Religions and Cults

[jedamum]

insider:

Guess it's a matter of individual perspective.

Yes, I agree.
My uncle and his family are christians. And while they never hold joss sticks, they attended the Qing Ming event annually nonetheless to pay respects. I see it more of a filial piety issue than a religious issue (cos some may said no point attending if you don't believe in it).

[daisyt]

I believe in Buddhist teaching, sometimes practise taoism but sometimes a free thinker ... So my mum is quite worried because we have not been visiting the dead mum-in-law in the temple. Somehow I believe that once dead, the person would be recarnated and whats the point of visiting. :oops: . So one day she nagged at me,


mum : so next time when I die, you also won't be visiting me in the temple ?

me : ai ya, the easiest way is the put your 灵牌 at home then no need to visit so troublesome, everyday you can see us, we can see you.

mum (knowing I am the lazy type) : ya lar, but then if you don't pray at me or give me offerings, what I eat ?

I am ...... :shock: :idea: :!: :stupid:

[jam.028832008]

From my own experience, I know that kids are easily influence by friends. I have been brought to churches before while growing up, and almost got converted.


Therefore, I tried to influence my kids earlier now, before they get influence by their friends when they are older. I send them to Children Dharma classes.

And my 9 and 5 year old enjoyed these classes as I start them young. But it is not easy to convince my 13 year old to go for the classes. (And she had a best friend who tried over the years to invite her to church session, and her mother gave my dd some manga bibles)

[winth]

I had been a Christian for the 4 years in my secondary school. Bec secondary school was miserable for me, these guys (can't quote the group but they definitely not cult) 'saved' me and guided me through my teenage years (a.k.a. years of confusion).


But they do have one belief - those who do not believe in Christ = goes to hell (and burn in fire). And my parents are in 'danger' of burning in hell and I do have this obligation to share this gospel with them in order to 'save' them.

Subsequently, when I entered a JC, my beliefs got alot firmer (and I had more ideas of what suited me) and I started to drift away from this christian group. I was told by them that I had 'back-slided' from God. They tried to 'save' me by getting a friend (of mine) to advise me on what's the best plus the consequences if I hadn't believed in God.

I treated this friend of mine like a friend (regardless of beliefs), and I thought she treated me like a friend too. Well, it wasn't mutual. It was like she had a mission to bring me back to being a Christian before we could be friends.

I graduated and entered uni subsequently. Once, I had to go to NUS library for more info on some paper. She said she'll like to meet me and have a 'catch-up' session with me. Of course I was happy to 'catch-up'.

Our conversation (abit long, but thought it'll be interesting):
Her: We are starting to miss you, why didn't you join us in all the Saturday events and church?
Me: Oh, I think I would like to be a Buddhist and plus I'm now dating, so very busy... etc...
Her: Oh, is your bf a Christian?
Me: Nope, he's a Buddhist like me.
Her: Do you know that you will not be in heaven?
Me: *Quiet* (starting to resent why I agreed to meet her)
Her: I attended this very interesting B.S (bible study) in my church and the cell leader was telling us about how Chinese Characters were developed to honour God.
Me: Oh... (ya, tell me about it)
Her: You know the word ship, it is actually to honor Noah's ark. You know it is made up of: 舟，八and 口？
Me: Oh, really... *trying hard to please her and appear encouraging* (I was like er... you dunno how to write ship izzit?)
Her: The story began like this: Back then when Noah was constructing his ark following the instructions of God, he brought along all his family members with him. So in the ark, there were - him, wife, 3 children and 3 in-laws. So you see, Noah's ark was actually a 舟with 八口.
Me: OIC (ya, that added to 8, no doubt about it)
The rest isn't important for I brushed her off and ended the meeting without even going to the library. Had to revisit NUS library again bec she simply went on and on.

The above became a classic joke to DH and me when we start talking about religions.

That was the last time I saw her. I delibrately lose contact with her.
I was wondering - if 船 had come with a 舟，十 and 口, are they going to find ways and means to add 2 more people into Noah's ark so as to prove that 船 is created specially for God?

Many years fast forward.

I happened to bump into another lady (same Christian group) at Safra swimming pool when we went there for a family swim. She was alone with her 2 boys.

We said 'Hi'.
Next question she asked was which church I am going to now.
I told her I am now a Buddhist.
She said, 'Aiyo, you ah... Wait till xxx knows about it, he will be very angry with you.' (xxx was the person who was responsible for my secondary school's Christiany activities).

My thoughts: Can't we be friends? And not bothering each other with our beliefs (no matter what religion we are)? If I could be open-minded and accept this person's religion, why do they have to drill into me that I'm not on the 'correct path' simply because the belief is different?

[jedamum]

winth:

She said she'll like to meet me and have a 'catch-up' session with me. Of course I was happy to 'catch-up'.

that reminds me...my last meet up with long-time-no-contact friend ended up in a MLM intro session.

