I like the way you look at things.... very rational. I think that Buddha probably was a good person or whatever... I'm sure there are lots of "good people" in the world. But actually, since you want to know what a Christian believes, we just believe that there is none worthy, and that no matter how "good" you are, you can't work your way to God. You have to have a personal relationship with his son, Jesus Christ. He is the only way to the Father. I think Christians probably get very uncomfortable with the idea of "taking up" for another god figure, and I do, too. Buddha may have been a good person with lots of good ideas or whatever, but the point is that he is not God, and therefore should not be worshipped. I'm sure that as a Christian, it is possible to believe in some parts of Buddhism just because they are true in everyday life. Of course, we can't agree with 100% of Buddha's teachings, because I'm sure that some of them do go against our beliefs in the Bible. But what you say about Jesus and Buddha being friends, you might be right. They'd be trying to convert eachother! LoL Let's not forget that Jesus hung out with drunks and tax collectors. Jesus would have befriended Buddha just as he did the woman at the well.
BlackGuardXIII If Buddha is in hell, then thats where I want to go. I guess Mahatma Gandhi is there too. And Kahlil Gibran, and Lao Tzu, and Confucius, and Rabbi Hillel, and Isaac Asimov, and then Aung San Soo Kyi, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, must be headed there too. I support you in your faith, and truly believe that you are right to stick by your beliefs. It is my view that following your heart is totally critical, and that we can all differ, yet all be right. I do not think hell is a real place, other than here on earth, but if it is, and those gentle, heroic souls above are there, I would be honored to go there. Some folks even think that Catholics are not heavenbound... in that case, I will be blessed to be with Mother Teresa too.... Wow! Love and Peace to you all, and I praise you all for being yourselves, which is all I think we are expected to do. Atheists, Shamans, Witches, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists, and all of the other people with good hearts, I thank you, and want you to know I deeply feel you are on the right path for you, and are just as spiritual, righteous, and correct as everyone else. That is my honest belief. Blessings, BG13
All you people should take a note on what Moonjava says. Jesus Christ is the only way to get to heaven. As Moonjava says Christ said about himself 'that I am the way, the truth and the life and that no-one comes to the father (god/heaven) but by me'. He refer's to accepting the fact that (he) Christ died on the cross for our sin's and that through his sacrifice and the acceptance that he died on the cross for our sin's we are cleansed from all sin through the blood he shed on the cross and may then be able to enter the kindom of heaven. His heavenly father's kingdom. (god's kingdom). Without such acceptance and through the cleansing of christ's blood. NO-ONE will be able to enter his father's kingdom. (God's kingdom) You people are so quick to jump on Amber and say she's ignorant. When she is in fact right that Buddah will only lead you to Hell. He is no god. He may have been blessed with wisdom. But such wisdom comes from Christ and his heavenly father (God). Have any of you seen Buddah up on a cross going through all that Christ went through for our sins!! I think not ! Christ had commited no sin during his time on earth and he got flogged by the Roman's because of the jealousy of the pharisee's. Have you not read in the bible that the Pharisee's were so jealous and full of envy towards Christ cause so many people loved him that they arrested him at night. The pharisee's were full of envy and jealousy towards Christ and Christ says in the bible that their hearts were far from him. (meaning they had no love in their hearts but envy and jealousy) Christ test's all people to see who will remain faithful to him and Buddha is just another way of satan trying to confuse you from eternal salvation and happiness. Warlock
Amber - don't you think there is enough anti-Christian sentiment in this world without you denouncing any other religion without knowing anythign about it? Most people see Christians as hypocrites, self-righteous, and close-minded and you are the epitome of that stereotype. Before you denounce any religion/religious leader, EDUCATE yourself! Buddhism teaches that you are to love unconditionally, strive to be as un-wordly as possible, to maintain to keep their sights on Enlightenment. Doesn't that sound just a TAD like Jesus' teaching to love your friends and enemies, strive to acquire a Christ-like attitude and stray from the secular world, and to put your sights on things in Heaven as opposed to things on this earth? By calling Buddhistic teachings dumb, you are, in effect, calling Christian teachings dumb, seeing as how the are practicazlly identical. One is the Noble Eightfold Path, the other is the Bible. "A rose by any other name"...? Also, since Buddha was teaching either before or during (forgive me, my memory's a bit fuzzy as to the dates here) the time that Jesus was teaching and since we have no record of Jesus from when he was 12 - 30, isn't it possible that the teachings of one reached the other and they melded their teachings? "Christ" is not Jesus' last name, a common misconception, Christ translated means "The Enlightened One." Guess what Buddha translates to? "The ENlightened One." Perhaps Jesus just ACHEIVED ENLIGHTENMENT, seeing as how He only starts to get called 'Christ' in His adult life. Notice how it's always "Jesus of Nazareth' or 'Jesus THE Christ' ? My point is, you need to open your mind to the realization that just because a man by a name other than Jesus says something, doesn't mean it's worth being deiscredited or "dumb." When you make ignorant statements(and that's precisely what they are, seeing as how you speak loudly of things that you do not understand in the slightest) like that, not only are you disrespecting millions of people's cherished beliefs, but you are adding fuel to anti-Christian sentiment already prevalent here. Buddhists are a very kind, loving, warm group of people, as are most people of other religions. They respect other people's beliefs and don't denounce them or try to convert them. Why don't you do the same? Jesus taught that our love was to UNCONDITIONAL, regardless of race, creed, nationality, whatever. He also teaches that we are NOT to judge. What are you doing when you call Buddha dumb and condemning his followers to eternal damnation? You are judging and hardening your heart. You're doing the EXACT OPPOSITE of what YOUR LORD commands you to do. You need to re-evaluate how you go about your life, because with Christians like you, you just make it harder for Christians like me to show other people that we're not all overgearing, close-minded, intolerant ogres. Universal love, not universal condemnation.
