Quote:
Originally posted by Yorick:
I think you're way off the mark there K.T. I have had many many discussions with "backslidden" christians, and found it only strengthened and illuminated my faith more. One should speak with both believers and the disgruntled. You've got to know where the holes are. Balance books with real life testimonies.
How many ex-Buddhists (now Christian) have you spoken with? As I said earlier, there's 14,000 odd meeting over at Jurong.
I don't feel I have to list a bibliography of the various biographies, commentraries and dissections of Buddhism, as they vary in source from secular/religious books, internet sites, print media, and temple propaganda. I certainly don't limit my research to one or two authors. That would be like getting my knowledge of Jesus from John Stott and the Apostle Peter alone.
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Nor should you limit your research to such an extent that any Buddhist scholar could readily refute what you said regarding Buddhism. Go ahead. Ask any Buddhist scholar if what you said regarding Buddhism is correct. I'll bet you won't get an affirmative reply.
One wonders who's the one who's way off the mark. The issue at hand is not whom one has spoken to and how much one has read, but
whether one has accurately understood Buddhism through all those sources, and
which ones one should approach for that purpose.
One would presume you've known enough about me to judge that I haven't come to know that much about 'disgruntled' Buddhists, or to have read merely a couple authors. Gee, I don't know you're clairvoyant, Yorick!
And certainly I can provide a full reading list for you -- I merely didn't wish to make my posts overly long. I believe I can't be all that ignorant of what Buddhism is all about if I had done a Masters in Chinese philosophy.
You may not like Buddhism but the least you can do is
inform yourself as to what Buddhism actually teaches. Propagating inaccurate information about a religion you don't like is not exactly the right way to win people over to your own professed religion -- and not exactly a very civil thing to do, either. I'll repeat: please,
pretty please, do your homework.
As for 14,000 ex-Buddhists becoming converts to Christianity in Singapore, the
Friends of the Western Buddhist Order has thousands of centres all over the Western world. Don't believe me? Check out their website.
[ 05-23-2002, 12:42 AM: Message edited by: K T Ong ]