Which of the following Religious Books do you read the most?

As a musilm, my favorite book is the Quran. However, in second place, I read a lot of inspiring,philosophic quotes to turn me on intellectually.

--Ibn

Pardon. "Muslim"should be the word.

books books books
well to put in my pennys worth or my cents worth ive read all of the above books and many many more on most religions and most esoteric doctrines
i recently picked up a book of mormon in a hostel in argentina of all places and i have a jewish girlfriend in argentina and while i was there i read the talmud and learned some hebrew
i read the new testament in greece in 2002 while on the island of mykonos in my spare time
i read the koran when i was younger in my late teens
in my opinion any of these books and more if read to increase ones love and understanding in the world is good
i myself am not into anyone religion but beleive they are all valid parts of gods greater plan
i go to a tibetan buddhist monastery in scotland called samyeling and its pretty cool there i go to church too ive even been to synagogue and ive also been is a masonic temple :wink:
by the way BTB not wanting to create any trouble here but i noticed your picture of the koran has 'der koran' in german with what looks like a swastika on the front
i notice no one else has commented on this which is lucky cos it could be looked on as being anti muslim / pro christian jewish although im sure its just my twisted mind reading into this but i reckon you should maybe find a different picture of the koran :wink: just incase it may cause muslims to be offended if they saw it the way i did ...
anyway its ok to read but the best thing to do is to go out n practise the love that these books teach in the name of love. ... not in the name of that religion or under any other guise but purely in the name of love...
its the greatest love that counts and that love includes everyone and everything good and bad cos god made it all and allowed it all to be
so it dont matter who got the most members or who can shout loudest what matters is we all respect each other and each others beliefs and learn to live together and share our values and our love
anything else just isnt on really and leads to hell on earth
plus really its all one big concious thing this life and all these bad dudes in this planet may get away with badness for now but it will get em eventually so let it be i say
thats what i reckon
im off b4 i write another book
ok peace and love be with you all
byeeeeeeeee :wink:

^...^


cool man.

These are just my opinions... I firmly believe that truth can be found in most books... Even Mad Magazine... I do not push my ideas on anyone. I just feel I have the right to express them like anyone else.



I prefer the teachings of Jesus over the antics of mad magazine. If a few more people practiced the heart of his words the world would be a more peaceful place.

Blessed are the meek in heart...



I find Buddhism and Christianity to be very different. Firstly, Christianity has one God and not many all warring against each other. Jesus spoke of a heavenly "father" and though God is in all it is the IMAGE of God in all not God himself.... Jesus spoke of God as the creator and not a part of the creation. Buddhism is pantheism and Christianity is creationism.. Big difference. Buddhism is pagan and Christianity is monotheistic. Jesus was tempted by paganism and rejected the idea.



I also see Quran is clearly speaking about a child in the womb in those mentioned verses. It is not an ice cream cone Frank. I just do not get the point of why this is such a great proof of anything. When the baby comes out, the stomach/ribs go down. This is simple logic not anything that cannot be logically induced. Of course the embryo starts out like a leech (so to speak)... that can be learned easily when a woman has premature birth. It does not take a prophet to ascertain this, just someone with eyes and a brain.



As for the landing on the moon thing. What is the profit in this prophecy? To know the date when the first lunar landing was going to be made? Pardon me but... big deal. If it had been something like that terrorists were going to fly planes into the world trade towers and the disaster could have been averted then I would get down on my knees and kiss the book! What is the profit on knowing the date of the first lunar landing? Everybody and their neighbor were predicting this anyway. Is this the best prophecy they could come up with? How about a prophecy that can save the lives of thousands? If I were God and looking into the future the lunar landing would not stand out in my mind as the thing to warn the world about. Maybe being able to stop Hitler ten or so years before he came into power would have been a good one too...

Also...
I tried reading the koran and from the very beginning I felt the vibes that it was dividing people into classes. I resisted this idea and always will... I will admit that early parts of the Bible do this too... When you get to Jesus Christ before he ascends into heaven he instructs his disciples to go unto ALL THE WORLD and offer them ALL salvation. The old testament needed this reform... so does the koran. Jesus unified the world. I can give you many scriptures to corroborate this. All people are potential Christians and are not referred to as dogs, swine and infidels when it comes to Christ...



I do not believe the Bible contradicts itself... It believe the contradictions are in our understanding of the Bible. Religion has contradictions... I also think the rabbis have done exactly that... complicated the issue. That is the whole purpose behind "rhetoric". Jesus called them hypocrites. Why? Because they talked about salvation and various interpretations of the law but rarely abided by it's most basic rules.



