Bondage to Buddha

Yesterday I was taken to a Buddhist Temple with the lady I'm staying with to say prayers for the Dalai Lama's birthday. The man enshrined in the picture isn't even the Buddha or the Dalai Lama - it's the "Jampa Ling" Centre's teacher. Yeah, what these people call "respect," I'm sorry...quacks like idolatry to me...I don't want to offend anyone, but Tibetan Buddhism is really the most ridiculous thing I've ever experienced. Not only is it obviously idolatry - no, no, I will not touch my head to the floor three times and raise my hands to a huge picture of some man or be careful about where I point my feet or how high I sit (you must be lower than the Buddha) in the chanting room - but it's just...well, it made me angry actually. The lady I'm staying with, who used to be a practicing Christian, says that Buddhism, which is more of an educational system than a religion (really, who are all these prayers of long life and the end of suffering and "may I attain the great status of a Buddha" to, then?) is the most logical way of explaining reality she's come across....
Logical? I couldn't figure out half the stuff they were saying - all these names of dieties and gods and whatever, and these magical places and this obscure language so poetic I'm not sure it actually refers to anything at all. Karma and reincarnation? Take about a discontinuity of identity... The thing that really got me, though, was that, contained in every prayer was the plea for the end of suffering for all sentient beings. I'm sorry, but that is actually the most illogical thing I've ever heard. Have we been on planet earth for more than 5 minutes? As if the more you know the less you suffer? Right. Suffering is the one thing we all have in common on this planet and there is no way out. In my opinion, Christianity is the only religion that correctly identifies the causes and duration of suffering, to say nothing of its view of Christ.
Speaking of that, though, I think I WILL say something of its view of Christ. In an apologetics class I took a few years ago, just after I'd moved to Seattle, the teacher said, "How we know the Bible is right is because it is the only book that correctly identifies Jesus Christ. And how we know its identification is correct - that is, the son of God - is because he rose from the dead." And then, he went into the four proofs of how we know Christ was raised from the dead. I think what's incredible about all of this is that those things are no longer stumbling blocks for me. I put my full weight down on Christ. Death renders this life meaningless - the Apostle Paul even says so - unless Christ really was raised from the dead, as the FIRST fruits of new life.
Here's the tricky thing, though. While I was sitting in a room full of chanting in another language (having flashbacks to a really awful prayer time with someone who was praying for me in a language I did not understand [French, not tongues]), I was whispering "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ" to the rhythm of the chanting. (The dog in the room got up and trotted over to me, putting both paws on me...interesting...). I noticed, though, that with every argument that I came up with to prove that this whole thing was "ridiculous", I saw a similarity in the Christian religion. The devil certainly has played a nasty trick. For example, in my head I was thinking, "This is idolatry. These people are worshipping a MAN." Well, Jesus Christ was a man, too - people lost their lives defending his humanity. Then, I thought, "they are bowing down to a PICTURE and manipulating materials around to show their devotion to Buddha." Well, what of the icons in the Orthodox tradition, and the communion table, and the flags we use for worship? It's not exactly the same, but, I see The Enemy's deception all over this...it is a dirty little monster anyway.
Rich Nathan has a great sermon on the response to religious diversity. How do we respond? There were other religions in the ancient world, too - people, specifically GOD'S people, were chasing hard after idols. The FIRST Commandment deals with this: You shall have no other gods before me. (Whether or not this implies the existence of other actual "gods" is still a question in my mind). How do we respond? WE LIFT JESUS EVEN HIGHER. Rich Nathan also talks about the challenge of plurality. C.S. Lewis in his book, "The Screwtape Letters" talks about one of the best tactics to pull people from Christ - "Make them think that Christ is not enough - so that it becomes "Jesus AND...", "Christianity AND....". This calls into question the efficacy of the cross, and harkens back to why we're in this mess in the first place:

A serpent winds its way around
before its banished to the ground,
hisses in the woman's ear
that in her God is something to fear:
"He's holding out on you" the line
that cuts human from divine.
"Eat the fruit - you won't surely die!";
Even stretched out her hand in lies -
"Become like God" the promise sung;
she'd forgotten that she already was.

This group of Tibetan Buddhists do do some good. This wall details a program they've got in Mongolia that teaches sustainable living - things like how to grow vegetables - they're digging wells, they're providing training in cottage industries such as sewing, slipper making, etc and lifting a small village out of poverty. They're also "reconnecting Mongolia" with its roots and sending in the Buddhist teachers. The main problem I see in this Buddhism - obviously besides nothing but "respect" for Jesus Christ - is that it all seems to rely on people. It all seems to rely on how much you can work yourself up and out of suffering into "enlightenment" - I mean, they think the reason people suffer is because they do not understand ultimate reality. As if education were the answer. Education has NEVER been the answer: If Hitler were smarter, would we have avoided a war? NO! If Hitler were any smarter, I'd be writing this in German. I think that's the only example I need there.

It is NOT about what man can do to alleviate suffering in this world, "for in this world, you will have trouble." It is about Jesus Christ, who has overcome the world. It is not about attaining the state of Enlightenment, for that the Fall-Old lie that says we can become like God. It is about embracing who we are in Christ, as creatures that ALREADY ARE like God in that we are to image Him forth on the Earth. It is not about rituals, sacrifices, motions, symbols, prayer routines or chants. It is about how all things hold together (no matter what we do or don't do) in Christ Jesus, the Risen Son of the Living God.