Mixed Religion

[LeaveIt2Me]

In all honesty I consider myself more spiritual than religious. I believe in a God along the lines of Christianity but also believe in past lives. I'm reading up on Buddhism but so far mainstream religion has left me with more questions than answers. 

[Bettypooh]

I'm not certain that there is but one path for all I've got a little Cherokee Indian blood in me and though I'm Christian I also find spiritual things in that part of me. And I see the practical nature of some of the Bhuddist ways which are good for me too None of us know for sure what will happen after this life no matter how strong our beliefs are, so an open-minded approach with the exclusion of nothing is a good place to start one's spiritual journey. And as this is a personal thing I don't see any wrong in choosing what path to take based on many sources of information versus only one

Seek the good but don't ever become blind to things not so good, and think deeply and sensibly about it all

Bettypooh

[rosalie.bent]

Well the Bible itself says that there is but ONE WAY to God and that is through Jesus Christ. Our own personal opinions mean nothing on this matter. Only what is truth matters.

[Firefly 35]

On 5/28/2018 at 11:30 PM, rosalie.bent said:

Well the Bible itself says that there is but ONE WAY to God and that is through Jesus Christ. Our own personal opinions mean nothing on this matter. Only what is truth matters.

You are entitled to that belief.  However, Muslims say the same thing about Allah, Hindus say the same thing about the gods & goddesses they believe in, and Buddhists say the same about their beliefs.  The ONE WAY for each person may differ, in my opinion.

[LeaveIt2Me]

I appreciate the comments! However according to my understanding of Buddhism it does not claim to be the only way like FireFly 35 mentioned. In fact the  Dalai Lama said we need a variety of religions just as we need a variety of medicines. In fact Buddhisms willingness to acknowledge the beauty and truth in things outside of itself was what originally caught my attention. It is hard for me to believe in a God who would punish or destroy people simply because of the religion they do or do not belong to.

[Infantwish]

As far as I'm aware Budhism isn't so much as religion as more of a philosophy or a way of life... Now, there are brands of Buddhism which are definitely religious, though most of those to my awareness are strands of Hinduism that got mixed in, so not what a person usually refers to when they mention Buddhism. I am a devout Catholic and as such (and by my own philosophical conclusions) I believe that to be the only true religion, but even so I do not see a problem with considering some Buddhist beliefs. In my eyes, the two simply aren't related matters.

[Firefly 35]

On 6/6/2018 at 7:23 AM, Infantwish said:

As far as I'm aware Budhism isn't so much as religion as more of a philosophy or a way of life... Now, there are brands of Buddhism which are definitely religious, though most of those to my awareness are strands of Hinduism that got mixed in, so not what a person usually refers to when they mention Buddhism. I am a devout Catholic and as such (and by my own philosophical conclusions) I believe that to be the only true religion, but even so I do not see a problem with considering some Buddhist beliefs. In my eyes, the two simply aren't related matters.

From what I can see, Buddhism and Catholicism are quite similar in their core beliefs (don't kill, don't steal, respect others, and by doing good in this life, you'll be rewarded in the next.)

[Infantwish]

2 hours ago, Firefly 35 said:

From what I can see, Buddhism and Catholicism are quite similar in their core beliefs (don't kill, don't steal, respect others, and by doing good in this life, you'll be rewarded in the next.)

Indeed, they share a lot of similarities. That said, there is one aspect that, at least to me, classifies Buddhism differently from a religion and that is that Buddhism (by which I mean the original and pure strains, not the mixtures with Hinduism) is not centered on a deity or higher force per se, but moreso in the core philosophy that desire leads to pain therefore to eliminate pain and evil desire must be eliminated from oneself. If there is no higher force or deity at the center of a belief, then that is a way of life or philosophy rather than a religion.

[LeaveIt2Me]

To be honest I have seen Buddhist who considered Buddhism a philosophy and others in the same school of Buddhism who considered it to be a religion. In general Buddhism is very fluid and consequently works well with most other religions. It is true that Buddhism doesn't have a specific God especially in the terms of an all knowing and all powerful God. Most of the Gods in Buddhism would be considered more like angels or saints in other religions. However it doesn't exclude the possibility of an all knowing God either. Basically the Buddha said that whether there is or is not a God is an unanswerable question. Instead the Buddha says we should focus on living with peace, love and compassion to lessen the suffering of others and ourselves.