Okay, if you are a spiritual person, you might want to skip this part, because I am basically a logical person and I tend to view most things in a practical way. While I was inside, I prayed to God in the morning, and chanted Guanyin’s name in the evening. As I haven’t been stuck down by lightening bolts or consumed by fire and more or less got out of there with most of my sanity, I believe that God or Buddha has seen my intentions, and understood why I did what I did.
What I have written here are just some thoughts I had while reading through the religious books, and because I didn’t have anyone to consult while I was inside (Turtlette is a free thinker too), I fully accept that perhaps some of my views are a bit weird and if you think they are wrong, please feel free to correct me and kindly don’t be offended by what I wrote.
I have been a free-thinker all my life, but don’t be mistaken that I am an atheist. As a matter of fact, I am a theist, because I believe that there is a God. However, my personal opinion is that my love/faith/devotion is to God, and I won’t stand for a fellow human being telling me what God wants. Also, I firmly believe that as long as one does good, all religions are the same. While I am not a spiritual person, I do sometimes depend on a higher power to get through life. One very good example of my relying on a higher power is from my second relationship, when my girlfriend was a fervent Christian. However, she is one of those girls who always liked to waste food, and insists that there is no mention of wastage of food as a sin in the bible.
Perhaps a little qualification here is required. Though I always try to finish my food, I do understand that sometimes if you cannot finish, you really cannot finish. But I do think it’s wrong if you don’t finish your food, simply because you wish to leave space for dessert or other food (Actually, this was a bone of contention between both my girlfriends and myself! :P) Anyway, one time we went to a Christian bookstore together, and while she was browsing elsewhere, I took up a bible and offered a silent prayer, “Dear God, please show me a way to convince her that you do not approve of wanton wastage of food.” You might want to ask why I picked a bible if I am not a Christian, it’s because she believes in it. If I wanted to convince my parents, I would have picked a Buddhist scripture.
Anyway, I randomly flipped open the book to a page, and it was about Jesus feeding the five thousand. There I found the phase which Jesus said to his disciples after all of them had eaten, “Let nothing be wasted”. Of course, after I showed it to her, she refused to believe it and didn’t change her behaviour. Interestingly, I tried to find this phase again several times in the bible after that, but all the bibles I looked through didn’t have that verse. It was only while I was inside and re-reading the bible that I realised that while there are many mentions of Jesus feeding the five thousand, it was only John 6:12 that had this phase. And it was not in every version of the bible too! You see, it can’t be only a coincidence that I picked up the correct version and exactly the same page right?
One reason why I do not submit to most of the major religions is that almost all of them require you to submit to the teachings written by another human being. Yep, for me, even the Bible or Buddhist scriptures are written by humans, so I take them with a pinch of salt. In addition, most of the so-called words of God or Buddha are very open to interpretation, that’s why there are so many different sects in each religion. Thus, I can never stand those people who must do something, just because “pastor said so”. Yep, I have met people like that, and let me just say that I definitely don’t agree with that. Pastor is a human, just like you are. All of us are equal in the eyes of God, and because humans are fallible, you should never take the words of a human as the words of God. Of course, I do know that there are people like the apostles or the disciples who are closer to God/Buddha, and their advice should definitely be taken. However, I really doubt that there is anyone living that has this kind of status.
Yet, I have to say that I think most religions are great, because I think having a faith is very important for many people. Also, I believe that most spiritual people are nicer people than most, because they try to live as good a life as they can. Going by this logic, if you believe in a creator/god/spirit, but your beliefs doesn’t require you to do any good, then sorry, your faith isn’t worth much to me.
Another thing I really cannot stand about some major religions is their intolerance towards other religions. I have been to churches where the pastor uses words like, “stupid idol worshippers” to describe the believers of other religions. I firmly believe that the form is more important than the words, so if you have lived a godly life, doing lots of good and little harm, at the end of it, God will judge you according to your merit. Only misguided humans think that all they need to do is to believe in God and they will go to heaven, without much need to live godly lives. How can they believe that they are “better” people than say, the Dalai Lama? And don’t get me started on all the divisions within the religion and how they strive to prove that they are the closest to God etc. My goodness, you are just a human! God will judge us, who are you as a human to have ideas above your station? Even Jesus said not to judge others in Luke 6:37.
