BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism Discussion on A supreme Being, Higher Power, God

Lynn...excellent post...

As you rightly say, there are many things to which we are not privvy, and neither do we have the available mental resources or flexibility to be able to work it all out - it might very well "blow our Minds"! The Buddha spoke of four imponderables... one of which this is....
And he encouraged those chancing upon them, to leave them to one side...because constant effort to discover the answers would be an unnecessary and futile distraction from living in the Now..Being Mindful, and 'following The Path.'

An excellent book, written by a Tibetan master, Sogyal Rinpoch�, touches on this very subject, and brings clarity and insight. You might have heard of it...
"The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying". In it, he respectfully and reverently discusses near-death experiences, and the attitude to dying and death, from the perspective of many religions other than his own. It's a fascinating tome. A classic, in fact.

Good on you....

Nice to meet you too. I told my mom a couple years ago I wanted a little Buddah statue because he makes me smile. She bought me one of those little itty bitty mini ones that come in a small box from gift stores. Her husband had a FIT! I like my little buddy, he has a happy aura.

I have my own cure for this, Skinny... they make these wonderful dolls--with all of the pieces attached by velcro (head, arms, legs). They have shirts that say "The Boss". When I just can't stand it anymore, I pull out the doll, rant for a bit, pull it apart, achieve calmness, put it back together, apologize to it for the pain I caused it, and stuff it in my desk drawer.

Cheers!

I wrote an article about stuff like this, it's called God's Surgery...

But it probably won't make much difference to some of you... lol... thats OK by the way, <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I think what the nun in one of the previous posts was alluding to is "To him that is given much, much is expected." Don't ask me to give you the Biblical coordinates, I can't do that off the top of my head.

I personally am not a religious Christian. I used to have a bumper sticker on an old car the read "Jesus Freak". I think it's a proper label. To me, the Words in the Bible, especially the New Testament, make sense and are clear, even Revelation. I attribute this to the fact that the Lord has opened my spiritual eyes and given me the gift of spiritual discernment. I don't know how I feel about this and I may be wrong. But for me, my "higher power" will always be Jesus.

Revelations. Other than everything will end someday, I get little out of it. Though my neighbors tell me they've predicted the date of the end of the world based on this text (we all remember the Y2K thing, right?.

Lynn, I think you shot to the heart of it.

I know as a Christian I am often frustrated by "why did this prayer get answered, but not that one". Or why a "good" person has to die of a terminal brain tumor, while a serial killer never catches a cold. I am right now fighting to not whine or wallow in despair over the situation with my son. I keep wanting to say, "When is it enough?" (OK, forget the wanting to say, I have been saying it!)

My greatest comfort is in knowing that down here is not perfect. That bad things happen on earth, that things aren't fair here. But that this is not my Home anymore. This is just where I am waiting to live out my life while I can hopefully teach others about the same joy and love Christ has brought me. My Home comes after all of this - and that will be perfect and fair.

God never said we had to be miserable while we were here. We make our own choices as to how we live our lives. We get hit with some things we never see coming- but as a Christian, I know I still have a Promise to look forward to, so I can have hope in all things.

My faith is a choice I make to believe in my Savior � no matter how I feel. His love is a reality He demonstrated to me when He died on the cross for me. And hope is the gift He gave me that day. For no matter what happens to me on this earth, no matter how I feel, no matter how dark the pit is sometimes; I have the promise that I will be lifted into the light with Him in heaven at the end! That is HOPE.

(quote)"I think what the nun in one of the previous posts was alluding to is "To him that is given much, much is expected."

Does this mean that because I was 'given' much pain and suffering, that much is expected of me?
No wonder I can't believe in God! <img src="/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

To get my previous comment into context, here again is what that nun told me.

"An example of this belief that God 'sends us trials' and the more He loves us, the greater the trials is this comment from a very spiritual nun I know. She knows about all the pain and anguish in my life, and her words of 'comfort' (?) to me recently went something like this:

"You must be a very special friend to God, and his love for you must be very great to have trusted you with all this pain, which you can offer up, as Jesus did. This is why He keeps sending you more. You are one of His trusted friends."

In the light of this, I ask again, does this mean that because I was 'given' much pain and suffering, that much more is expected of me?

Michelle, Whilst I sincerely admire your faith and am glad that it gives you succour and solace, I quietly blanch at the word 'HOPE' here...
Forgive me, but to me it simply infers 'fingers crossed'.... that you're pinning your prayers to an unknown, the outcome of which is a mystery to you... so to speak of a Promise, and a Hope, in one sentence, is a contradiction, surely....?
A Promise, to me, is a given - a guarantee and a hard, concrete statement of fact... Hope is something we pin our prayers to, but it leaves us in limbo...uncertain and not knowing.
I apologise if I appear to be questioning your belief and faith. I do not do this. My eternal gripe here, and elsewhere (though I don't go there nowadays!)is the dangling carrot... the assurance that if you subject yourself to everything fate can throw at you, then eventually, you'll be paid back. Maybe. Possibly.

And for my part, having decided to lay that to one side, and follow a road (according to this forum) less travelled, to me, it really HAS made all the difference.

I guess I should have qualified - we have the promise of Heaven come the end of our lives (or earth - whichever comes first)

But while we are here on earth we have hope to keep us going.

I guess its a fine distinction, and to me way more than just crossing fingers. Because as a person who suffers from clinical depression - I know what it feels like to be without hope. It is much more powerful than just wishing, and it can be a driving force in one's life - I know it has been in mine!