Christianity Conversion

[GiantHouseKey]

Hi, do u still have belief and faith in God? not talking about Jesus, but abiout 1 alone God?

If we're talking about your idea of what God is then not I don't believe in God. It gets a bit more complicated when we start talking about what God is and what God means.

But for the sake of simplicity, and for the purposes of this conversation, my faith is atheistic.

GhK.

 

[syberpriend]

If we're talking about your idea of what God is then not I don't believe in God. It gets a bit more complicated when we start talking about what God is and what God means.

But for the sake of simplicity, and for the purposes of this conversation, my faith is atheistic.

GhK.

Well, I didnt ask about my God, for me God is same for every1, for all religions, its only the different way of worshiping and seeing him. By the way, wat turns u to an athiest if u dont mind answering

 

[GiantHouseKey]

Well, I didnt ask about my God, for me God is same for every1, for all religions, its only the different way of worshiping and seeing him.

Sure, I was just making a distinction due to the many different concepts of God. The Monotheists version God and the Panentheists version of God are somewhat different, so I was talking more specifically about the Abrahamic God rather than just your own concept of God. Sorry for the confusion

By the way, wat turns u to an athiest if u dont mind answering

Course I don't mind It's nice to hear somebody treating me with respect after recent encounters with some members on RF (No names, no lawsuits).

I suppose I didn't see the objective existance of God to be either evidenced or necessary. I suppose i'm really an agnostic. I don't see the existance of God to be impossible, but neither do I see any of the claims that the majority of monotheists make to be possible either.

It's a little bit more complicated than most atheists answers though. I almost DO believe in God, but my God concept is so far from what most people would consider to be God that it isn't really...
...That, and I don't call it God.

GhK.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Wow, dats nice to hear, but wat are the teachings of Buddha? do he believe in God? wat inspire u to be Buddhist Xiao?

Ummmm...Buddha never said anything about god. Believing in god is almost against what Buddhists believe. Believing in a transcendent god just perpetuates the illusion of dualism. Here is the basic Buddhist beliefs summed up in the Four Noble Truths.
First Truth-There is suffering in the world.
Second Truth-That suffering is caused by ignorant desire.
Third Truth-There is a cure for suffering.
Fourth Truth-The cure is the Noble Eightfold Path.
Noble Eightfold Path
1. Right View 2. Right Intention 3. Right Speech 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration

I would like to note that first and foremost I am a Taoist.

 

[MoonWater]

I was raised Christian but it was really just me and my mother who went and she is quite liberal about the whole thing. In fact I think I may have been more orthodox in my beliefs than her at one point. I have a distinct memory of telling my dad(who is agnostic and didn't attend church) "not to take the lord's name in vain". lol. I think I was ten and I don't remember what brought it up. I started to drift away in high school and looked into Buddhism, then Paganism, then my own thing, even star wars for a time which led me to Taoism and now I'm reverting back to Paganism.

 

[syberpriend]

Sure, I was just making a distinction due to the many different concepts of God. The Monotheists version God and the Panentheists version of God are somewhat different, so I was talking more specifically about the Abrahamic God rather than just your own concept of God. Sorry for the confusion
I think God never said he have many cousins or family members, its assumptions made by humans, no religious scripture in real show many kind of gods.
Course I don't mind It's nice to hear somebody treating me with respect after recent encounters with some members on RF (No names, no lawsuits).

I suppose I didn't see the objective existance of God to be either evidenced or necessary. I suppose i'm really an agnostic. I don't see the existance of God to be impossible, but neither do I see any of the claims that the majority of monotheists make to be possible either.

It's a little bit more complicated than most atheists answers though. I almost DO believe in God, but my God concept is so far from what most people would consider to be God that it isn't really...
...That, and I don't call it God.

I do realise ur concern my friend , but is it cause of the suffering in the world and problems, dat u think God dont care for us? Concept of God can be different, but in the end, it brings to same 1 God, the supreme power of universe, so wats ur definition and concept of God, its still unclear my friend,

Thanks again and nice talk

 

[syberpriend]

Ummmm...Buddha never said anything about god. Believing in god is almost against what Buddhists believe. Believing in a transcendent god just perpetuates the illusion of dualism. Here is the basic Buddhist beliefs summed up in the Four Noble Truths.
First Truth-There is suffering in the world.
Second Truth-That suffering is caused by ignorant desire.
Third Truth-There is a cure for suffering.
Fourth Truth-The cure is the Noble Eightfold Path.
Noble Eightfold Path
1. Right View 2. Right Intention 3. Right Speech 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration

I would like to note that first and foremost I am a Taoist.

