Bishop Desmond Tutu

Originally posted by twhitehead
You don't care about knowing the truth, because you just make up the Truth as you go along.

Incorrect, and incorrect.

People like you and GF deny the truth. As I told GF earlier, you don't care what the truth is, as long as it is not God. I don't make up the truth, it comes from God. And if either of you weren't so narrow-minded and thick-headed and self-important, you'd know it too. Or maybe you would if you really in fact cared about the truth, and sought it out. But you assume and close your heart and mind off to the truth.

And as I told GF, that's weak.

Originally posted by Suzianne
No, you don't.

In fact you deny it.

You don't care what it is, as long as it's not God.

Sorry to disappoint.

I care, yet I tell you why, yet again.........

As sometimes learning has to be seen, reviewed and memorised a number of times - in order to remember truth in all it's revel.

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Do Buddhists believe in god?

No, we do not. There are several reasons for this. The Buddha, like modern sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ideas, and especially the god idea, have their origin in fear.

The Buddha says:
"Gripped by fear men go to the sacred mountains,
sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines".

Primitive man found himself in a dangerous and hostile world. The fear of wild animals; of not being able to find enough food; of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes was constantly with him.

Finding no security, he created the idea of gods in order to give him comfort in good times, courage in times of danger and consolation when things went wrong.

To this day, you will notice that people become more religious at times of crises, and you will hear them say that the belief in a god or gods gives them the strength they need to deal with life. You will hear them explain that they believe in a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change.

He replaced fear not with irrational belief, but with rational understanding.

The second reason the Buddha did not believe in a god is because there does not seem to be any evidence to support this idea. There are numerous religions, all claiming that they alone have god’s words preserved in their holy book, that they alone understand god’s nature and that their god exists, and that the gods of other religions do not. Some claim that god is masculine; some that she is feminine; and others that it is neuter.
They are all satisfied that there is ample evidence to prove the existence of their god, but they laugh in disbelief at the evidence other religions use to prove the existence of another god.

It is not surprising that with so many different religions, spending so many centuries trying to prove the existence of their gods, that still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence has been found. Buddhists suspend judgment until such evidence is forthcoming.

The third reason the Buddha did not believe in a god is that the belief is not necessary.

Some claim that the belief in a god is necessary in order to explain the origin of the universe, but Buddhists believe this is not so. Science has very convincingly explained how the universe came into being, without having to introduce the god-idea.
Some claim that belief in god is necessary to have a happy, meaningful life. Again we can see that this is not so.

There are multi-millions of atheists and free-thinkers, not to mention many Buddhists, who live useful, happy and meaningful lives without belief in a god.

Some claim that belief in god’s power is necessary because humans, being weak, do not have the strength to help themselves. ....

.... Once again, the evidence indicates the opposite. One often hears of people who have overcome great disabilities and handicaps; enormous odds and difficulties, through their own inner resources; through their own efforts and without belief in a god. Some claim that god is necessary in order to give man salvation. but this argument only holds good if you accept the theological concept of salvation and Buddhists do not accept such a concept.

Based on his own experience, the Buddha saw that each human being had the capacity to purify the mind, develop infinite love and compassion and perfect understanding.

""He shifted attention from the heavens to the heart, and He encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding and that, my dear, includes science!""

If your heart is in something unknown.......... bless your children, than an unknown will take care of them, same as many man on the street might - in your God's image - , if you happen to be taken to your heaven!

Would you let a man in the street take care of your children? Do you have the same faith in him, as your God ascertains man is made in his image?

Or do you argue with that little small part of the bible?

If you do, let's open the heavens of questionable questions as to your belief in the words of the bible! 😏

-m. 😳

Originally posted by Suzianne
[quote]
If I were to be staying in an old house, and one night I were to see a translucent faintly glowing figure walking through the house carrying a similarly translucent glowing lamp. Who walked through a wall and disappeared.
And I could not find any evidence of it's presence, I had no pictures of it, or any other evidence you might think of to indic ...[text shortened]... w to others, but that is NOT prima facie evidence that I can not know it to be true.

I think you need to spend more time reading what I say and less time being righteously indignant about it.

I did not say I have to prove things to other people to be able to know something.

I said that I have to be ABLE to prove something to others to be able to know it myself.

And that is a foundational principle of science and the scientific method. (I am not just making this up)

As long as I have the proof to justify it I can quite easily know something that nobody else knows.
But to prove to my self that I know it would require me to have evidence sufficient to demonstrate it to others.



Try responding again to what I actually said and not what your overwrought imagination thinks I said.

Originally posted by mikelom
I care, yet I tell you why, yet again.........

As sometimes learning has to be seen, reviewed and memorised a number of times - in order to remember truth in all it's revel.

-----------

Do Buddhists believe in god?

No, we do not. There are several reasons for this. The Buddha, like modern sociologists and psychologists, believed that religious ...[text shortened]... ens of questionable questions as to your belief in the words of the bible! 😏

-m. 😳

The fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

(Proverbs 9:10 NKJV)