Atheism Fails

Evaluating Buddhism

Buddhism originated in the spiritual quest of Siddhartha Gautama, the prince of Kapilavastu in modern day Nepal. The prince saw “four sights”.  First sight was an old man, followed by a sick man, a corpse and finally a renouncer. He renounced his palace life and embarked on a spiritual quest. He obtained Nirvana(enlightenment) during a protracted period of meditation under a Bodhi tree. Buddha called his new path, the “middle way”. He delivered his first sermon called the ‘The four noble truths’ and then ‘The eight fold paths’.

A. Four Noble truths

1. Life is suffering/misery/sorrow

2. Craving is the cause of suffering

3. In order to end suffering one must end craving reach the state of sunyata (nothingness) is nirvana, where rebirth will stop.

4. The means to end craving is the noble eightfold paths.

B. The Eightfold path

I. Training in wisdom (Prajan)

1. Right Views

2. Right Intention

II. Training in Morality (Shila)

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

III. Training in Concentration (Samadhi)

6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right absorption

Scriptures

1. Vinaya-Pitaka (Basket of Order)

2. Sutra-Pitaka (Basket of Instructions)

3. Abhidharma-Pitaka (Basket of higher teaching) and thousands of other sutras written later.

Creed

Dhammam Saranam Gachchami (I take shelter in Dhamma<law>)

Samgham Saranam Gachchami (Samgha<group>)

Buddham Saranam Gachchami (Buddha<enlightened one>)

In Christianity, Salvation is a gift of God obtained by the work of Jesus on the cross. Buddhism denies the existence of both God and the Soul. Man is ‘anatman’, soul-less consciousness. Ultimate reality in Buddhism is Sunyata(nothingness) whereas in Christianity it is the Holy Trinity. Time and history in Christianity is linear whereas in Buddhism it is circular. Nirvana is the goal obtained by following the teachings of Buddha in Theravada Buddhism and with the mediation of Bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism, the two major schools. Christ as mediator and Boddhisatvas as mediator form a bridge for communication as does salvation by faith in Pure Land Buddhism.

Evaluating Islam

Islam means submission to the will of Allah as revealed through their prophet Mohammed. It is a monotheistic faith based on the teachings of Mohammed, as compiled in their Holy Book ‘Quran’ and the traditions of their prophet called ‘Ahadis’. The Shahada (creed) of Islam: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. The Five Pillars of Islam includes 1.Recitation of Creed, 2.Prayer, 3.Fasting, 4.Almsgiving, 5. Pilgrimage

Quran is a word for word reception of the Word of God. The variations in the number of chapters in the various editions constitutes a problem to the claim that Quran has been preserved word for word. It plainly indicates it is not and therefore is corrupted.

In Christianity, the monotheism is more qualified and sophisticated technically called Trinitarian Monotheism, where God is a fellowship of three as compared with Islam where God is absolute oneness. Islam also differs from Christianity in that it treats Jesus as just another prophet, calling him Isa, even though he is according to the Quran virgin born, performed miracles including raising the dead and will return a second time before the final judgment. But the Quran vehemently denies the death of Jesus on the cross and his subsequent resurrection which have been established as a facts of history. Salvation in Islam is based on merit and God’s election as opposed to Christianity where it is based on grace. Jesus is the Saviour in Christianity whereas Muslims have to save themselves by their deeds.

Christians consider Mohammed a false prophet for the following reasons: 1. The certainty of Mohammed when he first received his revelations that it was a demonic attack and the convincing given by first wife Khadija that it was divine revelation 2. His bowing down before the idols of the Quresh tribe and even claiming that their gods were intercessors with Allah. 3. Multiple wars and executions  4. Mutiple marriages with females from all age groups ranging from 4 year old child to older women and even his own daughter-in law divorced by his adopted son based on special divine revelation. 5. Preaching a different Gospel (Galatians 1:8 [1]).

Reference:

[1]Galatians 1:8 but even if we or a messenger out of heaven may proclaim good news to you different from what we did proclaim to you -- anathema let him be! (Young’s literal translation)

Galileo's Faith - Was he a Christian?

Galileo argued that if his scientific "doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly understood." He recognized "that it is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood." But for "discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not from the authority of scriptural passages, but from sense-experiences and necessary demonstrations." Galileo advised Catholic officials not to take formal action against Copernican theory while new evidence from the telescope was still coming in. He advocated metaphorical rather than literal interpretation of biblical passages in which the sun seemingly moved." ---http://www.aip.org/history/cos...

Galileo believed - Bible cannot speak untruth. He was a Christian because even though he differed with the pope he believed in Christ for his salvation.

“The Bible tells us how to go to Heaven (spiritual dimension), not how the heavens(cosmos) go.” - Galileo.

