids sex outside of marriage, it also gives its adherents greater freedom regarding sex than Hare Krishnas do because Hare Krishnas only classify sex as moral when sex has the intent of producing children. If you have sex only for pleasure, you get reincarnated into a “Hell world.” That’s problematic for schoolies revellers because schoolies sex does not have procreation in mind. Schoolies sex is about orgies and one-night stands. Many schoolies participants have received contraceptive devices from their worried parents, and if those devices fail, many pregnancies that occur from a schoolies encounter will end in termination of that child. If sex is never for pleasure, how do Hare Krishnas view abortion? I don’t know myself but if an abortion occurs after a sexual experience, although that sexual experience resulted in a pregnancy, because the parents did not give birth to that child, wouldn’t that sexual experience now have only revolved around pleasure rather than procreation?

That’s problematic for modern-day Australians because many modern-day Australians support abortion. They believe in it so ardently, in recent years, some states have passed abortion laws that permit abortion up to the point of birth, and how does the ethic of sex only for procreation leave infertile couples? If a doctor has given you zero hope of ever conceiving, sex can only ever revolve around pleasure, not procreation, and what of menopausal women? They now can never procreate. If they have sex, will they end up in a “Hell world?” I hope not. They don’t if they’re Christian. In fact, the Bible book Song of Solomon narrates a love story between a man and a woman. The couple in question speak a lot about the pleasures of sex without saying much about its inevitable result if both spouses possess fertile apparatus. That would mean that the Bible gives its adherents much more freedom regarding sex than the Hare Krishnas do because the Bible only forbids sex outside of a one-man-one-woman marriage whether they have pregnancy as a goal or not.

This ethic of sex only for procreation also conflicts with another strongly held modern-day Australian value, that of believing in the righteousness of practicing homosexuality. If sex can’t ever revolve around pleasure, that renders homosexual and lesbian sex as immoral and deserving of what Hare Krishnas call “Hell worlds” because homosexual and lesbian sex can never result in a child, so when I hear people praising the Hare Krishnas, and other religions that Australians still don’t have much familiarity with, it makes me wonder if those people really know what these groups actually believe and if, after the singing and the dancing ends, they won’t also call these believers God-botherers also.

Who Really Loves You?

Ex-Hare Krishnas label Krishna Consciousness as a cult and as a high-control group. They describe experiencing love bombing and having their strengths, weaknesses and traumas played on. They state receiving roles of importance soon after joining, which inflated their egos and made them feel like they must stay with the group. They also received a guru which created another reason for staying longer than they first wished and made them feel that if they left, or didn’t fulfil their obligations, they would let their guru down. Ex-Hare Krishana members describe abiding by many stringent rules and spending many long hours performing Yoga and recitations of the Hare Krishna mantra as a way of paying off their Karma.

Ex-Hare Krishnas sometimes feel as though they have experienced labour trafficking because they put in the hours of a real job but don’t receive payment for it. Some find leaving the group difficult because they have felt pressured into rejecting their family and previous friends and have not received proper education or training that would transfer over into a real-life job. Ex-Hare Krishnas warn that involvement with the Hare-Krishna philosophy doesn’t work, changes people into someone completely different from what they were and that they have had their lives destroyed and broken. One former Hare Krishna has posted a YouTube video, in three parts, listing ninety ways his involvement with Hare Krishnas has traumatised him. That doesn’t sound like a group anyone should involve themselves with.

Find The True Way

True Christianity, on the other hand, forbids flattery, which would rule out love bombing, associating it with the sin of lying. Psalm 5:9 says, For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue. So, instead of dancing with people who tickle your ears, study with Christians who will tell you the truth, that sin ends in destruction and an eternal grave.

Instead of singing, with people who play on your strengths, weaknesses and traumas, associate with real Christians who’ll help you find real healing, even if that healing doesn’t occur this side of Heaven.

Rather than spending time with a hierarchical guru who gives you a role of importance when you’re still only new, befriend Christians who have a Bible that instructs them that recent converts must not become leaders in the church or else they may become conceited and fall under the same condemnation as the devil.

Don’t let cult members leave you living in poverty. Instead, work with followers of Jesus because their Bible tells them that labourers deserve their wages and that labourers must receive their payments on time.

Some former Hare Krishnas report a devaluing of academic education and proper career training, but the Bible says an intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. So, we should pursue knowledge about God but also about everything good that the world has on offer.

The Bible says the Spirit gives life and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. If the philosophy you’re following doesn’t work, changes you into someone completely different from what you were, traumatises you or leaves your life destroyed and broken, it’s not the philosophy of the one true God. Although Christians have good days and bad days and sometimes live in terrible circumstances, true Christianity brings love, joy and peace amid all those problems.

Pick Up the Easy Yoke of Jesus

Above all, ex-Hare Krishnas speak of obeying many stringent rules and spending long hours performing Yoga and recitations of the Hare Krishna mantra as a way of paying off their Karma. The Bible says that although we reap what we sow, God offers mercy and grace. So, although you’ve sown sin, Hell and destruction, because of Jesus’s death on the cross, you can receive forgiveness, a restored relationship with God and eternal life with Him in Heaven for free, as a gift.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Although we must confess our sin and then obey God’s law, we don’t obey those laws as a way of earning our salvation, because we can’t. We’re imperfect sinners. We will fail, so Jesus has earned our salvation for us, and now we obey His law out of gratitude, as our way of loving Him back. So, please lay down the heavy yoke of Krishna Consciousness, today, and pick up the easy yoke of Christianity instead. It’s the only way you’ll ever find true freedom.

References:

Psalm 5:9 ESV                     Proverbs 18:15 ESV           

1 Timothy 3:6 ESV              2 Corinthians 3:16&17 ESV

1 Timothy 5:17-18 ESV

Deuteronomy 24:14,15 ESV

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