Reading about different religions is proving to be very informative. I know a little about the other religions, but further investigation has revealed more information about them which is interesting. It is a daunting task to try and look at other religions objectively when I am very strong in my Christian faith, so my views may not be totally objective. I will do the best I can, however….in my analyzation of each religion. First I will speak of Hinduism...
Notes about Hinduism:
Each person’s reality is different
If a person’s reality does not lead to happiness, it must be abandoned
God changes and adapts to circumstances
No absolute truth
Duhkha…bad space
Brahman…the Godhead, who we are to know intimately
The differential between expectations and outcomes will determine one’s amount of earthly suffering
Pleasure and Pain are very interconnected
Spiritual ignorance is the source of unhappiness
God responds to each individual based on his needs, personality, etc.
Each person may find the Truth in a different way…through study, experience, or logic.
All creation has a soul
Reincarnation and transmigration
Religion…to be experienced
Science…to be proven
For a religion to be reconciled with science it needs to fulfill three requirements:— 1. It must accept all proven scientific facts as true. 2. It must reject any view which is contradicted by science. 3. Its beliefs must be based on observation, logic and experience.
In studying Hinduism, I found many similarities to the Christian religion that I agree with. The biggest one is that they believe in a Godhead, who we are to know intimately. I agree that God responds to each individual based on his needs, personality, etc. He knows our circumstances and what leads us to believe or disbelieve. He knows what drives our actions, and His mercy is unfailing. I also agree that pleasure and pain are interconnected. To appreciate pleasure, one must recognize what pain is. To feel pain, one must have experienced pleasure. I also agree that spiritual ignorance is the source of unhappiness. The history of Hinduism shows that from the very beginning there has been a quest for intimacy with God. I agree with this as well.
I disagree that there is there is no such thing as absolute truth. For those who believe in science, there is absolute truth. In the spiritual realm, I believe there is also absolute truth. I do not believe, as the Hindus do…that God adapts and changes according to circumstances. I believe that God is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He is like a rock, and a solid foundation on which to stand.
I do agree that every person has a reality that is based on his own experiences and circumstances. The Hindus believe that if a person’s reality does not lead to happiness it must be abandoned. I disagree with this in that I do not believe happiness on this earth is our ultimate goal. I believe sharing the love of God with others is our ultimate goal. Whereas that might make us spiritually happy, it does not necessarily mean that everything else in our lives is happy.
I believe that people may be led to the Truth in various ways, but I believe there is only one Truth. I believe, as the Hindus, that they may be led by personal experience, personal study, or logic.
I do not believe that all of creation has a soul. God set man apart, and created us in His image. We have the knowledge of right and wrong written upon our hearts. We have a conscience, unlike a tree or a rock. We do not merely exist. We were created to care for the other life on earth and to love God.
I do not believe in reincarnation or transmigration. This is where I cannot help but be biased in my belief. I believe God’s plan paved the way for us to have eternal life through his son Jesus Christ. I do not have to earn my way to Heaven or be born into other lives until I reach perfection. My perfection was born on the cross when Jesus died for me.
Christianity is not the oldest religion…true. That does not, however, make it wrong. All religions have in common the searching for something more. There is an innate sense that there is something greater than who we are. I believe that God put that desire in our hearts for intimacy with Him.
Christianity is the only religion where God came to earth in human form. Not only this, this human, Jesus Christ, took our sins so that we might have eternal life. Jesus said He was the Messiah. This makes him either a lunatic, a liar, or the Son of God. Enough people believed in Him to martyr themselves over the years. He did miracles, and had many witnesses to those miracles. Not only did he bring people back to life, He himself rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven. From Heaven, He continues to heal and transform lives every day. The life of Jesus fulfills the prophecies that were foretold thousands of years before His birth...and it all came about as the prophecies said that it would.
As far as the method goes to reconcile religion with science…
-I believe scientific facts are true. (Saying “there is no God is not a fact because nobody can prove the non-existence of God) I also believe that Science and the existence of God do not contradict each other.
-Again…science cannot contradict something that cannot be proven…and there is no God DNA.
-My beliefs are based on:
-Observation (creation, miracles, and life transformations in the name of Jesus Christ)…
-Logic(Jesus Christ said he was the Messiah…and He also healed people, loved people, and brought people back to life. A lunatic or a liar would not logically be so loving as to do those things, yet lie about who he is. Therefore His claim must be true.)…
-Experience ( I have personally received Jesus into my heart…experienced His miracles firsthand, and experienced his restoration, peace, and love…and I have seen the changes in my life as a result).
Awesome I am really happy that you read about another religion… I think it is very important to know about other religions, because they are just as interesting as everyone else's… and just as true :) I think the next one you should take a ganders at is Zoroastrianism, this is a monotheist religion like Christianity… I would be curious to see what you find out about this one.
