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.

Comments

[daur izre]

The problem with Christians like this is that, in the end, they're exercising the most vocal part of their faith--converting. For them, it's not truly about understanding Buddhism, so much as it's about understanding *just enough* to know how to exploit "weaknesses" and draw people to Christianity. That is why they notice superficial aspects of Buddhism (lists of ideals, etc.) and translate that into advice for converting people without actually understanding what they're talking about.

Personally, I found it really odd that they said "Use stories instead of logic", seeing as Jesus is one of the most famous men in history to tell stories (parables, anyone?) to make a point. Projection, perhaps?

[Buddhist Jihad]

Good point.