And how do we really know that Buddhist, as opposed to Christian or some other religion is the way to "extinguish the fire"?BlackBird wrote:Imagine you're on fire, and a man comes up with a bucket of water and says - here, quickly, let me pour this water on you and you say: 'Well, does it really work? How do you know it's going to work? Where did you get that water from? Where did you buy that bucket? Is it a good bucket?" - That's how I see people with too much skepticism. A bit is fine, a bit is healthy, especially when you're new to Buddhism. But when you're chopping and changing parts of the Buddha's teachings, and you don't believe he said X or Y because of some revisionist history, then I think you're more interested in the origin of the bucket than in putting out the fire.
How do we know that "fire" can even be permanently "extinguished"?
Some say that the reason why Buddhism is better than Christianity is that it offers Nibbāna here and now* in this life. To this a Christian can easily reply that "who cares about your Nibbāna in this life if you will burn in hell for eternity due to non-acceptance of Lord Jesus Christ?"
* How many people have actually reached Arahatship in the present time? Is the amount of these something to rely and place one hopes on?