I think that there will be people from all branches of Christianity in Heaven. I believe some Catholics aren't saved, but many of them are. Just as there are plenty of people who go to Baptist or Pentecostal or Nondenominational churches who may not truly be saved. I think when judgement day comes, that we will all be surprised who makes it into heaven... and also we will be surprised by who doesn't.
Yes I agree with you Moonjava. Christ and his Heavenly father know the hearts and minds of every person. I also believe that many Catholic's will be saved to Christ and many who will not. For only Christ and His Father are able to read a person's mind and know what is in their hearts. Then there are some people who go to church and believe they are saved just cause they go to church but have not accepted Christ into their hearts. And some people that do go to church who will be saved because they have accepted Christ into their hearts. As well as some people who pray and read god's word in the bible that can't get to church or have no church to go to that will be lifted up into Christ's kingdom. Warlock
If the Buddha was blessed with wisdom, and wisdom comes from God, how is his wisdom wrong? I don't understand how any religion that teaches compassion and universal love can then turn around and say that good people like Siddhartha and Ghandi will burn in hell. Is the point of Christianity to create love and respect in the world, or is it simple selfish self righteousness? Is it about loving others, or loving yourself (hey look at me, I'm going to heaven, because I'm so good")? I think the real problem is that people don't WANT unity in the world. They want divisiveness, so they can play the game of "look how superior I am". People are so busy trying to find differences between Jesus and Buddha (or between themselves and anyone else they view as inferior), that they completely miss the overreaching similarities. Love, respect, compassion, understanding, right living, right thinking, devotion, proper focus in life, the want to end suffering for all beings. In regular people it is the same; we look for differences between race, creed, or politics, and forget the common humanity. When we look, we see each of our lives, though unique in details, are so very alike. Birth, childhood, puberty, marriage, having kids, the need to eat, drink, the need for love and friendship, work and play, and finally, the great equalizer, death. Both Jesus and Siddhartha saw these similarities and wished to change our desire for division to a desire for unity, seeing what evil comes from the former and what goodness comes of the latter. People understood this and flocked to each, but look how both parties (and this is true of all religions), end up playing the division game, all in the name of their religion, which initially preached unity. We speak with two tongues when we talk of compassion and love for humanity when we can still talk of eternal punishment for slight differences. The words of salvation are different, but the meaning is the same. They lived in different times, and in different social contexts, so they taught as would be understood. Jesus taught unity in terms of becoming one with God, while the Buddha taught in terms of ending the cycle of rebirth and attaining Nirvana. In metaphysical terms, these views are basically the same, just worded differently. As has been said, a rose by any other name still smells as sweet. Don't get hung up on terminology when it is the SPIRIT of the law that matters. Did not the Christ himself say as much?
Oops. In my post I put "Christians like me" That's a lie. I'm not a Christian anymore. Please omit that part, people. Thanks.
when jugement day comes the bible says god will allow time for people to except the way of christ who have never herd it.That way only the turly evil will suffer.
I guess I'm one of the truely evil people than. I sure as hell wouldn't accept a god who sends people to eternal damnation because they don't believe in him. ... who are you calling evil again?
