Why do you believe your faith is correct?

[uglygal]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Thankyou in advance

 

[mikew262]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Thankyou in advance

I think we all have the same God. It’s how one relates and worships him is where the differences come in. As someone once said, religion is simply an opinion and/or methodology on how to worship God.

How I choose to worship God: Christian Catholic

 

[rossum]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

I am Buddhist, so I do not have a God is the sense you probably mean. There are lots of gods in Buddhism but they are not of any real importance. Their main function in the sutras is to applaud at the right places.

I believe Buddhism because I have tried it and it works for me. Buddhism is a Path, and if you follow the path then you will get certain results. I am following the prescribed path, and I am seeing the promised results. That gives me confidence that the Path I am following is the correct one. There is some external evidence as well: Buddhists ‘really are happier’.

Why do you believe your God is the One True God

I don’t. There may be zero gods, one God or many gods - the question is not very important.

and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

Because it works. To quote the Kalama sutta:[The Buddha said:] “Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness’ — then you should enter and remain in them.”

Kalama sutta A. N. 3.65
After 2,500 years of following what works and rejecting what does not work, Buddhism has a lot of very effective techniques.

I am not saying that other religions are false, “You shall not kill” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” are both perfectly good Buddhism. It is just that Buddhism seems to me to have more going for it than other religions - more positives and fewer negatives.

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Buddhist. My practice is Theravada, my theory is Madhyamika.

rossum

 

[mikew262]

I am Buddhist, so I do not have a God is the sense you probably mean. There are lots of gods in Buddhism but they are not of any real importance. Their main function in the sutras is to applaud at the right places.

I believe Buddhism because I have tried it and it works for me. Buddhism is a Path, and if you follow the path then you will get certain results. I am following the prescribed path, and I am seeing the promised results. That gives me confidence that the Path I am following is the correct one. There is some external evidence as well: Buddhists ‘really are happier’.

I don’t. There may be zero gods, one God or many gods - the question is not very important.

Because it works. To quote the Kalama sutta:[The Buddha said:] “Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness’ — then you should enter and remain in them.”

Kalama sutta A. N. 3.65
After 2,500 years of following what works and rejecting what does not work, Buddhism has a lot of very effective techniques.

I am not saying that other religions are false, “You shall not kill” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” are both perfectly good Buddhism. It is just that Buddhism seems to me to have more going for it than other religions - more positives and fewer negatives.

Buddhist. My practice is Theravada, my theory is Madhyamika.

rossum

If I may ask, have you always been Buddhist? If not, what where you and what made you change?

 

[AquinasT]

You say that as a Buddhist you follow its teaching as follows: “…don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought…”

Have you really followed this teaching? Is not Buddhism a “tradition”? Did you not quote this passage from a kind of “scripture”? Have you used “logic” in comparing Buddhism to other religions? Have you “inferred” certain things about Buddhism through your experiences with it? Have you “pondered views” to reach you conclusions? Have you “thought” about it? In short, have you disobeyed the teaching you have cited, since being Buddhist must necessarily contain all of these elements? Doesn’t this set you up for failure?

Thomas

 

[hopelessrom_grl]

I was a Buddhist…I was from the sect that worship chinese gods…and I have tones of questions about it unanswered and I don’t think I can find a True god that I went unhappy because of it and actually turned agnostic for two years

But lucky I found Jesus and the true living God of Christianity in the Catholic Chruch

Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

because by looking at creation, I know there is a creator and the book of Genesis focus mainly on creation and describe in detail…and I know Jesus is a historicaly accurate person

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

the Historical, Mathematical, Scientific and Geographical acuracy of the Bible…and the fact that it coresponds and not contradict, even though it’s written by different authors…it proves that a higher power is at control when writting those books

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Christian (Catholic)

 

[rossum]

If I may ask, have you always been Buddhist? If not, what where you and what made you change?

I was brought up as a Christian. When I hit my teens I dropped religion and switched to atheism. This was mainly because I objected to the rather too common “anyone who does not agree 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 - as a hangover from my atheism I still had a problem with the concepts of God and soul. Initially I was interested in 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. 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. This seemed to be an interesting direction to explore.

