Change

My belief system has undergone quite the metamorphosis over the last year. I'm still a Christian, I always will be, but a lot has changed.
I have gained a much greater understanding, respect, and even love for eastern religions, particularly Buddhism. I started seeking to understand it more because of a certain guy whose name I won't mention, but that interest has grown much more personal.

I am seriously considering getting some training (beyond reading books, guided meditations in mp3 format, etc) in Buddhist meditation. While the differences between Buddhism and Christianity are many and some of them glaring, I see more common ground than most Christians like to think is there. For example, the Buddha (like Jesus) frequently taught in parables and some of them are so similar to those of Jesus that it makes me wonder. Maybe it is possible that Jesus traveled east during His teens and twenties, learned many things including Buddha's parables, and then included some in His teaching slightly altered to match the understanding of His audience. I've discovered too many similarities to think that it is just coincidence.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
When a pastor holds up his Bible and asks, 'How many of you are 2 Timothy 3:16 Christians?' He's talking about just and only the scriptures contained in the modern Protestant Bible.
But the Bible was not compiled into one volume until over 300 years after the Apostle Paul wrote those words, and then during the Reformation we abandoned a few more books, which is why the Catholic Bible and the Christian Bible are not the same. The Catholic Bible has a few more books in it.
I now believe that the Apostle Paul meant exactly what he said. All Scripture is inspired by God, including Hindu and Buddhist scriptures and their predecessors as well, the Vedic scriptures, which pre-date most of the Old Testament (with the possible exception of the book of Job). With the Apostle Paul's extensive travels and the wave of Buddhist missionary work (to use a Christian term) which coincided with that time frame, I find it very likely that Paul was also familiar with some of these texts.
Two extremely overlooked scripture passages, in my 28 years attending church (since I was 3 years old), I have no memory of ever hearing these 2 passages read or spoken of in a service:
Acts 10:34-35 'Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.' Yes, in the verses following Peter goes on to explain the forgiveness of sins offered through Jesus Christ. What is missing from this message though? The suggestion that any other way other nations and cultures have sought God is inferior. It's just not there.
Acts 17:24-28 "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.'"
In Him we live and move and exist. Buddhists refer to our God by many terms, but prefer not to speculate about Him. In fact, they don't believe Him to be a 'him' or a person/personality at all. In my opinion, the Christian concept of God the Father most closely corresponds to the Buddhist concept of the absolute reality, the Ground of all Being, the Source from which all life springs. I think that a large portion of the difference between these 2 faiths is a difference in culture, terminology, ways of thinking and expressing ideas, etc. A Buddhist can be an atheist in that he/she does not believe in God, but does believe that there is an ultimate reality, a oneness to the universe because it has all sprung from one ultimate Source, and in that small way simultaneously agrees my belief in God.
Back to the passage at hand. The Apostle Paul never once states that people of other cultures who did not know about Jesus Christ could not find God. What He did say is that God is very close to every single person. I am anticipating the response from my fellow Christians that God's acceptance of people from other religions was before Jesus Christ came into the world and only because of their ignorance. For this I know I do not yet have an adequate response, so I offer this:
God promised over and over that anyone who seeks Him, finds Him. I am sure you are familiar with those verses, Jesus said it, so did Isaiah, Jeremiah, and David. Can you really believe that His great love would turn away a true seeker just because that seeker comes to Him under a different name than 'Christian'? I can't. I don't have an adequate Biblical response to that yet, but I can't accept that anymore.

While reading 'Buddha Is As Buddha Does' and other works by Lama Surya Das, I was struck by the similarities between 'buddha-nature' and the indwelling Holy Spirit. I believe that when a Buddhist speaks of following their own inner buddha-nature, they are describing the exact same thing a Christian speaks of as being led by the Spirit, or following the voice of God, that still, small voice which speaks in the very inner core of our being.

I had an interesting experience on the train last week. A guy across from me was talking to someone on his cell phone and getting very passionate about how negative religion is and how he finds Christians scary and evil and how he doesn't think Jesus Christ ever existed and could never even entertain the thought of worshiping some God out there... and 10 seconds later he said that what he believes in is love and in loving your neighbor and doing unto others what you would like done to you. I couldn't help but smile. He had no clue that the very philosophy by which he lives his life is the heart and essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ, the 2 most important commands. He does not believe in God, but he believes in love. Good for you, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Wait a second... everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Hmm... even folks who don't call themselves Christians or have never even heard of Jesus Christ? I think everyone means everyone. "God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." (1 John 4:16)
I have so many other verses I could go to, but I'm not here to convince my Christian brothers and sisters of anything. I am hoping to provoke whoever is willing to read and study on their own. I am well aware of all of the doctrinal and Biblical reasons other Christians will have to really, really disagree with me. I've been through most of them arguing with myself over the last year.

Perhaps I have over simplified things in many areas, I still have much to learn, but this is where I'm at right now.