Ah, well, fancy meeting someone who speaks all the same languages you do! (albeit my skills are limited) ^_^ I agree. Did you know that the Buddha isn't (in most Buddhist sects) actually worshipped? In some countries where Buddhism is very dominant (China and Japan being the major two), bowing before your teacher is a necessary sign of respect, under the mentality that, the more you respect your teacher, the more you will learn. In most other Buddhist countries, nobody worships or bows before statues of the Buddha, he is only considered the original teacher. The Buddha himself said that he is not divine, he is no more than a mere man, and that all men can do what he did. I agree again. There are some things I'm not fond of about Buddhism as well (like the idea of reincarnation), but I do think that both figures would make a pretty dynamic duo. =) It's like Alcoholics Anonymous versus Rational Recovery. One group tells you to put faith in a higher power, the other says only you can save yourself, through rational thinking. But they both ultimately have similar goals. =) I just have one major problem with the whole "Jesus died to absolve my sins" thing. I'm a sinner, I know. Everyone is. I confess them not just to any higher power, but to my fellow humans (all of you). However ... While I am guilty of my sins, why would it be acceptable to pass them off and allow Jesus to pay for them? I'm a man, and whether or not I deserve to be sentenced to Hell's wrath, I'm not about to pass my sins off so another person can suffer in my name, that's like, I continue smoking, but instead of me getting cancer, you get cancer. Now that's fine and dandy if you are alright with getting cancer (as Jesus was to die for us), but ... what justification is it to pass off your sins and have others pay for them, even though they consent to it?
ok so it seems like the popular christian belief is that jesus is the only way to salvation. If that is so, why did God change the rules after thousands of years of playing the game. Before Jesus was around obviously he wasn't the way to God.... So imagine going about your every day life with your faith that God is the key to heaven then all the sudden some long hair comes along and tells you that he's the only way, thats not logical. especially for the fact that thousands of people probably didn't even have the chance to hear of jesus until hundreds of years after his death, so they were automatically sentenced to hell then because they were unlucky enough to be born in America or something? That kinda contradicts the statement that god loves all, if he loves all why is he condemning people to hell without a chance of salvation, because for a long time there couldn't have even been a chance for them to hear rumors of jesus......can someone justify that for me?
Well, you may not be Christian, but you sure are cute. I just went to your gallery and all I can say is wow. You rock. Very lucky fiance you have there, and I agree with the replies to your pix, no cellulite as far as I can see.... and I looked hard for it. And nice tushy, nice tummy, and what a sweet smile. Two thumbs up. And on a more thread relevent note, excellent points you make about both Buddha and Jesus. Thanks.
Thank you very much. That was quite kind and I appreciate that. I'm sorry to say about 85% of the first page is coming down, though. And my fiance is lucky only to a point (you can look at me and then poof, I'm gone! He has to deal with me 24/7, LoL) But Chrome and Wizzy have also started worming their way into my heart as well. Particualry Chrome. Again, thank you for the compliments and I wish you and your loved ones health and peace.
soulrebel51 It isn't that god sends people to eternal damnation it is the sin we commit against god and not listening to his commandments that will send us to eternal damnation if we do not ask for forgiveness from Christ and his Heavenly father and if we do not accept that Christ died on the cross for our sin's and ask him to cleanse us in the blood he shed on the cross from our sin's it is then that we condemn ourselves to Hell. God has given each person 'Free will' to accept him or not. The choice is yours. He is a god that is full of love and wants to love us. Warlock
That counts me out, sorry Yehoshua, I just can't say I believe that. If it was true, and I had to slough off my lifetimes worth of indiscretions, sins, and wrongs onto someone elses shoulders, it surely would not be someone whom I hold in such high regard. I'd rather dump them onto someone like Satan, or one of his evil minions, if I was going to at all, which I am not. If my sins are in need of some type of restitution, or whatever, I will take responsibility for that myself thank you very much. I consider it to be wrong to try to pass the buck, or to assume that someone else will take the fall, or pay the price for something I did wrong. If I can't make it right, then I'll skip happily down to hell, whistling all the way. Heaven would be missing most of my heroes anyway. I could not bear to go there if the likes of Buddha, Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Chief Seattle, The Aga Khan, etc. are not good enough. I'd far rather go wherever these saints are headed, and to be quite honest, hell is not where I see them headed.
You were told to Love God, Love your neighbor, Love your enemies. Jesus did not tell you to hate anyone. Consigning anyone to hell for holding "unchristian" beliefs is an intolerant, hateful, self-contradictory act, an act you have he power to stop doing, right now. If you don't control your intolerance then who does? Who does your hatred really serve? If you insist on hating anyone, especially a descent human being like Buddha, then you must consider the fact that you are not practicing Christianity. I suggest you respond with contemplation and compassion.
Varuna - LOVE the siggy quote. The Big Lebowski is an awesome movie! SHUT THE FUCK UP, DONNIE! YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENT! LoL Classic.
