The Gospel of Jesus Christ !

[qriss97]

Romans 3

23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood!
Ephesians 2

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast!
Titus 3

4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life!

[Vajradhara]

Namaste qriss,

thank you for the post and welcome to the forum.

generally speaking, this is the area where this sort of post will be analyzed. if you are interested in a more, shall we say, favorable view, i would suggest posting in the Christian subforums.

Originally Posted by qriss97

Romans 3

23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood!

so you say.

now, once you have some evidence that this is so, i'd be more than pleased to discuss it with you.

this entire statement, however, is relying upon many axioms which i simply do not share with you.

namely, that a creator deity exists that will sit in judgement of an eternal soul or self. of course, one must also include the idea of "sin" in here as well. my tradition simply lacks these axioms and, as such, i find your post uncompelling.

Ephesians 2

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast!

suffice it to say that "faith without works is dead." which happens to also be taught in your religious paradigm.

of course, the entire idea of being saved by another being is foreign to the Buddha Dharma.

it is a strange thing to contemplate for a being like me, but if it works for you then i would encourage you in your practice.

Titus 3

4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,
5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life!

i have no interest in "eternal life" whatever that may actually mean. don't get me wrong, i have no real interest in ceasing to arise soon, i would hope that this arising persists for a goodly while.

without accepting the axioms upon which this view is predicated it is, essentially, nonsensical. the ideas which are being expressed tend to insulate the being from any sort of real responsibility for their actions, thoughts and words. that is not a view which i find appealing.

metta,

~v

[JosephM]

Originally Posted by Vajradhara

(snip)
of course, the entire idea of being saved by another being is foreign to the Buddha Dharma.

(snip)
metta,

~v

I am curious V,
Does the transfering of merit in Buddhism relate to the concept of being saved by another being?
With metta,
JosephM