Anyway, as I read the different holy books of Buddhism and Christianity, I had several misconceptions corrected. The caveat is that I could only read the books, and I didn’t have anyone to guide me, so perhaps I had the wrong interpretation. The first is that I thought that Buddhists believed in spirits, while Christians do not. In truth, Christians do believe in the existence of spirits, which are what humans become after they die. It is written in 1 Samuel 28, when Saul asked a medium to call up the spirit of Samuel, and she succeeded in doing so. On the other hand, Buddhists do not believe in the existence of a soul or a spirit, as there is no consciousness after a person dies, much like radio waves have no meaning unless received by a receiver.
Another is on the importance of the cross to Christians. In the bible, the cross is mentioned only a few times, while more frequently, the apostles (or saints? This is another part I am not sure about… are the apostles the saints later?) referred to Jesus as being hung on a tree. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 1, in “Divisions in the church”, Paul talked about how there shouldn’t be divisions in the church, yet I have Christian friends who tell me that some other sects of Christians are cults because of their extreme beliefs.
Lastly, some have told me that speaking in tongues is a gift from god, but the tongues they referred to are non-intelligible sounds. However, I realised that in some bibles, instead of the word “tongues”, the word “languages” is used. I think this is just another example of why I say that even the book of God is subjected to interpretation by humans. Oh, and I didn’t find any references to the seven sins in the bible, so where did that come from? Similarly, contrary to what someone told me, animals might go to heaven too! (Ecclesiastes 3:21 NIV)
I was also very puzzled by some Buddhists’ insistence that it is wrong to eat meat, and right to only eat vegetables. After all, are not vegetables alive too? If you wish to say that they are not sentient creatures, yet Buddha even classified the multitude of organisms living in water we drink as important, what more a higher level of creatures like vegetables? In my opinion, vegetarians are not right, they are just less wrong.
Similarly, if reincarnation as a human is due to merit accumulated, then a life without negative karma or merit would result in a lower rebirth. However, should one be born into the lower regions, due to the fact that one is trapped by the many afflictions, one is unable to accrue any positive merits. Then how can one ever get out of the lower realms? I actually asked my mum about this, and she said that if one is reincarnated as an animal, when one is killed for food or suffer a violent death, one will acquire positive karma, and so be reincarnated as a human. But what about those animals who die of a natural death? Or perhaps those reincarnated as hungry ghosts or in hell?
As I read through the holy words of Buddhism and Christianity, I also realised that there were far more similarities in the two religions that I previously thought. Here is a simple list:
Christianity Buddhism
You shall not kill => Precept on Killing
Honour your father and mother => Scripture on Filial Piety
You shall not commit adultery => Precept on Sexual Misconduct
You shall not bear false testimony => Precept on Lying
You shall not covert => Precept on Stealing
Do not get drunk on wine => Precept on Intoxication
(Ephesians 5:18)
Anger is a sin => Anger is an Affliction
A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal
(Proverbs 12:10) => Care for animals and the environment
I don’t even have to talk about Pride!! There are so many mention of pride being wrong in both religions! And there are so many other examples like the existence of a better land after death etc.
Of course, I know very well that despite the many many similarities, the key and most important difference is that one follows the teaching of Lord God, while the other follows Buddha’s teachings. This is an irreconcilable difference for some, and that is why most devotees will not allow that other religions might have some truth in it.
Now to talk a bit more about myself, and why I do not devote myself to any particular religion. Besides the earlier mentioned fact that I do not wish to submit myself to another human’s authority in my beliefs, there are also two reasons why I want to remain a free-thinker.
