God, Who is He

Christian and Buddhist

Views of God and Salvation

 

 

As a Christian, I sincerely believe that Christ is the divine being of God in flesh who came to this world with the sole purpose to die for the sins of others.

How do I reach others with the truth in a Spirit of Love, recognizing they are on their own quests for the truth? We all are Divine seekers. In our spirits is a deep desire to connect with Divinity. All religions recognize a deep struggle with good and evil.

Buddha preached the way to Nirvana is the Middle Way and following the Noble Eightfold Path. Nirvana is the state of ultimate bliss and joy which can be compared to the Christian belief in Heaven, a place where suffering no longer exists and all tears are dried.

I was suprised to find that Buddha was born about 500 years before Christ. He also preached that he was not divine but meerly seeking divinity. His goal was to attain Nirvana through right thinking, right view, right speech, right conduct, right job or career, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.

Buddha also preached Five Precepts of good conduct which mirror our 10 Commandments:

1. No killing, respect life.
2. No stealing, respect other’s property.
3. No sexual misconduct, respect for our pure nature.
4. No lying, respect for honesty.
5. No intoxicants, respect for a clear mind.

These mirror the Fifth through Tenth commandments found in Exodus 20

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

The difference between Buddhism and Christianity is we identify and worship Jesus as our Savior.  The 10 Commandments of Judism and Christianity also differ in their focus because the first Five Commandments set the tone for our relationship with our God. We are not to have any other God’s before Him. We are not make graven images of Him or worship such images. We are to not misuse His name or speak His name in vain. We are to remember the Sabbath and keep it as a Holy and worship Him.

In Judism, Jehovah is a the God without name. He is the Creator of all Things. He alone is to be worshipped.

In Christianity, the God-son stepped out of Heaven and became Man. He was divinity in flesh.  He was the beginning and the end, the word of God, the Holy Sacrificial Lamb which was to be slain for all mankind’s sin.

In my research, I was surprised to find an article that states that Buddhist Scripture found in Cambodia reveal that Buddha prophesized the coming of Christ. The authencity of the Scripture has been questioned on Budhist forums, however.

You can read the prophesy here: http://bibleprobe.com/buddhatoldofjesus.htm  and the discussion of it’s authencity here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/153879-buddha-and-jesus-your-opinion-on-an-article/.

What I draw from this discussion is that there is common ground between our faiths. Maybe with love and prayer, we can draw together and try to find real truth?

I hope that Buddhist will consider that Christ taught that we cannot save ourselves through good works. Human effort will not bring us closer to God or divinity. We can strive with all our might to live out the Five Precepts, but we will ultimately fail in one area or more.

Christ came to die for the ultimate forgiveness of sin. He was kind. He was love. His ideas, like Buddha’s, were revolutionary and world changing. Buddha claimed to be enlightened but not God. He wanted to point other’s to right living. Jesus died for all that we could stop striving toward right living but to live in a state of closeness and oneness with Him. He died so that we could find true forgiveness and in forgiveness we could move on to to Nirvana when we die.

I pray for my Buddhist friends, peace and love. I know from what I read that Buddha lived his best according to what He knew to be true. He strived to find truth and love.  He was a wonderful teacher. I just wonder if he had heard Christ preach the Beatitudes what his reaction would have been. Would he have followed Christ?

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This post is written for Letter G as part of the April 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge.

 Also contributing to many of the hops listed on my Link-up Parties page.