Q & A

Questions to: servant@yahshuaservant.com

Q:   If true Christianity is seeking peace in the world then what would be wrong with following the ways of Buddha one of the most peaceful religions of the world?

A1 (Upated due to further questions concerning my original answer 07-29-2011):  Before I answer this question I would like to point out that my answer is not an attack on individuals having found a peace and security within the teachings of Buddha, nor any other of the many religions good qualities they may exihibit.  Many religions have teachings that are righteous and do lead people going no where in their lives a sense of purpose.   I have seen, as many of you have, peoples lives changed for the better when becoming associated with a religion -- it is not just the Christian religion that benefit people supplying people in lost situations with a feeling of hope.  We see an order established, a direction in one's life -- a reason for living -- a moral life to the benefit of the self as well as a blessing to everyone around such a person.  Certainly there are the extreme cases of people literally falling out of touch out of social contacts and becoming attacjed to some guru type, turning their lives over to stronger personalities and these types and groups are found fragmented, chipped off from a large more stable group.  These religions are not so beneficial for everyone around them as witnessed historically, and at one time this included the Christian religion.  It is my purpose to bring out the need for a Savior and that there is one offered, and He is not many but one and there is not other.  No matter how righteous the group or the religion you are a part of no matter how many memebers, or how many buildings, or how great the fortune of your chosen religion, there is still but one Savior, YaHshua.  The Christians have fallen into a fals worship and eventually, without repentance and a return to YaHshua, the Christians will pay the price just as those of other religions so far removed from the true Creator God and His Son. 

    The pratice of Buddha is not at the top of the list of "most violent".  Even the violent religions seeking world domination give purpose to the initiates and answers some of the big questions for the individual, and we must say, some weak minded individuals, not all, some.  Many rational, highly educated minds join religions for the same reason, dedication to the "answer" -- whatever it may be for them at the time.  Look at those following Dianetics, established by the science fiction writer, Ron L. Hubbard -- by giving people a sense of purpose and telling them how great they are and they are the cream of the crop and will be masters of all one day they manage to get people already weathy to join them.  Giving a life a sense of purpose and direction is a powerful thing but it is not the answer to "eternal Life", that answer is found in only one individual and it is not Buddha or any of the various splinter groups.  The final hope is in YaHshua and the hope and promise given for His return to deliver us from this morass if idealologies and false teachings with false hope and promises that only please the flesh.  All religions have a final answer, and while the pratice of Buddha and its rituals may give you a good feeling the ultimate end is nothing at all.   

    Many fall into a religion they are not going anywhere and find stability provided by some pretty scary people, big fat guru, little skinny contortionist with painted faces, and when it is all blessings and love and flowers, in the end they are bowing down before idols made of wood, stone, or cow dung. 

   This all comes about when we, as individuals have this feeling there must be something more, there must be an answer to this chaos we call Earth and its human population.  It is the reason "religion", good, bad, and evil exists -- like a drug store, there is an answer to our pain in one of those bottles, a bottle marked, "Solutions" another, "Poison".   They answer the question of "peace", one religion more peaceful or teaching a peaceful message over another, or equal with another is not the real "answer" we seek among ourselves.  Peace is out of our reach as I watch praticioners of Buddha on the televison as they battle one another. 

   All religions have concerns of being peaceful, some authorize the use of violence to attain a peace they have invisioned for the world.  Chrisitianity has failed over and over and when it is at its worst all you need to do is look into the Chrisitian Bible and see the professing Christians at their worst, defying and twisting the words of their own Holy Book.  The Messiah never advocated violence as a pratice to engage in for His followers, but he did not condemn it either, as some seem to think.  But the killing and the murder of people, the burning at the stake, cutting off of heads He never condoned.  Was He opposed to the military?  No, in fact the first recorded Gentile conversion and baptism was a military family.  There is what we might call, "righteous violece" as carried out by governments for the protection of its citizens.  The Bible is full of violent actions that were considered righteous acts, but today, outside of law and order and civil order we as Christians, or followers of YaHshua, are to practice peace with all men, for we are not citizens of this world, our citizenship is coming with the coming of our Savior. Our Kingdom is not of this world it is coming and one day YaHshua will be sitting in power and glory at Jerusalem and that area, chosen long ago by YHWH (YaHWeH) as the ruling center of the world.  The world to come is not a recycling of people into flowers, bugs, cows or dogs, but to a resurrection from the dead to a new life, a life eternal and to the possiblities of exploration we can only dream about.  This religion of YHWH is not a venture into a blank, universal, intelligence, or into a darkness of eternal well being, or into a nothingness.  No, our future is much greater than we can imagine and while your religion may make you feel good what is the hope it offers you for the future?

  To walk as YaHshua taught would be a peaceful walk with a huge promise at the end of that walk, the promise of eternity, not a promise of nothingness, not a promise of a Hell Fire, or a boring life of bliss in a Heaven somewhere in outerspace, but a promise of change entering into the perfect peace with all others and a promise of "individual" salvation maintaining our unique personalities as sons and daughters of our Creator.  This is the best religion, the good religion, the merciful religion the religion of our Creator and the door He has presented to us through which we can enter and find the answer to all of our questions. 

   There is a force in this world, however, that has been allowed to work in order to separate the weeds from the good plants and this process will continue until the time is ripe for the harvest of the good plant.  This force, some call Satan, and his partners are called demons or fallen angels and they work are deceiving mankind.  The deceptions of these "forces" (spirit beings) comes in many different colored bottles of deception.  Determining the deception is found in the teachings apart from the real truth.  For example, a religion teaches we should all love one another (a truth) but in a deeper teaching we find we are to treat the prophet of that religion as god (a deception) then what?  The deception does not destroy the truth but the deceiver is using the truth to introduce the lie.  Say 85% truth and 15% lies and what do you have?  So, the question I am answering, concerning the need for "peace" and the better way to attain it as compared with deeper teachings of those teaching Buddha is about more than just Buddha but all religions mixing truth with deception.  With these religions there is always something, traditions, customes or some kind of punishment of the flesh that falls with in the "customs" and "traditions" enslaving people to a system of obligation having nothing to do with the pure worship of our Creator.  Do this, do that, bow this way, turn that, strike the gong thus, pull the tallel this many times, hold your breath, meditate into oblivion, seek the trance, communicate with spirit beings, swing the pop of incents like this, pray this many times, repeat this prayer endlessly and I think you get the point.  The priests wear the robes of pride while teaching humility and love to be called "father" when out and about, while appearing to be humble.  Great pageantry and pomp as the stautes are carried through the streets -- as the Pope is carried about (today in an armoured car).  When considering the sects of Buddha the order of things priestly is unmistakably patterned after that of the Roman Church. 

A2:  (updated 07-29-2011) The key word in your question is "true" (See Q above).  A true follower of the Word, that would be to follow the Messiah, the "true" Christ, will lead you to a peace with all men.  Contrary to the history of the Christian Church the Word has never taught a follower to force his beliefs on others -- and those that do are ignoring the Word and are not of the Christ as they may claim.  Looking at practicing the teachings of Buddha one can easily see that its history is also plagued with violence (The religion itself may be peaceful but the countries where it should be having the greatest impact are not so peacful, nor so blessed) and the countries that seek this type of knowledge and way of living are some of the most horrible places to live on the face of the earth. Christianity as well as the religion of Buddha has suffered from a past of violence at the hands of men using the religion for their own purposes.  Go to this link for a prespective on how violence has not escaped the religion of Buddha and its various sects -- Buddism and Violence & Buddism and Nationalism & Links in Study

  If one were keeping score of all the religions you would see the countries attempting some form of the teachings bases on or similar to the Hebrew/Christian Bible appear to reap benefits and blessing almost without measure, even though they are not perfect, even if they claim no god in particular the obvious blessing continue to flow.  Look at any other religion, en masse, upon the face of the earth and tell me which countries are most blessed by following or practicing Buddha, or Islam, or the Hindu way?  What is noticable is the religions suppressing their people by customs, tradtions, and other predjudices while suffering extreme poverty in their home countries seem to also collect on the benefits of moving to a Christian nation.  But look what happens when they baracade themselves into closed communities, the begin to suffer the same suppression and depression they escaped from.  It is also very noticable when one changes from the horror of religious control and begin to excercise the freedom of religion and freedom found in YaHshua as Messiah that the blessings unfold like a good book. 

  Yet, still, some people living in the most blessed of nations, nations that have established much of their constitutions and beliefs upon teachings that either come from or are influenced by the Word (Holy Bible, of Hebrew/Chrsitian writings) continue to chase after the Eastern religions to their own personal hurt.  In the beginning it all seems well and good but eventually the new initiate, slowly, will become bound to a list of "do this, do that" and when you don't the guilt sets in.  Some have gained inner peace and have escaped the extreme requirements of the religion they started out with and have found a path more pleasing.  The Way of YaHshua is the easy way, a path so difficult and narrow, or so it seem, but in reality is a total freedom from relgious suppression and a release from the chains of doctrine, serving only truth and peace with all men.  Of cours, this is strange to the world, a world that has to see something, ignoring the blessings, they want to see the act of religious performance in the way of dress, or praying to be seen, doctrines of death, procedure in worship, cutoms, traditions and even the bowing before statues of images or even before other men.  My Savior, YaHshua, has set me free, and pray, privately, for His coming to set the rest of the world free. 

