Joy and I met with a young couple recently in our home. They are dating and considering marriage, but there is an essential issue that needs to be addressed. One of them was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and the other was raised as a Baptist. The essentials of their worldview – the nature of God, the nature of man, the nature of salvation and the nature of the resurrection – are in stark opposition … Continue reading
Category Archives: mysticism
(This originally appeared in the Spring 2001 edition of the MCOI Journal) Many a driver has had the experience of driving along, listening to music, and losing oneself in thought, and then “waking up” to the realization they are on a different road than they had been on. Wait a minute! How did I get here? That’s easy to answer. You drove quite a few miles while lost in reverie, made some turns, passed some … Continue reading
Does God exist? This is one of the most fundamental questions to a worldview. Either He does or He doesn’t. Logic dictates that both cannot be right. This is the final discrepancy we shall look at between the Buddha and Jesus. We have seen thus far the claims made by Mr. James Hanson that Jesus was a Buddhist do not carry weight. The Gospels have shown Jesus grew up in Nazareth. A cursory discussion of … Continue reading
Doctrine matters. Many times doctrine is looked down upon these days. Teaching and rational thought are traded in for feeling, fuzzy interpretations, and noncommittal statements. But doctrine matters. It divides the wheat from the chaff and sets boundaries between worldviews. Many throw away the doctrine of the Gospels for a newer, softer Jesus. People want the Buddhist Jesus, who speaks in koans and mystically contemplates the unknown while letting all paths lead to God. This … Continue reading
Jesus was a Buddhist, at this claim the left and Gnostics alike cheer. The thought that this carpenter from Nazareth was no one of authority. No, He is the meek mild Buddhist giving a gnostic message which plays nice all the other religions. There is one small issue – it’s a lie. This portrait they paint is not real. James Hanson may have concluded that the Jesus of history was really a Buddhist by reading into … Continue reading
Many have claimed the real story of Jesus is different from the records of the New Testament. As early as the second century different cults were claiming to have found new information. All claimed the lost years of Jesus’ childhood as their basis. In Part 1 of this series we discussed the new form this has taken in recent years where Jesus is claimed to have travelled to India to become a Buddhist. The article … Continue reading