I am considering being muslim or Christian and buddahist so is what my mom doing wrong? She is a Catholic.?

Question

I am from a Muslim Country when I was younger and I am considering muslim. I believe in buddahist beliefs but Buddahism has coexhisted with religons like the Shinto in Japan so perhaps there is a way for me to believe in buddahist principles and still be muslim. My mom did not like where we lived she wanted to go to Italy but she also forced me to be Confirmed and said she would not feed me well if I did not accept Confirmation. And she does not let me go to other types of Church so last time I had to run away to go to a nice church that made me feel good. And there is a way for Christianity to coexhist with buddahism after all some monks in the east are doing that and the Dalai Lama wrote a book about it Christianity with his buddahist beliefs. I know nothing about mormans but there is a girl in my school who is so nice and she is morman but my mother does not even let me go with her to see. So yes what are you thoughts on it?

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read the Qur'an, there is absolutely no way that an illiterate man, born 1400 years ago could have authored this book. He must have got it from God, taught to him by the Angel Gabriel like he said. Muhammad was known as 'the truthful' and the 'trustworthy' by his people, even before he got the first revelation
http://answers.yahoo.com/my/profile;_ylt=AhKLyxXzziO4bJ05oenujHXd7BR.?show=TWW5va0zaa

Answer 1

Dear Remiyu, you certainly have a lot on issues to contend with and in that regard, my heart goes out to you. One issue that I do feel strongly about is: no one should force or impose one beliefs upon anyone else. God has granted us free will. So he has endowed us with the ability to chose between right and wrong; ethics and morality. Free will also allows us to shape or paradims or world views ( the way in which we choose to to look or arrive at certain conclusions regarding any matter be it religious or otherwise. Now having said all that,let's take a look at some of the claims or questions that you wrote about; you asked : "so perhaps there is a way for me to believe in buddahist principles and still be muslim" In order to fairy answer this question you would need to compare the claims of Islam to Buddism :

Contender Ministries:

The Islamic Worldview:

Creation by Allah of all that exists
There is one God (Allah). They reject that Jesus is divine, He being simply one of God's prophets - of which Mohammad is the greatest

Allah never would reveal himself, instead he reveals his will, not himself
Man NOT made in the image of God
Adam & Eve sinned, then repented and were forgiven, with no continuing effects of their rebellion

Does not believe in original sin, nor that all men are sinful. After his sin and repentance God makes Adam his deputy (caliph) and the first of the prophets.

Man is basically good but prone to mistakes. Muslims who repent and submit to God return to a state of sinlessness, with no help from Christ (or anyone) needed.
Through rigorous religious ritual man can become a servant of Allah but will never be considered a part of Allah's family.

Now let us compare this with Buddhist beliefs with biblical Christianity
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According to a 1990 Census, over 800,000 Americans point to Japan as their nation of origin. The vast majority of these people are professing Buddhists. At the same time thousands of non-Asian North Americans have adopted Buddhism as their religion. Due in part to their inclusiveness and support of the interfaith movement, Buddhism has become very popular. Yet, many Christians are woefully uninformed as to what the Buddhists actually believe. Christian leaders, instead of boldly proclaiming the gospel of Christ, have joined the ranks of the "enlightened", and are teaching their congregations that there should be harmony and cooperation between Buddhist doctrine and the Christian faith. If you study what Buddhism teaches, however, you must conclude that there can be no harmony between the two. They are opposite in almost every way and one would have to deny Christ and the Bible in order to embrace Buddhism as a religion that also leads to God and salvation. Here we will examine these vast differences, compare Buddhism with the truth of the Bible, and provide information that will help you share the message of Christ with Buddhists.

The Buddha rejected subservience of any kind to a supreme God and denied belief in an eternal self. While he believed that karma would determine the kind of rebirth and quality of life one would have at rebirth, he didn't believe it was a self or soul that was reborn. He taught instead that there is a rearrangement of the elements of a person's identity, which are called "self". In other words the new self is still comprised of the same parts.

Contrary to Hinduism's caste system which required a series of rebirths to move up through the different castes, the Buddhists recruited disciples from all castes. According to Buddha, nirvana, or deliverance from suffering, is extended to everyone who strictly obeys the laws of a monastic life. However, he did feel that the caste system was important for the framework of a temporal life. It was a step away from the strict caste system of India.

