Article by: Kenneth J. Ester
Why Buddhism is Wrong
Buddhism
Of all of the religions I have looked into, this one is the strangest, the most meaningless and the most senseless of them all. Which if I am being completely honest, explains why people in Hollywood seem to gravitate to this religion more than others.
First of all, Buddhism does not believe in God. It does not believe in Heaven or Hell. There is no ultimate paradise as a reward and there is no ultimate punishment for our sins. People don't have to fear what they have done wrong. They don't have a God they need to appease. It is the perfect religion for someone who doesn't want responsibility or rules.
I once had someone tell me that Christianity was taking the easy way out, as it only needed to believe in Jesus and pray for forgiveness to get to heaven. That in believing in reincarnation one needs to go through life over and over until they get it right. I replied that he has it backwards. With reincarnation you get to try and try again until you get it right with no worry of punishment for getting it wrong. With Christianity you must get yourself right with God in that one lifetime to get to heaven and if you dont, you dont get another try, you end up in hell. Believing there is no hell and getting to try over and over is almost like the participation trophy handed out in religions.
The problem with judging Buddhism is that they don't have an official document that was given to them by a diety, so there are no real official rules. They do not have to appease God, and only strive to find enlightenment, so there is nothing one can truly judge if it is correct or not. You cant trap it by its own official words to prove it is wrong. Its like taking a bunch of kids outside for recess and judging who plays their choice of recess games the best. You can watch them playing kickball and see if they follow the rules correctly or not. You can watch some kids playing marbles and judge them playing by the rules of their game. But the kids who just run around laughing and spinning and swinging? What can you judge them by? You can only use logic and moral judgement to say they are being good or bad or having fun or not. That is Buddhism in the world of religion. You cant judge them by rules they don't have. You cant judge it by a God they don't believe in. You can only try to use logic and understanding to decide if it really makes sense to follow it or not.
I am no expert on Buddhism so my judgements will come only from what I can gather reading about it on the internet.
From what I can gather, it seems that a long time ago Buddhists portrayed their beliefs as when they die, they were reincarnated and put into another body to live a new life. This was backed up by the fact some claimed to remember their past lives. When people started saying that sounded like you needed to have a soul to be placed into a new body, Buddhism changed how they explained it. We are actually like an energy or essence that doesn't get placed into a new body, but we disperse and then become a new life. When it was asked how their are so many more millions of people now than there were a thousand years ago, they changed it up slightly again. We don't disperse and become a new life but we can become multiple lives. Sort of like pouring a glass of water into a sink of water and dipping it in for a new glass of water. Some of the same water might go in the glass but it will be mixed with fresh water as well. Then the question that begs to be asked is, how does some of the Buddhists remember their past lives then?
What I have seen in my looking this religion up is that like many other religions, when they get stuck with a question they dont have a good answer for, they simply give their own beliefs a tweak or two to make up an answer. The only difference here from other religions is they don't need to change their religious book. They just change their philosophy.
My biggest problem with Buddhism is simple. They dont believe in God. If you read my Evidence of God articles, you find that I have no doubt that God is real. There is no other logical explanation for what caused the Big Bang. There is no other logical explanation for the sudden appearance of the first life form. For the first life form to show intelligence and self awareness. Science does not even have a logical theory for these things. There are just too many miracles today that cannot be explained away by science. There are too many prayers being answered to believe God isnt behind it. I personally have had real experiences that have proven to me that God is real. So if I know that God is real, how can I possibly give any credit to any religion that says there is no God?
From everything I can gather on Buddhism, their ultimate goal is to not exist. That we all live our lives and relive new lives over and over until we get it right. Until we reach the stage of enlightenment. Once we have truly become enlightened, there is no longer a reason to be reborn and go through life again. But if we do not have souls and our energy disperses, and we are not going to be reborn, what does that mean? We no longer exist. So before there was life on Earth, we did not exist. Then life developed and its only purpose for existing, is to become enlightened so it can seize to exist? Now that doesn't make sense to me. Imagine going out and buying a watch for $100. You spend the next twenty years with one goal. To sell the watch for $100. You never wear it and the only reason you bought it is to someday sell it for the same exact price as you bought it. You wont lose anything nor will you make anything out of it. All for one reason. So you wont have it anymore. Does it make any sense to buy the watch in the first place then? Its the same thing. If the only purpose in life is to reach a state in which you seize to exist, what is the sense to being born to begin with?
