Help! Questioning my beliefs and religion. Christianity & Buddhism.?
For the last 4 years i have been a christian. I followed the commandments word by word and preached (tried to) about the bible. Then a close friend passed away and i lost all faith. Family have passed away before, but I've never lost faith or felt the way I'm feeling now. I honestly can't see how there is a God anymore, i really can't. Don't try and tell me that God and Jesus love me because I'm done with. All of it.
This will sound like a bad reason, i know it will. But in a lesson at my college, we were learning about Buddhism and i felt (sounds crazy) some kind of connection. When a member of the class disrespected the religion and the monks, i felt personally offended even though I'm not a Buddhist.
Well i didn't think i was... Until now. It's the only way that makes sense to me, i have researched the 5 things you are supposed to follow and the teachings of the Buddha and i agree with them completely and i feel a sense of respect to the Buddha and a sense of meaning. I have let my christian past go, will i be accepted into the Buddhist community if i tell them my past? And what should I do daily, so Buddha accepts me? Also a close friend is Christian and I do not wish to offend her by preaching/ expressing my opinions/ beliefs.
Thank you in advance.
If god indeed exist, he wouldn't be the Christian god.
The bible is full of inaccuracies, contradictions. It doesn't have a shred of evidence.
You don't have to chain yourself up in religious beliefs. Free your mind.
Perhaps you were a Buddhist in your last life.. All you need to do is take daily refuge in the triple gem (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), try to live by the precepts, study the teachings and practice meditation. Your story reminds me of how I became a Buddhist, reading the noble eight-fold path in school, it *clicks* doesn't it? I think it's the call of the Dharma: destiny revealing itself. Just wait until you experience the first Dhyana in meditation..!
Buddhists don't preach, so don't even think about. Buddhism is more a spirituality than a religion.
The Buddhists don't care what your background was. I Would see if there is a Buddhist temple in your town/city and speak to the person in charge there (I'm not sure of the title). I know there are book or websites on line what would speak about daily tasks for a Buddhist, but I don't know any off hand.
Buddha accepts all who come with a sincere heart and open mind.
Good luck on your journey.
Seriously, just follow your beliefs quietly and don't try to shove them in peoples faces. Thats all anybody wants from religious folks from any faith. And, as far as can tell from the crowd of hippies living in Bowie, AZ, Buddhists are a really welcoming bunch, I would not worry about being accepted by them. As far as being accepted by Buddha, follow the same philosophy you did as a Christian, pray, follow the religion, and you're good.
All of the religious apples fall from the same tree. They all want to show us that if we skip all the important stuff we can still feel like we are getting it right.
Xians have been lead to believe the church is G*D. The so called NT is NOT the bible. It is Roman fiction to justify their creation of a composite man god to keep the Roman Empire from being divided from within.
G*D denies Jesus and all Xian teachings.
G*D is not a trinity. The origin of the trinity is ancient Babylon.
G*D said no one could die for the sins of another, Ezekiel 18
Scripture says the Creator has no son but the Nation of Israel.
Shemot-Exodus 4:22 And you shall say to Pharaoh, 'So said the Lord, "My firstborn son is Israel." '
Scripture says the Creator is 1
Devarim - Deuteronomy - Chapter 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God; the Lord is one.
Yeshayahu- Isaiah - Chapter 45:7. Who forms light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates evil; I am the Lord, Who makes all these.
The Creator alone is the only savior
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.
The Creator alone is the only Redeemer
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Scripture says the Creator said none share his glory
Yeshayahu- Isaiah - Chapter 42:8. I am the Lord, that is My Name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to the graven images.
Scripture says the Creator said none sit beside him
Yeshayahu- Isaiah - Chapter 45: 5. I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God: I will strengthen you although you have not known Me.
6. In order that they know from the shining of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides Me; I am the Lord and there is no other.
Further more G*D said not to trust in man and that He would not come in the flesh of man.
Jeremiah 17:5 So says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
Scripture says the Creator will not come as a man
Source(s):
The Xian mangod narrowed the field from just about everyone to a small number of people that will go to heaven. G*D teaches if you keep these 7 laws you will have an equal share in the world to come.
* To behave justly in all relationships, and to establish courts of justice.
* To refrain from blaspheming Gods name.
* To refrain from practicing idolatry.
* To avoid immoral practices, specifically incest and adultery.
* To avoid shedding the blood of ones fellow man.
* To refrain from robbing ones fellow man.
* To refrain from eating a limb torn from a live animal.
YOU should become an atheist, since when does Buddha reject or accept followers. He is a teacher and you need to find understanding from the world and his teachings to be a Buddhist. You'd be better off an atheist.
I think Buddhism is the way to go like really I want to become Buddhist too because it just makes sense to me and about your friend i don't think you would offend her by expressing you beliefs as long as you do not say her beliefs are wrong
Your problem is that you have been trying to keep the commandments perfectly. That is impossible. IF you believe that it is, then you didn't have reason to believe Jesus died for you. You must first realize that you are a sinner, because it is impossible to be sinless, then you must take Jesus as your personal savior. He will take you exactly as you are.
