In the book What Buddhists Believe by author Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, it's stated,
"Human beings are the only beings in the world who have discovered religion and perform worship and pray by upholding religious principles" (Page 318).
Let's throw in a definition of 'religion' according to dictionary.com...
"...a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs."
Buddhism would accept the latter part of that definition, "containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs". The Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path of Enlightenment embody, just that. They do not incorporate anything or anyone "superhuman". They do everything out of their own effort to bring themselves to the desired point of ceasing to desire anything, reaching their Nirvana.
Followers of Jesus Christ do not accept the idea of being or belonging to a religion. Belonging to God through Jesus Christ constitutes a relationship. A relationship with God Who is definitely The Superhuman Agent (I say, respectfully). He is the Divine, everlasting Father, and the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth and all that in them are.
Look at this definition of 'relationship' gathered from Google:
"...the way in which two or more...people are connected or the state of being connected..."
"...the state of being connected by blood or marriage..."
"...the way in which two or more people or organizations regard and behave toward each other..."
See that...? The relationship between mankind and God, through Jesus Christ, encompasses all that.
This is what God offers the entire human race! It is the relationship we have with God, through Jesus Christ that will govern our behavior towards Him. He is the steady, ever faithful, loving One Who never changes:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8 ESV).
Praise His Holy Name!
Being a child of God is not a religion, it is a relationship.
Out of gratitude and love from our innermost being, we will behave according to God's precepts; His will and ways for mankind. God has always sought a relationship with the people He created. When you search through the whole Old Testament you will discover time and time again how he reached out to various individuals as well as to the multitude of Israelites.
God sent them many faithful and mighty men, and some women, of God to help lead and guide them. Men and women like Moses, Miriam, Joshua, the string of judges and prophets, and even through several of the kings of Israel such as King David.
In the New Testament we discover God sent His One and Only Son Jesus (John 3:16) to more than connect with His creatures--mankind. He did everything possible to demonstrate His love and and great desire to connect. His great desire for relationship.
It's up to the individual human being: man, woman and children to seek Him. When one seeks God, one will find Him ready and willing to make him or her His son or daughter.
There is a funny pun that goes, "make a bridge and get over it". God made the biggest "bridge" ever for mankind to get over to Him. That "bridge" was made at ultimate cost to God. The cost...the death of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Jesus paid the penalty for sin. He took on all our sins, suffering and death. He got the victory over each of them.
When any person accepts this gift of salvation that comes totally free for him or her, they will have gone over the bridge to Him. A relationship, won out of love for mankind, not ritual religion, will have begun.
When we reciprocate that love back to God for all He has done for us, we will worship. We will desire what he desires. The Creator of the whole Heavens and Earth...He is worthy of all praise and adoration. He is unquestionably worth a sustained, connected relationship.
In Buddhism, the individual stays unattached to any being--they do everything on their own. They follow their own rules and regulations. They are lord and master of themselves. The nature of Buddhism is to "save oneself" and it is done by following the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path to Enlightenment as mentioned earlier. The cause and the effect of choosing good/bad behavior results therefore, in accepting/suffering ones' own good/bad consequences.
The progress towards Buddhist salvation is a long, hard road, taking decades, a millennia, and hundreds of thousands of "rebirths" of the "mental continuum" to hopefully attain the desired goal of the end of all suffering of that mind--Nirvana.
Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, the author of What Buddhists Believe, and on which this blog series is based, quotes Buddha as saying,
"One must not accept my teachings from reverence, but first try them as gold is tried by fire'" (Page 322).
This is excellent advice. The Word of God, the Bible has a parallel caution in 1 John 4:1-3 (NIV).
"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world....This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God..."
There is much good in many of the religions of the world, one must sincerely search and research for the Truth. I pray that each and every one of the readers of this blog will desire to do that and especially desire that everlasting relationship one can have with God through making Jesus Christ Savior and Lord of one's life. Jesus gave His life for one and all; He shed His blood for one and all. Accept Jesus, and as the Google definition explained, be "connected by blood" to have a fulfilling relationship with Him. Therein is forgiveness of sins. Therein is everlasting life. Therein is relationship, not religion.
We do not answer to ourselves. We must live in submission to God but He does not want subservience. He wants His children to work in tandem with Him. We human beings acknowledge God as the superior, greater, supreme power over all yet have that working relationship with Him to accomplish His purposes in our own life as well as in the lives of others.
Input from Sri Dhammananda reads,
"Humans [may have] developed religion in order to satisfy their desire to understand the life within them and the world outside them" (Page 319).
...however God initiated relationship with mankind. In fact Ecclesiastes 3:11 informs us that God
"...put eternity in mankind's heart."
There is a "God-shaped" region in the human heart that needs filling. That is why mankind attempts to connect with 'someone' or 'something'. Many are not aware of this and subconsciously seek to fill the area with good deeds, drugs, work, etc. As the dictionary.com put it, they are in search of "supreme agency or agencies".