Reading round Hinduism I inevitably came across Jainism and Buddhism. Jaininsm has souls but no gods, or at least no important gods. Buddhism has no souls and its attitude to gods was 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. 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.

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

 

[rossum]

You say that as a Buddhist you follow its teaching as follows: “…don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought…”

Have you really followed this teaching?

I try to.

Is not Buddhism a “tradition”? Did you not quote this passage from a kind of “scripture”? Have you used “logic” in comparing Buddhism to other religions?

Yes, yes and yes.

Have you “inferred” certain things about Buddhism through your experiences with it?

Experience and inference are different things. I have done both.

Have you “pondered views” to reach you conclusions? Have you “thought” about it?

Yes and yes.

In short, have you disobeyed the teaching you have cited, since being Buddhist must necessarily contain all of these elements?

No. The sutta says that these elements are insufficient on their own to justify belief. They may or may not be right, but we cannot just say “The Buddha/God/L. Ron Hubbard said it so it must be true”. What the Buddha is saying is that we need to test everything, from whatever source. Nothing should be accepted on faith, at least not in the long term. The Kalama sutta goes on to describe the test: “When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness’ — then you should enter and remain in them.” I can take teachings from scripture but I should not just accept them, I should test them and see that they are skillful, blameless, praised by the wise and that they lead to welfare and happiness. It is not the source of any teaching that is the issue, but whether it passes the test.

The background to the Buddha’s statement is that the Kalamas (to whom he was speaking) had asked how they were to determine what was correct and what was not, since each preacher who came along said that his own doctrines were correct and that all the other preachers’ doctrines were wrong. They were puzzled as to how to find out which preachers were right and which were not. Note that the Buddha did not just say “I am right and all the others are wrong” - his own teachings are to be tested as well as all the others.

Doesn’t this set you up for failure?

No. Uncritical acceptance of teachings is what can set people up for failure. We must always test to check that what we are told or have read is really correct. By testing all such statements, rather than just accepting them uncritically, we can avoid many mistakes.

rossum

 

[wisdomseeker]

I am Buddhist, so I do not have a God is the sense you probably mean. There are lots of gods in Buddhism but they are not of any real importance. Their main function in the sutras is to applaud at the right places.

I believe Buddhism because I have tried it and it works for me. Buddhism is a Path, and if you follow the path then you will get certain results. I am following the prescribed path, and I am seeing the promised results. That gives me confidence that the Path I am following is the correct one. There is some external evidence as well: Buddhists ‘really are happier’.

I don’t. There may be zero gods, one God or many gods - the question is not very important.

Because it works. To quote the Kalama sutta:[The Buddha said:] “Now, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted and carried out, lead to welfare and to happiness’ — then you should enter and remain in them.”

Kalama sutta A. N. 3.65
After 2,500 years of following what works and rejecting what does not work, Buddhism has a lot of very effective techniques.

I am not saying that other religions are false, “You shall not kill” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” are both perfectly good Buddhism. It is just that Buddhism seems to me to have more going for it than other religions - more positives and fewer negatives.

Buddhist. My practice is Theravada, my theory is Madhyamika.

rossum

if i may ask you a question.
Buddhism does not offer eternal life, does it? there is nothing wrong in trying to be happy in this life, but if it is going to cost me the salvation my soul, then i would rather wait to get my happiness after this life is over. for we are here not, but a little while.

 

[MarcoPolo]

The simplest is the recognition of God by use of reason for starters. Then there’s the historical account of the resurrected Christ. The testimony comes from lots and lots of people speaking as a faith community. This differs from other religions that are rooted in revelation to an individual. So it is faith and reason.

 

[cheddarsox]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Thankyou in advance

I am a pantheist. I practice a religion known as Ardent Pantheism. Rather than simply holding pantheism as an interesting philosophy, I practice it as a religion with worship, ritual and holy days.

I do not believe in a supernatural being. Pantheism holds that the Universe (all that is) is What Is, we do not anthropomorphize it or assume it is a being, we accept it as it presents itself.

