Poll: Give up your religion to save a stranger

[Unveiled Artist]

I guess my point of view is that there is no giving up of one's faith to save another at all. If I had to give my life to a child, I would and in that giving, I would not be affecting my faith or giving up anything.

We can use that example.

If I were christian and someone, even satan, told me to turn from god to save my child I would.

This is taking out the safety net of god will understand.

 

[Aupmanyav]

You don't think he wanted what?

This: "And even if you're sitting on a couch it would like take hours of meditations, exerting ones self to focus, resisting distractions etc." Buddha was a practical person.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I think she means more in an outward way... Such as being forced to deny your God if it means saving another's life. =)

Shout it please.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Of course. I would give up my life for anothers if I were called to do so.
I would not, however, give up my faith.

And I agree, But it's a hypothetical so the point is to play along.

You give up your life but not your faith?

That doesnt make sense. Well, to me. Id give up my faith before I give up my life. And because my faith is my life, by default, Id be following my faith by puting aside my enlightenment/my faith to save another.

Though, in my faith life is the greatest tenant. Boddhisattvas lead others to enlightenment before they lead themselves.

They think of others before their own religion/enlightenment.

 

[Aupmanyav]

I'm not sure one would have to give up their faith at all to help someone else. In the example of the woman from Kentucky, I think she was wrong and furthermore, I think that her giving a marriage licence to a gay couple should not have even been a factor in her faith. The separation of church and state is law. In my profession (critical care nurse), I had to take care of people whom I strongly disagreed with their faith and its tenets. If a parent would not give blood to a child, for example, and that child was going to die without it, I would have to adhere to their wishes. Another example might be a woman having a late term abortion and I would still have to care for her, if I were a pro-life person based on my faith. IMO, I would care for a person no matter what. So the question you ask seems ..hmmmm...not irrelevant, but rather just not something I would consider.

That is what 'dharma' is. Fulfilling one's duty. As a nurse, your dharma will be to nurse people irrespective of anything else.

 

[Thana]

You give up your life but not your faith?

That doesnt make sense. Well, to me. Id give up my faith before I give up my life. And because my faith is my life, my default, Id give that up to save another.

Though, in my faith life is the greatest tenant. Boddhisattvas lead others to enlightenment before they lead themselves.

They think of others before their own religion/enlightenment.

So you value your life more than your faith. I value my faith more than my life.

 

[JoStories]

That is what 'dharma' is. Fulfilling one's duty. As a nurse, your dharma will be to nurse people irrespective of anything else.

Very true and what I came to this life to do. And to learn and fully understand the concept of loss. In all of that, and my time being a nurse; retired now, I cannot conceive how helping or even giving up one's life would in any way affect my faith. It simply doesn't make sense to me.

 

[JoStories]

You give up your life but not your faith?

That doesnt make sense. Well, to me. Id give up my faith before I give up my life. And because my faith is my life, my default, Id give that up to save another.

Though, in my faith life is the greatest tenant. Boddhisattvas lead others to enlightenment before they lead themselves.

They think of others before their own religion/enlightenment.

Can't you see how giving up your life is the epitome of the faith you follow? I wonder, is this question you ask, it is based on a fear of death? Death is but a way-station to the next life you will have. I don't fear death at all, though I am not really all that interested in the pain that precedes death. But I would ask....do soldiers defending one's country, knowing that death is a possibility, does that affect their faith? IMO, not in the slightest.

 

[JoStories]

We can use that example.

If I were christian and someone, even satan, told me to turn from god to save my child I would.

This is taking out the safety net of god will understand.

I strongly disagree. Many years ago, my ex wanted to take my children from me. I asked my children what they wanted and allowed them to make that choice, in the process condemning myself to a lifetime of serious emotional pain. My choice was based on my faith and my path to enlightenment. An incredibly hard lesson, I can tell you, but in no way did my belief in God waver for even an instant.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Quoting Krishna in Gita for this:

"Shreyan sva-dharmo vigunah, para dharmat svanushthitat;
sva-dharme nidhanam shreyah, para-dharmo bhayavahah." BG 4.35

Even if one fulfills his/her own dharma faultily, that is better than following some one else's path perfectly;
it is better to die performing one's duty, for to follow another's path is dangerous.

 

[Mycroft]

It wouldn't be, though.
How many times were people martyred for their faith in the bible, Why would God expect them to give up their own lives to keep their faith but not apply that to anothers life?

Then it isn't faith you have, but a comfort blanket.

 

[Thana]

Then it isn't faith you have, but a comfort blanket.

Ice cream is my comfort blanket.

Faith is my everything. And you can look down on it, but that has to do with your issues not mine.

 

[Mycroft]

Ice cream is my comfort blanket.

Faith is my everything. And you can look down on it, but that has to do with your issues not mine.

But isn't faith also doing something whether you want to or not, and trusting that god will have a plan anyway? Which, I suppose, makes the OP's question a bit paradoxical.

 

[Thana]

But isn't faith also doing something whether you want to or not, and trusting that god will have a plan anyway? Which, I suppose, makes the OP's question a bit paradoxical.

I don't understand what you're trying to say..?

 

[Thanda]

Yes, it is illogical to cause hurt to other people without reason, irrespective of whether there is an other side or not.

Indeed. But without an afterlife there a whole lot of "reasons" one can come up with to cause hurts

 

[Thanda]

This: "And even if you're sitting on a couch it would like take hours of meditations, exerting ones self to focus, resisting distractions etc." Buddha was a practical person.

Are you saying Buddha didn't want people trying to achieve enlightenment by meditation alone? If so, I agree and that was the point I was making to Carlita

 

[MARCELLO]

Would you pls help me to understand how to give up my religion to save a stranger? Are the strangers saved when someone gives up religion?

 

[ThirtyThree]

Never. No stranger is worth such an expense.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

So you value your life more than your faith. I value my faith more than my life.

My life is my faith. So if I take my life for someone else, that Is my faith. I cannot imagine any faith who has charity but cuts their charity off (has a boundry line) if they had to save someone by giving up their most greatest treasure: their religion.

Charity or fasting is that because you are giving up what you prize the most for someone else. If defeats the purpose if you say "I will help you live but if you tell me to turn from god first, I let you starve"

There is no safety note net statement and non exclusion to the rules in charity. According to many posts, not everyone feels the same.

 

[LuisDantas]

Indeed. But without an afterlife there a whole lot of "reasons" one can come up with to cause hurts

More than "with" an afterlife, is that what you mean?

That is just not a statement that I find at all credible. I have met far too much evidence to the contrary.