Proof of any Eastern Religion?

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by John J. Bannan, Jun 27, 2007.

  1. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    I got nothing against Eastern religions, but what proof do any of them have that anything they say is right? Reincarnation? Please. Nirvana? Ha!
     
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  3. mybreathyourlung Registered Senior Member

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    I understand what you're getting at, but the same thing can be said of any religion.

    There's no proof of reincarnation just as there's no proof of a heaven.
     
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  5. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    Yeah, but isn't reincarnation sillier than Heaven? Why would nature need me to be reincarnated? Can't make a butterfly out of something else besides me? Heaven at least permits the continuity of the same person - just in a different place and physical form.
     
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  7. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    So you're ridiculing other faiths due to lack of evidence???
     
  8. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    Lack of evidence? No. Lack of common sense.
     
  9. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    Common sense is misleading. Yours beliefs are nonsense to them.
     
  10. Wisdom_Seeker Speaker of my truth Valued Senior Member

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    dude, Nirvana is what Christians call heaven, or better, the "Garden of Eden". A few concepts vary, but I believe Jesus taught about reincarnations as well.
     
  11. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    First of all it's incorrect to lump all Eastern religions together. There's a diversity of thought that simply isn't taught in history class. I'm assume you are referring to Buddhism, so I'll start there.

    Nirvana is a shift in consciousness, a state of mind that is accessible to anyone.

    Reincarnation can be better understood when you understand that Buddhism views the self as illusory. Also, every particular phenomenon and object is illusory due to our knowledge of it being merely perceptual, and furthermore, everything is temporal. There are no permanent things, and no permanent boundries. The implication of this means that every "incarnation" that has ever been is just a rearrangement of atoms that already existed. So there is one set of atoms that just get incarnated and reincarnated over and over as different things. Due to cause and effect, every action these beings make has reverberations through time. So, what you do effects the future and therefore future incarnations.

    In human society, there is also culture, which most of us inherit, so our patterns of thought are not invented anew in every person. This is another kind of reincarnation. Some would even postulate that the culture is the mind. Our brains are machines that accept the programming of culture, and this creates mind. It is this mind that happens to inhabit the bodies that DNA and nature tend to proliferate.
     
  12. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    I thought reincarnation was thought of as me later being a flower or a bug. Obviously, the matter in our bodies gets recycled - but somehow I don't think that's all Buddists mean by reincarnation.
     
  13. peta9 Registered Senior Member

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    I'm dead serious when I say scientists should dissect the christian brain to find out how it ticks. It is really amazing how they are unable to detect their own ludicrous thought processes. Your comments are like the fattest person laughing at a chubby person for being overweight.
     
  14. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    So you say skinny.
     
  15. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    The Buddhist proposition would say that there is no "you".
     
  16. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    If Buddists mean nothing more than that our bodies get recycled, well then why would I want to be a Buddist?
     
  17. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    So your faith is based on what you want (ie wishfull thinking), as opposed to what really is?
     
  18. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    ???I thought the spirit was recycled, not the body. Your body gets recycled into the earth.

    And if you think reincarnation is silly, we need to talk about flying soldiers with wings and a virgin birth.

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  19. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    Scientists just verified that virgin birth is possible in sharks. Why not humans?
     
  20. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Ah yes, a fish can, therefore Mary could. Sounds like christian logic to me.
    lol
     
  21. Nickelodeon Banned Banned

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    Sharks can also breathe underwater, therefore so should humans.
     
  22. John J. Bannan Registered Senior Member

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    Actually, it's not just fish. Mammals are the only animals that haven't been shown to do it. Nonetheless, who knows?
     
  23. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    I think it means more than that. It implies an intimate, inseparable connection between yourself and others (I think Jesus said something like that). It means that your actions will become your future, so we should be good.

    Frankly, I'm surprised that you would suggest popular appeal has anything to do with the tenets of a religion. I do think that is the case, and that religion has evolved like a virus to appeal to it's host and ensure it's spread.



    BTW, I don't know what a Buddist is, try Buddhist.


    There is also a big difference between so-called eastern religions and western religion. Eastern religions can hardly be called a religion as we in the west know it. For instance, there is nothing you need to believe to be a Buddhist, they don't believe in belief.

    Taoism proposes something they call the Tao, which is the tendency of the Universe to self-organize in a passive sense. It's the quality of things to achieve a kind of balance. It cannot be seen or experienced in itself, it's nature is mysterious. I don't think they would mind too much if someone pointed out that such a force cannot be proven to exist.
     

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