I'm going to write something that will probably confuse some of my Christian friends. I'm hoping not to cause offense, which to me means sort of insensitively causing senseless injury. On the other hand, I'm okay with "provocation" so long as there's room for disagreement. Personally, I think Christianity is plenty big enough for varying ideas. So, here goes.
I think there's truth in other religious perspectives. Lots of truth. Like, "Truth" with a capital "T." If you're finding yourself wanting to burn me at the stake, take a deep breath and keep reading.
I've been considering the Buddhist Eightfold Path, and I can't help but notice how much of it mirrors what we find in the Christian Bible. The Tenets of Right Speech have been particularly amazing. Here they are:
1.) To abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies or speak deceitfully.
2.) To abstain from slanderous speech or use words maliciously against others.
3.) To abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others.
4.) To abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.
Practicing these them has had an interesting effect. It is bringing me into a sort of interrogative relationship with my thoughts because I have to examine them against the four tenets. I find that I have to retract, alter or mitigate about half of what I say after I say it because I speak too quickly. What an realization! At least half of what I say is inaccurate, untrue or unnecessary. To put it another way, I could be listening twice as much as I do now.
You'll find every one of them in the Bible from the very mouth of Jesus. Check the gospels and see for yourself. Does it make any difference whether it comes from Jesus or the Eightfold Path? I don't think so.
Justin Martyr, a first century Christian philosopher and apologist (also known as Saint Justin) said, "(w)here you find truth, there you will find God." I agree completely.
Good comments. What I have found/learned through my years of being part of the Christian community is there are certain "out" cards that can be played no matter what the situation to make anything wrong. A face value reading of scripture gives ideas of anti-christs, deceivers, false prophets and those who "teach a different gospel than the one I gave you" (per Paul) which can be used to make any action or teaching "of the Devil" if it is something I do not happen to agree with. If someone is miraculously healed then half the people watching will say it was a display of the love of God while the other half will say it was some how a trick to deceive people. Most Christians will say something along the lines that when that day comes when Jesus appears in the sky that all the world will see him and they will all know they were wrong and beg for forgiveness... Yet I wonder what many Christians would do if Mohammed appeared in the sky? Would they say that they were wrong and beg for forgiveness or would they cry "anti-christ" and be even more convinced that they are right... like I said, there is an out-card for everything.
ReplyDeleteWith this line of thought in mind, I recall being told growing up that these kinds of similarities like the ones you point out above are simply a trick to get one to look away from the only thing that matters. The things that separated us were the things continually emphasized. Those things that made us similar were ignored or vilified when done or believed by others. The major issue with a view like this to me is it really comes off as Satan, in his pure state of evil, is doing soo much more to be with you, me and all mankind than God is, in his pure state of love for his creation... It is like two boys chasing the same girl. One is calling her often, sending her flowers, having others give her love notes while the other just sits at home waiting on her to call or come knocking on his door knowing that he loves her and hoping she realizes that he loves her based on that one love note he sent her a while back. I could go on and on about this point but I will simply say that I would think (and do think) that is in no way a true statement. God is much bigger and much more aggressive in his love toward us than the vast majority of us give him credit for... unfortunately, we only see him in the places we are looking for him.
Really cool reply, especially that last bit about two guys chasing the same girl. I'd never thought about it that way, but it's a very clever metaphor for the way we think about the enemy and God. I couldn't agree more. God is *active* and *aggressively* loving us every second.
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