Another thought that really pops out when questioning Buddhism. If we have no soul, and after we die there is no consciousness, who and what judges whether we have reached the state of enlightenment or need to live another life again? The simple fact that there is a goal of reaching enlightenment says there is a certain point we need to reach and if we don't reach that point we need to live another life and try again. But if there is no consciousness after we die and there is no God, there must be something that decides whether we reached that point or not. This is one of those things where their own belief seems to trap them and prove it is a false religion.
I came across one more interesting thing that bothers me about Buddhism. They believe that if you are suffering a terrible disease in this world, or if you are born with a terrible defect, your suffering in this life is punishment for your sins in your previous life. There is no compassion for those who are suffering something terrible in this life. They will help them but not out of compassion or love, but simply because it is what you are supposed to do. There is something wrong with any religion that thinks that way. It just comes across as cold for a religion.
Most people are searching for something. Some seek it in knowledge and science. Many seek it in religion. I believe the soul is empty until it truly finds God. The soul needs God to complete it. Many people seek for God in religion. Some people look for that completion in drugs, alcohol, sex or a thousand different avenues. Buddhism gives people a place to look for it without having to believe in God because God requires too much commitment. Especially in this day and age when commitment is almost a forgotten attribute. People get married and then get divorced with little desire to work through the problems. People buy cars and houses with no intentions of actually paying them off. Athletes join a team and first chance they get they leave to another team who will pay more. True commitment is a scary proposition. So if you want a religion without real commitment, Buddhism is your best bet.
On the other hand, if you are seeking the truth? This is not the way to go. If you aren't so sure I am right, and you think Buddhism might be the right way? Then I say to just trust me. If I am right, you will thank me in the after life. If I am wrong and Buddhism is correct, so what, you will get another chance.
Return to Religions and their Fatal Flaws
Return to One God Logic Articles
Of all of the religions I have looked into, this one is the strangest, the most meaningless and the most senseless of them all. Which if I am being completely honest, explains why people in Hollywood seem to gravitate to this religion more than others.
First of all, Buddhism does not believe in God. It does not believe in Heaven or Hell. There is no ultimate paradise as a reward and there is no ultimate punishment for our sins. People don't have to fear what they have done wrong. They don't have a God they need to appease. It is the perfect religion for someone who doesn't want responsibility or rules.
I once had someone tell me that Christianity was taking the easy way out, as it only needed to believe in Jesus and pray for forgiveness to get to heaven. That in believing in reincarnation one needs to go through life over and over until they get it right. I replied that he has it backwards. With reincarnation you get to try and try again until you get it right with no worry of punishment for getting it wrong. With Christianity you must get yourself right with God in that one lifetime to get to heaven and if you dont, you dont get another try, you end up in hell. Believing there is no hell and getting to try over and over is almost like the participation trophy handed out in religions.
The problem with judging Buddhism is that they don't have an official document that was given to them by a diety, so there are no real official rules. They do not have to appease God, and only strive to find enlightenment, so there is nothing one can truly judge if it is correct or not. You cant trap it by its own official words to prove it is wrong. Its like taking a bunch of kids outside for recess and judging who plays their choice of recess games the best. You can watch them playing kickball and see if they follow the rules correctly or not. You can watch some kids playing marbles and judge them playing by the rules of their game. But the kids who just run around laughing and spinning and swinging? What can you judge them by? You can only use logic and moral judgement to say they are being good or bad or having fun or not. That is Buddhism in the world of religion. You cant judge them by rules they don't have. You cant judge it by a God they don't believe in. You can only try to use logic and understanding to decide if it really makes sense to follow it or not.
I am no expert on Buddhism so my judgements will come only from what I can gather reading about it on the internet.