The first one has to do with the way I live my life as I mentioned in earlier chapters. I do not like to give myself totally because I am scared of failure. All religions depend a lot on faith. While seeing is believing, sometimes you need to believe in order to see too. Only if you first have faith in God or Buddha do you then attribute the miracles that happen to them, and thus believe what they say in their holy books.
One image I have of committing to a religion is of a person going for a bungee jump. You can check the cord all you want before you jump, but the only way you can really be sure the cord can hold your weight is to jump off. Of course, should you find that you used too thin a cord or forgot to attach it, it would already be too late. Similarly, having a religion to me is like taking a leap of faith, which I am unprepared to take right now. I don’t want to commit to a religion only to find that it doesn’t exist! That would really be an unacceptable failure.
As facts go, you might ask, isn’t it better to jump off with any cord than to jump off (die) without anything at all? Well, that is true, but remember that my belief is still that God will judge me according to my actions (incidentally, that’s why I am pretty sure I am going to hell), and thus, I already have a safety line of my own! :P
The second reason has to do with the things I engage in. Before I talk about that, why don’t I share with you another story. When I was in primary school, there was a relief arts teacher who taught us for a while. Once, when she was dividing the blackboard into two, she drew a crooked line across the board, which was so different from all the other teachers who would use straight lines. The reason, as she explained to us kids, was that since we can’t draw a perfectly straight line, and any attempts would be crooked away, why don’t we just draw a crooked line and be done with it?
At that point in time, being a very impressionable kid, I was very won over by her logic. Here was a teacher who really made sense! However, as I grew older and thought about it more, I realised that just because we can’t be perfect doesn’t mean we should go to the other extreme. As long as we did our best to try to draw a straight line, it was good enough. The key thing was to try. Yet, what has this got to do with being a religious person?
Well, if I became a religious person, I would want to live my life in accordance with the teachings, and that probably means no more breaking the law with piracy, no more being late at work, intoxication etc. While I am willing to make an effort to correct myself in most ways, I am pretty sure I would fail if it came to ahem… the fault that is my downfall. Should any of you (girls only please!) offer to ahem… have se…. ven up with me, I would probably agree! (What? You don’t understand what the hell I am talking about? Come on, there are probably underaged people reading this, don’t make me make it too clear!!)
The key thing is the effort you see. I know humans are weak, and probably will fall to temptation once in a while. The important part is that I doubt I would even put up a fight. Currently, it’s more that I want to look for temptation rather than temptation looking for me! When I am able to consciously decide that I want to leave all these behind, I might take up a more seriously role in religion. Frankly, I even thought about going into ministry, after all, I can talk well and speak publicly with emotions, so it might be God’s plan for me! (okay, I know you are probably worried about this. Don’t worry so much okay? That’s quite far in the future, should God so decide. Haha…)
I know there are plenty of so-called religious people who still get drunk often, download music and movies, as well as engage in promiscuous behaviour. To me, these people are hypocrites, and I really do not want to be like that (yah yah… I am already a hypocrite, okay I get it)
To conclude this chapter, I would just share with you what Jesus said in Luke 11:14-21. Basically, he says that it is impossible to cast out demons in Beelzebub’s name, as if Satan is against himself, then he would be divided. Thus, if someone is able to cast out demons and heal the sick, they must be working for God. Bear that in mind when you next see someone of another faith performing a miracle, and don’t be too quick to judge. :)
What I have written here are just some thoughts I had while reading through the religious books, and because I didn’t have anyone to consult while I was inside (Turtlette is a free thinker too), I fully accept that perhaps some of my views are a bit weird and if you think they are wrong, please feel free to correct me and kindly don’t be offended by what I wrote.
I have been a free-thinker all my life, but don’t be mistaken that I am an atheist. As a matter of fact, I am a theist, because I believe that there is a God. However, my personal opinion is that my love/faith/devotion is to God, and I won’t stand for a fellow human being telling me what God wants. Also, I firmly believe that as long as one does good, all religions are the same. While I am not a spiritual person, I do sometimes depend on a higher power to get through life. One very good example of my relying on a higher power is from my second relationship, when my girlfriend was a fervent Christian. However, she is one of those girls who always liked to waste food, and insists that there is no mention of wastage of food as a sin in the bible.