Welcome to the club I lost my very close very dear younger sister just 6 months and at first it felt like my whole world had fell apart that is how close we were, then I thought about it and i asked the lord Jesus to give me an answer, i will tell you what thoughts came into my head that first night of losing her, it sounded like the lord was actually speaking to me and he said "please do not blame my father for your loss blame death, my father did not destroy your sisters body, but my father has her soul, where he will look after her until your time comes" from that night on I have prayed for the soul of my sister and I am not a catholic I am church of England, but every night since then after I have said my prayers I feel this calming feeling come all over my body and I drift into a dreamless sleep, it is a wonderful feeling of peace and love, please try it I am sure the lord will welcome you too, in fact i know he will so sorry to hear of your loss please take care and may god bless you.
Of course you would be accepted, Buddhists have respect for all people's religious beliefs and your past would not matter at all. I do not call myself a Buddhist, but I use Buddhism as a guide to my own thinking. I recommend meditation and some further reading into Tibetan Buddhism to have a better understanding of it.
Actually, Christianity and Buddhism are quite compatible if the Christian is not one of those blindly faithful dimwits. I know many people who describe themselves as Christian or Catholic Buddhists. A Christian man in a world religions class at my college was also surprised to find that he completely agreed with Buddhist principles. You do not need to preach anything except love and understanding if your friend is not open-minded, but I see no problems with expressing your beliefs around a friend.
Please keep in mind that Buddha is not a deity or anything that could accept you. He is just a prime example of what you could do with meditation. He did not mean to start a religion. The point of Buddhism is simply being.
I was a member of a Buddhist community. I made great friends and it was very rewarding. There was absolutely no need to "convert" "let go of the past" or change religions to take part in meditation, though if that is a goal that is fine. You can do what you want. There are all types of people from all over the world in Buddhist communities. Buddhism doesn't requires theism or atheism. If you are looking for "commandment" type literature in Buddhism, the closest you will find are the precepts. Buddha isn't a god, but if practicing something Buddhist every day makes you feel accepted, try meditating daily. If a close Christian friend doesn't like to talk about Buddhism, try being a listener, or find something else to talk about. Make some Buddhist friends by meditating and you'll have plenty of other things to talk about with your other friends.
Wait, wait hold up, in what sense did you loose faith, because a person you love died?
Okay so you're saying that by being a Christian you're not bound to death?
The Bible calls mankind death a 'sleep', if you believe in Christ there's no reason for you to fear death in this uncertain world. Death became natural because of our disobeying God's command.
Here you are changing your faith to a faith that tells you to empty yourself. Christ says I'll fill you with life, you're emptying yourself. I'll ask you this, look at the doctrines of that faith and tell me whether Christianity doesn't teach most of it.
It's just like a kid wandering because he lost his toy, finally he finds what he's looking, at first he's eager but then he doubts he found it because what's next to it looks just as good as his. What he was looking for really was in his face, but he decides to drop it and take the other toy because he now has new tastes.
Instead of searching for truth, you just kinda hang there, here is the parable Christ gives: "But he that hearth, and doth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." (Read Luke 6:49)
Those who fall away at the first sign of hardship are those who heard and did not practice what the word of God said, and did not put their faith in Christ. You wavered and did not strengthened yourself through the Word of God.
when you see or hear about someone dies, have sympathy and contemplate that we all are supposed to die - someone younger than myself died, someone the same age of mine died, someone older than me died. that gives you some maturity and mental strength.
the Buddha is no longer in the world with us. But he left his teaching with monks who maintain it. the monks teach the lay people from the teaching of the Buddha.
the truth is you cannot really show what you have seen - you can explain about it but cannot show. so you don't have to preach anyone - unless they seek your insight with good intention.
Chelsea, the Buddhist community isn't going to ask you about your "past". They don't care. And even if you WERE still a practicing Christian, you would not asked to stop your Christianity.
However, if you wish to become a Buddhist, the first thing you must stop doing is preaching to others. "Feeling a connection" is not the same thing as knowing yourself from first-hand experience, so what could you possibly preach that you yourself personally know? Buddhism is a path not of faith, but of personal exploration, which is done by doing the practice as it is taught to you by your teacher. You do it ... then you see what happens ... over the course of several years. There are not quick answers or results in Buddhism.
Buddhism is NOT about being "accepted by" Buddha. Buddha was just a man. He taught us how to retrain our attitudes and the way we mentally live our life ... it takes work and it takes time and it takes psychological courage. We honor the teachings, and we honor the teachers ... all of them, because they give us the teachings.
If you want to explore this further, you need to find a drama group and take the teachings first-hand. This site will help you.
http://www.dharmanet.org/listings/
If there is no group near you, many of these centers offer weekend or week long teaching retreats, and you could make that the destination for a holiday. The other option is to get a group of similar-minded people together and see if you can get a distance-teacher assigned to your group, someone who comes around occasionally to teach and answer questions.
If you dedicated to Christianity for 4 years, and now feel dedicated to Buddhism, it would be worth your while to explore what you are hoping to get from religion. It sounds like you become infatuated by a religion, jump into it, and then when the infatuation dies off, you're outta there. If this is how you approach, you will never find one that soothes your heart because you will be looking for the spiritual thrill and miss the subtle messages that cause other people to remain in their religions. I mention this, not to offend you, but because if this is a pattern you are exhibiting, and the wise Buddhist always opens up to who they are and what and why they do what they do.
Help! Questioning my beliefs and religion. Christianity & Buddhism.?