Where the Brahmins of India taught that nirvana was attained when the soul becomes one with the Universal soul, Buddha held that nirvana is actually the termination of rebirths. That is, you finally get to get off the wheel. You've reached Nirvana, you're done, you cease to exist. It's hard to see where the hope lies in this, but rebirth after rebirth could, I suppose, make your complete elimination from existence sound appealing.



Buddha believed that we are temporal creations born to lives of sorrow and suffering. This suffering is a result of selfish desires that chain people to the wheel of insubstantial impermanent things. Living according to the Dharma will help one eliminate these desires thus leading you to Nirvana. According to Buddha, the way to deliverance is summed up in four noble truths:



The universality of suffering - People discover through rebirth, aging, and death that life is full of sorrow. We suffer this sorrow until deliverance is achieved.

The origin of suffering - Suffering is caused by the false desires of the senses that have been deceived into clinging to the impermanent world. The quest for immortality further aggravates human suffering.

The overcoming of suffering - If false desires cause suffering, then the desires need to be suppressed, abandoned, or rejected in order to nullify their effects. Ignorance of the way of deliverance and the delusion that there is a permanent self are the primary cause of suffering.

The way leading to the suppression of suffering - The noble eightfold path is a sacred path with eight branches called right views of understanding, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct or action, right livelihood, right effort or endeavor, right mind control or concentration, and right mindfulness. These eight branches are not stages that can be lived out in succession or isolation from one another. They are different dimensions of a total way of life.



While Buddha did not deny the existence of gods, he taught that the worship of gods obstructed one's quest for nirvana. To him the gods inhabit the cosmos and are impermanent like all of us, so they too must escape rebirth through nirvana.



And how long will it take to follow these truths to deliverance and reach this state of spiritual suicide? According to the Buddha several lives are required to attain it. He taught that the journey to nirvana is long and difficult. And the reward for all your efforts is inner peace and harmony with all beings right before you reach Nirvana. And then.....nothing.

I realize that this is a lot of material but as you can see that there are a lot of differences between Buddism, Islam and Christian beliefs:

Creation by God of all that exists (Genesis 1:1)
There is one God. He exists eternally in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-23, Mark 12:29, John 14:26, Matthew 28:19)
God has revealed Himself through the Bible and most clearly in Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God Himself (Colossians 1:13-17, 2nd Timothy 3:16, 2nd Peter 2:21)
Man made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27)
Adam and Eve sinned and thus brought sin into the world (Genesis 3:1-7)
Original Sin - all of Adam's posterity are born with a sin nature and are sinful from birth (Romans 3:22-23, 1st John 1:10)
Man is by nature sinful and has need for redemption by the atonement of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:6, 8:32, Colossians 1:19-20, Hebrews 7:26-27, 9:26, 10:12, 1st John 4:10)
Through the work of Christ, God adopts Christians into His family and calls them His children (Romans 8:14-15, Ephesians 1:5, Galatians 4:5

If one objectively exaims the claims of the 3
religions mentioned; Christianity, Buddism, and Islam, one should be able to discern that their claims are incompatible to each other and that they cannot be reconciled with each others perspective or viewpoints.
The Dalai Lama did write about some of Jesus' teachings " the Sermon on the Mount" in one of his books. But even though he may embrace some of Christ's teachings, as a Buddhist, his relgion would not allow him to adopt biblical Christianity, because Christianity is at odds with buddism. For one thing Buddhism teaches reincarnation and that the Bible teaches resurrection; the resurection of Jesus Christ and the dead in the future, which is at odds with the belief in reincarnation. Also the Dalai Lama completely avoids mentioning Jesus' death on the cross (by which God provided atonment for sin*) There is no concept of personal sin in Buddhism. Of course Jesus claimed to be the "only way to Heaven" and Buddha believed in an eight-fold path. So, these faiths do not all teach the same principles. Personally I can't tell you religion to place your faith in. In all fairness, I can say that it would behove you to critcally examine the claims of beiefs systems to see if they are compatible or not before arriving a any final conclusions

Answer 2

All religions and beliefs are there to encourage people be good and not do the bad - as simple as this
It sounds like you would like to be the best, just follow all the good teachings in them. You do not need to fully belong to one or the other. Use your common sense, what feels deep in your heart as right, do it. Unfortunately, people are racing in religion differences and every group made sure they cloud on the other. They all forgot the purpose, religions are rules to living a good life. Also, they are there to tell you that there is the utmost powers of God. A good start will be to get some philosophy books on Islam. Don't listen to people talking about Islam because they make it serve their cause, just read the books or the Quran and you will surprised how much you will like the teachings in it. Also, the teachings of the Bible and Buddhism are not bad at all. All of them have a wealth of knowledge when it come to morals and ethics with great similarity in between. No wonder, it is not expected to not know the good from the bad. good luck girl

Answer 3

I don't think they need to be "fundamentalists," but certain Protestants are the only people I've ever heard of who insist Catholics are not Christians. Non-Christians can look at it objectively. They can work with a neutral definition of "Christian," in which both protestants and Catholics clearly fit. These certain protestants are using a subjective definition, one that includes who is "correct." Catholics aren't approaching Christianity in the way they are, thus they are wrong, thus they are not-Christian. They don't understand the difference between a definition and an opinion.