Well Xiao, Buddha ever deny God,
http://www.dlshq.org/religions/buddhism.htm
Actually if u read the complete life, he was against the wrong system of society, e.g in Hindus the cast system, that bbrought the suffering in the peoples of that time, for that he made reforms, and gave the noble 4 points and eightfold path. Also he never claim to be himself god, or to be followed, as now a days buddhists do, by making his statue for worshipping whatever form is that. Even if u see Buddhist countries e.g China, Thailand etc etc, they have same suffering and problems as rest of world has.
For you as a Taoist, its also reforms and moral teachings, and I admire this as well. but just 1 question, can there be multiple gods runing this world and having control of this universe? wont there be complications and mistakes in creations and control of the universe?

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Well Xiao, Buddha ever deny God,
http://www.dlshq.org/religions/buddhism.htm
Actually if u read the complete life, he was against the wrong system of society, e.g in Hindus the cast system, that bbrought the suffering in the peoples of that time, for that he made reforms, and gave the noble 4 points and eightfold path. Also he never claim to be himself god, or to be followed, as now a days buddhists do, by making his statue for worshipping whatever form is that. Even if u see Buddhist countries e.g China, Thailand etc etc, they have same suffering and problems as rest of world has.
For you as a Taoist, its also reforms and moral teachings, and I admire this as well. but just 1 question, can there be multiple gods runing this world and having control of this universe? wont there be complications and mistakes in creations and control of the universe?

I personally do not believe in any gods. Also we venerate the Buddha, we do not worship him. It is true that some forms of Buddhism have been turned into worship. In general though, like I said, Buddhists do not worship the Buddha. Most of the statues in Buddhist temples are Bodhisattva that represent a quality, like compassion or wisdom. They are just metaphors.

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Well Xiao, Buddha ever deny God,
http://www.dlshq.org/religions/buddhism.htm
Actually if u read the complete life, he was against the wrong system of society, e.g in Hindus the cast system, that bbrought the suffering in the peoples of that time, for that he made reforms, and gave the noble 4 points and eightfold path. Also he never claim to be himself god, or to be followed, as now a days buddhists do, by making his statue for worshipping whatever form is that. Even if u see Buddhist countries e.g China, Thailand etc etc, they have same suffering and problems as rest of world has.
For you as a Taoist, its also reforms and moral teachings, and I admire this as well. but just 1 question, can there be multiple gods runing this world and having control of this universe? wont there be complications and mistakes in creations and control of the universe?

Also this link that you have here is to an article written by a Hindu. Many Hindus just say Buddha was an avatar of Vishnu. That argument was used to absorb the Buddhism of India into Hinduism.

 

[GiantHouseKey]

I think God never said he have many cousins or family members, its assumptions made by humans, no religious scripture in real show many kind of gods.

That's not what I meant either Im not sure if you understand what I mean, when I say that there's more than one idea of what 'God' is. My idea is different to yours, regardless of whether or not we believe either to be the only one. Do you see what I mean?

I do realise ur concern my friend , but is it cause of the suffering in the world and problems, dat u think God dont care for us? Concept of God can be different, but in the end, it brings to same 1 God, the supreme power of universe, so wats ur definition and concept of God, its still unclear my friend

I don't think God is the cause of suffering in the world, because I don't think God exists.

Well if you want to deconstruct it from a monotheist level, firstly we could say that I don't believe the God is omnipotent. I also don't believe that God is omnibenevolent, in fact I think that God is neutral in that respect.

So you go to the next level of asking yourself 'What IS God?'. And it gets further and further away from what people call 'God' so I decide not to use the term anymore.

Starting to make any more sense? Sorry if not.

GhK.

 

[TheKnight]

I was a Christian. Then left it for Judaism.

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

Buddha never said anything about god. Believing in god is almost against what Buddhists believe.

Not really.

While some Buddhist groups today are atheistic, others are theistic!

And despite the fact that God isn't named explicitly, the Buddhist scriptures do contain statements such as these:

"There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. Were there not, O monks, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. Since, O monks, there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed. What is dependant, that also moves; what is independent does not move."
—(Udana 8:3)

Buddhist scriptures also speak of “gods and men.”

Peace,

Bruce

 

[Herr Heinrich]

Greetings!



Not really.

While some Buddhist groups today are atheistic, others are theistic!

And despite the fact that God isn't named explicitly, the Buddhist scriptures do contain statements such as these:

"There is, O monks, an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. Were there not, O monks, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed. Since, O monks, there is an Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed. What is dependant, that also moves; what is independent does not move."
—(Udana 8:3)

Buddhist scriptures also speak of “gods and men.”

