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The "God" Theory
So i come from a christian background, however i never believed anything i was taught.The only thing that has ever made sense to me was Buddhism. When people say the Bible contradicts itself what exactly is contradicting? And also explain to me why you do not believe in god.
I dont because if there was a "god" or higher power why wouldnt it intervene with all the nasty horrid chaos that continually goes on? and why were people born with such horrible diseases or defects? i mean that is mostly why i dont belive but i would love to hear others that dont as well and your reasoning.
I dont because if there was a "god" or higher power why wouldnt it intervene with all the nasty horrid chaos that continually goes on? and why were people born with such horrible diseases or defects? i mean that is mostly why i dont belive but i would love to hear others that dont as well and your reasoning.
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Why are people born with diseases and defects? Let me introduce you to the idea of past-life karma....;)
Besides, these are not necessarily "bad" or tragic things. Being born with extra challenges gives people an opportunity for tremendous personal growth. There are many inspiring stories of such people. It's our limited perception, perhaps, that categorizes this as tragic.
i believe god is consciousness and we are god and god is us.
As for contradictions, every religion with an extensive sacred library has those. There are contradictions in our sutras, for that matter. What we don't do is try to insist they're all the inviolate word of God, so we don't tie ourselves into knots trying to explain away a simple difference of opinion between two authors.
Ill say it again
God is a concept...by which..we measure...our paaainnnn...painnnn
It seems like you meant to say that God is not real, just a concept that was taught to you when you were young by people who didn't know any better.
But, guess what, in Thailand, children are taught about Buddhism from their earliest years by people who didn't know any better.
In fact, can't the same be said about virtually any society and that society's dominant religion?
god isn't the idea of god, but it is beyond all ideas. because if an idea of god could be god, then you limit god and then you become god.
our abstracted ideas cannot be god. god is everything, thus nothing. he is the evil. he is the good. he is every single concept and he isn't every single concept. he is infinite potential. he cannot be described, but can only be pointed at.
there is only god. lol.
most people's notion of god is what they desire based on fear.
the true god is the infinite. if not, why call him god?
god is not separate from you and i. we are god because we are existence.
lol i feel like the buddhists are going to stab me. RUNNING AWAY NOW!!
Anyway, believing in god is all good if it helps you to develope compassion toward other living beings (especially humans, people are the hardest to get along with!), becoming more humble and tolerant, becoming less dualistic in your thinking.
But if you turn conservative and suffer/judge others whenever it doesn't agree with your ideals, then it's probably not a healthy attachment.
it is a misdefinition of the mind's experiences, regardless of how subtle they are
i was not religious as a child but the first time my mind ever tasted deep peace in meditation, i looked up to the sky and said in a soft voice: "Thank you, God"
my words came from mere conditioning. there was no actual reality ascribable to them
the transformation that occured due to meditation was simply the work of natural forces
https://bdigital.ufp.pt/dspace/bitstream/10284/782/3/241-246Cons-Ciencias 02-9.pdf
Its a pretty hard slog to try to understand some of this stuff and I could very well be off the mark. Plus we can't actually know any of this directly until we're enlightened so there a chance all this logic misses the mark.
So whenever I hear someone saying "God is this..." or "There is no God" all I imagine are little fishes trying to explain land.
Beyond that, it is my understanding that in classical Buddhism the "universe" or the existence of phenomena on that scale is without beginning. The so-called "big bang" could even conceivably been an irruption of another "universe" into the one we know, so it shows that the physical phenomena are without beginning but just something that is affected by causes and conditions itself rather than having a "beginning".
In the Mahayana the "most fundamental form of consciousness" is thought to be without beginning as well. I cannot speak for Theravada.
We're talking about "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" her, IMHO. There is no creator God in Buddhism. As you say,
"I could very well be off the mark."
There is no Creator God in Buddhism. Just saying.
First, I still have a right to ponder it.
Second, if you want to believe there is no God, you have that right. If I want to believe there is, I have that right.
A fundamentalist Buddhist is no more noble than a fundamentalist Christian.
To be honest, I have long-term health problems that cause physical and psychological pain, so I pray every time I lie down, be it bedtime or nap.
I am nowhere near being a fundamentalist Buddhist. I was just giving you the classical point of view as I know it. In classical Buddhism, there is no Creator God, and there was no beginning to anything. That's just historical fact.
