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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2016 15:02:26 GMT -6
You're lucky you don't live here.
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Post by lowell on Dec 6, 2016 1:47:56 GMT -6
Native Americans don't get the respect they deserve. America is great today because for thousands of years, the Natives didn't trash it.
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Post by carpathianpeasant on Dec 6, 2016 20:25:22 GMT -6
Native Americans don't get the respect they deserve. America is great today because for thousands of years, the Natives didn't trash it. But, Lowell, they didn't really have the means to trash it.
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Post by lowell on Dec 6, 2016 23:48:43 GMT -6
Their brains are not inferior to ours. Their opposable thumb works in the same way. They walk erect on two legs.
They didn't have the inclination to trash it. Christianity had the view that this existence was inferior to God's heaven. Christians viewed themselves as having free reign to dominate and use the Earth. Animals were considered to be far inferior to people who were far inferior to God. So animals and plants were disgustingly base and unholy. We developed an attitude of "We won't let Mother Nature push us around!".
Native Americans revered the animals as being sacred and having souls. They even had respect for plants and the mountains, rivers and lakes.
Science has enabled us to learn more about the reality of our existence and our universe. What science reveals in string theory and membrane theory is that we are not really separate and that everything is linked together as one existence (by dark matter). This brings us back to the truths that the Shamans of the Native American tribes knew.
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Post by carpathianpeasant on Dec 7, 2016 12:56:27 GMT -6
Their brains are not inferior to ours. Their opposable thumb works in the same way. They walk erect on two legs. They didn't have the inclination to trash it. Christianity had the view that this existence was inferior to God's heaven. Christians viewed themselves as having free reign to dominate and use the Earth. Animals were considered to be far inferior to people who were far inferior to God. So animals and plants were disgustingly base and unholy. We developed an attitude of "We won't let Mother Nature push us around!". Native Americans revered the animals as being sacred and having souls. They even had respect for plants and the mountains, rivers and lakes. Science has enabled us to learn more about the reality of our existence and our universe. What science reveals in string theory and membrane theory is that we are not really separate and that everything is linked together as one existence (by dark matter). This brings us back to the truths that the Shamans of the Native American tribes knew. I didn't imply (much less say) any people were "inferior." I said they didn't have the means to be destructive -- they didn't have the likes of cars to create smog, etc. As for Christianity, the foundation of Christianity is justice, refined earlier by Jewish thought. That's the essence of the ten commandments. The principle is there, but that doesn't mean all who claim to hold that as truth adhere to it or even fully understand it. Underlying the notion is that all existence is good. And, this regarding Christianity is from a posting for another board, so it may appear elsewhere.
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Post by lowell on Dec 8, 2016 2:24:51 GMT -6
If this is true then Christianity has failed.
Some interpret the words of Jesus where he says "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence." as meaning that this world is base and sinful and that there is another kingdom that is pure and virtuous - exalted.
It is reminiscent of the Amida Buddha sect where adherents believe that by revering the name of Amida Butsu and repeating it daily that they will be reborn in a better world in another part of the universe. They chant Nam-Amida-Butsu.
I think that these cults of personality are inferior to those that respect the Law. People born at this time have little virtue and many evil tendencies. They have no direct relationship with the Buddha or with Jesus and the majority of them easily accept what they consider to be minor evils, little white lies.
They need a medicine that can cure their disorders and which continues to benefit them from lifetime into every successive lifetime. This was why spiritual teachers taught their disciples commandments or Laws. There was the Law of Hammurabi which became the Jewish "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth". Most Christians don't know anything about Hammurabi including where in the world he lived. But his laws affected humanity for centuries and still do. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." Here we see that Jesus understood the importance of the Laws of a teacher. Christians do not put importance on keeping the commandments today. They may not be possible to keep. People are not virtuous or compassionate enough.
Christianity had a major defeat in the 13th century with the end of the crusades. The church had failed and the predicted reappearance of Jesus had not occurred. It's power has diminished steadily since then. With the advent of science, the commensurate wisdom and compassion were missing, and horrors after horrors have plagued humanity since then. The dark ages temporarily brought more power to the Church, with the fall of Rome, but with the failure of the crusades it was only a matter of time before protests created the Protestant revolution.
That's how I see it. Time will tell, if humanity survives. 300 years from now, human existence will be quite different than it is now.
Nichiren said of his law (Nam-Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo), "If Nichiren’s compassion is truly great and encompassing, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will spread for ten thousand years and more, for all eternity, for it has the beneficial power to open the blind eyes of every living being in the country of Japan, and it blocks off the road that leads to the hell of incessant suffering."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2016 5:08:17 GMT -6
I don't think Christianity has failed. I think people fail. Many people don't live up to their own beliefs, including me. One thing about Christianity is we have an advocate between us and the Father. The Bible says man is evil continually from his youth up, we are sowed under sin.
Under the old Jewish law the people sacrificed animals to cover sin, It could never take away sin but it did cover it.
Jesus voluntarily died on the cross as a sacrifice for all mankind and it never has to be done again. His sacrifice took away sin and not just covered it.
I disagree Christianity has not failed. I look for revival to sweep the land. It's the early and later rain the Bible speaks about.