  A practicing initiant  of Buddha, as taught by Buddha, will eventually become "nothing".  That is right, the simple bottom line, if you can attain  the perfect practice of Buddha you become "nothing" --  nothing, as in "zero".  You as a person cease to exist, simple as that.  Sure, there is this thing about becoming part of the greater consciousness but your consciousness ceases to be, you as an individual cease.  You attain Nirvana and you attain nothingness, the ultimate death, but perfect death -- no more pain, no more suffering, no more war, no more laughing, no more love, or love hurt, no more anything.  Don't kid yourself, this teaching is very powerful and supported by every satanic demon alive.  Of course the followers of Zen or of the original Buddha do not want to hear this, of course not, why would they as believers of any religion, thinking they have found a truth, and perhaps they have -- a truth that is not complete.     

  Satan and his demons support man's search for nothingness.  After all, mankind has been called to replace him and his demons, so any religious practice that will lead man away from eternal life and eternal living has his approval.  If you are a practicing Buddha, a real seeker of Nirvana, you may experience a superior intellect, a feeling of bliss headed to the way of total peace.  If you succeed you will attain your desire and that will be a falling into the abyss of nothingness.  Once there, of course, you will not be able to call back to your brothers and sister and tell them how wonderful it isn't as you will not know, you will not be able to lend a helping hand to anyone because you will have reached your prefection of nothingness.  Oh, right, you will have become part of the great blackness of the eternal mind of nothingness.  This, my friends, is to be the reward of the spiritual beings that rebeled against the Greater Light and Creator of all things -- eternity into a dark nothingness.  These spirit beings (lost angels, some call them) headed by the Greast Satan teach men through men a deception of their own and they make it a very spiritual message of false prefection into a prision of darkness.  For those that are unable to reach this much desired goal of nothingness Buddha has shown a way that only a demon could have contrived.  If you cannot make it to true Nirvana and you die a death of the flesh without reaching this perfection you will be recycled back to try, try, and try again.  Personally, that sounds like a nightmare, even hell, to me, to keep coming back to suffer again and again, always searching never a clue, or a promise of success.  Theoretically you could even be recycled back as snot in an elephant's nose, a blow fly, cow, pig, horse, jackass, or a Hilter. 

  A peaceful religion to be sure and on the surface a type of appeal with all of the trappings and ceremonial activities, custom, traditions and even man worship not unlike other religions tagged as pagan.  There is really no way to an eternity of peace.  Think about it, only a very few reach that true level of  prefection and are able to continure on into the universal mind of dark nothingness and of not use to anyone or anything and of those coming back, even in human form, continue in this life of suffering and pain. 

Here is another thing to consider.  We are informed by sceince that this earth and this solar system are doomed and will be eventually destroyed by the sun as it dies.  What then?  Within Christianity, even the pagan side of that religion there is an answer to this as the god of the Chrisitian religion recognizes a God that is a Creator and a Creator that has made all the things we can see and know.  This Creator God promises eternal life to each and every individual coming into His New Creation.  When all things are said and done He is going to Create a New Heavens and a New Earth and life eternal to those accepting Him.  He has spelled out the door we must pass through and it is not many doors but one door.  A time is coming when all will be given that choice, this single door or one of those other doors leading to every concept imaginable catering to every pull of the flesh known to man.  Buddha is most certainly a better religion than most but is filled with misdirection and false hope.  A hope in what, is the question?  Peace?  No, the ultimate outcome is to an emptiness, a selfish singular peace the initiate will not even be conscious of.  What purpose does this serve?  Nothing, no future, just a feeling of superior, spiritual holiness while in the flesh, all self-fulfilling aimed at accomplishing nothing in the future of eternity. This religion is as wrong headed as pagan religions with witch doctors dancing around a fire calling for the blood of those meditating into a spiritual extasy of false feelings and offering no real hope, only eventual darkness. 

  Remember, the question was about following Buddha, not Islam, a wretched religion, and not Mormonism, nor the Roman Catholic religion of the original Babylonian worshipers of the El (AL) and the Baals (Ba AL, also known as Bel or B-EL).  For those following the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian writings, known as the New Testament, to the best of their abilities they find a freedom not enjoyed by the cults and other demonic inspired religions all leading mankind away from the true way, the true hope of an eternity of doing, of building, rebuilding and things beyond our imaginations, not a Hell Fire, not a boring stroll through Heaven.  No, the true religion, the true worship of our Eternal Creator will and is leading to a life of doing, of living forever and ever with a universal purpose that will be revealed to us after the Great Judgment.  There are exciting times ahead, especially for those seeking this truth, seeking Him,m being set free to think freely and worship in a day to day walk with Him and in this we desire revelation and inspiration from Him to show us a future of wonder and vibrant life as never before imagined.  Life eternal is for those refusing the way of men and the way of devils and demons.  Commit to YaHshua and watch the Scriptures open up to you.  Are you a professing Christian, calling on JESUS?  Then commit to YaHshua, push the false name out and restore His glory to your reading of the Book and watch it open up as never before. 

Other links of interest in support of this Answer:  Buddism and Violence  Buddism Nationalism and Links in support of this study

Q & A  addressed to: servant@yahshuaservant.com