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Questions....
Hi, I am a Christian and i have an some questions for an apologetics project. I would love for one or many of you to answer them please.
1. Does God exist? or How did we get here, what is the cause of existence?
2. How would you describe or define God?
3. What's wrong with the world and mankind, etc.?
4. How do we fix what's wrong? How does a person find salvation?
5. What happens to us when we die? or where are we going?
6. What is the most important thing in life for an individual?
1. Does God exist? or How did we get here, what is the cause of existence?
2. How would you describe or define God?
3. What's wrong with the world and mankind, etc.?
4. How do we fix what's wrong? How does a person find salvation?
5. What happens to us when we die? or where are we going?
6. What is the most important thing in life for an individual?
0
Comments
1. I don't know, we haven't met. As for the cause of existence, nobody knows for sure. I think natural selection and evolution offer the most plausible pieces of the puzzle.
2. I wouldn't. There are many definitions though. It depends on which framework you choose to work with. A 'Christian God' is quite different from a 'Supreme Being' and from 'The Forces of Nature'. No definition is any more accurate than any other as long as people understand each other's definitions.
3. Ignorance/delusion/attachment
4. Having some sort of a spiritual path and using your brain.
5. I don't know. I suspect we decompose. Where does the light go when you close the fridge?
6. Depends on the individual, doesn't it?
Hope that helps.
http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/AnthonydeMello2.html
The same goes for the question of the "cause of existence." It doesn't really matter - we're here, and since we will never truly be satisfied with any answer (even though Deep Thought has spent millions of years calculating it to be "42") it would be better to spend that philosophical energy on problems that are more pertinent.
But to answer your question more directly, I personally don't believe there is a god, nor does humankind need one.
"God" in what sense? An Abrahamic sense?
At any rate, I generally define "god" as being some sort of omnipresent, supernatural entity that has abilities and knowledge beyond the scope of human comprehension. But I don't believe there is such a being.
Desire, hatred, ignorance.
"Salvation" is a loaded word. I don't really buy into salvation paradigms.
In terms of "how to fix..." I'd say the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path are a good place to start.
Our bodies decompose in the ground, or are turned into ash.
That's very subjective.
Pretty much agree with the rest of the post though.
Off topic.How are the trees looking in Canada?I remember flying across Canada one november and being amazed at the blaze of colours that unfolded beneath me.Truly a spectacular sight.
preferably 3 and 4
There are no simple answers to these question. It's like "wrap up all Buddhist teachings and practices into a single forum post". That's just impossible.
The first noble truth is that there is indeed some suffering or dissatisfaction that we go through. The second truth is related to your question and that is that the suffering has some sort of root cause. The third truth is that it's possible to overcome that dissatisfaction. The fourth truth is the path and also your fourth question.
Looking at question 4 first. The Eightfold Path is the Buddhist path to cessation of suffering. For reference, I'll paste this from wikipedia:
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(187, 187, 187); text-align: center;">Division</td> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(187, 187, 187); text-align: center;">Eightfold Path factors</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 255);" rowspan="2">Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)</td> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 255);">1. Right view</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 255);">2. Right intention</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 204);" rowspan="3">Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)</td> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 204);">3. Right speech</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 204);">4. Right action</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(204, 255, 204);">5. Right livelihood</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 204, 153);" rowspan="3">Concentration (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)</td> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 204, 153);">6. Right effort</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 204, 153);">7. Right mindfulness</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% rgb(255, 204, 153);">8. Right concentration</td> </tr></tbody></table>
You can probably see that many of the elements of the path are found in other religions as well. In fact, many people follow the path without knowing anything about Buddhism or any other religion.
That's what I meant by spirituality and using your brain. You need some sort of motive to be ethical (spirituality) and the ability to think, develop insight and wisdom as well as concentration (using your brain).
There were was a study into brain regions active during 'happy emotions' and 'sad emotions''. They found that the left prefrontal cortex is active when we experience feelings such as happiness, enthusiasm, joy, high energy and alertness and the right prefrontal cortex was active during sadness, anxiety and worrying.
Further research showed that people have a sort of balance between the two, so it's possible to measure how happy a person is based on the brain activity. They found that the level can shift temporarily , but tends to return to the original value. They also found that that original value isn't a constant and can also shift. So, there's a divide between things that lead to temporary happiness and things that lead to constant happiness.
They tested this level of happiness of some Buddhist monks and a control group and found that the Buddhist monks had a much higher level of activity in the right prefrontal cortex than the control group.
We know the path 'works', "It's scientifically proven!
To sum up, it doesn't matter where you find the motives or what religion you identify with, at the end of the day it comes down to kindness and altruistic action.
You can read all about how and why it works here:
http://www.eubios.info/EJ141/ej141j.htm
In the context of my previous post, it seems like most people aim for things which lead to short term happiness, rather than constant happiness. For example, winning the lottery, buying a new phone, buying a new car, buying a new house, watching TV, gaming and so on will all lead to temporary happiness and eventually suffering. When your shiny new car brakes down, when your phone stops working, when your house gets broken into... when anything bad happens you'll feel suffering/dissatisfaction. So, we chase promotions to get more money to buy more things which will lead to more suffering and we keep going around and around in the cycle of craving, desire, clinging and suffering.
At the root of that cycle is ignorance - ignorance to the fact that those things will not make us any happier and can only lead to suffering.
I hope that makes sense. I don't know if it's accurate in the context of Buddhism, it's just what I've observed. I don't actually study Buddhism, so like I said... others may provide a better answer.