Another version of something familiar Buddhism Another version of something familiar

Idolatry Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama was born around 560 B.C. He was a Hindu from a rich Hindu family. One day he went outside his palace and saw a world of suffering and pain. He was so traumatized by what he saw that he left his riches to become an ascetic. One day, sitting under a tree, he achieved “Enlightenment” (Nirvana) through meditation. He became the Buddha and started to teach his religion to Indians who were tired of Hinduism. What is Buddhism? To understand it, we have to review the religion it came from...Hinduism.

Idolatry Hinduism The “One” Karma cycle Yoga

Idolatry Buddhism The Impersonal Karma cycle Eight-fold path

The basic blueprint of Buddhism is called the “Four Noble Truths”: Idolatry Buddhism The basic blueprint of Buddhism is called the “Four Noble Truths”: - the world is full of suffering - suffering is caused by desire - eliminating desire eliminates suffering - you can eliminate desire by following the Eightfold Path The Eightfold Path: An 8 step process to reach enlightenment. The first 5 steps are lifestyle changes, the last 3 are meditation steps. Remind you of any other 8-step processes we've already studied?

Idolatry Buddhism Nirvana: the state of ultimate enlightenment. It is the elimination of suffering Sound familiar? The last step involves meditation that clears your mind and diminishes your personhood (your free will) Sound familiar? The Buddhist teaching about life’s suffering and devaluation of human life means that they don’t really help those in need. Sound familiar?

Idolatry Buddhism Idols: Buddhists worship statues and figurines of Buddha, believing that he is a god (Even though Buddha himself was an atheist). They even have a huge shrine where they bow to his tooth. Rom 1:22-23 “While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools, and, instead of worshiping the imperishable God, they worshiped images resembling perishable man or resembling birds or beasts or reptiles.” Idolatry isn’t just about worshiping statues (what’s so tempting about that?) Almost every idolatrous culture has sexual acts invovled in idol worship. That’s what drew the Israelites away to these religions, and what still draws people today

Idolatry A lot of these practices survive to this day, and have been present in every culture throughout history. Christianity is pretty unique in that it never had a “temple prostitute” tradition.

The Appeal of Buddhism - It deals with a very common question: suffering - It doesn’t require a belief in a personal god - It’s Eastern, therefor exotic and interesting. Christianity is seen as familiar and boring - It’s very easy to be a casual buddhist because the practices are not enforced by anyone

The Big Difference In both Hinduism and Buddhism, there is a very specific and difficult process to become “saved”. In Christianity, the only thing required is to believe in Jesus Christ John 6:29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent”