Jesus was a Buddhist?

[Different...Very.]

Some believe that the Three Wise Men fit with the Buddhist tradition of searching for the reincarnation of a great Buddhist Holy Man who has just died. He's taken away from his parents and educated in the Buddhist faith. They found an ancient recount of a young boy named "Isa(?)" from Israel who studied Buddhism from age 14 to 29, which would fit with no accounts of Jesus in Palestine during that time in his life.

It would explain the radical difference between Jewish beliefs and his teachings, as well as the similarities of his teachings and those of Gautuma Buddha's.

Before coming across this documentary, I considered studying Buddhism to become a better Christian because I'd noticed the parallelism in the teachings. (This is the atheistic version of Buddhism, not the polytheistic one; using the atheistic version, I can easily adapt it to Christianity by placing God in the mix rather than removing all the Buddhist deities in the other branch and replacing them all with God.)

I have not yet reviewed the Bible to verify the documentary's claims, but I plan to with a theology-studying friend of mine.

Edit: There's another sect that says Jesus was a Mandaean. I'm guessing the list is larger than I realize.
Do you think there could be truth in this?  

[Garland-Green]

I used to be a Buddhist, so I think that is the reason why I think you are posting it here. God has a hand in this, and I think he wants me to comment on this, at least that is the feeling I get. At the moment I don't have the time to comment, but I will edit my post later. smile  

[Garland-Green]

Buddhism teaches that all pain and suffering comes from our wants and desires, and that as long as we have these we will continue to be reborn and continue to experience a life of pain due to those wants, and our karma is produced due to these desires. Not until we free ourselves from those wants can we achieve enlightenment and be freed from the cycle. In Buddhism there in no God, just wrong thoughts. No actions that are sinful because that in itself is a thought.

This is monumentally different from the teachings of Jesus who said only he was the road to heaven, and that only through him will we have access to heaven. He taught the we are crippled by sin, and that the result of our sin is death (not another chance to try again), and in the end eternal separation from God. He taught that we can have no hopes through ourselves to be freed from our troubles, but that only through him can we have lasting peace, and forever be with God.

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;

Jesus taught from the Torah:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. -Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus came to fulfill the law, and he did so perfectly. I don't think he would have been able to do so had his teachings been very opposite of those of the Law, because that would have made him guilty of the sin of teaching a lie, and we know Jesus was without sin:

Hebrews 4, "We have a high priest who was tempted in every point like we are, yet without sin.

Jesus taught that what sin produces is so terrible that:

Matthew 5:30
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

It is a common New Age desire to want to fit Jesus into a line of ascended masters. Which is a teaching that says there are a number of people like Jesus and that they have freed themselves like Jesus, thorough self realization. This is a lie. A terrible one I myself had at one point fallen victim to. It is the different Jesus that we were warned that would be taught. Our Jesus is the one who have been taught by the disciples. He is the only One.

2 Corinthians 11:4
For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.  

[Different...Very.]

Yes, Buddhism is atheistic, but does that have to mean someone couldn't take some of the more important teachings like how to avoid temptation and how to clear one's mind... in order to get closer to God? In order to hear His will and fulfill it because our minds aren't focused on material things or on what's going wrong in our lives? It's not possible that Jesus did indeed hear from a Buddhist monk and believe they had a close idea of how to live one's life to please God, and adapted it to His teachings about living on God's path?

And I don't believe the story of Buddha walking on water, but it's said that similar miracles that Buddha performed years before the Bible are some of the same ones Jesus performed. I don't see why Buddha would perform these after hearing the other stories about how he didn't want to be made into a god and he wanted people to believe his teachings through their own journey, not just because he said it, so he shouldn't have had to prove anything.

Would it be blasphemous to become a Buddhist Christian?  

[Garland-Green]

Avoiding temptation is only done through God. He is the one who holds us up, and keeps us through and from temptation. In myself I can do nothing. There is nothing I can do to please God except have faith. If I changed myself it would be my work, not God's work or God's Spirit in me.

Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

I would advice against borrowing ideas and philosophies from other belief systems (They are mostly man made ideas and concepts). Since I have been there I can tell you it is a slippery road with lots of pot holes. Don't lose sight of Jesus. He is the only thing that counts.

Colossians 2:8
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.  

[Different...Very.]

Have you seen how most of these Christian preachers are handling themselves these days? You don't think some of them are twisting their sermons into a hollow philosophy with the same title of Christianity? And then how many times this Bible has been translated and altered (like all the alterations the King James group made, like changing "I" to "we," you think God ordained that?) And how Christians today are picking and choosing Biblical doctrines to follow like it was a pay-for-each-item buffet. It seems like the whole of Western Christianity has a hollow and deceptive perception on the traditions and principles of Christ.

And I can't study this Bible on my own. It's too poetic, and after hearing how much King James altered it, and knowing much the church ruled people with their "Blessed" fist, I can hardly trust what the Bible says.

