Date:   9/2/2004 8:22:37 PM ( 20 y ago)
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URL:   https://www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=273176

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I believe you are mistaken in many ways. Jesus was a nice guy in the Sermon on the Mount, but he was also angry and vengeful.
There are many instances of that.

Jesus said "I come not in peace but with a sword. I have come to (set relatives against one another and sow discord)." Jesus said you are to leave your family and abandon them and follow Him. He rebuked people who tried to help him.

He said that there was an unforgiveable sin, the blasphemy of the HOly Spirit. He teaches infinite punishment in hell for people who have finite lives.

None of this anger and vengefulness that Jesus talks about is remotely like anything in Buddhism.

Buddhism does not have original sin, or substitutionary atonement (that Jesus died for your sins). Buddhism does not maintain that it is any better than any other religion, or that people who do not subscribe to it are condemned to an eternal fiery hell, unlike Christianity. Buddhism does not force people to convert or die; or bribe them with food and medicine to convert them, unlike Christian missionaries in Africa and Asia.

As far as I know, only Christianity and Islam think they are the sole true religion, and that non believers must be converted or killed. All the other major religions that I know of believe in recognizing the goodness of a moral person of any belief, or even an atheist.

In Buddhism you can easily be an atheist. Gautama the Buddha is NOT a God, only a person who simplified Hinduism and became enlightened and tried to teach others. You can believe in reincarnation, or not, and be a Buddhist.

Buddhism is far, far different than Christianity.

I have been reading and studying Buddhism since approximately 1974, and for you to tell me that I don't understand it is pretty insulting. I think you should study the Four Noble Truths, karma, the Eightfold Path, the Triple Gem (the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha) and the divisions like Theravada[lesser vehicle], Mahayana[greater vehicle], Vajrayana[diamond way],
Zen and Pure Land, scriptures like the Pali Canon, and then talk about it.

If you think Buddhism is like Christianity you are quite mistaken.

Furthermore, when I was trying to be a Christian, I told the people in my church how hurtful their words and actions were. I told them I w I tried to deal with my anger by yelling at the preachers and telling them exactly how I felt. I did not know what else to do. I said I wanted to crawl in a hole and die and screamed at the preacher. It did not change them. It only made me run like hell to get away from these people. I will never let anyone tell me things like that again. They destroy people all the time.

This was at an african-american church. I do not understand why black people will let a black preacher tell them they are sinful and bad, and tolerate it, when they would be rioting in the streets if Whitey told them they were bad, like Whitey did when slavery and segregation were normal. But that is an aside. Nobody, no matter what color they are, should tolerate that kind of tearing down.


I do not mention my prior religious experiences when I am around Buddhists, and never have.

I think there are many reasons why a lot of people do not want to be around Christians of any kind. There are several million of us in the United States. Christians want their crosses everywhere, including the courthouse, and their prayers in all public meetings, and then when they are told they have to accommodate other beliefs or non beliefs, they scream about how persecuted they are and then sue the government body over it.
They obviously haven't read the part about praying in secret.
I don't know why they so obsessively have to remind themselves of their faith all the time and can't think about what they are doing.

I know that Buddhism does not condone hatred, and I am working on that. However, in American culture, the culture is overwhelmingly Christian which is extremely irritating to me. That is why I avoid all its messages and symbols. It is a failed, hateful and inconsistent religion, and it's not for me. People who gloss over its faults are just fooling themselves.

If you want to read some hair raising stories, go over to the SEcular Web and the internet Infidels Discussion Board. My story is sadly typical, and there are many stories of mistreatment by Christians that are much worse.


 

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