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Post by lowell on Dec 8, 2016 23:39:07 GMT -6
The concept of as ye sow so shall ye reap, was a good one. The recognition that thoughts and words could work evil and result in retribution of themselves was another good one. These are good elements in Buddhism too. They were not elements in Judaism. The commandment to love your enemy was also a good one. It too is found in Buddhism but not in Judaism. Nichiren went with the Japanese soldiers to Tatsunokuchi beach expecting to surrender his life for the Lotus Sutra. The soldiers were unable to kill him, so he was exiled to Sado Island and the villagers there were encouraged to murder him. That too failed, and when his prediction of rebellion within the ruling clan of samurai came to pass, he was pardoned.
I have heard Catholics claim that they do not have to avoid doing evil because the sacrifice of Jesus gives them the right to do wrong and get away with it.
This is an incorrect belief and they will fall into hell after they die.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2016 3:47:56 GMT -6
I have heard Catholics claim that they do not have to avoid doing evil because the sacrifice of Jesus gives them the right to do wrong and get away with it.
There is a belief that once saved always saved which is also incorrect. God will judge everyone according to their own deeds.
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Post by lowell on Dec 9, 2016 14:55:29 GMT -6
That is closer to the truth. Everyone has a different destiny with varying amounts of misfortune and fortune, varying amounts of talent and disability. Even the Christian God is not so cruel, so capricious, to cause some humans to suffer continuously for two weeks of life and die and for others to be born into the lap of luxury and never be troubled by the slightest inconvenience. People have these varieties of difficulty and delight because of their past lifetimes. It is the result of their previous sins that Jesus supposedly saved us from. Or in the case of benefits it is the result of previous goodness.
The fact that even Christians are beset with difficulties from birth or not beset with difficulties from birth is evidence enough for an objective viewer to conclude that Jesus died for nothing, at least at this point in time.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 4:57:35 GMT -6
"Even the Christian God is not so cruel, so capricious, to cause some humans to suffer continuously for two weeks of life and die and for others to be born into the lap of luxury and never be troubled by the slightest inconvenience."
Lowell, life is unfair. It would be nice if everyone were treated the same, no sickness or diseases. Money would not be an issue for anyone. As you know that is not the case. Life is totally unfair and it's caused by sin.
God created a couple to live in a place that was near perfect. God looked after them, took care of them until they rebelled and sinned, then they became outcasts. Sin, sickness, disease became the norm. Yes, life is unfair do to our own making.
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Post by lowell on Dec 10, 2016 11:07:40 GMT -6
"Suppose, for example, that there is a skilled physician who is wise and understanding and knows how to compound medicines to effectively cure all kinds of diseases. He has many sons, perhaps ten, twenty, or even a hundred. He goes off to some other land far away to see about a certain affair. After he has gone, the children drink some kind of poison that make them distraught with pain and they fall writhing to the ground.
"At that time the father returns to his home and finds that his children have drunk poison. Some are completely out of their minds, while others are not. Seeing their father from far off, all are overjoyed and kneel down and entreat him, saying: 'How fine that you have returned safely. We were stupid and by mistake drank some poison. We beg you to cure us and let us live out our lives!'
"The father, seeing his children suffering like this, follows various prescriptions. Gathering fine medicinal herbs that meet all the requirements of color, fragrance and flavor, he grinds, sifts and mixes them together. Giving a dose of these to his children, he tells them: 'This is a highly effective medicine, meeting all the requirements of color, fragrance and flavor. Take it and you will quickly be relieved of your sufferings and will be free of all illness.'
"Those children who have not lost their senses can see that this is good medicine, outstanding in both color and fragrance, so they take it immediately and are completely cured of their sickness. Those who are out of their minds are equally delighted to see their father return and beg him to cure their sickness, but when they are given the medicine, they refuse to take it. Why? Because the poison has penetrated deeply and their minds no longer function as before. So although the medicine is of excellent color and fragrance, they do not perceive it as good.
"The father thinks to himself: My poor children! Because of the poison in them, their minds are completely befuddled. Although they are happy to see me and ask me to cure them, they refuse to take this excellent medicine. I must now resort to some expedient means to induce them to take the medicine. So he says to them: 'You should know that I am now old and worn out, and the time of my death has come. I will leave this good medicine here. You should take it and not worry that it will not cure you.' Having given these instructions, he then goes off to another land where he sends a messenger home to announce, 'Your father is dead.'
"At that time the children, hearing that their father has deserted them and died, are filled with great grief and consternation and think to themselves: If our father were alive he would have pity on us and see that we are protected. But now he has abandoned us and died in some other country far away. We are shelter-less orphans with no one to rely on!
"Constantly harboring such feelings of grief, they at last come to their senses and realize that the medicine is in fact excellent in color and fragrance and flavor, and so they take it and are healed of all the effects of the poison. The father, hearing that his children are all cured, immediately returns home and appears to them all once more.
"Good men, what is your opinion? Can anyone say that this skilled physician is guilty of lying?"
"No, World-Honored One."
The Buddha said: "It is the same with me. It has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayuta and asamkhya kalpas since I attained Buddhahood. But for the sake of living beings I employ the power of expedient means and say that I am about to pass into extinction. In view of the circumstances, however, no one can say that I have been guilty of lies or falsehoods."
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Post by lowell on Dec 10, 2016 11:17:00 GMT -6
The Buddha uses death and life, sickness and health, poverty and wealth, disabilities and talents, as a mystic means to induce us to follow His Mystic Law, to take the medicine, that can cure us and restore us to our original enlightened condition.
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