Critique of Swami Vivekananda's 'Christ - The Messenger'

Swami Vivekananda (SV) delivered a speech at California on January 7, 1900. His topic was CHRIST ,THE MESSENGER. Though Swami Vivekananda had some grasp of some of the main ideas of Christianity, his presentation of Christ and his teachings is incomplete, erroneous and misleading. It is for this reason that a good critique to show his errors is needed.

1. “The voice of Asia is the voice of religion . The voice of Europe is the voice of politics. The voice of Europe is Greece…….. In Asia ,even today , birth or color or language never makes a race.That which makes a race is it’s religion…. We see therefore in the life of the messenger of life , the first watchword: Not this life but something higher; and, like the true son of the orient, he is practical in that.” -Swami Vivekananda.
Here Swami Vivekananda does a service to us by portraying Jesus as a true son of the orient. Many times the Hindus decry Christianity as foreign, but Swami Vivekananda doesn’t do that he actually finds common ground and looks at Jesus and the culture from which he came as something compatible, similar and familiar. But Swami Vivekananda doesn’t stop there . He attributes the spirituality of Jesus, the other worldly teaching of Jesus as coming because of his location in Asia. Swami Vivekananda concept is , “He is Asian , so he is religious”. Jesus’ teachings do not find their source in location or culture. John 7:15 The Jews were astonished and remarked, “How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?” John 7:16 Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the one who sent me. John 7:17 If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether this teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. God was the source of Jesus’ teachings and it was not his orientalism as Swami Vivekananda suggests in his writings.

2. “The best commentary on the life of a great teacher is his own life . ‘Foxes have holes , birds of the air have nests , but the son of man has no place to lay his head’.That is what Christ says as the only way to salvation; he lays down no other way. Let us confess in sackcloth and ashes that we cannot do that . We still have fondness for ‘me and mine’.We want property ,money and wealth. Woe unto us!” Swami Vivekananda
Again SV startles me with his grasp of the central concept which even many Christians have not learned. He rightly quotes Jesus , then he says something which Jesus did not say and then gives a good comparison with a humble confession that ,we are not like that. The problem is with the underlined part. Jesus did say “self denial” is the only way anyone can become his disciple and be saved but he said so much more which leaves SV providing incomplete information .

3.
What important things did Swami Vivekananda leave out about Jesus’ teaching on salvation? John 6:40 For this is my Father’s will, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him to life on the last day.”
John 6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” John 6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”
John 8:24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live. John 11:26 Indeed, everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?”
In all these passages the central teaching is very obvious.Jesus is asking people to believe in him as the messiah, to obtain eternal life.

   Swami Vivekananda says in the same book , ‘Suppose Jesus of Nazareth was teaching, and a man came and told him,
“What you teach is beautiful. I believe that it is the way of perfection, and I am ready to follow it; but I do not care to worship you as the only begotten son of God.” What would be the answer of Jesus of Nazareth ? ‘Very well , brother, follow the ideal and advance in your own way’’. Swami Vivekananda clearly articulates things contrary to the teachings of Christ. Jesus very clearly preached himself as the messiah, the ‘Son of God’. He very clearly taught that believing him as the messiah is the first prerequisite for having eternal life.Now after believing that Jesus is messiah one should follow his other teachings also . But without accepting Christ as Lord and worshiping him no salvation is possible.

Swami Vivekananda on the message and mission of Jesus Christ

“He had no other occupation in life , no other thought except that one, that he was a Spirit. He was a disembodied , unfettered, unbound spirit. And not only so, but he with his marvelous vision, had found that every man and woman, whether Jew and Gentile, whether rich or poor, whether saint or sinner, was the embodiment of the same spirit as himself. Therefore, he one work of his whole life showed was to call upon them to realize their own spiritual nature. Give up he says, these superstitious dreams that you are low and that you are trampled upon and tyrannized over as if you were slaves , for within you is something that never can be tyrannized over , never be trampled upon , never be troubled and never be killed. You are all  Sons of God , immortal spirit. ‘Know’ , he declared , ‘the Kingdom of God is within you’. ‘I and my father are one’……………………………he wants to get rid of the whole world as it is a, give it a push and drive it forward and onwards until the whole world has reached to the effluent light of God, until everyone has realized his spiritual nature, until death is vanished and misery banished.”

Let me at the outset inform you that swamiji did something he should not have done. It is a big mistake and error to say that “but he with his marvellous vision , had found that every man and woman, whether Jew and Gentile , whether rich or poor , whether saint or sinner , was the embodiment of the same spirit as himself.” Swamiji by saying so has read advaitha, monism and vedanta into Jesus .What I mean is he has made Jesus say what Jesus did not say or mean. This is not the biblical Jesus, this Jesus is a product of Vivekananda’s mind and imagination.

If so then what did Jesus say that makes me make these conclusions.

