Who created God?

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rossum said:
The short answer is that Buddhism works.

The long answer is the same but takes more words. I was brought up as a Christian. When I hit my teens I dropped religion and switched to atheism. That was mainly because I objected to the rather too common, “anyone who does not agree exactly with us is damned for eternity,” attitude I found. After a few years I moved away from atheism, I felt that while it did avoid many of the problems with Christianity it was not itself a solution. I looked at different religions to find something that would work for me. None of the Abrahamic religions attracted me. The best of the bunch was Quakerism, but as a hangover from my atheism I still had a problem with the concepts of God and soul. Next I looked at Hinduism. The background of Indian religion provides a very different world view: less exclusive – everyone achieves liberation eventually, the concept of karma and a much more relaxed attitude to other religions and to alternative variants of the same religion. Of the Hindu texts the Bhagavad Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras were the ones that attracted me most. In particular there is hardly any mention of gods in the Yoga Sutras. That seemed to be an interesting direction to explore.

Reading round Hinduism I inevitably came across Jainism and Buddhism. Jainism has souls but no gods, or at least no important gods. Buddhism has no souls and its attitude to gods is very casual – like any other living being they need to become enlightened. A mere god is far inferior to a Bodhisattva, let alone to a fully enlightened Buddha. Buddhism seemed to have the elements I was looking for: non-exclusivity, no soul, morality and while it did have gods, they were unimportant and could easily be ignored. So I tried Buddhism. I studied more on it, went to groups and to meditation classes and found that everything fitted together well and it suited the way I wanted to go.

A frequently quoted Buddhist text is the Kalama sutta which says that if we are to accept something then we have to try it first to check that it is correct:

[The Buddha said:] “Kalamas, when you yourselves know: ‘These things are good; these things are not blameable; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness,’ enter on and abide in them.”

This advice applies to the Buddha’s own words just as much as to anything else. I followed the Buddha’s advice. I tried Buddhism, found that it worked and I have followed it ever since.

There is even some scientific evidence that Buddhism works: see Buddhists ‘really are happier’.

Buddhism is a very practical religion. It is a sustained attempt to alleviate the suffering of a less than perfect world. Generally it succeeds. Buddhism works.

rossum
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Thanks for your reply. Of course, i know that an ultimate creator reality exists although i have similar struggles as you did when it comes to religion. I am more metaphysical in my thinking than religious…
 
rossum said:
Yes. That is exactly how the Buddha rediscovered Buddhism, but his own efforts and insights. In the same way, once Buddhism disappears in the future, the Maitreya Buddha will rediscover it and refound the religion.

rossum
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So Jesus could be said to be Buddhist?
 
IWantGod said:
Am i a Buddha?
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Well that was my point.
In some sense, if we follow the teachings of Jesus, especially those about letting go of the world, or at least excessive desire for or agin created things, this appears to be the basics of the Buddhist path to enlightenment and avoidance of suffering.

Which is essentially what a number of Buddhists have advised me. One can be a Buddhist even as a Catholic.

This tolerance and breadth of vision I really admire in Buddhism.
It is something Western Roman Catholicism still deeply struggles with.
Thankyou Constantine…not.
 
Thom18 said:
No one. God is the “uncaused cause”. If God had a creator, then that creator would need a creator, and it would never end.

We can come to the conclusion that God is uncreated just from our knowledge that God is infinite. Only finite beings/objects need causes, whereas infinite beings don’t. They can’t.
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Ditto!!

God cannot be created, if did (say human mind with his own enlightenment) then its not god at all!
 
jackydarapper said:
Buddha was born > saw the sufferings and death > detached from his religion > got enlightened > lived > died > doesn’t exist anymore.

Jesus still lives.
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Don’t you mean he isn’t “alive” anymore (biologically)?
 
as to the answer before last: Yes Jesus is alive and even so biologically!
He arouse from the dead with His soul AND His body, and such sits right of The Father to judge you and me and the world. He and the Most Holy Virging Mary are in heaven with their bilologic body. Probably some others too - such as Eliah and the person St. Paul mentiones in 2 Cor 12:3

But what sucks resently here (at least me) is, that this time dear friends, you must admit, that quite a few of you tend to praise Buddhism, which is mere atheism, as better than and preferable to Christian belief and practising.

Your recommended site news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3047291.stm Tells, that: “Their tests showed this area of the Buddhists’ brains are constantly lit up and not just when they are meditating. This, the scientists said, suggests they are more likely to experience positive emotions and be in good mood”.

