By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
I wrote last week about Father John’s restaurant becoming a vihara or residence for Buddhist monks which I assume will serve as a community center for study, prayer and devotion to the Buddha. A combination monastery, temple and proselytizing center to attract new believers.
I also said that Buddhism would be presented as a philosophy of a way of living and compatible with Christianity. I want to be clear again…it is not compatible with Christianity.
Most strikingly, Buddhists do not believe in God. Any god, not just the One True God of Christianity. Sorry, but you can’t have it both ways. It’s impossible to put these together.
Can I be any more black and white? You cannot merge two things that are antithetical to each other. When antimatter meets matter, they instantly annihilate each other. You cannot both be alive and dead.
True and false do not coexist. Christianity and Buddhism cannot coexist in one person. They are literally light and dark.
Another difference is that in Christianity laws are given by God. They are commandments. Breaking them is a sin against God’s will, requiring repentance and forgiveness.
In Buddhism their laws are more training rules voluntarily undertaken. Breaking them isn’t a “sin” in the judicial sense, but more of an “unskillful” action that generates negative karma and hinders mental clarity. (TY, AI)
Think back to the Ten Commandments. They are emphatic: You shall not…murder, steal, commit adultery, etc. God isn’t suggesting, He’s telling, more, He’s ordering.
In Buddhism, there are the same ends, but they are listed more as “Restrain” from murder, stealing, adultery. Do your best because you want to, not because it offends God Almighty.
Buddhists are known for their sincere wish that all be well and free from suffering. However, in Christianity, Agape love requires not a wish but action. James 2:14-18 makes it very clear: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds?
Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”
Wishing for someone to have better is not the same as helping them to that goal. In truth, they are almost total opposites.
The concept of the “Self” is another area of incompatibility. Christianity teaches that every person is a unique creation with an eternal soul that will exist forever, either in the presence of God or apart from Him.
Buddhism teaches the doctrine of Anatta, which means there is no permanent, underlying soul. You enter into a state of “non-existence” which to me seems like an oxymoron but I am not a Buddhist scholar.
I am not qualified to get into this much deeper. What is important is for you to realize that the two are not compatible. They are like darkness and light. Where one exists, the other cannot.
You cannot be Buddhist and Christian. If confronted by a Buddhist monk walking downtown or by a friend who has chosen to follow the Buddha, politely say “No, thanks” and walk away. We live in the light and in the light, there can be no darkness at all.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.