A Buddhist view about Christianity and Catholicism
I have a lower opinion of Christianity in general, but no any ill will personally, If people want to be Christian thats their business.
as a Buddhist, I believe that their are two equal and opposite delusions regarding the attitude towards death. as it does not pertain to your question, I will quickly go over the atheist view, life begins at birth, ends at death never to arise again. you have no control and no power to really meaningfully change a negative aspect of your personality and no reason at all to live a good life, "whats the point?". They will read my answer and snort cynically and decide I just dont drink enough. By and large I mean.
Christianity if you think about it is the exact opposite, I am not sure if you guys believe in a pre life existence, at death you are restored to an immortal soul or something like that, to be eternally in either one existence or another, reward or punishment. I believe no one deserves an eternal hell for anything they could have done, not even your Hitlers and Stalins. And I dont want to offend, but your heaven does not appeal, it sounds boring, I would rather not exist, life is fun almost because of the threat of death, a place where I cannot die makes it really lame. no fun at all. But also, that view makes people powerless just like the atheist view, because when life gets you down, you need to placate a deity or just "trust in him" that "this is for the greater good" or something, these might not be YOUR views but it IS what I get from Christians by and large. "Trust in God", I would rather turn a bad situation into a good one, bad karma into good karma, by using suffering as like the stress metals must undergo to become swords. Also this view of life, heaven etc, creates an unjustified attachment to "this me", when I dont want to be "this me" for eternity, I look forward to being many different "mes". (in the nichiren Buddhist perspective, enlightenment is a different way of experiencing the cycle of birth and death, NOT a step off of it, the cycle is eternal). And it seems like God cannot be bothered to help most people in life, the teaching of Karma is WAY more empowering.
can you say this? what i say?
"heaven is LIFE, I just want another one after I die, there is NOTHING BETTER that could possibly come after, life is wonderful, death is wonderful, its all wonderful, being young, learning, growing up, having a family or not, getting old and dying is AWESOME. The whole messy wonderful business of daily life is heaven.
Now for Catholicism specifically, I dislike how it still tries to force it's beliefs down on to people even when they dont want it. By putting out articles about how when nations legalize gay marriage, the violence that results on gays is just going to happen or something. Its fine to tell Catholics they cannot marry within their gender, but for us NON catholics, its none of the Vatican's buisness. Not everyone is Catholic. not everyone can even be catholic, some people never will be its a religion that does not appeal.
I totally affirm the good (charities, helping forced prostitutes in Buddhist nations find a better life without even forcing Catholicism on them) that the Church does in the world dont get me wrong. and I gots nothing against catholics personally, I am pretty sure Stephen Colbert is Catholic.
sorry if I offended you, if I did I did not mean it like that, If you want to be Catholic then by the gods be Catholic, you asked, I answered.
EDIT: yes I realize some Christians take a more poetic view of heaven, we buddhists are taken to using metaphors (like your pearly gates) as well. its just that, nothing tops life in my belief. I actually believe that was Jesus's intention too, heaven is right here, right now, life itself. I too seek "God", (we dont put a personality to it, not that you cant), but it does not come latter, it comes for me in the here and the now, ultimately even suffering is a source of happiness.
also, I have never ever heard of a Catholic trying to share his or her faith with anyone, what I meant was politically speaking, which even most Catholics oppose. I gave my OK to death with dignity in my state even though generally Buddhists oppose such things. I have had only Mormons and evangelicals come to my house....
Source(s):
Nichiren Buddhist
as a Buddhist, I believe that their are two equal and opposite delusions regarding the attitude towards death. as it does not pertain to your question, I will quickly go over the atheist view, life begins at birth, ends at death never to arise again. you have no control and no power to really meaningfully change a negative aspect of your personality and no reason at all to live a good life, "whats the point?". They will read my answer and snort cynically and decide I just dont drink enough. By and large I mean.
Christianity if you think about it is the exact opposite, I am not sure if you guys believe in a pre life existence, at death you are restored to an immortal soul or something like that, to be eternally in either one existence or another, reward or punishment. I believe no one deserves an eternal hell for anything they could have done, not even your Hitlers and Stalins. And I dont want to offend, but your heaven does not appeal, it sounds boring, I would rather not exist, life is fun almost because of the threat of death, a place where I cannot die makes it really lame. no fun at all. But also, that view makes people powerless just like the atheist view, because when life gets you down, you need to placate a deity or just "trust in him" that "this is for the greater good" or something, these might not be YOUR views but it IS what I get from Christians by and large. "Trust in God", I would rather turn a bad situation into a good one, bad karma into good karma, by using suffering as like the stress metals must undergo to become swords. Also this view of life, heaven etc, creates an unjustified attachment to "this me", when I dont want to be "this me" for eternity, I look forward to being many different "mes". (in the nichiren Buddhist perspective, enlightenment is a different way of experiencing the cycle of birth and death, NOT a step off of it, the cycle is eternal). And it seems like God cannot be bothered to help most people in life, the teaching of Karma is WAY more empowering.
can you say this? what i say?
"heaven is LIFE, I just want another one after I die, there is NOTHING BETTER that could possibly come after, life is wonderful, death is wonderful, its all wonderful, being young, learning, growing up, having a family or not, getting old and dying is AWESOME. The whole messy wonderful business of daily life is heaven.
Now for Catholicism specifically, I dislike how it still tries to force it's beliefs down on to people even when they dont want it. By putting out articles about how when nations legalize gay marriage, the violence that results on gays is just going to happen or something. Its fine to tell Catholics they cannot marry within their gender, but for us NON catholics, its none of the Vatican's buisness. Not everyone is Catholic. not everyone can even be catholic, some people never will be its a religion that does not appeal.
I totally affirm the good (charities, helping forced prostitutes in Buddhist nations find a better life without even forcing Catholicism on them) that the Church does in the world dont get me wrong. and I gots nothing against catholics personally, I am pretty sure Stephen Colbert is Catholic.
sorry if I offended you, if I did I did not mean it like that, If you want to be Catholic then by the gods be Catholic, you asked, I answered.
EDIT: yes I realize some Christians take a more poetic view of heaven, we buddhists are taken to using metaphors (like your pearly gates) as well. its just that, nothing tops life in my belief. I actually believe that was Jesus's intention too, heaven is right here, right now, life itself. I too seek "God", (we dont put a personality to it, not that you cant), but it does not come latter, it comes for me in the here and the now, ultimately even suffering is a source of happiness.
also, I have never ever heard of a Catholic trying to share his or her faith with anyone, what I meant was politically speaking, which even most Catholics oppose. I gave my OK to death with dignity in my state even though generally Buddhists oppose such things. I have had only Mormons and evangelicals come to my house....
Source(s):
Nichiren Buddhist
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