Protestantism

» paper_turtle - Scripture and doctrine-1

I stumbled onto a very interesting article for searching for something else. The article discusses the place of Scripture in Buddhism, but as I read it I realized in many ways it echoes what I believe (which is really not all THAT far from mainline Christianity).
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Source information:
The Place of Scripture in Buddhism and Its Relation to Doing Good, by Venerable Madawela Punnaji, A Presentation at the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania April 29, 1990
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http://www.abva.org/Scripture%20in%20Bud...
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I would like to present excerpts from the article for discussion, if you're interested. What follows below are the speaker's opening remarks:
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Although we have different labels attached to us, all of us, I am sure, have but one faith: it is the faith in "goodness," no matter how we define this word. . . . [A]ny religion that deserves our attention, must influence its followers to do good. . . . Do we believe that goodness alone can save the world from disaster? Do we believe that goodness alone can bring peace and happiness to the world? If we do not, we are certainly not religious, at least from my point of view. It is because people have no faith in goodness that they kill, steal, commit adultery, and practice dishonesty and deception to solve their problems. I believe that religion is a matter of "means" rather than "ends." Both the criminal and the saint have but one end or goal: and that is "happiness." They differ only in the "means" they adopt to attain this goal.
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. . . Buddhism has but one faith--that is the faith in "goodness." It is the belief that goodness will always win in the end. It is the belief that "right" is "might." Buddhism has been called, "the pursuit of goodness." The aim of Buddhist scripture is to show its followers the way to "goodness."
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The role of scripture is to stimulate thinking, and to serve as a guide for students in the process of discovering the meaning and purpose of life. Each individual thinks for himself and formulates his own ideas.
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[end of quoted material]
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It seems to me that Jesus presented his teachings in a way intended to make each person think for himself and reach his own conclusions.
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It also seems to me that Jesus pointed out the path to goodness, and professed faith that goodness does, indeed, always prevail.
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It would be nice, in discussing these ideas, if we could stick to *just* the ideas **as they are presented** (without reading things into them)--AND try to also practice goodness towards one another.
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peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle