Here’s a news item we can learn something from: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,311079,00.html.

The gist of it is that in New Delhi, India, a man named Selva Kumar has married a dog.  Why, you ask?  Because he listened to the advice of an astrologer, that to get rid of his curse, he must marry a dog. Curse?  Okay, a little background info is helpful here. 

Apparently, as a teenager, Kumar had clubbed to death two dogs that he saw mating.  He believes that ever since then, a ‘curse’ has come upon him… one which has caused him to lose hearing in one ear and left him with his hands and legs paralyzed.  Unable to endure this physical suffering, Kumar consulted an astrologer who told him to marry a dog in order to cure his troubles.  So he did.

I did not know this, but what is interesting is that this doesn’t appear to be the first time something like this has happened.  The article says, “Deeply superstitious people in rural India sometimes organize weddings to dogs and other animals, believing it can ward off certain curses.”

Now, what can we say in response?

First off, Selva Kumar is one eccentric (if not superstitious) fellow, without a doubt.  Even so, one cannot help but pity him, not because he married a dog, but because he believed that this was the only way to cure his sufferings.  It certainly sounds like he’s doing some kind of atonement or penance for his sin.  It also sounds like he believes his sin was directly responsible for his being paralyzed and losing hearing.  Is this an example of karma in action? 

Karma doesn’t work according to Jesus.
Of course we live in a sinful, fallen world and ultimately, all the suffering in the world is because of sin.  However, this doesn’t mean that there is some supernatural rule outside of God’s control that says, “Evil sown equals evil reaped.” God is greater than sin.  In the story of the man born blind (John 9), Jesus was questioned by His disciples as to the cause of his blindness.  Jesus said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned… but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:3).  God sometimes has other purposes for human suffering beyond our comprehension, but ultimately for His glory.  So the first thing we can say is that the sufferings that this man had to go through are not necessarily the direct result of him having killed two dogs in his teenage years. 

No amount of human action - even marrying dogs - is enough to atone for our sins.
It’s simply absurd to think we can pay our own debts!  For Kumar it has turned out quite absurd indeed, but who exactly is he trying to appease?  Who can assure him that his ‘marriage’ will satisfy this ‘curse’?  What if the dog dies tomorrow… will he have done enough penance?  For man to try to appease the wrath of impersonal forces, or curses, or even God is just absurd.  This is true not only in the case of a man marrying a dog but also in the case of a depraved sinner trying to please a holy God with a “Look what I did!” Do we actually think we can please a God who desires perfection?  I mean, He already holds our lives in his hands and sees the sinful desires that lurk in our hearts even when we want to do good (Rom 7:18-19), can we really say to Him, “Here - take it!  I’ve done this all by myself… I think it’ll pass your standard of perfection”?  Filthy rags ... that’s all that even our most righteous acts are (Isa 64:6).

Now, I can go on about how this marriage between a man and a dog is a hideous and gross misrepresentation of what marriage is supposed to represent, and about how our world is horribly corrupted and confused by sin… but that’s another article in itself.  I just brought up this absurdity because it’s a window into the how the people in our world see (or perhaps do not see) God, and how we can reach them.

God is greater than our sin.
He did not deal with us as our sins deserved, but sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ - fully man, fully God - as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  By dying on the cross, the Lord Jesus did something none of us can ever do, he made a way for us to get rid of the sins in our past, that they should not enslave us to suffering or fear of punishment but that we can live in freedom and newness of life.  At the end of the day, it’s not what we do that frees us, it’s what has been done for us by the Lord, full of grace and truth.