The Concept of Grace. So Confusing (paradise, translation, faith, Biblical)
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The Buddha enlightens all in hells because it is a shame to ignore or shun those who don't worship you and to not educate and increase happiness and minimize suffering for all the sentient beings possible as soon as possible. The Buddha doesn't believe in begging (prayer) but people do believe in begging and groveling, so sometimes it is useful to let them do it as they wish. The Buddha agrees with all that is good, but none of the dark-age concepts in Christianity, such as the idea that a creation (child) is the property of it's creator (parent), or that a heavenly dictatorship is better than a heavenly democracy.
Does this Prayer for Divine Love seem like it's begging or groveling?
Rather, this is how we may obtain Grace aka God's Divine Love, which is required for the transformation of our souls from mere mortals to Divine beings, if it is our desire for this to occur now or we can wait until we pass over to the spirit world. This is Jesus' legacy. He was the first human being on earth to do this... by praying or appealing to God to fill up his soul with God's highest Love. Jesus' dying on the cross has nothing whatsoever to do with our salvation, and there is no such thing as a wrathful God or Virgin Mary for that matter.
In the spirit world, it's all about our soul's condition... the lightness or darkness of it determines which location we will begin our spiritual journey. Whether we will attain immortality and become Divine Angels residing in the Celestial Heavens where Jesus is the Master, or whether we will enjoy the extreme happiness of our natural love and reside in the Sixth Sphere. God's Law of Progression and Law of Change are very evident in the spirit world (earth plane, hells, spheres 2 through 6... Celestial Heavens.
When we come to know the truth about God and our creation, we know that He created our soul as well as the receptacle (body) for it's incarnation into the flesh. Buddha can deny this all He wants and he can proclaim that souls reincarnate but, unfortunately, he's got it wrong.
There's not one single religion that has it right.
And you can protest all you would like, proclaiming how Buddha has it wrong because your particular religious label is the One True pathway ... but it's not.
I think we all know that everyone proclaims their religion to be The Answer -- and yet not a one has neither the evidence or the proof to make such a sweeping, grandiose claim. Religions cannot even be honest with themselves and admit their failings by saying, "We THINK it's this way ..." without offering up such unsubstantiated certainty.
Instead, the certitude, overconfidence, and hyperbolic knowledge offered by religion concerning death and the afterlife only creates a world filled with fanatics, zealots, and people unwilling to believe even for a millisecond that they could be wrong and someone else might be right.
Sure, sure, the same could be said of atheists, too, and some truly are as blinkered as the average religious zealot. But the difference between an atheist and a "true religious believer" is that we reject all religions. We haven't plucked one religion from the grab bag of thousands and proclaimed that *that* particular religion is the truth, that *this* "god" exists while the rest are false. Such proclamations ring all the more hollow when one realizes that, for many, their beliefs are representative of the culture into which they were born, representative of the beliefs of their parents, their friends, their ethnicity, their community -- and has *very* little to do with some inherent truth embedded within the religion itself.
In other words, they believe what they believe because everyone else around them believes in that particular thing, and it is oh so terrifyingly easy to plunge head-first into the warm, comforting waters of conformity.
So yes, by all means, preach how you have it right and Buddha has it wrong -- while offering up no reasons whatsoever for anyone to believe you.
And while I'm not a Buddhist, either, I tend to give the Far Eastern 'religions" *a lot* more slack than the Abrahamic religions. Any religion that puts a silent, absent god above the human condition is a complex recipe of division, fascism, authoritarianism, political turmoil, oppression and, well ... you get the idea. History has proven that again and again.
There's not one single religion that has it right.
So yes, by all means, preach how you have it right and Buddha has it wrong -- while offering up no reasons whatsoever for anyone to believe you.
And while I'm not a Buddhist, either, I tend to give the Far Eastern 'religions" *a lot* more slack than the Abrahamic religions. Any religion that puts a silent, absent god above the human condition is a complex recipe of division, fascism, authoritarianism, political turmoil, oppression and, well ... you get the idea. History has proven that again and again.
If you have the time, I invite you to read my testimony. God bless.
It's part of our understanding of the medical science of raising children. Asking for scripture is exactly the wrong proof. Here is where you would ask for science evidence on the age of reason, instead you ask about scripture.
The closest we have as Proverbs 22:6 which notes that children at a young age learn morality better.
There's not one single religion that has it right.
I agree with this. If there's a God, or gods, nobody really understands what it/they wants...so far it's all guesswork, with a HUGE splash of cultural bias thrown in. Huge.
While the Atheists have got it all figured out. Congrats!
No. I didn't say that. Nobody has it "figured out" of there would be no more arguing. It would proven and rendered inarguable.
You Christians and Muslims are running my Christmas spirit and I mean that sincerely, so I'll wait to check back in on the religion boards until after then. Wow, for how amazingly graced and filled with light some of you people are, you sure are miserable and spiteful. Off I go to experience some love instead. From my non-Christian family. If only some people here knew how effectively you repeatedly get people to turn away. Hope you manage somehow to crack a smile and enjoy a happy holiday. So sad...I feel really just...sad for some here. So I sincerely do wish you at least some happiness this Christmas. Just at least try because it only comes once a year and then it's gone.
While the Atheists have got it all figured out. Congrats!
I actually have nothing figured out -- except that the gods of religion do not exist. There are tangible reasons that can be pointed to for this conclusion.
Unfortunately, it is religion, regardless of the brand, that claims to have all the answers when, in fact, they haven't any more answers than I do. The Pope is as blind to the goings-on behind the veil of death as I am, and I mistrust *anyone* who claims they have "special" knowledge of what happens after we die.
If someone falls dead for a week and comes back to tell us about it, then I'll start believing, but even those who have been "dead" for a few hours, well, I don't feel that was long enough to be certain that brain activity completely ceased. Just because our machines can't detect it doesn't mean it isn't there in some residual form ... like how you can get shocked by an appliance even when it's no longer plugged in.
...- and yet not a one has neither the evidence or the proof
to make such a sweeping, grandiose claim. ...
Well, ask God for his Divine Love to enter your heart..see what happens...I did!
The proof is in the pudding or the asking or the receiving...and it has
nada to do with any religion...just you and your heart asking.
"Silence is the door to God's Heart, here is where fulfillment resides"
-From, "The Way of Mastery"
I quote it...but I could have said it myself...because it's true....
I might have said, In stillness you can know God...but that sounds like
I'm paraphrasing Ps 46! Words are words...direct experience is where it's at.
My take.
All that have no real idea of Grace...spend an hour each day in silence...then come back
and tell us what you have found within. Then, repeat the above for many decades.
There will be no question of what Grace is.
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