Peace,

Bruce

Buddha is not describing god here. What he is describing is Sunyata or "emptiness". It is not empty as in nothing it is empty as in has the possibility for anything to arise from it. Kind of like a blank piece of paper. Anything can be drawn on that blankness. It is a difficult thing to understand. We unenlightened beings can not fully comprehend. Anyway, like I said before believieng in god is almost non-Buddhist. It just perpetuates the idea of dualism. That we are somehow separate from this all-mighty being.

p.s. As a Taoist I would call what he is describing as Tao. Everything is born of Tao. Tao is the only eternal.

 

[Riverwolf]

Wow, dats nice to hear, but wat are the teachings of Buddha? do he believe in God? wat inspire u to be Buddhist Xiao?

1. Suffering (Dukkha) exists.
2. The cause of suffering is selfish-desire.
3. Suffering can cease by letting go of selfish desires.
4. The eightfold path of right action, right understanding, right speech, right thought, right effort, right livelyhood, right mindfulness, and right meditation lead to the cecassion of selfish desires.

THAT is what the Buddha taught. For more information, read "What the Buddha Taught."

 

[syberpriend]

1. Suffering (Dukkha) exists.
2. The cause of suffering is selfish-desire.
3. Suffering can cease by letting go of selfish desires.
4. The eightfold path of right action, right understanding, right speech, right thought, right effort, right livelyhood, right mindfulness, and right meditation lead to the cecassion of selfish desires.

THAT is what the Buddha taught. For more information, read "What the Buddha Taught."

Dear Riverwolf, thanks for the response, but u gave extract of Buddha's teaching, but its not complete im afraid.
Read this, u will get full idea what was the reason Buddda left his palace, and gave the thoughts.
Buddhism

 

[Riverwolf]

Also this link that you have here is to an article written by a Hindu. Many Hindus just say Buddha was an avatar of Vishnu. That argument was used to absorb the Buddhism of India into Hinduism.

And not true. I think if Buddha were Visnu, he would have made it quite clear.

 

[Breathe]

Dear Riverwolf, thanks for the response, but u gave extract of Buddha's teaching, but its not complete im afraid.
Read this, u will get full idea what was the reason Buddda left his palace, and gave the thoughts.
Buddhism

Syberpriend my friend, this website that you have posted to us is from a Hindu swami, and not from a Buddhist, so some of the beliefs in here (such as avatar of Vishnu) are from a (more inclusive) Hindu mindset as opposed to the traditional Buddhist one.

 

[syberpriend]

Syberpriend my friend, this website that you have posted to us is from a Hindu swami, and not from a Buddhist, so some of the beliefs in here (such as avatar of Vishnu) are from a (more inclusive) Hindu mindset as opposed to the traditional Buddhist one.

I know Odion but the good point raised in this site, for Buddha's journey is that in Hinduism, due to case system, the Brahamans I think rule most, and Shudra's are ill-treated, which Buddha dislike, and he gave his reformations. hope its clear now

 

[Riverwolf]

Dear Riverwolf, thanks for the response, but u gave extract of Buddha's teaching, but its not complete im afraid.
Read this, u will get full idea what was the reason Buddda left his palace, and gave the thoughts.
Buddhism

I know it wasn't a very in-depth description. That's why I directed you to a book. ^_^

 

[Riverwolf]

I know Odion but the good point raised in this site, for Buddha's journey is that in Hinduism, due to case system, the Brahamans I think rule most, and Shudra's are ill-treated, which Buddha dislike, and he gave his reformations. hope its clear now

There's more to it than that.

The Buddha objected to these aspects of religion in general, though he was specifically referring to the Hinduism he was raised with. (These are copied from class notes

1. Authority. You are right: the Brahmins (Brahmanas) pretty much controlled Hinduism, and Shudras weren't treated well at all. Not to mention there was the existence of the untoucheables. This kind of thing is no longer orthodox in Hinduism, mind you.
2. Ritual. The Buddha saw this as an attempt to gain favor, which is fueled by selfish desire.
3. Speculation. The Buddha believed that speculation about things that we can't explain distracted from the actual goal in life.
4. Tradition. More specifically, tradition for its own sake rather than for an actual purpose.
5. Mystery. According to my notes, this means occultic/magick practices. (Modern day equivalents are such things as oracles, etc...) He objected to these because he believed them to be distractions.
6. Supernatural appeal, which is synonymous with the above.

Reading Hindu scripture from the time, what I see the Buddha as doing is that he stripped the Hindu beliefs of the time to the core teachings. The Four Noble Truths are there in Hinduism, but they're obscured by the six things mentioned above. The Buddha made them clear.