footprints
Well-Known Member
In a home study document for an adoption, our social worker wrote that my wife and I had "christian morals and ethics". I was offended.
Some people are easily offended.
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Was Gandhi the most Christian of humans in recent times?
- Thread starter sandandfoam
- Start date
Some people are easily offended.
dogsgod
Well-Known Member
Christian morals and ethics are offensive.Some people are easily offended.
Smoke
Done here.
Agree.
However, rather than saying it was offensive, I should have said No, I don't think Gandhi was the the most Christian person of the 20th century. What a horrible thing to say about a great man.
I'll try to remember for next time. It comes up every so often.
Smoke
Done here.
That's a seriously messed-up thing for a social worker to say on a home study document. I realize that ******* off your social worker probably isn't what one really wants to do, but I'd have been tempted to say, "No, we value education, so our values are really more Jewish than Christian."In a home study document for an adoption, our social worker wrote that my wife and I had "christian morals and ethics". I was offended.
ericoh2
******
I agree, Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sai Baba of Shirdi are good examples. Meher Baba and Ramana Maharshi are a couple more.
footprints
Well-Known Member
I know others say the same pertaining to other beliefs, your own beliefs included.
So who's belief is right? Personally I would say they all are.
To quote from the bible, let him without sin, cast the first stone.
footprints
Well-Known Member
Ghandi gave the world the best rendition (other than the alleged Jesus) of turning the other cheek, that the world has ever seen. Defeated the English without firing a single shot.
Next time it comes up, point out that Hindus used to eat meat and that their vegetarianism is largely due to the influence of Jainism.I guess now we'll need a thread defining "Hindu."
I've mentioned this before, but I had a Hindu student who used to chastise me for eating meat. I told her some Buddhists eat meat and some don't. She responded that Hindus don't eat meat, and Buddhists are really Hindus, so it's wrong for Buddhists to eat meat.
Of course, I know Hindus who eat meat, as far as that goes, but I enjoyed her argument.
I think that they were both willing to sacrifice everything for their cause. There isn't any point in trying to decide who was better at what. That is kind of silly.
What we know is what Jesus represented. Or at least what he represents to each individual. If Gandhi matches up to that representation then you can call him Christ-like. If he doesn't, then don't. It hardly matters. Gandhi was a good person. If Jesus existed then I personally think he was also a good person. That's that.
What we know is what Jesus represented. Or at least what he represents to each individual. If Gandhi matches up to that representation then you can call him Christ-like. If he doesn't, then don't. It hardly matters. Gandhi was a good person. If Jesus existed then I personally think he was also a good person. That's that.
ericoh2
******
Is defeating somebody, even through non violent means, really an example of turning the other cheek? I don't see Jesus as one who promoted political social resistance but one who spoke to the individual in an effort to promote a new way of perceiving and approaching reality. There is still an element of belief that freedom is dependent on your external circumstances in Gandhi's approach, where I see Jesus teaching that true freedom must arise from within the individual. I will say that in the task that Gandhi undertook he was probably using the most enlightened approach of any famous 20th century figure but I don't see him as one who transcended the "common view of reality" to the degree of someone like a Jesus, Meher Baba or Buddha.
Zadok
Zadok
Jesus taught that his disciples were to be identified by their love and compassion for others (fruit) and not by their doctrine.
It is sad that so many that think themselves Christian do so to obtain for themselves gifts of salvation in the eternities. But a disciple of the Christ is Christ like and is not about taking blessings unto themselves but sacrifices themselves in order to give the only thing that is theirs to give. And so they give their eternal soul without expectation or demands of glory unto themselves. Being a Christian is not so one can brag about their someday personal eternal bliss. I suspect that many that profess to be Christian will, once they understand what it is to be Christ like, settle for something more in line with a heaven envisioned by the Pharisees than what was demonstrated by Jesus.
I can accept that Gandhi was Christ like in many ways.
Zadok
It is sad that so many that think themselves Christian do so to obtain for themselves gifts of salvation in the eternities. But a disciple of the Christ is Christ like and is not about taking blessings unto themselves but sacrifices themselves in order to give the only thing that is theirs to give. And so they give their eternal soul without expectation or demands of glory unto themselves. Being a Christian is not so one can brag about their someday personal eternal bliss. I suspect that many that profess to be Christian will, once they understand what it is to be Christ like, settle for something more in line with a heaven envisioned by the Pharisees than what was demonstrated by Jesus.
I can accept that Gandhi was Christ like in many ways.
Zadok
Hevenly Heathen
Seeker
I don't think it is possible to make that assumption: we don't know everybody, how can they just choose Ghandi? Everyone has some Christ-like qualities, even if it's just that they were born of woman. How does one define the most Christian? How does one choose among billions of souls?
footprints
Well-Known Member
Turning the other cheek is a teaching method, nothing more nothing less. It of course only works on the rational and the sane, for the abusive see their own abuse and refrain. In this day and age it is more than likely to be aligned with a sign of weakness, rather the position of strength which it really is.
There is more than one way to defeat an enemy. There is war, and there is intelligence. Ghandi used intelligence and won, Jesus used intelligence and lost.
Jesus cannot be held accountable, for what modern mankind have done to him, or make him by their own perception and association. Neither can Meher Baba or Buddha for that matter.
All enlightened people see and view the world through the same eyes. This is one of the only ways you can tell if a person is truely enlightened. I wouldn't say Ghandi was enlightened, albeit would have been close. Close enough of course, to understand and use the wisdom of those who were enlightened, that he knew of.
ericoh2
******
Gandhi was incredibly sincere, honest and devoted to his cause. In comparison with other politicians he is really in a league of his own. You said yourself that you wouldn't consider Gandhi enlightened, so I was just pointing out that I would not consider him the closest human to Jesus in the 20th century. I would say that Meher Baba, Ramakrishna, Osho, Gurdjiefff, Ramana Maharashi, Krishnamurti, Sai Baba of Shirdi, Upsani Maharaj, Hazrat Babajan etc. were Christlike in a more complete sense than Gandhi.
Gandhi didn't consider his work a conflict. He wasn't trying to win over anyone. The Raj was not his enemy. In fact, he told his followers he had no enemies, just friends who were "mistaken" about certain issues.
Perspicacious, perhaps but not enlightened.
The enlightened are not necessarily wise, just aware.
Wannabe Yogi
Well-Known Member
A lesson I forget every day.