The book of Mormon was for the most part not translated from ancient documents. It condones polygamy and is racist against blacks. It also teaches that we are all embryos of God and could someday be God. That the throne of God is "up for grabs" so to speak... I do not believe this. I come from the school that "God is love"... how could love be replaced? Love just is... I had a devout Mormon look me right in the eye once and tell me they didn't care what the Bible said...

All in all I will read anything... even the book of Mormon and Mad Magazine... The way I see it is that truth can be found in some of the the strangest places. As for the koran... there must be truth in it or so many people would not be reading it. I just find that for me the Holy Bible (King James) has the complete truth "within" it if one is willing to study it's scope. I do not think it is just speckled with truth as I believe most other books are. I believe the difficult passages have to be weighed with and in light of the depth and breath of the entire work.

Rex,

Your knowledge of Buddhism is zilch. You are quite right, however when you say the two religions are very different. Buddhism is not pantheistic, nor even monotheistic. Buddhism rejects the both the notions of "God" and of the "soul". Buddhism is primarily concerned with the very practical problem of mitigating suffering. It is like a prescription to treat a disease, suffering. Individuals may attain, for themselves Enlightenment in their own lifetime. Enlightenment, or the Awakening Experience, is transcendant and a direct experience of Ultimate Reality. Perceptual Reality with multiplicity and dimensions is illusory. Ultimate Reality, call it God if you wish, is the indivisible and singular existence. Everything is a mere projection of Ultimate Reality, a Dream if you will.

Buddhism is also quite different from your religion, in that ours has no history of religious war. Buddhism, unlike Christianity and Islam, is tolerant of other religions and does not make a big deal of converting the heathen. You should be more careful in slinging your condemnations about.

You parrot, "blessed are the meek", and say that the world would be a more peaceful place if more folk were Christian. Ha! You Christians and Muslims have been responsible for more bloodshed than any other religion in history. Not even the Aztecs with their wholesale human sacrifice come close to you People of the Book when it comes to killing for your religious principles.

Asherman

What makes you think that the people who caused these wars were following TRUE Christian values. Just because someone wages a war in the name of Christianity does not mean they are Christian.

I can also carry on a conversation without name calling... that is a Christian value also. Did you learn your habit of name calling from Buddha?

I believe that when a religion claims to be void of a God then they are just substituting God for themselves. They cut God out of the equation so they can be God themselves and usurp the throne of God. They just bring God down to the level of man and you think man does not have war?
According to history Buddha also had harems in groves and was a rich cut throat merchant. He married the town prostitute then later in his life became suddenly "illustrious".

Buddhists worship wisdom as God much like the agnostics and this causes division among the people. They elevate themselves... TRUE Christians do not worship wisdom but they believe that holy spirit is a GIFT from God given to ALL who simply "believe".

On the other hand Jesus Christ did not have to go out and sin like heck to "learn" obedience to God. Jesus put God first, not last. Also... BUDDHISM DOES NOT DENY THE EXISTENCE OF GODS... The way I see it is when men become Gods they war among themselves no matter what they claim to the contrary.

Like I said, you know nothing at all about Buddhism. According to you Christians weren't involved in the "Holy" Crusades. The Conquest of the New World, and the destruction of native American religion wasn't done under the sign of the cross. The Wars of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation weren't religious wars fought over Christian doctrines. It doesn't seem that you know much more about Christian history than you do Buddhist.

BTW, in re. name calling. If you'll reread my earlier post, you'll find I did not call you any names. I stated, quite correctly that you know nothing about Buddhism and shouldn't be casting aspersions on other people's religion without knowing something about them. That isn't name calling. Is it name calling to call your attention to the bloody history of the religion that you tout as "peaceful". Come on, now. You are the one who seems to want to get personal and nasty here. Chill out, and show some of that so-called Christian charity and tolerance.

Asherman

You insulted my knowledge of Buddhism and called me a parrot... I am not upset but I thought I would point it out.

Also just because someone holds up a cross and runs around killing people for whatever purpose they concoct does not mean that the God of the Bible is behind them. I do not endorse the killing of American Indians, Arabs or any other persons of race, creed or color. I also think that the most diverse religious freedom is found in the most predominantly Christian country of the world. That speaks volumes to me about the teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ.

I also personally think I have only ONE life to live. It is my choice to make the best of it. I will not put off being the best I can out of some belief that I can come back and try again.

I think that all of these books that have been the subject of this post give us doctrines that we as thinking individuals can compare spiritual things with other spiritual things. When one uses their heart of hearts the truth shines through and dispels the error of false doctrines. I have found the way that I believe and I love others enough that they can make their own choices. I accept people in spite of their choices.

