Creator God and the existence of alternative religions

last SG · 2013-03-22T12:30:07+00:00

And how is your devas turned humans not any less "magical"? At least the Bible says that God created man and woman (thus establishing the origins of marriage...

Dawnfirstlight SG

Problem with the above scenario is that the priest is wrong. But I suppose the above is just a caricature to take a jab at Christianity or Roman Catholicism.

Anyway, a Christian who knows the Bible well enough will know that the Bible is not silent on this. In the book of Romans the Apostle Paul said that people DO KNOW about God and sin. He said that the evidence for God is seen in the creation and thus people are without excuse. It is not that people do not know, but that people suppress the knowledge of God. As to sin, if you ask everyone, they can tell you that they are not morally perfect. We all know in our hearts that we have done wrong. We have lied, we have stolen, we have coveted etc etc. God has given us His law aka the conscience which functions as a moral compass albeit marred by sin such that people can have their conscience hardened or seared by repeated wrongdoing. Even if we do not know or heard of the 10 commandments, our conscience can still judge us.

Christians around me told me that babies who passed away without the knowledge of God will not go to hell and people who did not have the chance to know God will not go to hell. How come there are differences in understanding among Christians?

2009novice SG

SN 22.2: Devadaha Sutta — At Devadaha {S iii 5; CDB i 856} [Thanissaro].

sinweiy SG

The point is that it was preserved orally and written down only centuries later. You can only take it by faith that what was recorded centuries later was what was uttered by Buddha himself.

yes paper was not invented until 105 AD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper

i had no issue with preserved orally. good enough for those enlightened followers( who are at least a third stage Arhat, not to mentioned lay bodhisattvas) in that time.

though actually Pali is not the actual language spoken by Buddha. And Pali canon is only a potion of Buddhism. Mahayana also have almost that much potions of scriptures, but a little bit lesser.

An Eternal Now SG

The point is that it was preserved orally and written down only centuries later. You can only take it by faith that what was recorded centuries later was what was uttered by Buddha himself.

Loppon Namdrol:

"Listen -- you will have to forgive us. These endless discussions about rebirth are tiresome. We don't care. Either you accept it or you don't. If you don't fine. But there is no doubt that rebirth was the Buddha's teaching. People who cannot accept that, cannot accept must of the other teachings of the Buddha.

And please spare us the "buddhas teachings were not written down until..."First of all, this is false. Worst case scenario, Buddha's teachings were written down 150 years after his parinirvana (dates of Asokha pillars), which best scholarship places 407-400 BCE. But it is very likely that the earliest sutras were being written down within 50 years."

An Eternal Now SG

yes paper was not invented until 105 AD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper

i had no issue with preserved orally. good enough for those enlightened followers( who are at least a third stage Arhat, not to mentioned lay bodhisattvas) in that time.

though actually Pali is not the actual language spoken by Buddha. And Pali canon is only a potion of Buddhism. Mahayana also have almost that much potions of scriptures, but a little bit lesser.

It was written in wood or leaf scrolls before that.

omph SG

According to Wiki it is centuries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%81li_Canon

Whether Buddha claimed to be the 4th Buddha or not, the fact remains that Buddhism is only based on Buddha, not anything prior to him. There is no Buddhism or practice of it before Buddha existed.

Can I use the same logic with regards to the bible?

sinweiy SG

sorry to put this here again.

saw this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJTNpVrEXzE

not that i agree totally to either side. at least we know what their stand are.

« Previous Page