I don't mind if such a person calls themselves a christian, just people might immediately make assumptions about what that means. And their assumption would be understandable. Like a 'vegetarian' who arbitrarily eats meat when they go out to eat. If they just said 'I am vegetarian' someone would assume they did not eat any meat.
Yes I am not criticizing you. I am just pointing out that people have stereotypes of who a vegetarian, buddhist, or christian is.
I am actually thinking about exploring what value the christian message could have for me or at least to better understand.
check out "Living Buddha, Living Christ" by Thich Nhat Hanh.
I think that God exists because I would like those who follow God to have some form of refuge. However, I also follow the Buddhist idea that God is not an eternal being. Some Hindu and Buddhists seem to associate the inner experience with God, but that is not right from my perspective. However, that does not mean that I think it is wrong from their perspective. Basically I want all beings to be happy and whatever helps them find true happiness is good, irrespective of whether I believe in it or not.
The Buddha taught all creation is from/of mere elements (dhatu).
The creator is the process of iddappaccayata (cause & effect; inter-conditioning)
This is natural law (dhammaniyama)
To realise this is to realise emptiness (sunnata)
That reality is like this is merely 'such'; 'thus' (tathata)
It is not necessary to get rid of things to realise emptiness
Just realise all things, whether physical, mental & nibbana, are just natural elements
Natural elements = "dhamma dhatu"
I think no Buddhist is going to stab you for this (provided he/she didn't forget the precepts
Some Christians also start to think in this direction.
From a personal point of view I don't believe in the Christian view of God, salvation, the afterlife, etc. because it essentially gives us what amounts to the blink of an eye to determine the outcome of our entire eternity. Some people are born into loving, Christian families so they should have a really easy time of spending eternity in heaven. Others are born into loving, Buddhist families, abusive, Christian families or in the middle of the Amazon where there is no Christian teaching so they will likely spend an eternity in hell. The scales of justice on this are so rediculously out of whack that I can't take it seriously.
I believe there is some arguement that people born into a place where they have zero exposure to the bible get a free pass or something, but this seems like just a made up justification with no basis in the bible. I could be wrong about some or all of this point though.
So long as anyone does no more than believe or disbelieve in things, for exactly that long there will be discomfort and doubt.
I agree, while pointing out that the same can be said of every single religion.
Buddhism is decidedly non-theistic, not atheistic. God concepts are just another piece of "noise" in the mind. Even if there is some transcendent supreme intelligence or gods or devas or hungry ghosts, etc. It really doesn't matter, because it has nothing to do with the path of nibbana and the cessation of kamma. My believing or not believing in a God doesn't change whether or not there is one.
No matter what idea you put forth (how can there be a God given there are "people born with such horrible diseases or defects") theology eel wriggles its way past your logic and reason. Example: Since God is omniscient, his ways are beyond your current level of understanding.
It is best not to attempt to make any sense out of God constructs in the mind, because there is no sense to be had. God constructs are much like koans--the realization from Christian mystics as well as Buddhists, is that the ego wants to hold onto one's conditioned concepts of God, but awakening is about releasing, not clinging. The cloud of unknowing is a gate for liberation.
But I might point out the difference between Churchianity and Christianity. What the Church teaches has nothing to do with what Jesus taught.
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Pineblossom -- With respect, I find this a bit too facile. The same charge might easily be leveled in Buddhism. Belief, disbelief, talk, philosophy, rules and regs are all useful but tentative matters. I think that anyone might find some fruitful uses for what is tentative... not forever and ever, but for the moment.
People sometimes needle Christians, for example, with observations like, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car." Such observations point appropriately to the fact that appearances don't really get to the heart of the matter.
But appearances are part of the learning curve, for Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Jews, Muslims and who knows how many other persuasions. Appearances are part of the starting point. It's like the old rivalry between orthodoxy and mystics. The former relies on form. The latter relies on direct understanding. Each has good reason to be skeptical of the other and yet without going through the fine print of each approach, the devotee is left floundering -- spouting virtuous nonsense without any connection to the earth.
Jesus pointed to experience. Gautama pointed towards experience. Each offered suggestions on how to actualize that experience. Some take the suggestions seriously. Some choose to remain mired in tentative words and forms... and seem to amass an endless array of excuses for why they must remain mired.
The main function of discerning mistakes like this boils down, as far as I can see, to this: Just don't YOU get mired down.
Emptiness is what all phenomenon emerges from and returns to - call it what we will....