What They Mean By Child-Like FaithWritten by Eric Engel
Prv:18:2 A Fool Receiveth Not The Words Of Prudence: Unless Thou Say Those Things Which Are In His HeartSo what does that say about us? We all like to be told we’re right. We all like to hear how smart we are. We all want confirmation. Most of us hate it when someone points out when we’re wrong. If you pick up Bible, and don’t come away thinking yourself a fool, you’re not paying attention. Because every book of Bible is full of passages that show us how foolish we are. The book of proverbs particularly points out our intellectual limitations. Does God really have a fetish for identifying our flaws? Like a father who can never admit his son turned out all right? Yes and no. It all hangs on that quote from Christ: “Mk:10:15 Amen I say to you, whosoever shall not receive kingdom of God as a little child shall not enter into it.” A lot of people misinterpret that to mean learning and understanding our faith is fruitless. They confuse word “childlike” for “simplistic”, but two have very different meanings. Anyone who has children realizes that they aren’t simple at all. But what about them are we suppose to imitate? The Father / Son Relationship Remember that Christ compares God’s relationship with us to relationship between a father and son. In this case, son would be a child. And a child has to rely on wisdom and knowledge of his father for everything he has (remember that when Jesus is speaking, father was common provider in household).
| | Is Buddhism A Religion?Written by Helen Wyre
Buddhism is a teaching which has spread worldwide absorbing culture of each country it arrived in, which has resulted in many expressions of Buddhism. Each strand, no matter how varied in nature and practice, holds a common emphasis on impermanence of human life. The worldwide spread of Buddhism means that it is now practiced by over three hundred million people worldwide, and thus, is generally considered to be a world religion. However, its authenticity as a religion has often come under scrutiny by intellectuals in Western world. To explore whether Buddhism can in fact be counted as a religion we must acknowledge that main problems arise when looking for a definition of what a religion is. Either, definitions have proved too narrow excluding many belief systems which people believe are religious, or they become too broad which means that any structure can be counted. When applying varying definitions of religion to Buddhism we come up with some very contradictory answers; some which say that Buddhism is simply a philosophy or teaching, whilst others will prove that it is in fact, a religion in practice. To determine whether Buddhism is a religion or not, we must also note that we, as Westerners will have different views and concepts of religion to those practicing in East. We must ask question, is it even possible for Westerners to understand religious life of Asia? What we view as Asian religion and religious activity is for most of people practicing it a natural part of daily life; our ideas and concepts vary so greatly that perhaps someone observing Buddhism from a Western perspective may never truly grasp religiosity of group. For one attempting to provide a definition of religion these practices would need to be described in a manner which did not exclude one religion from definition. There needs to be one thing that is attributed to all religions, a common factor. For many, common factor is God. However, if we conclude that God is focus of all religion then much of material found in Asia must be excluded because there is no God here, and occasionally not even Gods. From perspective that religion entails belief in a God, Buddhism is excluded from having title of religion. Many outsiders to Buddhist tradition may claim that Buddha held some divinity and is elevated to a Godly position, but Buddha himself refused to be regarded as divine. For Buddha, humanity is here to improve ourselves and achieve liberation rather than worrying about ultimate questions. Buddhists would argue that knowledge of a God or afterlife does not matter as neither help in quest for nirvana. If Buddhism is not counted as a religion then what is it? Buddhism can be thought of as a way of life, a philosophy, a psychology, a way of thinking through which we can take responsibility for our present life and lives.
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