The Bible teaches "As ye sew, so shall ye reap". Is that the same as karma?

Question

If every action has a reaction, and if we get the results of our actions, as taught in the bible in the teaching of the man who sewed his seeds on fertile land and the man who sewed his seeds on barren land, is that karma and is Newton's law on cause and effect the same as karma?

Answer 1

A marvellously insightful question, I bow to your inspired sense of inclusion and willingness to see similarity and common ground.

In short, your assumption is very correct. The basis of Karma is Cause and Effect, Buddhists use the term Action and Consequence yet it is the very same phenomenon as you so rightly pointed out in the Bible. Very well done.

Newton's Laws are very different as they are physical Laws, forgive me for this slight criticism only.

The main difference is of course that Buddhists see this as a phenomenon which can extend into future Lives whereas Christians see it as manifesting into the Afterlife if memory serves me correctly, forgive me if this is incorrect and causes offence it is unintended, yet the similarity is striking.

Very well posited question which gave me pause for thought and gave me a smile, allow me a smile for your insight and one for your well being.

Peace from a Buddhist....

Answer 2

Yes on the karma, no on the Newton.

I believe Newton's law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If you translated that to human relationships, what you would get is every act of kindness resulting in an equal act of unkindness. The reason for that is that Newton was talking about force and physics. If you remove the word "opposite", then it sort of fits your question, but then it isn't Newton's Third Law anymore, either.

So yes, the meaning of the Bible teaching is pretty much the same as karma. If you sow seeds of love, you will reap love and harmony. If you sow seeds of discord and hate, that's also what your crop will be. It's the same with karma. If you put out good energy by doing good works and being kind to those around you, that good energy will be returned to you. If you do bad things, are hateful, and make the world a miserable place, that misery will eventually return to you, as well.

Newton does state that for every action there is a reaction, but he really was talking about physics and force, so it can only be made to fit into human relationships and behavior if you fudge it a little bit. It's not really related, to my way of thinking.

Answer 3

Tuberoots' reference to the bread on the water and his explanation contextualize that particular reference. Interesting. Thank you.

However, back to your actual question. Yes it is in terms of "As we sew, so shall ye reap". It is universal

In breaking your question down though, you have more than one idea here.

Sewing your seeds on fertile land means not to waste your breath or other efforts where those seeds will not be able to thrive and be nurtured to harvest. Common sense!

I like to think that there is a lot of fertile ground here on R&S. We share a great deal here. Some of the ground is not receptive to some of the seeds. Fine. I would rather discuss than argue. So I pick and choose where I feel my time and energy might be worth while. Sometimes that manafests in a stronger approach than others.

Someone already talked about Newtons Law. Good stuff. Equal and 'opposite' reaction. You put something in and it moves something away. Distrabution. Everything is constantly redistributed. Cool.

Back to "A ye sew..." the only difference, as others have mentioned already, is its context within what various individuals interpret as the time and place, and possibly an ultimate, conclusion for the whole thing.

It is important to distill the idea to its purest state. Then, we can understand its application better, within the various types of sources that you have given us here with clarity. What I think many of us miss is how that distilled idea effects, redistributes, recontextualizes all the other ideas in those buckets called religions and how those other eliments effect it.
This is when that amzing pure thing starts getting depresiated. In my opinion.

Personally, I see this as being within the context of the space time continuum. Cause and effect, yes.Thought 'forms', yes. Equal and opposite reaction, yes. The Law of Attraction, yes. Put them together side by side. Play with them, move them around. What happens?Interesting isn't it?They help define one another.

I know I may appear to have spread myself out and away from the question a bit here, but really, look what they have in common. They have an 'effect', and at the core of each...what is there? The 'cause', we are all part of the cause. We are a causal energy. Begining and ending. Sometimes having a memory continuum, sometimes not.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when practicing to decieve. Yah, I know, I am not saying anyone is lying! Deception, illussion?This illussion is the staight in which we exist. We have a terrible time seeing the forest for the trees!!!!!!This tangled web of religion, phylosophy and science.

Anyway, very nice open and respectful question. Thank you.

Peace...

Answer 4

Newtons law has to do with physics. Karma has to do with metaphysics. The difference between karma and 'reap and sew' in the bible is that in Karma you're are reaping in the next life what you sowed in this life. You might have a million more lives in the future. In christianity you reap what you sow in this life and also in the next life, which is eternity. There are no million more lives in christianity. There is just this life and eternity. Wherever you end up in eternity, that's where you will stay forever.

Answer 5

The first thing it means is giving so that the Gospel message gets out. It's a response for being grateful about recieving the message of eternal life. It is to be an effect of the Holy Spirit. After that, other meanings apply if you want to, but the first reason why Paul wrote that is because he was telling them when and why to give. It has to be for the right reason.

Answer 6

Pretty much, except that christians seem to think the reaping will all be in this life while whith Karma it may come back to bite you in the a.ss or reward you sometime in another.

Answer 7

Cast your bread upon the water and it will come back to you.
Most likely karma is based on this principal in Scriptures.

Answer 8

"Cast your bread upon the waters, you will find it after many days (Ecc 11:1) is the same as "You reap what you sow", "What goes around, comes around", "The wheel turns full circle", etc.

That's Karma

Answer 9

Yes! This is just another example of an ethic of reciprocity that most religions adhere to, be it the golden rule, the threefold law, or karma.
Blessed be,
Amina

Answer 10

Gaz, gave a most excellent answer.
Couldn't have said it better.
Nothing more to say, except that was a great question.

Take Care, & Have a fantastic weekend.