 John 8:23  He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, but I am not of this world.

John 8:24  That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”

Jesus says very clearly , he is from above , they are from below. He continues that they will die in their sins if they do not believe in him as their messiah.He does not say heand his hearers are in the same spiritual state or have the same spirit.He commands faith in him , which means , he is of different spiritual state which is higher than theirs.

John 8:33  They replied to him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anybody. So how can you say, ‘You will be set free’?”

John 8:34  Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I tell you that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

John 8:35  The slave does not remain in the household forever, but the son does remain forever.

John 8:36  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”

Jesus in the passage which continues and which is quoted above gives his diagnosis of humans. He says very clearly that 1.They are , “slaves of sin”. 2. They should become his disciples and be set free from their sinfulness .

This clearly shows Jesus’ teaching that he is the savior who will save them and us and Vivekananda from our sins. But Swami Vivekananda  has missed his chance.

John 5:24  “Truly, truly I tell you, the one who hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life.

Here Jesus very clearly teaches that anyone who believes in him as the messiah will not come under the judgement of God , will have eternal life.

So Jesus did not teach that the people have the same nature as himself. He very clearly and repeatedly taught that they are sinners and he is their and our only savior which is the exact opposite of what swamiji suggested.

“Therefore , the one work of his whole life showed was to call upon them to realize their own spiritual nature.” –S.Vivekananda

This is not what Jesus called people to do . The eyewitnesses very clearly record what Jesus called people to

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near! Repent, and keep believing in the gospel!” mark 1:15

Jesus never called people to realize their spiritual nature. Jesus always called  them to repentance and faith. This goes in line with the biblical teaching that people are sinners. So Jesus never did what Swamiji claims he did .

Swamiji quotes bible verses to substantiate his teachings .

He quotes , “Know the kingdom of God is within you” and “I and the father are one”

It is very tragic that someone of the stature of swamiji has got it all wrong . But what is more tragic is more people will  also get it wrong through him.  Swamiji rips these two lines out of context from the bible to make Jesus look like an advaitin, preaching what Vivekanada and Ramakrishna Paramahamsa would preach i.e Vedanta.

Jesus said , “I and the father are one” but he never said , “You and the father are one”. Jesus never compared people with the father or himself. Here  again Swamiji goes grossly wrong on an important theme.

The kingdom of God is within you means that God wants to make his rule, as a king in the hearts of the believers. This happens not by self realization as Swamiji suggested but by submission to God through obedience to his commands.

Swamiji’s depiction of Jesus is pathetically incomplete, grossly wrong  and highly misleading. He should not put his philosophy into the mouth of Jesus . It is in no way correct or compatible. So Swamiji through these teachings has mislead millions  away from the real Christ of history, who is the biblical Jesus, our only God and Savior.

Reformed Epistemology - A Brief Introduction

Reformed Epistemology (RE) is  a branch of Philosophy of Religion. Reformed denotes Protestant Reformation. Epistemology (episteme-Knowledge, logos-reason/study) is the study of knowledge. It answers the question “How do you know what you know is true?” Reformed Epistemology is the answer of some Protestant (Reformed) Christian philosophers like Thomas Reid, John Calvin and Alvin Plantinga to the question “How do you know what you know about God is true?”

Foundationalism is the theory of how beliefs are justified. Beliefs can be inferential (deduced from proposition or evidence which justifies it) or non-inferential (which is believed without evidence but still justified). Justification for non-inferential beliefs can be pushed back but not infinitely. For example, my justification for believing the time in my watch is based on the fact that I timed it with a TV news channel. Then your next question would be “Can you justify the time shown in the TV channel as correct time?” Answer is “No”. If “Yes” further evidence would be required for it’s further justification and so on. But we cannot regress infinitely. We just stop and believe it is the right time. Most people would. This is a non-inferential belief. This is not based on evidence but it is still a justified belief.

A properly basic belief would be a self-evident belief, like belief about self and others. For example, we don’t pinch every time we see someone in order to obtain knowledge that they are true i.e. self-evident. Properly basic beliefs are also non-inferential beliefs.

According to RE, God has endowed all humans with sensus divinitatis. Just like seeing is a sense using the eye to perceive the physical world, sensus divinitatis is the sense to perceive the divine. It is the innate ability/mechanism by which humans can perceive the divine. Just like we see other people with our eyes and believe them to be true without testing or evidence, senses divinitatis enable humans to perceive God as God when he reveals himself to them. Therefore belief in God is self-evident based on subjective experience of the divine i.e. personal encounter with Christ as perceived by sensus divinitatis. It does not require objective evidence or propositional arguments.

References:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/190219/epistemology

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/theistic-proofs/reformed-epistemology/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformed_epistemology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_epistemology

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/inferential

http://www.iep.utm.edu/relig-ep/