Blog Adventures part two

Wade Burleson is the pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid. He is quite conservative but seems to be a kind man, with a spirit that values civility in disagreement. I appreciate that.

He recently posted a blog about the updated Baptist Faith and Message here. His post contained the following sentence:

“It is this command to love others, which is the distinguishing mark of the follower of Jesus Christ, that differentiates Christianity from all other religions.” - Wade

Here is my comment. We will see if it goes anywhere...... Thanks for reading!

“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness."

"The practice of altruism is the authentic way of conducting human life, and is not limited to the religious."

-the Dalai Lama

The absolute foundation of Buddhism is the practice of loving-kindness through the recognition that comes from compassion. According to your statement above, one of the following must be true:

1. Buddhists know the same Christ that Christians do, albeit by a different name.

2. Buddhists are not actually loving, despite all observable evidence to the contrary.

And I will add a 3rd option:

3. Buddhists have a true connection with God through their own religion.

How do we judge a religion? By its actual level of compassion and faith? Or through its intellectual submission to a specific dogma which purports to bring about this compassion and faith?

Do we judge a religion by its names and places or by its spirit? Do we judge it by the signpost or by where the signpost is pointing?

Thanks for the interesting blog on the BFM. I enjoyed it,

Steven