Baptist to Buddhist???

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ComeHome2Rome

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Met an Asian woman yesterday who announced that she had been raised Baptist, but converted along with her family to be Buddhists after becoming an adult.

Never had I ever heard of such a thing. Converting from believing in Jesus, real God and real man, into believing in reincarnation & we and everything is God.

How common is this?

What do you think about it?
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Met an Asian woman yesterday who announced that she had been raised Baptist, but converted along with her family to be Buddhists after becoming an adult.

Never had I ever heard of such a thing. Converting from believing in Jesus, real God and real man, into believing in reincarnation & we and everything is God.

How common is this?

What do you think about it?
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Buddhists don’t believe that “everything is God” – that sounds more like Hinduism.

Gods are irrelevant in Buddhism. You don’t mention what type of Buddhism she follows. Pure Land Buddhism (also called Jodo, Shin, Nichiren, Soka Gakkai) can be very similar to the salvation by Faith alone types of Christianity. Other forms of Buddhism are very much in the style of salvation by Works.

I have no idea how common it is.

rossum
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Met an Asian woman yesterday who announced that she had been raised Baptist, but converted along with her family to be Buddhists after becoming an adult.

Never had I ever heard of such a thing. Converting from believing in Jesus, real God and real man, into believing in reincarnation & we and everything is God.

How common is this?

What do you think about it?
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Very common. Budhism, Peace and Love, and so on…
It could be a way of coming into the RCC…God knows…
 
It is quite common for people these days to find a religion that suits them better. I’ve actually heard people explain their decision in these words. Tragic.
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Met an Asian woman yesterday who announced that she had been raised Baptist, but converted along with her family to be Buddhists after becoming an adult.

Never had I ever heard of such a thing. Converting from believing in Jesus, real God and real man, into believing in reincarnation & we and everything is God.

How common is this?

What do you think about it?
Click to expand...
She should have become a Baptist-Buddhist, instead.😃 Works for me.
 
Contra_Mundum said:
It is quite common for people these days to find a religion that suits them better. I’ve actually heard people explain their decision in these words. Tragic.
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I hear you and understand you, Contra Mundum, but there are dimensions I don’t think you’re considering. While it’s true we can shape God according to OUR idealized image of him, it’s also true that some people feel drawn to God through that “sense” of him. And that’s often the gateway toward something more objectively, externally binding.*

I’m 45 and I grew up Protestant. Then between 23 years old and 43 years old, I had an entirely non-doctrinal draw towards God. It was VERY real. It was daily… It was even hourly. I was always in prayer and in meditation on God whether I was walking, driving, working, reading, writing, etc. Now, someone might have said that it was tragic that I hadn’t committed myself to Catholic doctrine. But in reality I was on a long road. And now, I’m seeking conversion into the RCC. I wouldn’t have imagined it even 2 years ago. But here I am.

And let’s face it, to one degree or another we ALL idealize God according to the manner in which we see him. I bet if you didn’t “feel” God intuitively in Catholicism, you wouldn’t practice Catholicism. Yes, we have to listen to the church… but you would never even say that if you didn’t already have a baseline *warm and cozy sense of God within the parameters if Catholicism. In a sense, to some degree, even you approach God the way you do because it fits the template that makes you feel right. You choose Catholicism because Catholicism sings to you.
 
I think it is definitely a step in the wrong direction. One should never reject Christ.
 
Ahimsa said:
You’re assuming she ‘rejected’ Christ.
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She did reject Christ if she became a Buddhist. You can’t be a Buddhist and a Christian at the same time. The two religions are contradictory.
 
Holly3278 said:
She did reject Christ if she became a Buddhist. You can’t be a Buddhist and a Christian at the same time. The two religions are contradictory.
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She didn’t reject Christ unless she said, “I believe you exist as the Divine son of God and I want no part of you.”

Rather, she simply doesn’t believe. That’s not rejection. It’s a lack of belief and faith.

You don’t REJECT Allah as the Face and Reality of God. You simply don’t believe that Allah is Lord.
 
Vis_Fati said:
She didn’t reject Christ unless she said, “I believe you exist as the Divine son of God and I want no part of you.”