An example: Just because the majority of Christian churches teach that Jesus is God does not make that doctrine right. I do not see that doctrine in the Bible and I believe the Bible warns of the doctrine... but that has not stopped people from following it. Sincerity is no guarantee for truth. You seem to choose to reject the God of the Bible for what people have done in his name. Would you like to be judged due to the actions of someone else?

The Aztec sacrificed their own children, like the pagans. This has never been acceptable Hebrew/Christian practice.

To point out that you know nothing about Buddhism is not an insult, just a clear incontestable fact. I didn't call you a parrot, I said that you parrot. Not a noun, and not even necessarily a perjoratitive (to parrot means to speak without thought). On the other hand you've insulted my religion purposely in two of your last three posts.

Apparently, you only accept those as "Christian" whose interpretation of the religion strongly agrees with your own. I suppose in that case the number of RexRed Christians is roughly the same as the number of Jains.

From your perspective the Aztecs were pagans. In fact it seems, that the followers of any religion other than your own is hellbound. Now this isn't an insult, but you sure seem narrow-minded to me.

The fact is that Buddhism does acknowledge "gods" proves that you are not as knowledgeable as you claim. I can list you the pantheon if you would like. Both negative and positive deities. They also acknowledge the gods of religions outside of Buddhism.

Matthew 5:43-45
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven

NOW THAT IS CHRISTIAN.

I have not insulted your religion. I have just spoken frankly. As you have of mine. I have no problem with your personal opinion. Again I will repeat... just because people go under the guise of Christianity does not make them Christian. The number one rule of Christianity is love thy neighbor and enemy.

When people are killing their neighbor for their beliefs then do you really expect me to think they are being Christian? The words of the Bible even a uneducated person can understand. When people choose to disregard these truths they step outside of the truth of the Bible. To be a Christian would imply that one exhibit Christian like charity.

2 Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Comment:
This scripture indicates the the Bible can be wrongly divided. the words "rightly dividing" come from Euclidian geometry... they mean to divide to the extent that there is no remainder. I did not write the book. It also indicates the one must study it and that God is the one to approve, not me. Again should God be judged by the actions of others? You did not answer that question.

2 Peter 1:20
Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

Comment:
The words "private interpretation" means "one's own". The Bible interprets itself... How? It interprets itself most often right in the verse where it is written... sometimes in the context or the remote context. Where a word has been used before and it also must be understood in light of "to whom it is addressed". These are only a few principles of Biblical research. This is the way any divinely inspired book should be treated.

You can believe what you like and I still will not hate you. That does not mean that I have to agree with you. I can have a friendly debate about the subject and still not tell you that you parrot. I do understand the issues... I can give you links on the web by fellow Buddhists to demonstrate that Buddhism does believe in "gods" then you can go and argue with them about it and you can tell them they "parrot".

The last post was addressed to Asherman... but anyone else may respond if they would like.

You haven't a clue about Buddhism. I have a sneaking hunch that you are confusing Buddhism and Hinduism. There are at least three main branches of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Tantric). These divisions are somewhat similar to the Christian divisions of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. Tantric is really a sub-set of Mahayana, but different enough to warrant it's own division. Schools and sects, especially within Mahayana Buddhism, are common. This is similar to Protestant sects which include everything from Luthern to snake handleing folks who speak in tongues. The doctrinal gulf that separates Buddhist sects are perhaps not quite that large, but they do exist. Buddhism is not so heterogenous as you seem to think.

You very decidedly slandered my religion directly, and with just a bit less fervor you insulted all religions other than your own brand of christianity. Here are your very words:

"According to history Buddha also had harems in groves and was a rich cut throat merchant. He married the town prostitute then later in his life became suddenly "illustrious". I've underlined the slanderous bits. All of these are false assertions, and I have no idea where such nonsense came from.

In this comment the insult is in a false comparison. Your guy is without sin, and could "learn obedience to God" without sin, while my guy is by implication a sinner. "On the other hand Jesus Christ did not have to go out and sin like heck to "learn" obedience to God."

There are those who insist that Jesus didn't die on the cross, that he had an ongoing sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene who later gave birth to an illegitimate child. The clear implication is that Jesus was a hypocritical fraud. Personally, I reject such notions as unfounded and mean spirited. I wouldn't dream of making such claims, because they slander the founder of one of the world's major religions. Yet, you seem pretty comfortable mouthing drivel.

Why should I, a Buddhist, care about your bible quotes? Your precious bible is the product of the Council of nicea which burned every text that didn't meet their notion of appropriate testimony about Jesus. There is little, or no evidence to even support the historicity of Jesus, much less that anything in the New testament ever actually happened.

Rex,

Buddha was born a prince who gave away his kingdom to explore the spirituality. He neither accepted nor rejected gods, just advocated the importance of being awake. As you started out saying 'buddha was a rich merchant and ...' You went wrong in many ways. I am not a buddhist, but can understand why asherman dismissed you the way he did.

Now, I agree with you on the words of bible and how they are not really inspiration behind the huge amount of violence that went in. But historic facts are facts. And also a fact that no buddhist interpretations were ever abused to justify witch-hunting or killing of millions. One should wonder why?

Asherman

Herman Hess in his historical book entitled "Siddhartha" records just that:

In Hesse's story... first Siddhartha abandoned the teachings of his father the Brahman and went into the desert and wasted his body to near death. Would you want your son to do this?

Luke 22:42
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

Comment:
Then Siddhartha went into the "groves" and then he married the town "prostitute" (whatever word you want to choose for it, I could have used a much worse word) (Jesus never had a harem) and became a rich cut throat merchant. Then he kidnapped his own child and tried to force him into his own beliefs. Upon being bitten by a snake and in a near death state by the river he heard the word "OM" and found some sort of "unity".

Now, are you going to disagree with the Hesse version of the historical Siddhartha? Also Siddhartha's establishment of a class system that separated smart people from not so smart people. The worship of knowledge... just another form of a god.

1 Corinthians 1:8
Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

Comment:
My summation of this story is that by the time Siddhartha found his own illustrious inner self he had already fooled around in some of the most un flattering of ways possible. This I liken to the person who finds God when they are incarcerated, not liberated. It is the one who is obedient to God without having to push the worlds envelope. This is my opinion and I have a right to it.

Phillipians 2:8
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Hebrews 4:15
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but [Christ] was in ALL points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Comment
blueSky I might also add the maybe the reason that so many people have taken the TRUTH of the Bible and perverted it is because it is actually THE TRUTH and the most attacked by the "devil" or "adversary".

Also, why so much division among Buddhists?

Also:
The stories of Jesus' so called marriage to Magdalene and the supposed offspring... were also written by agnostics. Quite a coincidence that the agnostic have tried to liken Jesus with their Buddha.

Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Comment:
The fact that many Buddhists do have deities and that Buddha DID accept the existence of "gods" shows the accepting nature of the system to paganism. What else is an "illustrious" one but one who towers above others...

I will admit that at first, yes, I did confuse Buddhism with Hinduism... But that does not mean that I do not know what I am talking about or parroting.

Take your gripe up with Hesse...
http://www.literature-web.net/hesse/siddhartha
http://members.aol.com/mythmonkey/buddha.htm

Underlined part showing more evidence of you not displaying enough understanding of what you are talking about. Brahman is a word for the divinity that is beyond the grip of words or concepts. Suddhodana was the name of Buddha's actual father.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/btg/btg28.htm

Your post is full of some gross erroneous statements with so many distortions. Teachings of love, peace and tolerance exist in all faiths. Perhaps you really need to read (or google) more and not get 'lost in translation'

The most important question is whose behavior actually demonstrates the evidence having learned love and tolerance of others? What's the use of those words if they don't translate into some concrete actions?

Hesse's "Siddhartha" is one of my second favorite books next to the Bible.

If you have not read it I suggest you give it some attention.


Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

blueSKy

Siddhartha is another name for Buddha...

http://members.aol.com/mythmonkey/buddha.htm

Herman Hesse is an early 20th century German novelist, and his "Siddhartha" IS NOT a good source for Buddhist theology ... it is a novel. Should we base our interpretation of Christianity on Kazantakas' "Last Temptation of Christ"? Is Constine's "The Silver Chalice", or "Ben Hur" good sourcebooks for understanding Christianity? You know nothing at all about Buddhism, and you're fooling yourself if you think you do. This would be funny if you weren't so serious about it.

You ask why there is so many Buddhist schools and sects. Right back at you dude ... why are there so many Christian schools and sects? The reason is, in both cases, that over time followers of the religion come to interpret the fundamental doctrines somewhat differently. That's called doctrinal drift, and its really pretty common in all of the older religions. Actually, the amount of doctrinal drift in Buddhism, though it is older by at least half a century, is much less than in Christianity. All together there maybe a couple of hundred varieties of Buddhism. How many Protestant sects are there? Thousands, and more borne every year.

It seems to be your opinion that anyone who criticizes Christianity, or casts it in a bad light, is motivated by the Devil. From what you say, all those negative things in Christian history were done by non-Christians. Of course, to be a Christian they must meet you criteria based on your own personal intepretation of the bible. Must be nice having a personal pipeline to God, so you can advise him on who should be damned.