What Christ taught the Western world about Buddha

Discussion in 'Christianity' started by skip, Feb 28, 2007.

Page 2 of 2
  1. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

    Messages:
    12,923
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    Yes, and that is part of the marketing/recruitment program devised by Jesus' followers to separate them from other groups. It's known in the business as the deal closer. If you don't accept Christ as your savior, you are doomed to hell. It's either - or. Black and white. No shades of gray. Just like the way most Xtians see the world. Good or Bad. It's all dualistic thinking, creating more divisions and separateness in the world. You're either for us or against us. Where have I heard that before?

    Oh yeah...
     
    skip, Mar 1, 2007
    #21
  3. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

    Messages:
    12,923
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    The point I am now trying to make, is that it is THOSE DIFFERENCES between Xtianity and other religions (particularly Buddhism), that do the most damage to Jesus' followers and the rest of humanity and our planet.

    Most of these 'differences' were added to the Christ story by the Catholic Church for it's own benefit, either to keep people in the fold, to get them to tithe part of their income, to control their follower's behavior, to keep them from questioning the authority of the church, and to keep the Church growing forever (no birth control thanks!)

    As some of Jesus' followers know, you don't need a church to follow Jesus. But by institutionalizing so many rituals & holidays, almost all of them existing elsewhere before Jesus arrived, they sought to signup as many people as possible. When that didn't get enough, they resorted to other means of shall we say "persuasion" to get people, keep them, and prevent heresy.

    Unfortunately not only has the Church's hierarchy been cloned by nearly every other Xtian sect, but likewise the double standard, the hypocricy and the holier than thou attitude of Xtians....
     
    skip, Mar 1, 2007
    #22
  5. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

    Messages:
    12,923
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    Thanks for clarifying that, Darrell.

    Here in California we have slightly different definitions for some of those words. For instance "rebirth" can also mean a process people choose to experience where in they relive their actual "birth" into this lifetime. It goes along with "past life regression". That is one reason I wouldn't use "rebirth" and prefer the term "reincarnation".

    And of course "Soul" here means something else too! ;) You either got it, or you don't (hint:an afro helps!) ;)

    Kidding aside, I do think the Buddhist conception of "spirit", "soul" and "mind" is a bit confusing to most people. In fact, I have a problem with their use of the word "mind" as it seems much more limiting and cold than saying "soul" or "spirit" which implies an evolving being experiencing many lifetimes.

    Americans pretty much accept the Xtian definition of "soul" and "spirit" as that which lies beyond the body & is eternal, whereas the western definition of "mind" is usually an artifact of our "brains" because we tend to locate our "mind" in the same place as our brain, no? I think a lot of confusion arises from that term, which westerners use far less than Asian Buddhists.

    But to confuse things further, I've seen Buddhist definitions of "soul" or "self" or "Atman" as being artifacts of our present incarnation that DO NOT appear the same in later rebirths. This is explained by saying we will become a somewhat different "soul" or personality, created by our karmic predisposition upon rebirth.

    I do believe this is just semantics, and that whatever you want to call it, there is an essence of us that either lives on in rebirth after rebirth, or eventually rejoins the cosmic flow of the ONE from whence we came.
     
    skip, Mar 1, 2007
    #23
  7. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

    Messages:
    12,923
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    Next Similarity: The Celestial Hierarchy

    Unfortunately I've never been able to keep track of things like angels, archangels, as well as all the equivalent Buddhist (or Hindu) beings, but perhaps some of our more versed scholars can outline the hierarchies so we can see how similar they are (or not).
     
    skip, Mar 1, 2007
    #24
  9. Posthumous

    Posthumous Resident Smartass

    Messages:
    4,365
    Likes Received:
    0
    Uh. So what is your concept of "Heaven" if it is not "Nothing?" Do you think it's orgasms for 18 hours a day, followed a poker game with the saints, then you Jesus and God can have a soak in the hottub and sip winecoolers whilst giggling at the sinners burning in hell via payperview.


    If want to have a "point", you may want to make it while occupying the material universe.
     
    Posthumous, Mar 1, 2007
    #25
  11. mountainman7

    mountainman7 Member

    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Who said anything about "heaven" and "hell" or your concept of what YOU THINK I believe about such things? I didn't.

    Who said anything about anybody burning or anyone viewing someone else burning? I didn't.

    You are stereotyping and have no idea what I believe about the future of mankind.

    I would explain it to to you, but I feel you are set in your ways and would never listen. You are the close-minded one - not me. You sound just like me before God SUPERNATURALLY and POWERFULLY reached me. I could explain my view of the ultimate future of mankind, but I think you need to go read my posts on the "hell" thread and put the puzzle pieces together about that which I believe. I'll tell you one thing though - IT BLOWS AWAY NOTHINGNESS and NOBODY IS SUFFERING - NOT EVEN YOU MY FRIEND.
     
    mountainman7, Mar 1, 2007
    #26
  13. skip

    skip Founder Administrator

    Messages:
    12,923
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    If I have to read mountain man's "I was like you" (before I found Jesus) quip again, he's gonna get banned....