ReplyDeleteTo your findings. While I don’t want you to stop reading about other religions… I think maybe you are going about this assignment somewhat wrong. But it maybe the only way for you to go about it the more I think about it… because you probably haven’t spent… much… if any time reading about other religions. I think you and other christians too easily write off every other religion immediately as wrong. The assignment is why do you write them off so easily? What standard are you using to examine a belief and then say that belief has no merit when compared to my belief. For the assignment what ever standard you are using to say those beliefs are wrong, you need to use that same exact standard on Christianity. For example you say you do not believe in reincarnation or transmigration, why? What standard are you applying to these beliefs for you not to believe they are true… or to find any truth in them at all? This same standard needs to be applied to your own beliefs and examined.
If your only standard is, because I believe it and that's it… then there probably isn’t much more of an assignment here to do. I believe though this is what most christians will say, I believe it to be true…. therefor, it's true. Which what else in life would you ever apply that to? I could walk around and say I believe grass to be red and the sky is green and I believe this to be true and while nobody could ever prove to me what I see for myself, most people would agree I was crazy. Just because you believe something to be true, doesn’t make it any more believable or more true to the next person. The problem with this belief of its true because I say so is all of the major theist religions believe in a hell (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and they all claim, non-believers go there… So if this is true, I would like to know the standards and methods you use that separates Christianity from these other religions.
A few points:
ReplyDeleteThere are many religions around the world where god comes down in human form. Some of these gods also died and were resurrected. A short list below:
Osirus
Dionysus
Adonis
Attis
Baal
Horus
This is just a short example of Gods who came to earth in human form and a few of them were killed and then resurrected. This is not all of them, there are a ton more. So what standard do you rule out these gods existance when compared to your god or jesus? When in fact most of these gods predate jesus, could it be that perhaps the gods stories above were coopted into a jesus story? All of the gods above were worshipped by many followers and were just as real as jesus is to you, what makes them wrong and you right?
Next, science… and the difference with religion. Christianity claims total truth, not science, this is very frustrating and shows most people don’t know much about the scientific method or theories. This is the problem with Christianity and what is ultimately going to get Christianity in trouble and is why non-believe is gaining favor in this country. Christianity is the ultimate truth according to its believers. Science on the other hand never claims absolute truth about anything, science could prove tomorrow that there is a God and all the christians would jump for joy and say “Told you so!” Science could also prove there isn’t a god and those same christians would dismiss it just a quick. Science could also after proving a God change after getting new evidence and then prove there isn’t a God… it all adapts with knowledge and experimentation of the facts. All science offers is the BEST explanation for our current understanding of the universe and the parts within it. This is why we still call gravity a theory, because we have tested and tested and tested some more and we have arrived that gravity is the best way to describe the attraction of objects irrespective of size. But the awesome part about science is, that could change! We could discover something that throws that theory right out the window… and it would change and we would become smarter for doing so and our knowledge of the natural world would grow. Imagine this world if we didn’t have science.. and only religion. We can thank science (and not God) for wiping out the following: Tetanus, Rabies, Polio, Yellow fever, Rinderpest, Whooping cough, Measles and smallpox. Its curious that we have had religion for thousands of years… yet with all the prayer… its only after science comes along that things get better.
Do this small experiment mom and if there is anything with religion that you can recreate that works like this, me and the world would want to know. Take a pen, hold it about a foot off the desk or floor and then drop it. While you don’t even need to do the experiment because you know what is going to happen this is proof that the theory of gravity works, it is repeatable and testable… over and over and over, it never fails…Is there anything you can show me with religion where you can 100% consistently get results like that?
The scary thing about religion is it teaches us to be satisfied with not knowing! And religion and science in no way walk hand in hand because of the information above. The only time christians will admit something with science is when they can shoehorn it into their own beliefs… therefore claiming it proves Christianity. I would ask you do you believe in the Big Bang Theory? Do you believe in the theory of Evolution? Do those walk hand in hand with christianity? You can’t for sure say evolution does, because then you lose the story of adam and eve and original sin and thus lose any reason for Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. So :/ unfortunately science and religion do not walk side by side, in a lot of ways they are opposed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Atheism isn’t the belief that there is NO god, it is simply the belief that we do not believe in your god until you can offer proof of your belief, thats it. Saying definitively that a God doesn’t exist, is just as crazy as definitively saying one does exist. And you are right, science cannot prove there isn’t a God, but it also cannot prove there is a God, so this is why I question why so many christians try to prove it to me.
What your beliefs are based on:
Observation - these are your own bias opinions on what is happening and for every single example you can so me, I can show you a similar example with an atheist, hindu or muslim claiming the same thing. None of this is testable using the scientific method…. which is the absolute standard in understanding our universe.
On your logic:
Logic - reasoning conducted or assessed according to strict principles of validity.
Belief - an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
Which one of these do you think you are using mom? Notice that belief doesn’t require the statement to be a fact, it is accepted as truth regardless of fact.
Experience, this is where you and all other christians got us. I cannot prove you didn’t have these experiences, I cannot prove what is inside of your head… just like you can’t prove what is inside of mine, but personal experiences are not proof of anything outside of the person who experienced it.
I will be curious for you to examine your faith like you are an outsider to it, pretend you are a hindu or buddhist and examine the belief with that type of critical eye.
Love you Mom, I’m glad you took the time for me :) have a great rest of the weekend!
I’m starting to think all of our writings could be a collaborative book… :P and a very interesting one.
And sorry it wouldn't let me put it as one post... :P