From what I can gather, it seems that a long time ago Buddhists portrayed their beliefs as when they die, they were reincarnated and put into another body to live a new life. This was backed up by the fact some claimed to remember their past lives. When people started saying that sounded like you needed to have a soul to be placed into a new body, Buddhism changed how they explained it. We are actually like an energy or essence that doesn't get placed into a new body, but we disperse and then become a new life. When it was asked how their are so many more millions of people now than there were a thousand years ago, they changed it up slightly again. We don't disperse and become a new life but we can become multiple lives. Sort of like pouring a glass of water into a sink of water and dipping it in for a new glass of water. Some of the same water might go in the glass but it will be mixed with fresh water as well. Then the question that begs to be asked is, how does some of the Buddhists remember their past lives then?
What I have seen in my looking this religion up is that like many other religions, when they get stuck with a question they dont have a good answer for, they simply give their own beliefs a tweak or two to make up an answer. The only difference here from other religions is they don't need to change their religious book. They just change their philosophy.
My biggest problem with Buddhism is simple. They dont believe in God. If you read my Evidence of God articles, you find that I have no doubt that God is real. There is no other logical explanation for what caused the Big Bang. There is no other logical explanation for the sudden appearance of the first life form. For the first life form to show intelligence and self awareness. Science does not even have a logical theory for these things. There are just too many miracles today that cannot be explained away by science. There are too many prayers being answered to believe God isnt behind it. I personally have had real experiences that have proven to me that God is real. So if I know that God is real, how can I possibly give any credit to any religion that says there is no God?
From everything I can gather on Buddhism, their ultimate goal is to not exist. That we all live our lives and relive new lives over and over until we get it right. Until we reach the stage of enlightenment. Once we have truly become enlightened, there is no longer a reason to be reborn and go through life again. But if we do not have souls and our energy disperses, and we are not going to be reborn, what does that mean? We no longer exist. So before there was life on Earth, we did not exist. Then life developed and its only purpose for existing, is to become enlightened so it can seize to exist? Now that doesn't make sense to me. Imagine going out and buying a watch for $100. You spend the next twenty years with one goal. To sell the watch for $100. You never wear it and the only reason you bought it is to someday sell it for the same exact price as you bought it. You wont lose anything nor will you make anything out of it. All for one reason. So you wont have it anymore. Does it make any sense to buy the watch in the first place then? Its the same thing. If the only purpose in life is to reach a state in which you seize to exist, what is the sense to being born to begin with?
Another thought that really pops out when questioning Buddhism. If we have no soul, and after we die there is no consciousness, who and what judges whether we have reached the state of enlightenment or need to live another life again? The simple fact that there is a goal of reaching enlightenment says there is a certain point we need to reach and if we don't reach that point we need to live another life and try again. But if there is no consciousness after we die and there is no God, there must be something that decides whether we reached that point or not. This is one of those things where their own belief seems to trap them and prove it is a false religion.
I came across one more interesting thing that bothers me about Buddhism. They believe that if you are suffering a terrible disease in this world, or if you are born with a terrible defect, your suffering in this life is punishment for your sins in your previous life. There is no compassion for those who are suffering something terrible in this life. They will help them but not out of compassion or love, but simply because it is what you are supposed to do. There is something wrong with any religion that thinks that way. It just comes across as cold for a religion.
Most people are searching for something. Some seek it in knowledge and science. Many seek it in religion. I believe the soul is empty until it truly finds God. The soul needs God to complete it. Many people seek for God in religion. Some people look for that completion in drugs, alcohol, sex or a thousand different avenues. Buddhism gives people a place to look for it without having to believe in God because God requires too much commitment. Especially in this day and age when commitment is almost a forgotten attribute. People get married and then get divorced with little desire to work through the problems. People buy cars and houses with no intentions of actually paying them off. Athletes join a team and first chance they get they leave to another team who will pay more. True commitment is a scary proposition. So if you want a religion without real commitment, Buddhism is your best bet.
On the other hand, if you are seeking the truth? This is not the way to go. If you aren't so sure I am right, and you think Buddhism might be the right way? Then I say to just trust me. If I am right, you will thank me in the after life. If I am wrong and Buddhism is correct, so what, you will get another chance.
Return to Religions and their Fatal Flaws
Return to One God Logic Articles