Isn’t just this a special characteristic of Christianity? The word happy in all it’s variations is mentioned manifold in the Bible; such as in Ecc 3,13: God wants everyone to eat and drink and be happy in his work. These are gifts from God. Or take among many others in Mat 9,2: “Be happy, young man. Your sins are forgiven.”
Real Christians, same as Saints, experience positive emotions and are "in good mood” - which they got all reason to be.
Those who don’t know what it means to be a Christian, prefer Buddhism, which by auto-suggestion makes those happy who believe in self-hypnosis with the big Nothing - the Nirvana. Great! Such we simply fade away as any daisy does! If that is deep happyness, then NO THANKS - won’t have it!

Now really. Is this - the actual Nothing - preferable to God’s love and the absolute surety of eternal life in God’s kingdom?!

In this Christ’s “absolute surety” many don’t believe, but take it as mere hope?
No - it’s not! For when a most reliable friend of yours gives you an absolute surety, you know it’s true and not just a vague hope. And how much more than a reliable friend is Jesus Christ!

Yours
Bruno
 
BrunoMaria said:
as to the answer before last: **Yes Jesus …

Now really. Is this - the actual Nothing - preferable to God’s love and the absolute surety of eternal life in God’s kingdom?!

In this Christ’s “absolute surety” many don’t believe, but take it as mere hope?
No - it’s not! For when a most reliable friend of yours gives you an absolute surety, you know it’s true and not just a vague hope. And how much more than a reliable friend is Jesus Christ!

Yours
Bruno**

I reiterate your opening opinion best said by Mary, Mother of God. Yes, Jesus!

Your words are true and only pride of the other will take them as hurtful, Truth is not hate. Truth is Love.

Truthfully the equation of Bhudda and Jesus is an awkward expression of silopsism which social science identifies with a natural progression in human development. Jesus and His Mercy, Love and Joy, joy, joy are a supernatural progression of human growth. Ask what’s kicking with John the Baptist.

Thanks for your reply, it is mightily constructed.
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IWantGod said:
Am i a Buddha?
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Although Theraveda Buddhism deals with Nirvana, later developed Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes the already existing buddha nature. Christianity (Catholic) believes that we are freed from evil through the good which comes from God with our cooperation, rather than that we liberate ourselves by our own nature.
 
Let me invite all who trust in Christ’s doctrine and find Buddhism a silly self-deception, into MailCircle.
Quite a few wo regularely write here in CAF, are also member in our MailCircle. Btw. I am the only foreigner there, who speaks a poor English. If you like to, simply write to me a normal mail to me:
Holzschnitzereien@Krippenfiguren.com
🙂
 
BrunoMaria said:
Let me invite all who trust in Christ’s doctrine and find Buddhism a silly self-deception, into MailCircle.
Quite a few wo regularely write here in CAF, are also member in our MailCircle. Btw. I am the only foreigner there, who speaks a poor English. If you like to, simply write to me a normal mail to me:
Holzschnitzereien@Krippenfiguren.com
🙂
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BM why do you think all Buddhists are silly and deceiving themselves?
Is this anymore silly or self deceiving than say Protestantism, Eastern Syriac Catholicism, members of Pius10th Society, or indeed self appointed Catholic defenders of the true faith more Catholic than the Pope?
 
BrunoMaria said:
as to the answer before last: Yes Jesus is alive and even so biologically!
He arouse from the dead with His soul AND His body, and such sits right of The Father to judge you and me and the world. He and the Most Holy Virging Mary are in heaven with their bilologic body. Probably some others too - such as Eliah and the person St. Paul mentiones in 2 Cor 12:3

But what sucks resently here (at least me) is, that this time dear friends, you must admit, that quite a few of you tend to praise Buddhism, which is mere atheism, as better than and preferable to Christian belief and practising.

Your recommended site news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3047291.stm Tells, that: “Their tests showed this area of the Buddhists’ brains are constantly lit up and not just when they are meditating. This, the scientists said, suggests they are more likely to experience positive emotions and be in good mood”.

Isn’t just this a special characteristic of Christianity? The word happy in all it’s variations is mentioned manifold in the Bible; such as in Ecc 3,13: God wants everyone to eat and drink and be happy in his work. These are gifts from God. Or take among many others in Mat 9,2: “Be happy, young man. Your sins are forgiven.”
Real Christians, same as Saints, experience positive emotions and are "in good mood” - which they got all reason to be.
Those who don’t know what it means to be a Christian, prefer Buddhism, which by auto-suggestion makes those happy who believe in self-hypnosis with the big Nothing - the Nirvana. Great! Such we simply fade away as any daisy does! If that is deep happyness, then NO THANKS - won’t have it!

Now really. Is this - the actual Nothing - preferable to God’s love and the absolute surety of eternal life in God’s kingdom?!

In this Christ’s “absolute surety” many don’t believe, but take it as mere hope?
No - it’s not! For when a most reliable friend of yours gives you an absolute surety, you know it’s true and not just a vague hope. And how much more than a reliable friend is Jesus Christ!

