I really am not wanting to talk about all of that in this post though... I kind of want to talk more about an incident that happened while it was early in the morning and my sister's boyfriend, while pretty drunk, decided to begin a religious debate. You see, my sister's boyfriend is not really religious whatsoever. He claims to believe in some "higher power," but not necessarily in God and the christian religions. Well seeing as how the majority of my friends there that night were Catholic, you can only imagine how interesting and frustrating a debate can get when you begin it around 2 a.m. in the morning with people tipsy and not really prepared for something like that. My sister's boyfriend for some reason brought up how Catholicism was not the first religion out there and how Buddhism was a lot older. Now, at the time I was not totally in the right state of mind, but I do remember pointing out to him that no, Catholicism was not the first religion out there, but it was the first CHRISTIAN religion, which was totally different than Buddhism. I also was frustrated with myself the next day when I thought more about how even though Buddhism may have started before christian religions, it was also started in a total different area, geographically, than where Jesus lived and taught, and not only that, but how Judaism (which obviously believes in God) was the first religion, I am pretty sure, that started with the creation and Jesus, Himself, was born and raised a Jew.
Anyway, not being able to defend my faith the way I should have the next day I did some research on Buddhism. Buddhism happens to be an offspring of Hinduism. No one seems to be exactly sure of the date when Buddhism began, but most of the sights I have looked through all seem to agree it began somewhere in the fifth century B.C. (somewhere between 500 B.c.-599 B.C.) There is one website I found very helpful while looking info up, and you can find it here. One part I found interesting from the website, is put below...
One thing that did come out of this "debate" is that I decided I really need to study even more about not only what my faith fully believes and why, but also the viewpoints of other religions in case something like this comes up again. I am grateful to have a father who is so interested in this kind of stuff that he has a lot of information around the house for us to read, and I intend to do more of that.
A Comparative Study of Christianity and Buddhism
It is quite clear that Christianity and Buddhism differ from one another in fundamental ways. Some sects of Buddhism have tried to synchronize the two together. However, the two are so different, they cannot both be right at the same time, nor can the two be blended together. Here is a comparison of these two religions.
Much of the Buddhist scriptures and sayings attributed to Gautama were written about four hundred years after his death. By the time they were written, Buddhism had split into many sects. What do we have then? Even the best scholars are not sure of the accuracy of the Buddhist scriptures. In Christianity, however, we have an accurate historical account written by eyewitnesses to Jesus and the events surrounding His life.
The two differ in their concept of God. For Buddhists in general, the Absolute does not play a vital role in daily living. Gautama said little about his concept of God. Buddha denied the existence of a personal God but was monistic in his view of the Absolute as an impersonal force made up of all living things. The Bible teaches of a God who rules the universe, and cares for man in a personal way. Psalm 46:10 states, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the earth."
It is clear that Buddha never claimed to be deity. Although several sects have elevated him to athe status of a god, he clearly claimed to be only the way-shower to Nirvana. Jesus, however, claimed to be God and not simply a way-shower but instead the only way to eternal life. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 1:1 also states, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
There is another clear distinction between these two religions. Buddhism offers neither assurance of forgiveness or eternal life. Buddhists hope to enter into the state of Nirvana, but there is no clear, objective proof or teaching on what occurs beyond the grave. Even Buddha himself was not certain what lay beyond death. He left no clear teaching on Nirvana or eternity. What he did leave are philosophical speculations. Today the body of Buddha lies in a grave in Kusinara, at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. The facts of life after death still remain an unsolved mystery in Buddhism.
In Christianity we have One who amazed His audience because He taught eternal truths with authority. His authority came from the fact that He existed before creation, and He proved His claims by rising from the dead. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a proven fact of history and clearly demonstrates Christ's authority over sin and death. When witnessing to a Buddhist, ask him this: "Do you have tangible proof of what occurs after death?" All the Buddhist has is hope in a teaching Buddha was not sure of. As Christians, we have a certain hope in a risen Savior. There is no guessing what happens beyond the grave because Christ alone has conquered the grave.
2 comments:
Teresa,
I really love how you try anyway..the fact that you care, the fact that you make the effort and now are willing to study even more, is all God asks! Your examply shines before others greater than any head knowledge you can come up with too and just the fact that you love Christ and your Faith and are willing to stand up for it, sends a message that is more powerful than anything also. Still it is very good to let others know that even if you don't have the right words at the moment, you are willing to dig deeper and will come back and discuss..that you will not shy away and that you are loving and respectful in your approach, because although drunk and confused or even tipsy...those people are searching and that is why Jesus visited some of the local pubs and such too...He knew of their searching and He knew He wanted to give them the opportunity to learn while He was with us on earth in the physical way..so many don't know or understand that He is still with us in the Eucharist though. We ourselves take advantage of that too and that is for another discussion. Suffice it to say, you did well..His faithful servant!
Keep it up...be a light for others to follow as you so often are.
On another note, Shane shared with me that his Eng. teacher who used to be Catholic or something like that, started in about Mary the other day and he told me he defended our Mother and how we pray and ask her help not that we worship her or place her before God. I think he said there was another boy in the class who has one parent that is Catholic and also stood up for the Catholic teaching about Mary also.
If you think about it...thank Shane for doing that..it will increase his faith and lead him to be willing to do this sort of thing more often as sometimes it doesn't come easy for us.
Anyway, thanks from one Catholic to another for standing up for "our" Holy Faith and pray for those who do not understand that they may come to believe ..that is what we would want for ourselves if we had not had the blessing of this Faith handed onto us and also pray deeply for those who have and question it for whatever reasons they do. Joy be yours, Teresa! :)
+M
In the general Buddhist tradition there have been many "buddhas" throughout time, but I cannot say when exactly this came about...the most recent "buddha" was Siddhartha Gautama who lived somewhere around 563bc to 483bc but "scholars" bicker over this...Buddhism did branch from hinduism and there are many sects of buddhism (like Mahayana or Zen) all which are unique, with unique teachings, no formal scriptures (sort of a pick and chose which sutra or teaching the individual buddhist or community deems "true")...there is no real idea of a life after death, but they believe in reincarnation (most sects do anyways) or of having multiple lives and that bit, also most sects try to achieve "enlightenment" or "awakening" or also known as "nirvana" which is not really explained clearly (and what is explain of it, it is similar to being "high") and is different in each sect and how one achieves this varies drastically between sects as well...there are some general teachings which are said to be by the "buddha" himself such and one of the most famous is probably the "four noble truths" which basically teaches how one can end personal suffering which goes against the Christian notion of suffering...and buddhism is actually polytheistic though they believe in a "creator god"...anyways before I ramble any further...in my study of Buddhism (I bet you would have never expected me to write such a sentence, but I had to take a class on buddhism, it was either that or african anthropology, anyways) it appears what I would call "man made" in the sense that it is unstable and inconsistent, focused on legends and lore...whereas Christianity is consistent, unchanged and has remained such for thousands of years and that is even rooted in the Jewish tradition which spans thousands of years prior, that and there is document historicity of Christianity...I love how you say, "In Christianity we have One who amazed His audience because He taught eternal truths with authority. His authority came from the fact that He existed before creation, and He proved His claims by rising from the dead. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a proven fact of history and clearly demonstrates Christ's authority over sin and death. When witnessing to a Buddhist, ask him this: "Do you have tangible proof of what occurs after death?" All the Buddhist has is hope in a teaching Buddha was not sure of. As Christians, we have a certain hope in a risen Savior. There is no guessing what happens beyond the grave because Christ alone has conquered the grave." because it is true...and Christ is Truth.
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