Perhaps a little qualification here is required. Though I always try to finish my food, I do understand that sometimes if you cannot finish, you really cannot finish. But I do think it’s wrong if you don’t finish your food, simply because you wish to leave space for dessert or other food (Actually, this was a bone of contention between both my girlfriends and myself! :P) Anyway, one time we went to a Christian bookstore together, and while she was browsing elsewhere, I took up a bible and offered a silent prayer, “Dear God, please show me a way to convince her that you do not approve of wanton wastage of food.” You might want to ask why I picked a bible if I am not a Christian, it’s because she believes in it. If I wanted to convince my parents, I would have picked a Buddhist scripture.
Anyway, I randomly flipped open the book to a page, and it was about Jesus feeding the five thousand. There I found the phase which Jesus said to his disciples after all of them had eaten, “Let nothing be wasted”. Of course, after I showed it to her, she refused to believe it and didn’t change her behaviour. Interestingly, I tried to find this phase again several times in the bible after that, but all the bibles I looked through didn’t have that verse. It was only while I was inside and re-reading the bible that I realised that while there are many mentions of Jesus feeding the five thousand, it was only John 6:12 that had this phase. And it was not in every version of the bible too! You see, it can’t be only a coincidence that I picked up the correct version and exactly the same page right?
One reason why I do not submit to most of the major religions is that almost all of them require you to submit to the teachings written by another human being. Yep, for me, even the Bible or Buddhist scriptures are written by humans, so I take them with a pinch of salt. In addition, most of the so-called words of God or Buddha are very open to interpretation, that’s why there are so many different sects in each religion. Thus, I can never stand those people who must do something, just because “pastor said so”. Yep, I have met people like that, and let me just say that I definitely don’t agree with that. Pastor is a human, just like you are. All of us are equal in the eyes of God, and because humans are fallible, you should never take the words of a human as the words of God. Of course, I do know that there are people like the apostles or the disciples who are closer to God/Buddha, and their advice should definitely be taken. However, I really doubt that there is anyone living that has this kind of status.
Yet, I have to say that I think most religions are great, because I think having a faith is very important for many people. Also, I believe that most spiritual people are nicer people than most, because they try to live as good a life as they can. Going by this logic, if you believe in a creator/god/spirit, but your beliefs doesn’t require you to do any good, then sorry, your faith isn’t worth much to me.
Another thing I really cannot stand about some major religions is their intolerance towards other religions. I have been to churches where the pastor uses words like, “stupid idol worshippers” to describe the believers of other religions. I firmly believe that the form is more important than the words, so if you have lived a godly life, doing lots of good and little harm, at the end of it, God will judge you according to your merit. Only misguided humans think that all they need to do is to believe in God and they will go to heaven, without much need to live godly lives. How can they believe that they are “better” people than say, the Dalai Lama? And don’t get me started on all the divisions within the religion and how they strive to prove that they are the closest to God etc. My goodness, you are just a human! God will judge us, who are you as a human to have ideas above your station? Even Jesus said not to judge others in Luke 6:37.
Anyway, as I read the different holy books of Buddhism and Christianity, I had several misconceptions corrected. The caveat is that I could only read the books, and I didn’t have anyone to guide me, so perhaps I had the wrong interpretation. The first is that I thought that Buddhists believed in spirits, while Christians do not. In truth, Christians do believe in the existence of spirits, which are what humans become after they die. It is written in 1 Samuel 28, when Saul asked a medium to call up the spirit of Samuel, and she succeeded in doing so. On the other hand, Buddhists do not believe in the existence of a soul or a spirit, as there is no consciousness after a person dies, much like radio waves have no meaning unless received by a receiver.
