i'Beverly'... (8)...should have known...(8) BC might try to Plot Twist me...

So a friend of mine whom I've recently been thinking of as the 'New Agent J' to replace my other friend who's been out of touch lately with not just myself but the church community as a whole ever since he got married I likely won't see at all for the next little while, especially given the recent seemingly divine 'intervention(s)'.  I feel a bit unproductive in terms of my trying to get in the better habit of at being better at reading and writing (or 'typing' as it is nowadays) again given the fact that my previous entry here can I think be given a "10 years (or in this case, 'days') and you're still not finished yet" pronouncement.  Speaking of things not finished 'yet' after a decade.  I actually haven't had a chance to re-read some of my more official texts or perhaps reflect back to what I learned on various faiths say from my high school course.  However, now is not the time so I am debating should I just 'post in progress' again or "work on one post at a time"?  I love the inspiration behind this particular blog though.  Perhaps I'll leave the first one as more theological and this one more personal.

"I pray that God will show you the meaning behind this circumstance..." [PFM]
"The sky's (NOT) the limit..." [JLP] (When you're not 'Pilot-ing')
"That's Princess Royal drive..." ['No E']

iBookMarks:

"I remember my History of Christianity course..." [last day of Pilot-ing]
"Do you remember this one though?" [JC]

Found this one (book) "on top" ['Not the only Lily']:

"A person can be a gift..." [GC]

"...I saw that elbow..." [BC]  The theme kind of matches though....... Hmmmm.... Plus my prophecies are 'not the only' ones that seemed to have come true in un-fore-planned circumstances. 

The difference is, the first context I still had two important friendships in my life and now they are kind of gone, though with Christ, nothing is ever forgotten, only forgiven.  I feel this is one key difference between the Christianity and Buddhist faiths as well.  Again, this is the 'doctrine/theological' post kind of flooding into the 'more personal' one, but I expected there would be some overlap anyhow.  I just hope I have some time to do this entry a bit of justice today.  There were many things I am in need to getting around to today that I haven't yet done.  Anyhow the point I am trying to make is that in Buddhism, all of your actions/faults/'sins' have external consequences, they will stay with you till the next life and not go away. It is not the case with Christianity, you will undoubtedly face a lot of temporal/temporarily consequences, but these won't carry on with you till after you die; the consequences of poor actions and decision making therefore are not eternal.  This is one of the main key differences between the faiths and I wonder how my dad could tell me that he could only find peace with Buddhism given this fact about their religion.  One main similarity is both belief systems seems to follow the 'golden rule' in that you should do unto or treat others the same way you want to be treated or have done to you. 

[POST IN PROGRESS, I may add more when I finally have more time to read the 'theory'/'theology of Buddhism]

"Got ricer...."? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfr2LtKe5cg]

[POST-IN-PROGRESS]

The song linked in my title, my biological brother showed me on YouTube before that has a lot of profanity and course language in it and has the repeating lyric "got rice" in it and I thought about this song for various reasons but the primary reason is I have been reflecting on the topic of Buddhism in the last couple of hours.

I have discerned that one of the major contributors as to why my biological mother is against me going to church and my decision to re-enrol in seminary has to do with what she calls "history repeating itself" and this in itself is somewhat a Buddhist concept.  Possibly, even though she herself is atheist, she was raised with this mentality that things in life can only go bad and perhaps "bad again".  It goes back to the history of the original truths of that religion not just in the whole 'reincarnation cycle' concept but also that life is nothing but misery and suffering. At least their faith is somewhat right about that ladder part, most people will tell you that life does contain a degree of misery and suffering.  However, as I have been saying in a recent entry, the beauty of the cross is that Christ already died to end our suffering so we don't have to earn it with mediating or other 'good works' in hope to earn enough merit or 'peace of mind' to achieve 'nirvana' which is supposed an end to our suffering.  I find the biggest 'challenge' when it comes to the Buddhist concept of Nirvana is how does one know when they have achieved it or not?  My father once told me that he only found "peace" through Buddhism and seemed to imply he wasn't able to do so with Christianity.  I learned from a family friend of my friend who recently passed away that it does seem possible to achieve peace with a Christian faith and she attested that he always seemed to have it.  However, she did not nor did my friend really disclose the 'secrets', if any as to how he overcame them. Personally, I also knew my friend at times did wish certain aspects of his life, such as his work were different.

I feel life is always going to be difficult or maybe the better word is "challenging" but the bible verse I find to be most reassuring is:

29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” [Matthew 11:29-30]

Particularly the last verse, verse 30.  Sometimes I feel people, particularly those who maybe don't understand  the agricultural analogy can potentially misinterpret this verse to think that God will "make life easy" or something along the lines of "your life will magically become better when you're a Christian".  I feel, my dad probably had this kind of thinking towards Religion in general which was why he claimed to have gone over to Buddhism later on in life. He had told me things like: "I used to believe in such things when I was your age..." "Only with Buddhism could I find peace..."




[POST-IN-PROGRESS]