I believe it is true because it has never made a promise or statement to me that it hasn’t kept. It is true to the way it presents itself. I worship the Universe, not because it tells me to, or in hopes of receiving anything in return, but because that is my authentic response to the awesomeness of it.

The practice of my religion helps me in my life, by providing a framework for me to understand life. I benefit from the practice now, in this life, it helps me make sense of things.

cheddar

 

[rossum]

Buddhism does not offer eternal life, does it?

Correct. In Buddhism the point is to avoid eternal lives (plural):[The Buddha said:]What do you think, monks: Which is greater, the tears you have shed while transmigrating and wandering this long, long time — crying and weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — or the water in the four great oceans?"

“As we understand the Dhamma taught to us by the Blessed One, this is the greater: the tears we have shed while transmigrating and wandering this long, long time — crying and weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans.”

"Excellent, monks. Excellent. It is excellent that you thus understand the Dhamma taught by me.

“This is the greater: the tears you have shed while transmigrating and wandering this long, long time — crying and weeping from being joined with what is displeasing, being separated from what is pleasing — not the water in the four great oceans.”

Assu sutta - Sam. Nik. 15.3
We do not want to endlessly prolong suffering, we want to reduce or eliminate it.

there is nothing wrong in trying to be happy in this life, but if it is going to cost me the salvation my soul,

What you think of as your eternal soul is not yours, not eternal and not a soul. Buddhism does not recognise anything eternal:“Impermanent are all compound things.”
When one realises this by wisdom,
then one does not heed ill.
This is the Path of Purity.

Dhammapada 20 v 5

Nor does it recognise a soul:“All the elements of reality are soulless.”
When one realises this by wisdom,
then one does not heed ill.
This is the Path of Purity.

Dhammapada 20 v 7
You cannot own something that does not exist any more than you can own a unicorn.

then i would rather wait to get my happiness after this life is over. for we are here not, but a little while.

After this life is over you get to repeat the whole process from birth to death all over again and again and again. There are plenty of heavens and hells in Buddhism; all of them are temporary, none permanent. You can only get off the wheel by attaining enlightenment.

rossum

 

[Publisher]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Thankyou in advance

I am a Friend because I have found an experiential faith in Quaker expression. I have found immediate and unfettered access to God in Christ. We did not exchange one set of Jewish rituals for a set of Christian rituals. The work of Christ opened the Way for us to approach the “throne of grace” and share in His priesthood…Friend’s understand we don’t need the mediation of anyone elses work…be it priest, minister or rabbi, to gain access to the Presence of God.

Being a Friend has given me a framework to build a life NOW, I do not worry about “the next life”, it will take care of itself, but it is in this life that Christ came to bring us into fellowship with God.

Eternal Life begins now…the Kingdom of God is now already among us…so I need not look of some future “heaven” or worry about whether I’ll get there or not…“Peace I leave with you…” is a reality now.

If my faith doesn’t have an impact on my world NOW, it is not something I wish to pursue. Participating in rituals and ordinances mean little, if those rituals and ordinances do not enhance the quality of life around me.

If I were to attend a eucharist service and partake of the “body and blood of Christ” only to leave the service and ignor the hungry man on the street corner on my way home, it avails me nothing.

If I were to enter the waters of baptism to have my sins cleansed and yell at my wife or children on the way home out of anger or frustration because they “bug me”…or go to confession and perform my penance and flip off the driver in front of me…it avails me…nothing…for there was not a change on the inside…at least no change anyone would notice.

As a Friend what I believe is ONLY important IF it effects my world…I don’t have to change the whole world, just “my” world. If my “doctrinal” beliefs don’t make me more “Christlike”, more gentle, more loving, more protective of the helpless, more caring for the needy, more patient with those who try my patience, what good does “orthodoxy” do for me?

If believiing in a literal resurrection does not impact my life in a positive way, it is simply words on a page unless I experience with Him “being rasied in new life”.

If believing in the perpetual virginity of Mary causes no change in my life, then it doesn’t matter in the lives who are crying for understanding and love. If praying the rosary or the liturgy of the hours doesn’t inspire me to visit the sick, offer a cup of water in His name, it’s simply 'tinkling brass or clanging cymbols".

If Christ is not born each day in my heart and expressed in my life, then believing he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem is meaningless.

