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Have you ever heard someone say, “What goes around comes around”?  Perhaps it was the comment, “You get what you give.” Or maybe someone described how they released positivity into the world so that positive things would happen to them. Such sayings are common, each describing a mystical link between how we behave and what life throws back at us.

In a word: karma. Karma teaches that if we engage in good behavior, good things will happen. Engaging in wicked behavior, on the other hand, brings negativity upon us. The result of our behavior is unavoidable; we get what we deserve.

Is karma consistent with biblical teaching? Some believe it is. Just as karma teaches that “what goes around comes around” the Bible teaches that we reap what we sow. Proverbs 22:8 states “whoever sows injustice will reap calamity.” Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes, “God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap also” (Galatians 6:7).

Even Jesus appears to affirm this when he says, “Give and it will be given to you. . .for the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). This seems cut and dry; we will inevitably experience the consequences of our actions.

But is the language of reaping and sowing really the same thing as karma? Did Jesus teach a system of divine tit-for-tat, a cosmic way of checks and balances that serve to govern our moral behavior? Did Jesus believe in karma?

Karma Condemns Us

The Bible does not teach the doctrine of karma. In fact, Jesus directly contradicts this teaching. Jesus came to seek and save, not mete out punishment for divine infractions (John 3:17). Life in the kingdom of God is one of freedom and grace; a life rooted in karma, on the other hand, is one of fear and condemnation.

Have you ever heard someone say, “What goes around comes around”?  Perhaps it was the comment, “You get what you give.” Or maybe someone described how they released positivity into the world so that positive things would happen to them. Such sayings are common, each describing a mystical link between how we behave and what life throws back at us.

In a word: karma. Karma teaches that if we engage in good behavior, good things will happen. Engaging in wicked behavior, on the other hand, brings negativity upon us. The result of our behavior is unavoidable; we get what we deserve.

Is karma consistent with biblical teaching? Some believe it is. Just as karma teaches that “what goes around comes around” the Bible teaches that we reap what we sow. Proverbs 22:8 states “whoever sows injustice will reap calamity.” Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes, “God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap also” (Galatians 6:7).

Even Jesus appears to affirm this when he says, “Give and it will be given to you. . .for the measure you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). This seems cut and dry; we will inevitably experience the consequences of our actions.

But is the language of reaping and sowing really the same thing as karma? Did Jesus teach a system of divine tit-for-tat, a cosmic way of checks and balances that serve to govern our moral behavior? Did Jesus believe in karma?

Karma Condemns Us

The Bible does not teach the doctrine of karma. In fact, Jesus directly contradicts this teaching. Jesus came to seek and save, not mete out punishment for divine infractions (John 3:17). Life in the kingdom of God is one of freedom and grace; a life rooted in karma, on the other hand, is one of fear and condemnation.

Furthermore, if our present experiences of karma are but a reflection of a past life, then there is no way that we can address the wrongs we may have done.

What Does Jesus Teach?

It can be easy to believe that there is tie between suffering and sin. Jesus himself dealt with this belief in his day. Exodus 34:7, for example, declares that God does not leave the guilty unpunished, but “punishes the children and their children for the sins of the parents.”

Over time this verse became twisted into the belief that all instances of infirmity or tragedy testified to the sinfulness of the individual.

According to the wisdom of the day, anyone born blind (John 9:2), or those crushed by a falling tower (Luke 13:1-9), obviously deserved such a fate. Tragedy was simply part of God’s divine judgment. In other words, karma gets you in the end.

Jesus vehemently rejects the assumption that those who suffer do so because of sinfulness. Those who befall tragedy are not worse sinners than others. In fact, Jesus states that everyone is equally sinful before God!

This may not seem like good news, but it is. Christ offers us salvation through the act of repentance. This call to repentance, though, is not because God is angry and longing to smite us. Jesus calls us to repentance so that we may meet the God who longs to forgive. God’s response to sin is not to condemn and destroy but to redeem and to save.

Do We Reap What We Sow?

Does the gospel mean that there are no consequences in life?

The biblical language of reaping and sowing describes the natural consequences of one’s choices and behaviors. Consequences are natural and reasonable. If you constantly ridicule and berate a friend, he or she will eventually end the relationship. If you place a hand on a hot stove, you will be burned. We cannot avoid such consequences. They are experienced as the natural outflow of our lives.

Importantly, however, reaping what we sow is value-neutral; it does not declare what one “deserves.” Reaping and sowing speak about the direction of one’s life, and what one might experience as the natural consequences of that decision.

The natural consequence of pursuing worldly pleasures will be worldly rewards, rewards that are ultimately elusive and transitory; pursing spiritual vitality, on the other hand, will lead us into eternal rewards. Reaping what we sow is simply to arrive at the end of the road we choose to travel upon.

Reverend Kyle Norman - https://www.christianity.com/wiki/cults-and-other-religions/is-karma-and-reap-what-you-sow-the-same-thing.html