Yours
Bruno
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Unfortunately, with Christianity, you always have that feeling that you might go to hell, and no-matter how hard you try you always feel imperfect and unworthy . Not really the best treatment when it comes to positive thinking. However i do suffer from scruples.
 
As to Neo-Platonist mentioned above in newadvent.org/cathen/10742b.htm
Mind, that it’s not me! 😉
It was then, too, that the theurgic, or magic, elements in Neo-Platonism were made popular. The same tendency is found in Bruno’s “Eroici Furori”, interpreting Plotinus in the direction of materialistic pantheism.<
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As to the funny uttering: … if you are a realist, then platonic forms can only exist in Gods mind.

This indeed peculiar statement mixes the very secularly meant word REALIST with Christian realism. A Christian realizes God as ever so real - so, not only to him, God, heaven and Jesus’ doctrine is ever so realistic. Secular people think, belief in God is not realistic, as they take for „real“ just what you can see and touch. Same as a dog thinks, tht real is what the sees and smells only. But God’s reality is much more than that!

Hence, the Philosopher Platon’s ideas (who lived 428-347 before Christ) where this Greek human’s theories. Definitely not God’s. What makes anyone think, this human’s ideas exist only in God’s mind? A very unintelligible idea.

This rather queer topic here in CAF "Who created God?“ could well be moved into a separate thread; about meaning and nonsense of Buddhism. But well, it’s now more than just „Buddhism“ - in the meantime is miscellaneous.

I’m further asked here:
Why do you think all Buddhists are silly and deceiving themselves?
Is this anymore silly or self deceiving than say Protestantism, Eastern Syriac Catholicism, members of Pius10th Society, or indeed self appointed Catholic defenders of the true faith more Catholic than the Pope?<
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The questioner sadly enough mixed up Christian Denominations, who adore the one and only true God, who reveled Himself to us manifold; got mixed up with an atheist imagination that denies God, including eternal life together with God in His Kingdom.

It’s clear even to a christian child, that any pagan god invented by humans, is absolutely incommensurable= unvergleichlich with the great merciful gift of the one and only alive God, who in form of His begotten Son Jesus Christ, out of God’s everlasting love, even came to us in flesh giving His life to save us.
To reject and deny this fact, is the mayor sin of a vast majority.

Buddhism isn’t even a pagan religion wo invented some kind of a god, but it’s without any god - fully atheist; meaning no-god. Buddhists deceive themselves, that the answer to everything is the dissolving into nothing - like a fog in the sun.
Why then are they born? Just to have a short, forcedly happy look at the world; serene in spite of all it’s horror, for it all dissolves anyhow into nothing? It doesn’t make any sense at all to dissolve in Nirvana, the absolute nothing, after so many peculiar cycle of rebirths. Indeed extremely stupid!

The whole thing is but much more than silly and deceiving themselves, for it not only takes a peculiar fairy-tale as real, but what’s really much worse; Buddhism rejects the alive and loving God who created these astray believers.
But be assured; God doesn’t let Himself be mocked! So woe to him who knows about God, but rejects Him and adores this guy Buddha who „knew better“ (Siddhārtha Gautama ca 563 - 483 before Christ)
St. Paul warns in clear words of such unbelievably ridiculous stubbornness in Gal 6,7: Do not be fooled; for you cannot cheat God. You reap justly what you planted.

Another writer here says:
Unfortunately I always have that feeling that I might go to hell, no-matter how hard you try, one always feel imperfect and unworthy. How then could it come to positive thinking?<
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All Saints had scruples, if they where „worthy“. No-one is! It’s God’s grace that gives you His mercy to wear the white gown and writes your name into the Book of Life - noted in RCC# 2706 and among others, in Revelation 3,5.
That is - if you believe in Jesus Christ!
To be condemned it takes the outmost case, which is to deny God. You, being concerned about this, don’t have to fear hell. St. John, the disciple who first and foremost recognized God in Jesus Christ, and also stood under the Cross when Jesus died, tells you personally in John 3,18: The one who believes in Him is not condemned (judged). The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.

Yours
Bruno 🙂
 
BrunoMaria said:
As to Neo-Platonist mentioned above in newadvent.org/cathen/10742b.htm
Mind, that it’s not me! 😉
It was then, too, that the theurgic, or magic, elements in Neo-Platonism were made popular. The same tendency is found in Bruno’s “Eroici Furori”, interpreting Plotinus in the direction of materialistic pantheism.<
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So you believe Buddhists are obviosly more silly and self deceptive than, say, Protestants or Crusdaers or Pius10thers because the latter believe in one God and the former dont?
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