Most forms of Hinduism and many forms of Buddhism center on a concept known popularly as "karma." The concept of karmic justice suggests that the way you live your life will affect your welfare both later on in this life, and in your many lives to come. Thus, this notion usually comes as a package deal with the ideas of reincarnation (you get a new body or form) and what students of religions call the "transmigration of the soul."

Together these teachings mean that karma will punish or reward us based on our words and deeds. Thus, if you behave badly toward others, you may die only to be reborn in your next life as a lower life form, say maybe, a dragonfly or cockroach. Now, hundreds of millions of people believe this stuff, so don't laugh -- at least not yet. Let us move on instead to ask a few pointed questions about this worldview, assessing each of these teachings with a critical eye. Let us first list them singly to see how well they fit each other. Here are the propositions.

1. Karma will judge you.
2. Karma will meet out punishments and rewards.
3. Bad behavior will bring you an undesirable "next life."
4. Karma may cause lower forms of life to advance, or vice-versa.

First, we want to know how "karma" -- which is allegedly a natural process (like "melting" ice or "raining" water) and not a person -- "judges" people. This seems nonsensical. How does an impersonal process make moral judgments? Sometimes ice melts, and melting is a process. What sense would it make for me to say that "melting" will judge you? Everything about our experience tells us only persons judge. The Christian response to this, of course, is that God is personal. He is a judge. But that option to resolve them problem does not avail itself to Hindus. Bit if a Hindu will concede that it is God who judges, then what need do we have of "karma"'

But even if we grant this very odd view -- that a process could judge people -- we should still want to know what standard of ethics this process uses to make such judgments. If there is no law code, there can be no violations (crimes). What is the law code? For justice requires that a person know what the rules are before a judge can punish sentence upon him for breaking them.

Since "karma" has not published the rules it expects us to follow in a book, or written them in the sky, it would seem that karma represents a law of INjustice, not of justice.

Next, you will notice that karma supposedly punishes and rewards people. This would require karma to have an intimate knowledge of each individual. The "new form" in your nest life -- with which karma punishes or rewards you -- will only be a reward if you personally like it, and a punishment if you find it sour. For instance, is it better to be born a poor wise man or a rich fool? Different people will answer this question variously, and even many who give the same answer will do so for different reasons.

How does 'karma" -- a process -- know everyone so intimately as to know what they like and dislike' Again, karma seems inadequate to the task assigned to it. Of course, these problems do not plague the Christian outlook at all, since God knows all things, and created both man and woman after his own image.

Karma would, of course, face the same problem with reincarnating you as a monkey or other animal, since this would require a process to decide just which animal form was "higher" or better than another. Are giraffes more advanced than elephants? What standard to use here? What kind of taxonomy does "karma" use? What does it even mean for a dragonfly to "behave itself" so it can become a monkey? And can Karma prove that monkies are better (or more "advanced") than dragonflies? Okay, NOW you can laugh.

The bottom line here is this: you have no need to fear "bad karma." This is just a man-made superstition. Jesus said, "I will tell you whom you shall fear. Do not fear men, who, after killing the body can do nothing more. But fear Him who, after killing the body, can cast both body and soul into hell..."

And again, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10).