Answer 4

I don't think you can be forced to be Confirmed, I think it must be done under your will and out of your love for God, not because your mom is forcing you. That would probably make it a false Confirmation. But yes, Catholic are supposed to be accepting of people of all Religions that practice love and care for one another, like Islam, Judaism, Buddahism, etc.

Answer 5

Salaam, Islam is the perfected religion and there is no need to add to it. Those who try to add to Islam would be considered as committing sins. No one can change Islam. The Quran is a miracle and the Prophet Mohammed was an honest man. If you’re set on being a Buddhist then you should not be a Muslim.

Answer 6

I was happy with my religion Eastern Orthodoxy but I always studied other religions to understand them better.....it's a long story but I wasn't looking for a new religion and I ended up finding Islam. It is everything I wanted Christianity to be and I didn't even know it. I thought I was happy with Christianity... PPL think you just find what works for you and although some ppl do that I don't think it is right

Why don't you commit yourself to finding the 'truth' and deciding now that when you find it you will embrace it.

I don't really think it is right what she is doing but I can understand how she thinks it is right.

Hang in there and check out the link below for some good videos about ppl who converted to Islam (I especially like the one about Texas muslims)

By the way, if you really study Islam you will find the peace that you see in Buddhism...but in Islam we worship God.

Best of luck on your path...

Answer 7

You are not ready to decide now. You are just in the "exploring" phase.
You were raised catholic and now are questioning that faith. Faith is the key. All religion is faith.
Check them all out, don't commit until you are ready and have looked at many or you will just go thru them one by one, committing and quitting. This tends to annoy the 'Believers".
Take a comparitive religions class.
Enjooy the journey of discovery. Be the student and look at all with an open mind. You will find the faith you can live with.

Answer 8

I don't think its right to be forced into anything you don't want to do, You seem to be seeking out a religion that's right for you or maybe trying to rebel against your mother's beliefs. Take you time don't rush from religion to religion you will just confuse yourself more and more. Find yourself and what you want from Life and follow your heart with and strong mind and the universe with bring things to you. You just have to be clear what you want and send out clear messages and the World and all the things in it are yours.
BEST Regards Michael

Answer 9

I think that by forcing you to do something you weren't comfortable with your mom made the Christian religion unappealing.
My mom is a Catholic too, and I am a Catholic and I love my faith, but I do not go to the Church. And I don't go because of my mom. When I was young she would make me go every Sunday and I just hated it. NOW I can choose for myself so I am doing what feels right for me.

Answer 10

It all depends on what you are really looking for:
Are you searching for God?
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Are you searching for yourself?

You speak as if you are searching for God but your actions, as you have described them, seem to indicate you are searching for yourself.

You speak of looking for a Church that makes you feel good. One should go to a house of worship, not to 'get' something out of it such as "feeling good", but to GIVE something such as worship to God.

Don't you think an almighty God, powerful and intelligent enough to create the entire universe, also knows the best way for you to worship Him? I think He does.

When it comes to finding the right Way to worship God, the right way is NOT necessarily what's best or what works for us. The right Way is what's best and what works for God.

That Way is the Catholic Way.

Answer 11

It sounds like it could get very ugly in your house with your mom. This is what a sheikh told a someone I knew. He said that this is your parents house and if there is a potential for parents to be harmful to the children, abide by her rules and when you reach 18 move out as soon as possible and then convert to what ever he/she wants. I think that is ok since it sounds like it could get ugly in your house. There are plenty of sites online where you can study islam so you dont have to sneak books until you are out on your own.
I can sort of relate, my parents werent like this but my siblings and cousins were sorta like this, completly unreasonable and crazy. They still want to "rescue" me and deprogram me. Ive been muslim for 16-17 years now. I dont need rescuing.
I will pray for you that Allah guides you to the straight path and he softens your mother's heart.

Good luck