Rather, she simply doesn’t believe. That’s not rejection. It’s a lack of belief and faith.

You don’t REJECT Allah as the Face and Reality of God. You simply don’t believe that Allah is Lord.
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I believe that disbelieving and rejecting are the same thing.
 
Holly3278 said:
I believe that disbelieving and rejecting are the same thing.
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It’s a nuanced difference, but with all due respect, there is a difference.

A pastor set me straight about 5 years ago. I knew intuitively that i didn’t reject Christ. I was a monotheist but wasn’t sure about doctrine… ANY doctrine. Which one was true? Was any? I just didn’t know. I was searching and by definition I wasn’t rejecting anything. I just didn’t know what I believed.

I felt guilty though and said to the pastor…“I’m sorry – I don’t mean to reject Christ.” To which he said, “Don’t worry. You don’t reject Him. You just don’t believe. Perhaps you will one day. Keep searching.”

And now I can tell you that I believe in Christ. But I never, ever rejected Him even when I found it impossible to believe.
 
Holly3278 said:
She did reject Christ if she became a Buddhist. You can’t be a Buddhist and a Christian at the same time. The two religions are contradictory.
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If all Truth belongs to Christ, and if this woman saw some element of Truth in Buddhism, which she did not happen to see in the form of Christianity that she was exposed to previously, then you can’t say that she “rejected” Christ, not knowing what’s in her Heart.
 
Holly3278 said:
She did reject Christ if she became a Buddhist. You can’t be a Buddhist and a Christian at the same time. The two religions are contradictory.
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Incidentally, Buddhism doesn’t address the concept of any kind of God. It simply addresses how to live your life free of encumbrances. (To grossly simplify it.) It is possible to focus yourself according to Buddhist perception and views … And believe and follow Christ. I’m sure some forms of Buddhism might make it a bit tougher, particularly those strands that quasi-deity the Buddha. But true Buddhism can embrace Catholicism around it.

As far as I understand Buddhism. But at the very least, Buddhism doesn’t address the existence of ANY god.
 
Vis_Fati said:
But at the very least, Buddhism doesn’t address the existence of ANY god.
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Well…:rolleyes:

A more accurate statement is that both Buddhism and Christianity agree that this cosmos of matter/energy is not the only reality that is real.

Questions about “God” will necessarily involve definitions of “god”, “God”, “Nirvana”, “deva”, “brahma”, “Buddha”, the transcendent, and a whole host of irritable, irresolvable, inquisitive inquiries.😃
 
Ahimsa said:
Well…:rolleyes:

A more accurate statement is that both Buddhism and Christianity agree that this cosmos of matter/energy is not the only reality that is real.

Questions about “God” will necessarily involve definitions of “god”, “God”, “Nirvana”, “deva”, “brahma”, “Buddha”, the transcendent, and a whole host of irritable, irresolvable, inquisitive inquiries.😃
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Thanks for clarifying.

It’s odd. I’m not a Buddhist, I find its history and tenets fascinating. In particular, I’m interested in Tibet and hope to go one day. But not on a pilgrimage. I’m a non-Catholic seeking conversion just as soon as I do a delicate dance with my non-Catholic wife. (Pray for me… Mine will be a solo conversion just as soon as I can broach the topic.)

That said, I respect Buddhist principles and am intrigued by its history.

Though I confess, I wish it intrinsically embraced the deity. To me, that’s a key ingredient in the search for the idealized Self.
 
My understanding of Buddhism, or at least some forms of it, is that the individual can beleive in a deity, as back in the day when it cropped up, and when it was being pushed around polytheistic religions, they found a lot of people wouldn’t convert becase they woulnd’t give up their deity/ancestor worship.

I think its a lot more common than people think, its a bit like church shopping I see a lot of Protestants do. I’m generalising, but in this day and age, people want a religion that doesn’t restrict them in their behaviour too much, or doesn’t demand too much adherance, or allows a lot of what they consider freedom.

My sister is dabbling in Buddhism. Its actually kind of amusing because she says to me “Oh, did you know Buddha said this…” and “the Deli Lama said that…” and it sounds an awful lot like what Christ said and what the Pope said.

I’ve got my fingers on the Rosary praying it gets her back to teh faith of her childhood.
 
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