Who's to say this conviction I have isn't God telling me to turn away from the materialistic ways of Western society and listen to the ways of the East?  

[Your Kinky Sex Fantasy]

Lately I have actually found that I adopted some Buddhist principles into my faith, such as never killing anything, and if you do, praying for it. I do not say "May the wheel of Dharma grant you favor in your reincarnation" the way my best friend (who is Confucius Buddhist) does, but I do pray because I remember that I do not have to die for my sins, and that even though He could let me die at any moment (the way He let the bug die by my hand), He hasn't yet, and for that I always thank Him.

There are also Buddhist teachings that I agree with that are also Biblical, such as never gossiping or saying ugly things about someone.
Buddhism also teaches "karma", which is not what most Christians think it is. The Biblical version is the Law of Sowing and Reaping. Karma states that if you do bad things to people, it is only natural that they will or will want to do bad things to you. Biblically speaking, you reap what you sow: if you're cruel to someone, you sow a seed of hatred in them, and you will reap hatred out of them.

I agree that you can only outrun temptation through God, but certainly considering the parallels that are also in the Bible are fine - it's just a different way of wording the exact philosophy in my opinion.
As far as KJV goes, I have always hated KJV. I understand it just fine, but I prefer succinctness in my writing when it comes to the Bible. I have to pay attention to the Bible so that I may live - I can tune a Shakespeare play out without risk of spiritually dying.  

[Aquatic_blue]

Different...Very.

Have you seen how most of these Christian preachers are handling themselves these days? You don't think some of them are twisting their sermons into a hollow philosophy with the same title of Christianity? And then how many times this Bible has been translated and altered (like all the alterations the King James group made, like changing "I" to "we," you think God ordained that?) And how Christians today are picking and choosing Biblical doctrines to follow like it was a pay-for-each-item buffet. It seems like the whole of Western Christianity has a hollow and deceptive perception on the traditions and principles of Christ.

And I can't study this Bible on my own. It's too poetic, and after hearing how much King James altered it, and knowing much the church ruled people with their "Blessed" fist, I can hardly trust what the Bible says.

Who's to say this conviction I have isn't God telling me to turn away from the materialistic ways of Western society and listen to the ways of the East?

There will always be people out there, probably in any belief system that like to twist things around because the Bible tells us that there are "false prophets" out there in general and to test the spirit when we come across people such as that to see if they are from God:

1 John 4:1 NIV:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

*Also, we all have sinned and are all equal in God's eyes:

Romans 3:21 - 24 NIV:

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in[a] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

*Belief systems are something that can be passed down from generation to generation. So instead of consulting the Bible, some believe what they are told because that's how they believe it is supposed to be. After the fall of man, many different belief systems came about.

Some Bible's have been translated so that people can easily understand the context, and some do have a bias to them. We must carefully choose what Bible we read and always consult original contexts (such as Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, and other original Bible texts). This is why studying the Holy Bible is incredibly important, but don't confine your point of view through only the King James Version or the New International Version. Be willing to look at other Christian texts to compare and contrast. If we study, by using original texts, searching for other meanings, praying, and seeking out Christ's true message - we will find it.

*In God's eyes, He has plans for each and every one of us, which result in good things. If His intent was to turn people from their ways as materialistic or spiritual to other ways, He would do it in such a manner that would not conflict with what He had previous told people:

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

*For example, if you read scripture as Jesus told it - he stated to a rich man to give up his worldly possessions:

Matthew 19:21 - 24 NIV:

Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  

[Scarlet_Teardrops]

Christianity and Buddhism have some similar teachings.

But Christianity and Buddhism are not the same philosophy/belief system/worldview--period.

@ Different...Very.

You should read a book titled From God To Us. It explains why the Bible we have today is completely reliable and trustworthy. Also, you seem to be under the mistaken impression that the KJV is the only version. It's not.
 

[_Leon Camero_]

This idealism will be the downfall of every Christian believers. Basically from biblical references, the Buddha actually condomed the practice of Jesus. However, He declared that he was a God. Due to it's humanistic structures comparing to the ways of Christ. If indeed you say Buddha Christian, you have indeed left the ways of the father. This goes to the terminology Paganism belief. or shall I say: self righteous. Basically, the ten commandment and the Love of Jesus is the only thing you need. Not buddhism. For that is compromise. And compromising leads to the division of Christianity (leading on to baptist, Pentecostal, Mormonism, judiasm, Islam). Basically, if you start to follow the philosophy of a false doctrine, you will be exactly.like the divided compromisers.

I myself would be a nondenominational Christian. For Christ never looked at denominations, but only the people that needed Him the most (sinners).

Do not condome to buddhism practices. Remember, there are NO other gospels nor practices that will get you to heaven. Be very aware. If you choose the path as this, the only path you will gain, was hell. For you had indeed followed a false doctrine.and altered the ways of Christ calling it: the Buddha's way. Or any other false doctrines ways...

Note: there are 38 different version of the Bible. Choose what gets you to understand.