Buddhists vs. Christians/LDS/Mormons?

Question

Having been LDS/Mormon for 8 years, I am naturally drawn to any questions having to deal with the LDS/Mormon church. One thing I've noticed a lot on here is LDS/Mormons asking why other Christians don't consider them Christian. I remember hearing other Christians say that when I was LDS/Mormon. I wonder if Buddhists are the same way. Would one group of buddhists exclude another group and say they aren't true Buddhists/true followers of Buddha because they do it differently? Also, (going with the fact that I'm agnostic and don't believe in Jesus as the saviour, but for the sake of this question, I'm trying to look at this through a believer's eyes) what WOULD Jesus do. The Jesus that many Christians claim to believe in. If he were to come back and see the way so-called Christians treat certain sects who are different, how would he react?

ttreepark (and others): there is a cure for SELECTIVE reading, it's called reading the whole damn question! I WAS LDS/Mormon for 8 years, now I'm NOT, and I'm questioning the audacity of so-called Christians. I really want to just question 75% of the people on this board because OBVIOUSLY they didn't BOTHER to read the ENTIRE question.

Answer 1

Father K, I'm sort of surprised. I've seen you a lot around here and you seem pretty easy going. I'm surprised you feel so strongly against the Mormons. Anyway, you misread the question. The question is How would Jesus react to the fact that some Christians treat other Christians as though they aren't Christian just because they believe differently? Also, as has been pointed out, she isn't Mormon anymore, she WAS for eight years.
As for Father K's quotes, they're true. Of course it helps to put them in context if you know a little about Elder Pratt, and please read all of Elder McConkie's quote, not just that short passage quoted here.

As to the question that sparked all of this...
I think He is sad that we can't get along better than we do, yet when He does come things will change. I think that if "I" know things will get worse before they get better, then He knows exactly how worse, and precisely how much better. It's all part of a plan, if I know that, then I'm sure He does too.

Answer 2

Buddhists only "follow" Buddha in the sense that we come after him chronologically. The Buddha was a man, who had some good ideas, nothing more. Buddhists do not (for the most part) worship the Buddha, we just tend to agree with him (again for the most part).

Buddha's last words were "Question authority." They spoke a lot more flowery back then, so he actually said "Be like candles unto yourselves, and to the world." But it basically means the same thing. Find your own path, your own understanding. In that, even though there are many different divisions and paths, we all walk the Middle Way. I shuffle, he skips, you prance, and that guy jogs...but we all travel the same road.

Do we sometimes bicker and argue? In petty moments, of course. But the real truth is that each Buddhist sect has practices that work for the people in it. Many Buddhists bounce back and forth between sects untill we find one that is right for us. If we say "that is not the right way to meditate", it's only our small mindedness saying "that didn't really work for me". Ignore that type of talk, any good Buddhist will. Even the speaker will realize the sillyness of it after a while.

There are many koans (dialogs between Zen masters) where one asks another "What is the essence of Buddhism?" The answer is always non-intuitive, and completely off the wall. Because this question, which is essentially "What's right?" is silly. The answer is sometimes a slap in the face (no, a literal one) because that's how obvious it is. The fact is that while there may SEEM to be differences in the Buddhist practices (and there are some pretty extreme ones) these are merely the differences between jogging and skipping down the same path. Different modes of the same action, different methods of walking the Way.

Buddhists know, though some don't always realize it, that all differences in practice are superficial. So a long answer to a short question...No, we don't have the same divisiveness as Christians. Christians make absolute claims that they NEED others to believe is right, because if they don't, it means the Christian is wrong. Buddhist make absolute claims, some that are completely contradictory to one another, and both know that the other person is right.

Peace be with you.

Answer 3

Father K:

Why is it that you must always quote DEAD Mormons? I mean really? What are you proving by citing a person who lived nearly 150 years ago? Anti-Mormons cite Joseph Smith or Brigham Young typically with respect to how "racist the church is", or how "intolerant the church is" but what people like you neglect to inform your audiences is that such speech was TYPICAL OF 19th CENTURY AMERICAN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE! None of this was unique to Mormons.

In that case, I may as well sift through history and cite the numerous Protestant preachers who taught their congregants to MURDER Mormons, or to fight for their RIGHT to keep slaves.

Our argument that you don't find LDS hating on peoples religion is with respect to the CONTEMPORARY church. Can you cite me one instance in which LDS church sermons harp on other religions? I likely doubt it because like most of society, WE'VE GROWN UP AND EVOLVED AS CIVILIZED PEOPLE.

So what's the Protestant excuse? Many Protestant churches OF TODAY teach their congregants to smear other religions while most people of other faiths (Catholics, Mormons & Jews included) have outgrown this childish, and rather ineffective form of proselyting. It's really sickening.

Answer 4

First Christian means to be like Christ. It's not something we are born with or acquire in our lives but rather something we just are. I'm really sorry when we exclude one another. God loves us all and wishes everyone of us to be saved.
For around half of year I spoke with Mormons missionaries in my country. I can't say that I know everything they believe in but I think that I know now more than the most. The reason other Christians don't consider Mormons Christians is because they believe that Mormons think Christ isn't God. You see, first we must ask ourselves was Christ created. I don't want now to debate here about it but that is what is in the core of your question. There is an answer in the Bible and I pray God that every honest person opens his or hers Bible and try to find the answer God wants us to know. God's peace be with you all.

Answer 5

The best way to find out what Jesus would do is to read what He said & did. Find a red letter edition of the Bible (the red letters are the words that Jesus said) and read for yourself. I'm sure your local library has one of these editions. You'll get as many answers to your questions here, as there are people. I've always read things for myself. Too many people get all their Bible knowledge from what others say, not directly from the Bible itself. If I want to understand Buddism, I'd read their writings. If I wanted to understand LDS, I'd read their writings (and I have). Since I'm a Christian, I can only speak from what I know and have experienced in my life. It's through my reading of the Bible, and personal experience, that keeps me where I am. <*)))><

Answer 6

Father K and coffe_port - She is not LDS anymore. It's pretty clear in the question that she spent 8 years in the church and is now agnostic. Try reading before accusing.

Liesel - Thank you for understainding. I think Jesus would say "Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us"

Answer 7

This is a hard question to answer because Buddhism has an entirely different belief system and culture to Christianity. Maybe in would be better to ask this about, say, Sunni and Shia Muslims. And I don't know the answeer to that question, sorry!

Answer 8

There are many different Buddhist traditions ... but Buddhists do not treat people from other traditions differently. All Buddhists are equal ... even if they follow a slightly different path from each other.

There has never been a war to promote Buddhism, nor have there ever been any conflicts between different traditions.
.

Answer 9

I appreciate your sentiment, but since you're not really an LDS person, you shouldn't try to speak for us. Otherwise you'll confuse all the poor people with reading difficulties who can't seem to grasp that you aren't currently a member of the LDS church.

I am a member of the LDS church, and having seen the Christlike spirit of love on the boards here at R&S, I prefer NOT to be lumped in with mainstream "christians". Besides, doctrinally speaking, we are to Christians what Christians are to Jews.

Answer 10

Mormons are a false cult that derives it's teaching and doctrine in error of the Holy Word of Almighty God inspired by The Holy Spirit. The Mormons are in spiritual danger and anyone who dies in the Mormon faith dies separated from God and does not make in to heaven. They reject the Deity of Jesus Christ and have erred from the truth given to us by Jesus Christ. Unless they from out from this false doctrine and receive the counsel and guidance from the Holy Spirit Himself, they all will be judged and sentenced just as the unsaved born sinner will be judged.