[3Boys]

Ok, full disclosure, am not using this post to evangelise to anybody, ok? Just to explain and show you why sashimi is a little off-base in her comments.


Basically, the Christian faith is an exclusive one. Not exclusive as in like a country club, but in that the belief is monotheitic and does not allow for a plurality of 'Gods'. As a Christian, a fundamental core belief (which defines Christianity and other semitic religions) is that God has spoken and declared that \"“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” --> http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=240

I.e., worship of any other idols or gods is idolatry and a punishable sin.

Furthermore, Christians are charged with bringing the word out into the community. Granted, the phrases \"You have sinned and will go to hell.\" or the like can be really offensive and off-putting if not used in the right context. I know how if feels to be a victim of that, as I was not a Christian until adulthood and I still still have an instinctive negativity to fervent evangelism.

However, to criticise a Christian for evangelising is like criticising a beaver for building dams. Hence, sashimi's contention;

\"So if Christians do not want to be generalized or labelled in insulting ways, then Christians should likewise not generalize, label and condemn non-Christians.\"

unfortunately, albeit probably in ignorance, misses the point completely. It is a generalizable core belief for Christians (and Muslims for that matter) that non-believers are not saved.

Further;

\"However, as I said in an earlier post, in all honesty, the reputation of Christians is constantly being damaged by black sheep. Latest episode being AWARE. The result is that people will generalize. It's not my doing, it's the result of the actions of these black sheep.\"

sashimi, ask your Christian friends what their core beliefs are about your salvation as a non-Christian. I'm guessing you'll be putting them in a tight spot! Are they then the black sheep? Am I a black sheep? You can't blame a black sheep for having black wool, can you?

Does it mean we cannot agree to disagree and get on with life? I hope not. sashimi, what you hope to do is to get Christians to change their minds about what they believe, and I think you know as well as I do that its not going to meet with much success.

So, make your friends from different backgrounds, understand that beneath skin-deep there can be some very different views of life, but get on with it and enjoy the diversity of the companionship.

[winth]

jedamum:

that reminds me...my last meet up with long-time-no-contact friend ended up in a MLM intro session.

Haha... usually nice and friendly people who approach for some nice 'ketchup' sessions are one of the following:
- financial planners
- property agents
- or MLM-ers

[kiasu_pig]

winth:

jedamum:

that reminds me...my last meet up with long-time-no-contact friend ended up in a MLM intro session.

Haha... usually nice and friendly people who approach for some nice 'ketchup' sessions are one of the following:
- financial planners
- property agents
- or MLM-ers

Haha... usually nice and friendly people who approach for some nice 'ketchup' sessions are one of the following:
- financial planners
- property agents
- or MLM-ers
- or trying to borrow money, but not before he /she goes into a lengthy sobbing session that seem to be copy from some korean drama

ugh !

[sunflower]

insider:

PS: My latest encounter around Sep last year with someone who tried to preach Christianity to me were two men, one Chinese and one Ang Mo, who knocked on my door. Since I got time and in good mood that day, I entertained them (without opening the gate). They shared with me some verses from the Bible. Then I asked them where their church is. They said due to high rental, their church mates couldn't afford to pay for the church space and they have no proper place to worship and have to make do with gathering in the house of different church mates during sharing session. Further added that if I can join them, maybe next time can meet in my house :!:


That men seemed real nice (very good spoken English). But the thought of a denomination (forgot to ask them which denomination) that doesn't even have a church somewhat sounded an alarm bell in me...

Hmm…two people…and one of them is ang moh. What was their attire? Did they each wear a black name tag? Just be careful, they might be Mormons, headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah in the USA…and they are NOT mainstream Christian groups.

[MLR]

Er, a little sidetrack here, but i thought of sharing something personal here...


When we got married 5 yrs ago, DH lost his job the same month and hit his lowest point. Was getting depressed, feeling hopeless and all. After a few months of not getting anywhere, I told him to start going to back to church (hes Anglican). He told me that he hasn't been to church for the past 15 yrs and wondered if the church would collasped when he step in. Told him that his God would forgive him if he sincerely pray to him and asked for guidance. He did started going to church and after a few months things got better, found a job, we settled into marriage life.

2 yrs ago, we decide to baptise DS, guess what? The church didn't agree to our choice of godparents, cos they and me are not members of the church, The priest asked DH to ask for forgiveness and repent cos he married a non-believer. Well, what I said was that if the church couldn't accept me, so be it. I was pretty crossed, cos I was the one who got DH going back to his faith and yet the church is against me. I then started DS to go for church service with DH. And after 2 yrs later, just b4 DS 2nd birthday, he was baptised. He started going for Sunday classes and Sunday is still my offday.

To me as a Buddhist, its not the religion, its always the people who gives the religion a 'bad name'.