I'm getting perturbed by reading various 'memes' that quote Buddha or Thich Nhat Hanh or the Dalai Lama, C.S. Lewis and others of the spiritual ilk. These are certainly feel-good sayings and quotes that appeal to human decency (nothing wrong with that) but they totally ignore the fact that our God Yahweh said these things First and they are recorded in Scriptures. I know this because back in my youth while searching for truth and meaning and 'God' I read many new age books, which basically revive the old age Eastern Mysticism mindset and make us feel good about ourselves; I read the autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda as I continued looking for enlightenment yet none of it persuaded me to submit. So you see, I have my old pagan ways to compare with Yah's truth by shining the Light of the World upon these matters - In looking for that supreme being I was putting myself first instead of setting my desires aside. All you morally upright meme posters are subconsciously searching for the one true God, Yahweh our Creator.... don't let Satan snare you with deceptions and ear-tickling quotes from folks who are not true believers. Take the time to read Scriptures because you obviously are reading everything else - I have literally been there and done that.
In today's world we see ‘intelligent’ people who worship false gods, or who deny Elohim’s existence entirely. It is no different from the days gone by and those pagan practices YHWH warned His people about. If you want to get to the heart of the matter, quote our heavenly Father and give credit where credit is due. All praise belongs to Him.
Long before man invented religion our Creator laid out every thing we need to know and be reminded of; if you don't believe that then the rest of this won't matter; but I shall continue to point out a few things.
For example, taken from the latest meme I saw that had an image of Buddha in the background: "Truth - Necessity - Kindness" are the suggested 'gates' one should consider before they say something, make a remark or speak out. However, Truth is the keyword most people overlook while accepting Buddha's concept as remarkable. How is it folks tune into "inspired sayings" but shun Scriptures where we are originally instructed to love the truth, avoid unnecessary earthly desires and treat one another with love and respect? Sounds like that's where Buddha got his ideas from.
Siddhartha Gautama would one day become known as Buddha ("enlightened one" or "the awakened"). He was born in Nepal in the 6th century B.C. and became a spiritual leader and teacher whose life serves as the foundation of the Buddhist religion. According to the most widely known story of his life, after experimenting with different teachings for years and finding none of them acceptable, Gautama spent a fateful night in deep meditation. During his meditation, all of the answers he had been seeking became clear, and he achieved full awareness, thereby becoming Buddha.
To me, this sounds very similar to the early life of Mohammed and the beginnings of Islam.
The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism. He was born in 1935 and recognized as the reincarnation of Thubten Gyatso at a young age. Reincarnation is not sound doctrine and has nothing to do with what is written in Scriptures.
Thich Nhat Hanh was born Nguyen Xuan Bao, in Central Vietnam in 1926. At the age of 16, he entered into a Zen Buddhist monastery and took the name Thich Nhat Hanh. In 1960 he moved to the US, where he studied comparative religion at Princeton University. He became fluent in several languages and was well versed in different religious traditions.
So, what is Buddhism?
.... it is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of reality. Buddhist practices like meditation are means of changing yourself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path — a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood. An enlightened being sees the nature of reality absolutely clearly, just as it is, and lives fully and naturally in accordance with that vision. This is the goal of the Buddhist spiritual life, representing the end of suffering for anyone who attains it. Buddhism does not include the idea of worshipping a creator god. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, caste, sexuality, or gender. It teaches practical methods which enable people to realize and use its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives.
Please note: Buddhism teaches practices like meditation are means of changing yourself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. According to our Creator these qualities come from putting Him first in love and obedience. Then it is His Spirit that gives gifts of understanding, awareness, knowledge and wisdom - not of our own doings but by the grace of YHWH. This has been going on long before Buddha sat cross-legged in meditation. Our Father's Instructions are for all people irrespective of race, nationality, caste, sexuality, or gender.
C.S. Lewis is another favorite quoted by professed Christians. His desire to "combine religious enthusiasm with imagination are present in his works of Christian fiction. What he has done is to present Scriptural truth under a cloak of pagan mythology in order to give it popular appeal. Such an approach to Scripture is really just tampering with the word of Yahweh in an unacceptable fashion." This approach is no different than Emperor Constantine's mixing of pagan customs with church doctrine to get more people into the 'universal' religious system. There is nothing new under the sun, same rebellious house continuing to spurn our Creator. Lewis prayed for the dead, believed in purgatory and mystical experiences.
Quote:
C.S. Lewis’s personal religious beliefs are readily available to anyone who cares to know them. Therefore, it is assumed that anyone quoting him in a positive light is aware of these beliefs and by extension concurs with them. Similarly, fundamental Christians freely quote from the writings of C.H. Spurgeon or Matthew Henry because they agree with their Biblical positions and are not ashamed to identify with them. The simple old adage is still true: you are known by the company you keep. The same applies in the realm of citation. Quoting C.S. Lewis has become a sort of phenomenon in the evangelical world. One wonders if the purpose is to enjoy some sort of academic credibility. On the contrary, it only reveals ignorance: either of the man and what he believed or of the Scriptures of Truth.
"Why is a man who devoted his life not to the study of theology but to ancient pagan mythology revered as the greatest Christian apologist in our century? Simple. Many 'Christians' have rejected their God-given heritage and are trading in the solid rock of the Word for the shifting sands of man’s intellectual conjecture."
Rev. Ivan Foster (The Burning Bush, May 2001) observed of C.S. Lewis: “A greater understanding of the man and his theology showed that he was not an advocate of the teachings of Holy Scripture but his own scholarly notions.
If you have spent time reading, learning or following any of these men and similar teachings, being caught by their gentleness, well meaning and love of humanity, now consider them as stepping stones towards the Truth of Yah's Word. These guys fall short of that Truth by embracing other gods, beliefs, religions and by man's own imagination which ultimately leads folks along the broad way to the wide gate, and many shall enter. (Matthew 7:13)
Yes, Yahweh is our Creator, but who is the Deceiver? Who has a counterfeit for almost everything Elohim put forth? Don't forget that time when Yah regretted He created man and sent a Flood to wash them off the face of the earth.
We must be very careful when choosing something that sounds good but underneath is destructive to our soul. This is why we are instructed to read Scripture every day, study our Creator's Instructions day in and day out, teach it to our children, remember where we came from and where we want to go. We are called to come out of Mystery Babylon so as not to partake of her sins nor her plagues. Babylon was a hot bed of paganism so it should be no mystery as to why we are being called to come out of today's modern world - a type and shadow of old world Babylon. It is no different for us now as it was for them. Everything was pretty much under the influence of paganism in the Land of Canaan prior to the Hebrews arrival to this promised land.
Leviticus 18:3 - You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived: and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you; neither shall you walk in their statutes.
Leviticus 20:23 - You are not to live by the customs of the nations, whom I've cast away right in front of you. Because they did all of these things, I detested them.
Quote: It is easy to talk about idolatry that happened way ‘back then’ and which we don’t (recognize) today. It is harder to examine our own tendency to idolize money and the things which it can buy, celebrity, youth, and health, just to name a few. Just because our idols aren’t statues doesn’t mean it’s less dishonoring to (YHWH) when they receive the devotion we should be giving to Him.