Truth is not something expounded…Truth is someting LIVED…if our beliefs and doctrines do not cause us to “live out of that Center of Truth” then all the “orthodoxy” we may hold has no power to change lives.

There is much I don’t know about the Eternal God, but I do know that unless I see His face in those around me, and hear His Voice in the cries of the needy, all the rituals and ordinances that I might engage in, mean nothing.

As a Friend, we have stepped away from “empty forms” and seek to live an 'incarnated" life with the Light Within…that of God in each of us…the true Light which is in each of us…the Seed of God must find expression in the fertile hearts of those who hear the Word that entered our world so long ago.

 

[Rawb]

People who are asking rossum about her Buddhism may want to start another thread; it’s off topic here.

I was protestant for much of my life, but always felt something was missing, so I tried athiesm first and thought maybe this was all just something I made up in my mind. The total noticability of a lack of someone ‘other’ who’d always been there stood out like a lightening bolt to me, so I decided athiesm was false. I tried Buddhism next, borrowed the Tao te Ching from a teacher and read over it, but it was too confusing and all poetic, and I dislike poetry, it’s too subjective, so I crossed it off my list.

As a side note I guess there are other forms of buddhism, but really, the whole thing seemed too loose anway. I was trying to get away from the huge plethora of choices, I wanted one, solid, foundation of rules and guidelines.

I also disregarded anything too ethnic, because it is obvbious to me that a God (or Gods, I was open to that possibility then) who wanted a relationship with everyone wouldn’t restrict his/her religion based on ethnicity. Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam and several brands of Paganism went with that.

Then someone turned me onto Catholicism (their argument was I sounded Catholic in my beliefs already). It had everything I could have ever hoped for. A deep home spiritual life centered around the family and individual while at the same time required time spent in community. It was a global entity. It had rules I disagreed with (if I agreed with everything then I probably just came up with the beliefs myself. If God’s rules were being taught to me, then I probably disagreed with some). It offered ways of meditation, of work, of life and rituals that all centered around God. I was Confirmed last Easter Vigil.

For a clear record, I am Catholic.

 

[Valke2]

I hope people of different faiths and denominations will answer Why do you believe your God and faith is true and correct?

Why do you believe your God is the One True God and why do you believe your faith is the correct one?

If anyone replies could you please state your religion / denomination

Thankyou in advance

Jewish/Conservative

My faith is right for me because, well because its right for me. I feel that it is the best method for me to access God and live a good life. As for Judaism being the only true religion, I don’t think I would say that was so. There really is nothing in the Torah that says the other religions, even pagan religions were wrong. If you look at Deut. 4:19:

…and in case you’ll raise your eyes to the skies, and you’ll see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the array of the skies, and you’ll be moved so that you’ll bow to them and serve them, when YHWH, your God, has allocated them to all the people under all the skies."

There is no criticism here of other nations worshipping the stars, skies, moon, etc. I believe this supports my understanding that there is nothin wrong with other people following their own faiths. The only time the Torah criticizes them is when they engage in practices that are abhorrent to Israel, like child sacrifice or taking your date out for cheeseburgers.

 

[rossum]

People who are asking rossum about her Buddhism may want to start another thread; it’s off topic here.

His.

rossum

 

[uglygal]

thankyou to everyone who has answered

 

[Mannyfit75]

My faith is correct because it is the fullness of truth. Jesus founded only One Church, and he made a promise. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He established His Church upon Peter, the Apostle. This Church exist today as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and Pope Benedict XVI sits on Peter’s throne.

This Church will be with us until the End of the Age, when the Church will come like a Bride of the Lamb, ready to embrace her Divine Spouse, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

 

[Rawb]

His.

rossum

Oops. Sorry. :doh2:

Still applies though!

 

[bengal_fan]

because i understand God to be God… unfathomable, ineffable. therefore, i follow what i do because we are always open to reform and reinterpretation and open to God revealing Himself in new ways. we are not tied to one interpretation of God. i am Christian and worship in a presbtyerian church, but those who i worship with might think of God differently than i do and that is just fine by me because maybe they have experienced God in a different way and who am i to discount that?