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Rational Belief In A Specific God.; So, hang on...
Topic Started: Nov 5 2006, 05:10 AM (1,063 Views)
Inuyatta
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Cloud/Aerith Realist
Resha
May 26 2007, 10:44 AM

Uh, question. Can Buddha be considered as a god or some deity? Most Asians are in this religion especially the Chinese Japanese and Korean race though I never got a chance to question some temple priests.

No, true Buddhists have never considered Buddha a deity. He is an example to follow--to be enlightened and escape the cycle of suffering--but no, Buddha has always been a man.

Actually, I'm speaking of him as if that where his name--but no, Buddha is a title for 'one who is enlightened'. There have been many Buddhas and bodhisattva, but Siddhartha Gautama is the main one that comes to mind when the topic of Buddhism comes up.
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goddess_in_pink07
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Ambrosia
Resha
May 26 2007, 10:44 AM
goddess_in_pink07
 
This is correct, we are created in his image.

Adam was created perfect. He was the first man ever put on this earth. Yet, he sinned. How can something perfect sin? Its all done with free will. It proves that sin is the choice. Its impossible say someone can't resist sin.
O_O sister you rock. I'm starting to have full faith in Him... *reads the Bible more*

I think I've picked up a Bible a hand full of times and skimmed through the pages. xD And my father is a friggin' preacher for heaven's sakes. If I told him that he'd be like "NO INZERWEB FOR J00!"

It amazes me what I can pull out of my butt when I'm debating about the Bible too. Maybe all those slow Sunday mornings at church when I was resting my eyes I was actually listening. o.o
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aerislives
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Quote:
 
No, true Buddhists have never considered Buddha a deity. He is an example to follow--to be enlightened and escape the cycle of suffering--but no, Buddha has always been a man


so he's basicly like a type of prophet like jesus but with no direct link to god
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Inuyatta
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Cloud/Aerith Realist
I suppose you could look at it that way. By all means, check out the website.

Here's a nice one:

http://www.buddhanet.net/

Here's a five minute overview, (I love how convenient it is XD):

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm
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aerislives
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thanks for clairifying that and thanks for the links they were very helpful :cleris: :huggle:
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Inuyatta
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No problem! :D
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Raist
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The Bringer of the Black Funeral
Gee, been a long time. Study break between exams so I have time to type something :)

I again apologise to Englishrose and Nevi. If either of you guys read this and want me to reply to your posts in this topic I'll be glad to do so. Let me know.

But for now, I turn to goddessinpink's post (I hope you don't mind if I refer to you as gpink).

Gpink

Well as Resha stated God gave man free will. Free will to choose it accept god or not. Men do many wicked things though. Satan is said to roam the earth to and fro.

True, however how would you consider the calvinist position? Admittedly the Christian God tells us we have free will but doesn't this conflict with our very concept of God as an all knowing, all loving, all powerful being(AKLP)? Surely if we speak of God as being all knowing then we assume he has knowledge of all things at all times (possibly including all possibilities if we accept that we have free will). Before we even begin to consider this we have the problem of whether God is eternal in time or somehow unconditioned by it but I won't delve into that further here. Rather, if God is all knowing then he knows all of our actions for all intents and purposes. If he knows then it appears our actions (and possibily thoughts) are pre-ordained and we clearly have no free will. How would you respond to this dilemma gpink?


Adam was created perfect. He was the first man ever put on this earth. Yet, he sinned. How can something perfect sin? Its all done with free will. It proves that sin is the choice. Its impossible say someone can't resist sin.

I think you ought to clarify exactly what you mean by 'perfect'. If by perfect you mean 'can do no wrong' then Adam clearly doesn't fit the criteria. If you mean he is somehow AKLP then that seems to be confusing Adam with God. I don't really think you're doing the latter and I don't feel you can respond to the former. I have to ask then, what is the purpose of speaking of Adam as perfect? Do you just mean superior? Or is there something else I'm missing? And if you do mean 'superior', what exactly do you mean?

That is a very good question.

You have to remember, sometimes things we pray for can take years to happen. My father is a preacher, and I've asked my mother about this. She's told me herself she's prayed for things that took years to happen. We can't always expect to pray for something, and it instantly comes.


And that is an excellent response. Would you agree that when we pray we pray for something fairly specific? For example, some pain to end or someone to undergo a healthy operation. In the first instance you are right about time being a factor but it may also be that we don't realise that God has given us exactly what we've prayed for until much later than we receive it. It may very well be that we don't truly understand what we impart in each individual prayer.

A similar argument can be used for the defence of Kamma in Buddhism. Considering
Kamma outside the context of one spatio-temporal existence (one life you might say) there appear to be inconsistencies in how Kamma operates. However, over time the suggestion is that all Kammic fruit comes to bear.


Many, many things have happened in my life that's made me question my own faith. Sometimes I don't even believe in God. I ask so many times, "why". When bad things happen, I wonder what I've done to deserve it.
That's why many Chrstian's lose their faith when things in their life go wrong. They question God. God test's people's faith, to see if they've truely accepted Christ. Many people call themselves Christian's, but end up not being lined up with the Bible.


I think this leads us to the notion of faith in general. I also feel that this is one of my greatest problems with religion (including Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta etc although to a somewhat lesser extent) in general (along with a problem of specifics). Faith is by definition belief where we are without sufficient evidence. In essence, you believe in God wholeheartedly but you don't have sufficient evidence to prove God's existence forthright. Why do we allow this in the case of religion? Faith in Science, in writing, in economics, in any of the serious consequential decisions that we beings must make in our lives is largely unacceptable. In cases of insufficient evidence we are usually expected to withhold judgement. Yet, this is not the case with religion. Why is that?

Further, following William Clifford's line of argument, in accepting faith in a case that is so crucial to our day to day existence and the lives of many around us are we not risking a slippery slope of reasoning? If a child is brought up to accept God on faith would he/she not use the same principles to make other decisions for him/herself? Decisions for others? And I don't think I need to explain that allowing faith into many other sectors of our lives could have disastrous consequences, if it hasn't already.

So why do you accept faith on this issue, where you might not (I don't know how you reason in general) in others?

Aerislives

I'm not sure you'd call any Buddha a prophet but they do teach principles designed to lead us away from the cycle of suffering and into enlightenment.

Along with the website Inuyatta gave you (it is an excellent link) try the following for the best translations of the suttas (written word of many Buddhist teachings):

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

If you have any questions on Buddhism let me know. I'm studying Eastern Philosophy and Buddhism is a main focus.
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