Another is on the importance of the cross to Christians. In the bible, the cross is mentioned only a few times, while more frequently, the apostles (or saints? This is another part I am not sure about… are the apostles the saints later?) referred to Jesus as being hung on a tree. Similarly, in 1 Corinthians 1, in “Divisions in the church”, Paul talked about how there shouldn’t be divisions in the church, yet I have Christian friends who tell me that some other sects of Christians are cults because of their extreme beliefs.
Lastly, some have told me that speaking in tongues is a gift from god, but the tongues they referred to are non-intelligible sounds. However, I realised that in some bibles, instead of the word “tongues”, the word “languages” is used. I think this is just another example of why I say that even the book of God is subjected to interpretation by humans. Oh, and I didn’t find any references to the seven sins in the bible, so where did that come from? Similarly, contrary to what someone told me, animals might go to heaven too! (Ecclesiastes 3:21 NIV)
I was also very puzzled by some Buddhists’ insistence that it is wrong to eat meat, and right to only eat vegetables. After all, are not vegetables alive too? If you wish to say that they are not sentient creatures, yet Buddha even classified the multitude of organisms living in water we drink as important, what more a higher level of creatures like vegetables? In my opinion, vegetarians are not right, they are just less wrong.
Similarly, if reincarnation as a human is due to merit accumulated, then a life without negative karma or merit would result in a lower rebirth. However, should one be born into the lower regions, due to the fact that one is trapped by the many afflictions, one is unable to accrue any positive merits. Then how can one ever get out of the lower realms? I actually asked my mum about this, and she said that if one is reincarnated as an animal, when one is killed for food or suffer a violent death, one will acquire positive karma, and so be reincarnated as a human. But what about those animals who die of a natural death? Or perhaps those reincarnated as hungry ghosts or in hell?
As I read through the holy words of Buddhism and Christianity, I also realised that there were far more similarities in the two religions that I previously thought. Here is a simple list:
Christianity Buddhism
You shall not kill => Precept on Killing
Honour your father and mother => Scripture on Filial Piety
You shall not commit adultery => Precept on Sexual Misconduct
You shall not bear false testimony => Precept on Lying
You shall not covert => Precept on Stealing
Do not get drunk on wine => Precept on Intoxication
(Ephesians 5:18)
Anger is a sin => Anger is an Affliction
A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal
(Proverbs 12:10) => Care for animals and the environment
I don’t even have to talk about Pride!! There are so many mention of pride being wrong in both religions! And there are so many other examples like the existence of a better land after death etc.
Of course, I know very well that despite the many many similarities, the key and most important difference is that one follows the teaching of Lord God, while the other follows Buddha’s teachings. This is an irreconcilable difference for some, and that is why most devotees will not allow that other religions might have some truth in it.
Now to talk a bit more about myself, and why I do not devote myself to any particular religion. Besides the earlier mentioned fact that I do not wish to submit myself to another human’s authority in my beliefs, there are also two reasons why I want to remain a free-thinker.
The first one has to do with the way I live my life as I mentioned in earlier chapters. I do not like to give myself totally because I am scared of failure. All religions depend a lot on faith. While seeing is believing, sometimes you need to believe in order to see too. Only if you first have faith in God or Buddha do you then attribute the miracles that happen to them, and thus believe what they say in their holy books.
One image I have of committing to a religion is of a person going for a bungee jump. You can check the cord all you want before you jump, but the only way you can really be sure the cord can hold your weight is to jump off. Of course, should you find that you used too thin a cord or forgot to attach it, it would already be too late. Similarly, having a religion to me is like taking a leap of faith, which I am unprepared to take right now. I don’t want to commit to a religion only to find that it doesn’t exist! That would really be an unacceptable failure.