    You are repeating yourself endlessly while contributing awfully little to this discussion... (although your questions aren't bad, just mostly OT)
     
    skip, Mar 1, 2007
    #27
  15. Posthumous

    Posthumous Resident Smartass

    Messages:
    4,365
    Likes Received:
    0
    Your self-righteous indignation is top quality. And I'll certainly get right on that project you assigned.

    Here's to blowing away nothing!

    :cheers:
     
    Posthumous, Mar 1, 2007
    #28
  17. mountainman7

    mountainman7 Member

    Messages:
    36
    Likes Received:
    0
    Well..... it is the truth that I once was someone who stereotyped Xtians and you guys really do remind me of myself back then. Many of my views do not fit into your stereotype and you probably have never even been exposed to them.

    No need to ban me.... I'll just share with others that are not so close-minded.
     
    mountainman7, Mar 1, 2007
    #29
  19. Posthumous

    Posthumous Resident Smartass

    Messages:
    4,365
    Likes Received:
    0
    And you're not closeminded? lol You already had your mind made up before you started asking questions, yet your search for something illogical to attack has been in vain. Better luck next time.

    You can whine about how insensitive and closeminded I am, but it won't change the fact that nothing is eternal. If you think differently than PROVE IT. Otherwise, you're just flappin your piehole like everyone else here. And no, subjective religious experiences are not evidence. Sorry.
     
    Posthumous, Mar 1, 2007
    #30
  21. campbell34

    campbell34 Banned

    Messages:
    3,074
    Likes Received:
    0
    Yes that is correct, you are either for Jesus Christ, or you are for a hundred other Gods that all counterdict each other. And if these other God's do counterdict each other, who cares anyway. The truth is not that important.
     
    campbell34, Mar 1, 2007
    #31
  23. SILVERWOLF_87

    SILVERWOLF_87 Member

    Messages:
    446
    Likes Received:
    0
    Last time I checked, there sure were a lot of contradictions in the bible too...
     
    SILVERWOLF_87, Mar 1, 2007
    #32
  25. campbell34

    campbell34 Banned

    Messages:
    3,074
    Likes Received:
    0
    Without going to a post that list 500 of them, could you give me one?
     
    campbell34, Mar 1, 2007
    #33
  27. Varuna

    Varuna Senior Member

    Messages:
    1,595
    Likes Received:
    3
    I don't know if Jesus ever went to study in India. I think, ultimately, it doesn't really make a difference if he did or did not. My basic sense of things says he probably did not. I have lived in India (jai satya, jai prem) and I grew up studying Jesus. I seems to me that there is not enough to suggest that this idea of Jesus in India is really anything more than just a neat idea, or wishful thinking for an easier answer to Judaism.

    To me, the most fascinating thing is the suggestion that, as exemplary mystics, Moses, Jesus and Buddha (and the others) were all talking about exactly the same thing. THIS is the origin of any similarities in their teachings.

    Christ taught Judaism. He argued Torah and its interpretations. Everything he said is either directly attributable to the Torah or an argument based on something directly attributable to the Torah.

    For example, there is the story of the Pharisee who questioned which commandment was the most important. "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

    The first of these is the prime article of Jewish faith. It is a literal quote of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. It is known as the "Sh'ma" (as in "Shema Y'Israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad" or "Hear oh Isreal, the lord thy God, The Lord is one. and you shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.") which every observant Jew recites upon waking and again at the end of the day.

    The second of these is, again, a literal quote from Leviticus 19:18.

    The point of course, is simple. When asked what is most important, Jesus refers to the Torah.

    Christ taught Judaism. Everything he spoke of corresponds to something in the Torah. There is far more wisdom in Judaism than the proponents of an India-trained Jesus are, apparently, ready to grasp.

    I am all for a dialog, however, between the traditions of the East and the West. I think the wise from both traditions would achieve some kind of substantial enlightenment.

    Peace and Love
     
    Varuna, Mar 2, 2007
    #34
  29. Posthumous

    Posthumous Resident Smartass

    Messages:
    4,365
    Likes Received:
    0
    I always heard that it wasn't Jesus but his father Joseph who traveled in India.
     
    Posthumous, Mar 2, 2007
    #35
  31. dollydagger

    dollydagger Needle to the Groove

    Messages:
    3,242
    Likes Received:
    6
    great post, skip.

    I have elected to not read anyone else' post, well, because I have heard and read that argument many times before.

    But, Skip, I really took to your post because I am reading Thich Nhat Hahn's "Living Buddha, Living Christ" and "Going Home: Buddha and Christ as Brothers"
    I always felt a kindredness in Buddhism and Christianity........

    But I heard a preacher say one day, which I believe, too:
    "I beleive that God has his people in many diferent persuaions"
    For all I know, Christ and Buddha and Muhammad and Zoroaster and whoever were in fact, brothers, or incarnates of one another...

    But I like to think that I could recognize God in His/Her many forms---human, animal, mineral, etc.....truth doesnt lie in just one belief...more times than not, truth is found in many different beliefs, theories, etc. It is up to the induvidual to recognize
     
    dollydagger, Mar 5, 2007
    #36
Page 2 of 2
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Accept Learn More...
    Dismiss Notice