Buddhism

[sincereheart]

I know plenty of people that think you can be Christian and get tatoos and body peircings.  This too is false and many itching ears want to be scratched.

Ummmm..... this really confuses me! So if someone is a Christian and they get a tattoo then they are no longer a Christian?   And no, I'm not trying to justify a tattoo... I don't have any and I don't like them - but I believe that's my own opinion and not God's Word....

(sorry for sidetracking from Buddha  )

[Saved_4ever]

Yeah well you'd be wrong if you think it's ok to get peirced an tatoo'd.  Here's at least one scripture for you:
Le 19:28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh
for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I
am the LORD.

It's not ok take a look at all the heathen peoples and what they look like.  You think that's ok huh?  Just a matter of personal preferance?

1Co 6:18
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
1Co 6:19
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

I suppose I should start spray painting and tagging the church walls.  After all it's just an art form.  

[sincereheart]

Wow - that was an awfully snide reply  

I believe the question I asked was:

So if someone is a Christian and they get a tattoo then they are no longer a Christian?

In reference to the verse you posted:
Le 19:28
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Does that pertain to the marking of the body for the dead?

It's not ok take a look at all the heathen peoples and what they look like.

What do 'heathen peoples' look like?  

What do the other verses have to do with tattoos?  

I suppose I should start spray painting and tagging the church walls.  After all it's just an art form.

That would be breaking the law..... But you may want to check out a church that DOES have graffitti   :
http://www.graffitichurch.org/building.html

And in many cities they have painting on walls that are called murals...  'Wyland' is a famous artist who was paid to paint on buildings all over the world.... So I guess it really is an art form!  

Are you one of the one billion people per year that see Wyland's Whaling Wall murals throughout the US, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe? These paintings have made people all over the world aware of the struggle of whales, dolphins and all ocean life.

http://www.kidzwerld.com/site/p2021.htm

This is even more spectacular in real life!

But, of course, none of that has a thing to do with tattoos~

[ollie]

Can you be Buddhist and Christian? Why or why not?

Did Buddhism during his lifetime and after Buddha's death become a form of idolatry?
Many temples were built and still exist with huge idols of the so called Buddha. Some were destroyed in Afghanistan. Christians and idols are verboten.

[Saved_4ever]

What do the other verses have to do with tattoos?

Well if you can't figure something so simple out.......  Then again you still think that women can be pastors so whatever.

[sincereheart]

Well if you can't figure something so simple out.......

1Co 6:18
Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

So this verse says that tattoos are a sin? Or are you confused as to what 'fornication' means?

Then again you still think that women can be pastors so whatever.

 Ummm.... I'm guessing that you've made a slight error and confused me with 'suzie'??!!  I have never thought that woman can be pastors since the Bible says otherwise.....

And the question is:

So if someone is a Christian and they get a tattoo then they are no longer a Christian?

[Tibby]

Actually, I was thinking wheel, to be honest. I guess they slur and butcher the English Language so might in this part of Texas, I can’t even quote them right, lol. Not a fan of fishing, anyways. Thanks for the note, though.  So Gald I'm just passing thru

They also claim they do not pray... lol

God can convict there spirit, and I’m sure he will once we plant the seeds.  As a Baptist, you believe you are right ,and as far as you know, you are. Now, maybe your right, maybe you are not, but you have to keep in mind that the people of other Regions and beliefs feels the same way you do about there Beliefs. They belief they are right, and we are the close-minded fools who needs to be convicted. We have to learn to approach them, or arsenals full of kind but honest replies to their every word and comeback. If we don’t know much about what they believe, then how we expect them to listen to what we believe!

As for Tattoo’s, lets read this verse in context, as you know I love to do. It seems to be taking about the doing this to honor the dead. Also, lets look at the 2 verse before it:

19: "Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."
26:"Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it."
 
Tell me you have never worn a blend. Most clothes now a days are Cotton, Polyester blends! And the majority of the people I know like there steak with a little red in it. Leviticus is full of little tidbits we don’t follow. So, if we can’t get tattoo’s for that reason, then we are going to have to also resort to eating burned steaks and wearing less presentable clothing.

It is really a question of Letter of the Law vs. Spirit of the Law. Me, I’m on the fence. I don’t like Body Mod personally, I don’t even plan to get a Tattoo or piercing, but I’m still undecided as to wither it is sinful or not.
 

[mathetes]

Hi all,

I haven't yet figured out how to quote stuff, so I'll have to do it the old-fashioned way:

Tibby wrote:

"God can convict there spirit, and I’m sure he will once we plant the seeds.  As a Baptist, you believe you are right ,and as far as you know, you are. Now, maybe your right, maybe you are not, but you have to keep in mind that the people of other Regions and beliefs feels the same way you do about there Beliefs. They belief they are right, and we are the close-minded fools who needs to be convicted."

By its very nature the truth is closed, so being closed-minded is not necessarily foolish.

Tibby also said:

"We have to learn to approach them, or arsenals full of kind but honest replies to their every word and comeback. If we don’t know much about what they believe, then how we expect them to listen to what we believe!"

The same way the Thessalonians listened to Paul's preaching:

"For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe" (1 Thess. 2:13).

[NeilUnreal]

Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, said that what he was teaching had nothing to do with religion and that he would be wrongly deified after his death.  He was right.  His corpse had barely grown cold before he was canonized and his teachings were alloyed with the existing religions of the time and region.  Today those alloyed religions include Hinduism, Shintoism, Animism, Christianity, and even atheism (i.e. no-religion).

Even early on, however, there were followers of Siddhartha who worried about this.  Zen arose partly as a form of Buddhist fundamentalism – a return to the “Bodhi Tree roots” (so to speak).  Zen stresses direct enlightenment primarily through meditation and secondarily through teaching (the mix depends on the school).  Enlightenment is impossible to define in words, and it’s not soteriological like the Christian concept of salvation.  Enlightenment in Zen means something more like “direct perception” or “immediate existence.”

So the answer to the question “Can a person be a Christian and a Buddhist” may have different meanings, depending on what one means by Buddhist.  If one means Buddhism alloyed with Hinduism, then one can be a Christian and a Buddhist to the same extent that one can be a Christian and a Hindu (etc.).

If by Buddhism one means Zen or other forms of fundamentalist Buddhism, then one can be a Christian and a Buddhist to the same extent one can be a Hindu and a Buddhist, a Shintoist and a Buddhist, an atheist/materialist and a Buddhist, etc.  Zen and fundamental Buddhism require no theological input and no theological commitment (in fact, most schools warn against it).  Any theological response to enlightenment and practice are considered part of the individual student’s experience and not part of Zen itself.

-Neil

[mathetes]

People cannot really be Christians and Buddhists at the same time. The two are contradictory. Christianity teaches that enlightenment comes from God alone because the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, whereas Buddhism does not teach that enlightenment comes from outside the individual, IIRC. Also, Buddhists ultimately depend on themselves for personal moral improvement, whereas Christianity teaches that apart from Christ we can do nothing.

[Ambassador4Christ]

People cannot really be Christians and Buddhists at the same time. The two are contradictory. Christianity teaches that enlightenment comes from God alone because the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, whereas Buddhism does not teach that enlightenment comes from outside the individual, IIRC. Also, Buddhists ultimately depend on themselves for personal moral improvement, whereas Christianity teaches that apart from Christ we can do nothing.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN & AMEN!!!!

[NeilUnreal]

(With no intent to fan any flames...)

I couldn't vote because "Mu!" wasn't one of the choices.  

-Neil

p.s. Mathetes, I'm not of the reformed persuasion myself, but "cruseofoil" is a very well-made website for those interested in topic.