As facts go, you might ask, isn’t it better to jump off with any cord than to jump off (die) without anything at all? Well, that is true, but remember that my belief is still that God will judge me according to my actions (incidentally, that’s why I am pretty sure I am going to hell), and thus, I already have a safety line of my own! :P
The second reason has to do with the things I engage in. Before I talk about that, why don’t I share with you another story. When I was in primary school, there was a relief arts teacher who taught us for a while. Once, when she was dividing the blackboard into two, she drew a crooked line across the board, which was so different from all the other teachers who would use straight lines. The reason, as she explained to us kids, was that since we can’t draw a perfectly straight line, and any attempts would be crooked away, why don’t we just draw a crooked line and be done with it?
At that point in time, being a very impressionable kid, I was very won over by her logic. Here was a teacher who really made sense! However, as I grew older and thought about it more, I realised that just because we can’t be perfect doesn’t mean we should go to the other extreme. As long as we did our best to try to draw a straight line, it was good enough. The key thing was to try. Yet, what has this got to do with being a religious person?
Well, if I became a religious person, I would want to live my life in accordance with the teachings, and that probably means no more breaking the law with piracy, no more being late at work, intoxication etc. While I am willing to make an effort to correct myself in most ways, I am pretty sure I would fail if it came to ahem… the fault that is my downfall. Should any of you (girls only please!) offer to ahem… have se…. ven up with me, I would probably agree! (What? You don’t understand what the hell I am talking about? Come on, there are probably underaged people reading this, don’t make me make it too clear!!)
The key thing is the effort you see. I know humans are weak, and probably will fall to temptation once in a while. The important part is that I doubt I would even put up a fight. Currently, it’s more that I want to look for temptation rather than temptation looking for me! When I am able to consciously decide that I want to leave all these behind, I might take up a more seriously role in religion. Frankly, I even thought about going into ministry, after all, I can talk well and speak publicly with emotions, so it might be God’s plan for me! (okay, I know you are probably worried about this. Don’t worry so much okay? That’s quite far in the future, should God so decide. Haha…)
I know there are plenty of so-called religious people who still get drunk often, download music and movies, as well as engage in promiscuous behaviour. To me, these people are hypocrites, and I really do not want to be like that (yah yah… I am already a hypocrite, okay I get it)
To conclude this chapter, I would just share with you what Jesus said in Luke 11:14-21. Basically, he says that it is impossible to cast out demons in Beelzebub’s name, as if Satan is against himself, then he would be divided. Thus, if someone is able to cast out demons and heal the sick, they must be working for God. Bear that in mind when you next see someone of another faith performing a miracle, and don’t be too quick to judge. :)
4 comments:
Why does one need to be religious to be spiritual? There are a whole lot of people who are very spiritual without being in religions. Believing in Spirit doesn't mean you've got to be in a religion. It simply means knowing that there are higher perspectives and purposes to everything rather than things happening in a random fashion or by the Darwinian evolution theory. Jesus was never a christian and Gautama never a buddhist. They were here to teach love (I don't mean the romantic love) and somehow their followers created the religions.
Having said this, there are also most wonderful people in the religions who are beyond the doctrines and accept only those teachings that made sense for them. One of these great people, Ghandi, had always emphasized that he is a hindu, christian, buddhist and a jew for he has recognised that God is beyond the box that religions try to put "him" in.
Then again, is God even a him? Allow me to cite a metaphor. By most assumptions, most will agree that God is omnipresent. So, imagine God as the ocean and we are each a drop of water. Given your intelligence, you should know what I am inferring. This is what Jesus probably meant by his allegory that we are made in God's likeness.
What if God is not a separate being/entity from us? What if you are a most wonderful spiritual being pretending to be an insignificant human temporarily on the Earth plane? And that there is purpose to all these?
Just a comment and you can delete after reading this if you want.
haha.. wah.. it took so long for u to read until here ah? :P
haha... i don't actually get what u r trying to say here, but thanks for sharing.
Haha... I mean we are all a part of God... so that makes you God also...
We are spiritual beings having a temporary human incarnation, not the other way round.
Man has been searching for God externally when the divinity is within him all along.
Our thoughts create our reality.
Oh, I only started reading on Saturday and I have finished everything in one or two hours.
haha... oh ok, thanks for sharing.. :)
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