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• Friday, October 26, 2007 10:58 PM

  @ fetboy

  I just ignore the Obnoxious Anonymous. He really doesn't bother me that much. He is sort of like a mosquito before a hard freeze. :-D

  But about the heaven thing? Hmm. I can't say I ever worried much about Falwell either, but I thought Buddhists didn't believe in heaven. I don't want to see my ex in heaven either. That is why I enjoy being an agnostic.

  However, the forgiveness part interests me because it seems so Christian. (Of course we should have carried on this discussion in the atheist thread, but someone was quite misunderstanding my POV there and I felt to lazy to elaborate.) It seems every faith I know of has both a "golden rule" and an encouragment of forgiveness. I rather like the Jews in this regard. I do tend to think of payback and hold grudges.

  What really puzzles me is when I get in a conversation with someone who practices both Christianity and Buddhism. How DO they do that? The Christian concept of forgiveness is to follow Christ's example. The consequence of proper belief is to have all sins removed and gain eternal life in heaven. Now if you gain eternal life in heaven, there is no need for any other lives, is there?

  I once discussed this with some Buddhists over the internet and they were quite outraged when I told them that any payment for sins was unnecessary in most conceptions of Christianty because mere sincere belief in Jesus as the son of God was really the ticket into heaven. This seems to them most unjust, rather like a way to avoid one's proper karma. I always thought Chritianity was all about mercy and Buddhism was all about justice. Each, to me, seem to leave out an important part of the equation. Justice should be tempered with mercy.

  —AKA Smith Read AKA Smith's other letters
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