In this mode, the attempts are from their own human thought. Much of those thoughts are good but fall short. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. His thoughts are much bigger and better (Isaiah 55:8-9). His thoughts are all encompassing and perfect. His way is perfect (Psalm 18:30).
May each of you begin, revive, and /or sustain, not religion, but a relationship with your Creator, God. He's waiting for you, out of your own free will, on the other side of the bridge. The name of the bridge is, "Jesus".
There is a song from Don Moen called Jesus We Enthrone You with some lyrics that read, "we claim You standing here in the midst of us" that can raise praise for Jesus. (You can listen by clicking on the link.) Let Jesus be the bridge for you and then claim Him as King of your life.
This is not to try to convert you to a religion but to offer you the best relationship you could ever have. Just think of how wonderful it must have been for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The awesome, breath-taking beauty of the place; the company of the menagerie of animals that were all tame and friendly. Maybe Adam even got to wrestle with lions or pit his strength against a rhino for fun. Eve didn't have to cook, wash the dishes or the clothes, or clean house. They could skinny-dip safely in the rivers with crocodiles and piranhas. Best of all, in the cool of the day they had a visit from God Who would commune with them daily. All was peace and harmony and seemingly unending.
That all came crashing down when Adam and Eve disobeyed the one rule God had given them. How tragic! They attempted then the first cover-up of all time; fig-leaf clothing and hiding from God.
Why'd they do it?
The serpent tempted and deceived Eve, having said "...like really?!! Did God really say that?"
One of my friends likes to point out: Adam and Eve were the only two persons in the whole of the Garden. They were husband and wife, why did they need clothing?!
It doesn't make sense, but after all, the temptation to become "like God"...knowing everything... was the bait. That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? To be "like God".
This disobedience brought an avalanche of misery.
That was when the first of the animals got slaughtered. God made Adam and Eve some more lasting clothing out of animal skins (Genesis 3:21).
Imagine Adam and Eve's horror at seeing the innocent dead animal. An animal from among the animals that had been their 'friends'; it's body lifeless and bleeding. It had died on their account.
More huge losses: sent out of that spectacular Garden to till the soil by the sweat of one's brow; to give childbirth in pain; have one son murder the other; etc. They were for ever after reminded of their disobedience to God and his authority in their life and that they were not very like God.
They had to learn, in the most devastating of ways, that they could never be like God; they could never save themselves; they could never be gods. They learned that disobedience to God cost big time and the consequences were enormous even to the cost of an animal dying for their atoning benefit.
God was merciful to them though. Being sent out of the Garden of Eden was calamitous but it also kept them from eating of the tree of life that would have kept them in their sins forever. That would have been totally catastrophic for them and all mankind ever after.
We don't read of Adam and Eve repenting but they may have. They certainly did multiply and have other children besides Cain and Abel.
Hone in on the thought regarding the animal sacrifice and the shed blood. Keep that in mind...
Talking about 'god-religions', author Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda, of the book What Buddhists Believe, denotes on page 334,
"...god-religions have failed in their attempt to enlighten mankind. For example, in certain countries when people pray for mercy, their hands are stained with blood of the morbid sacrifices of innocent animals..."
Yes, everything went out of whack at The Fall of mankind (Adam & Eve's sin of disobedience). The slaying of the animal for making animal-skin clothing, showed how terrible sin is in God's sight but also gave hope of a 'remedy'.
Down the genealogical line from Adam and Eve, and Mr. and Mrs. Noah, God eventually made a nation from Abraham and Sarah which became known as the nation of Israel, or, "the Israelites". God gave them rules and regulations to live by and told them to make offerings of various types. Among those offerings were animal sacrifices and among those offerings, an atonement offering for sin.
For almost 2000 years God had been dealing with mankind (since He made Adam and Eve). The large cross section of people He took as His 'control' group (i.e. the Israelites), He gave so much: a way of life to keep them healthy and wealthy. He offered them His friendship (relationship). Yet even though they were so well pampered by Him, they went astray. God had made His point.
Mankind cannot stick to the rules to help save themselves. That's where the offerings, as a prototype of what He would do 1000's of years later, came in to play. God, the Supreme Being, made the offering of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, to make atonement for all sin for all people for all time.
Yet Dr. K. Sri Dhammananda insists,
"For more than 2500 years, all over the world, Buddhists have practices and introduced Buddhism very peacefully without the necessity of sustaining the concept of a Creator God. And they will continue to sustain this religion in the same manner without disturbing the followers of other religions" (Page 337).
He continues on page 338...
"Having full confidence in their Buddha Dharma (teachings), Buddhists should be permitted to work and seek their own salvation without undue interference from other sources."
Since, according to Buddhists, there is no God and no such thing as sin (actually Buddhist terms for sin are "wrong deeds" and "unwholesome acts"), there is no need to be saved from sin by anyone. The only things they need "saving" from are the bad consequences of wrong choices made from wrong desires (those wrong deeds and unwholesome acts) which cause all the suffering in their lives.
They can move forward under their own steam and volition to save themselves by themselves. What need is there of any outside source's help? As mentioned before, the process takes years and several life times of the rebirth of the mental continuum. Time, own effort and patience, will, it is believed, earn them their Buddha-hood and Nirvana--the end of their own personal suffering.
Sri Dhammananda writes that others can practice whatever religion they wish but please do not intrude into someone else's (in this case, the Buddhist belief) and try winning them over to that other way. He would like others to leave others alone...
"We do not challenge others in regard to their religious persuasions, we expect reciprocal treatment in regard to our own beliefs and practices" (Page 338).
The example of the blind man comes to mind. Every day the blind man walks the same route, day after day, to and fro his office and home. He swings his white cane searching for the safe passageway but is confident of his step because he "knows" the way he takes.
However, one fine day, workman dig up the sidewalk, digging a great hole below. The blind man does not know this. He does not know that he does not know. Will the seeing sidewalk users go blithely on their way, or will some kind, concerned soul give warning of danger ahead?
We would hope there would be someone to give direction to avert injury to the blind man. We should not leave him alone.
This is why, those of us who do have their faith, hope and trust in God, Who is, and Who wants a relationship with humankind so much He sent His Son to bear the punishment for the consequences of our wrong deeds and unwholesome acts (which we call sin). This is Jesus who suffered so that He could end our suffering--this is why we tell others the good news of the message of Jesus.
When a person accepts this gift of salvation which Jesus has earned for us, giving us back to God and a relationship with Him, we have averted eventually falling into that 'hole' where we would have to endure eternal suffering for the those wrongs we had committed in life on Earth. We tell others so they can keep from falling into that hole.
Do not see this as trying to change someone's religion. Rather, to show how one can have a relationship with the One true God, who has made them; who loves them; and would gladly have them as one of His children. Don't leave them alone.
Maybe someone reading all this is uncertain. Do examine your beliefs and compare them with God's Word. What are the differences?
If life with God through Jesus is true (& I believe it is), then I encourage you to come to Christ today. You will have gained everything. If, in the end, you find out it is not true, you have lost nothing.
In his book, Sri Dhammananda states,
"Merely to believe that there is someone to wash away our sins without suppressing our evil state of mind, is not in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha" (Page 338).
The Buddhist religion is to live a right life, to improve one's mind to do right deeds. They are very concerned and rightly so, with the character and conduct of a person's life. All this towards earning ones' own salvation.
"I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps" (Jeremiah 10:23).
Together, the Holy Spirit and the Word of God empower the follower of Jesus Christ to develop right character, and guides and directs the way for their conduct. The Christian uses self-control (a fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the individual) to resist the devil and the evil that can so easily spring up in a person's mind.
The cleansing power of Jesus and His blood is available to those who fail. There is power in the precious blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1 John 1:9).
This is why those of us who belong to God through Jesus Christ will always want to share this good news with others, even those who are on their deathbeds. We know what the end of a person will be if he or she has not yet accepted Jesus as Savior.
In Buddhism, the person is continuously seeking to improve his or her mind and if the way opens up to do so why not take that step and go for it? Let the dying man or woman on the death bed let Jesus be the One to bring new life, renewal of the mind and a new heart before it is forever too late. Then he or she will have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.
They can go safely to the place of no more tears, sadness or suffering. They can enter into the joy of the Lord for evermore.
No one knows the day nor the hour that Jesus will come to call His children all to be with Him. Nevertheless we trust Him as He is ever faithful and not willing for anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).
Sri Dhammananda says on Page 341...
"This threat of the end of the world has been going on for hundreds of years. The wonder of it all is that there are still people today who believe in such a threat which is irrational and imaginary. Some people get converted after hearing such preaching; without using their common sense."
Wow. As Buddhists do not believe in God and only in human ability it is understandable that Dr. Sri Dhammananda believes life with Christ in Heaven after death, as well as that fate of others to be ushered into an eternal hell to suffer, is all rubbish.
I reiterate...what if this threat is real? (I believe it is.) Would you not wish to avoid the suffering?
The reason God waits and waits, not hundreds, but thousands of years, is so that none will perish nor suffer eternally!! Remember Adam and Eve? They got booted out of the Garden of Eden to keep them from eating of the tree of life. God didn't want them to live forever with the struggle of sin and suffering.
"In Buddhism," Dr. Sri Dhammananda persists, "there is not personal judge either to condemn or to reward but only the working of an impersonal moral causation and natural law" (Page 341).
God is the Judge of all the earth and in the end we will all stand before Him. Our own actions will condemn or reward us.
Here are God's words...
"Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11-15 ESV).
The prayer of those who belong to Christ, even though they may understand God's waiting and waiting in long-patience, for others to come to Him through Jesus Christ, join the Holy Spirit saying...
"The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" (Revelation 22:17 ESV)
"Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22;20 ESV).
However, we too must be patient; live a righteous life in Christ, and tell others of the message of Jesus.
He has promised to come back for us. So, He will. Trust Him.
~ERC October 2018~
Note:
This has been long but if you are interested to know more, here are some related blog entries:
Relationship, Not Ritual
Morning Musings - Wholesome Thinking
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