Buddhist Jihad

Brit Hume Hits the Samsara Trifecta, Demonstrates All Three Poisons: Passion, Agression, & Ignorance

Faux News talking head Brit Hume claims Tiger Woods must convert to Christianity, so he can get "redemption" for his serial adultery sins.  (Worked well for Sanford, Vitter, Giuliani, Gingrich, Rove, et al. )

Notice Hume is interested only in redemption, not mentioning anything about avoiding doing the thing you needed to get redeemed for having done.

It's like green stamps.

Got evil deeds?  Go Christian, and turn 'em in for --

Redemption!

"Doing no evil whatsoever

Practice virtue perfectly.

Tame your mind completely:

This is the teaching of the Buddha."

Conversion Disorder: "How to Evangelize Tibetan Buddhists in the West"

"Jesus in a New-Age, Dalai Lama World"?

Oy.

As thousands of Tibetan Buddhists and admirers of the religion prepare to welcome the Dalai Lama this spring to the United States, a missionary group is setting out to educate Christians about the eastern religion and how to share Christianity with Buddhists.

“The Dalai Lama’s visit to the U.S. this spring is certain to heighten awareness about Buddhists,” noted David Housholder, a missionary and educator with Interserve USA. Housholder has lived in India, Thailand and Nepal for more than 20 years, working among Tibetan Buddhist people.

“It will be a perfect time to defend and share the Christian faith with recent immigrants, high school and college students strongly influenced by Buddhism, and everyday Americans who have woven the Eastern religion into their personal philosophy and world view,” he added.

According to Housholder, author of the new book Jesus in a New Age, Dalai Lama World, the best way to evangelize a Tibetan Buddhists is to start off by being their friend.

“Really be a genuine friend; listen to their story and hear and understand what they mean when they use spiritual terms,” said the South Asia missionary.  . . .

“One thing they respect is sacred books of other religions, which includes the Bible,” explained Housholder. “They often respond positively when you invite them to a study of the Bible.

“You should go not with the attitude of teaching them what you believe, but allow them to read and question and let the holy spirit cause them to fall in love with the Lord Jesus through the Scripture.”

However, it is difficult to convert a Tibetan Buddhist, according to Housholder. For Tibetans, their religion is inherently linked to their culture and identity so they are very reluctant to convert.  In South Asia where Buddhism is often the dominant religion, villages have expelled whole families when only one member converted to Christianity.

Besides social pressure, another obstacle is that Tibetan Buddhists have a different understanding of spiritual terminology than Christians. Housholder said that Buddhists do not understand terms such as God, sin, new birth, salvation, heaven and hell the same way Christians understand them.  [no kidding]

For Buddhists, there is no such thing as a soul, which Christians consider a person. Buddhists view the soul similar to a rainbow composed of many elements but not existing in a distinct form.

“The Buddhists have the concept of emptiness, there is no essential reality whereas Christians believe there is something very concrete that God has created and a future that he will extend the ideal form of that creation,” explained Housholder.

Tibetan Buddhists contrast with Christians by focusing on how a person lives his life rather than what he believes. Consequentially, Buddhism is a ritualistic religion that some say is more of a lifestyle than a religion.

Housholder concluded that westerners have to be aware that though Buddhism is sometimes presented as a system of meditation to help one relax and feel fulfilled, Christians need to know the spiritual activity being promoted and be able to respond Biblically.

Interserve USA, a Christian professional mission organization, is focusing on educating Christians ahead of the Dalai Lama’s spring tour through its new book Jesus in a New Age, Dalai Lama World and by hosting educational seminars for Christians in the location. 

So Buddhism is a "lifestyle rather than a religion"?

Um--NOT.

Link here.

Let's Play Convert-A-Buddhist, Again

Hat tip to Advice from Abu Shri:

Evangelicals hope to 'reach' Buddhists 

Workshops coincide with Dalai Lama visit

April 4, 2007

BY STEFANO ESPOSITO

If you're a Tibetan Buddhist or you're leaning that way, you may not know it, but you need Jesus.

That's the thinking behind a series of Christian evangelical workshops -- including one later this month in Wheaton -- that will coincide with the Dalai Lama's trip to Chicago and other American cities this spring.

The Dalai Lama, seen in March, is set to visit Chicago in May. A Philadelphia-based Christian missionary group is holding a series of workshops on how to share the gospel with Tibetan Buddhists.

Interserve USA is putting on the workshops to teach Christians how to talk to Buddhists and, perhaps, to win converts.

"We welcome the Dalai Lama here, but we also want to have a chance to reach Tibetan Buddhists with the gospel," said Doug Van Bronkhorst, executive director of Interserve, an international missionary group based just outside of Philadelphia.

The online announcement for the upcoming workshop offers this enticing hook: "Tibetan Buddhism. It's ancient. It's complex. It's trendy. And its leader, the Dalai Lama, is visiting your city this spring."

But Van Bronkhorst said in a telephone interview Tuesday, "We are interested in people, not notches on a belt."

That's not quite how it sounds to the head of the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, which includes bishops and leaders from most of the largest Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups in the area.

"I'm speaking without knowing anything about this group," said the Rev. Stan Davis, acting director of the council. "But my sense is that their goal is to try to convert to Christianity. Our goal would be to enter into a dialogue with them, to find out about their faith in a two-way conversation."

(Sounds a little one-way to me, but it's certainly a step up from calling Tibetan Buddhists "Satanic" and complaining about the Dalai Lama visiting the sick.  Are we making progress?)

Full story, here.

I Wish these People Would Just Practice Becoming Real Christians Instead of Trying to Shove Their Concepts Down the Throats of the Innocent, Dept.

They're at it again!

Let's play CONVERT-A-BUDDHIST!

Here goes:

"The Buddhist worldview is so vastly different from the Christian faith that even a basic concept like a loving God who interacts with people is foreign to Buddhists.  But it’s possible to reach out to Buddhists with Christ’s good news if you do so in ways they’ll understand and appreciate.

 

Here’s how you can share your faith with Buddhists:

 

* Build meaningful friendships.  Invest the time and energy necessary to develop genuine friendships with Buddhists you know.  Get to know them well.  Let go of the time-pressured, task-oriented Western culture’s philosophy and seek to enjoy your time with Buddhists without hurrying or feeling as if you have to accomplish something while you’re together.  Become a person who your Buddhist friends trust.

 

* Help with practical needs.  Work either as an individual or with others in your church to help meet the needs of people in your local Buddhist community.  Ask those in the community what they need and try to meet those needs, rather than simply offering something without first checking to see if it’s what they truly desire.  Consider starting or supporting programs to help with childcare, job training, English language skills, or anything else that’s needed.  Allow your Buddhist friends to help you, too, and express your appreciation to them.

As I read through this, I was struck by the unusual good-heartedness of their mini-conversion course, (as opposed to the black-heartedness of the true cultycrappychristists); thus, I'd say these people are the real Christians.  Which is good.

On the other hand, their tract contains forehead-slappers such as advising converters to use stories rather than logic when speaking to Buddhists (racist? infantilizing? both?), and to avoid mentioning that animal slaughter is AOK because it might upset a Buddhist (concealing the truth? isn't that like, um, a lie?), and using lists like the 10 commandments because Buddhists are into lists (then follows three examples of Buddhist lists that are translated into such totally incomprehensible English that I have no clue what lists they were talking about.  which may explain why they don't get it -- if this is the level of teaching they're exposed to).

So, on the other other hand, even though they are trying hard enough to know how to spell "thangka," they have seriously misunderstood the Buddhist viewpoint.

One could enlighten them, but would it matter to them?

Full story here.