Ven. Dhammika's review of Buddha to Jesus

[torrd25]

Hi All,

My suggestion is Everytime we see or hear people talking about that book,
we recomend "Kallama Sutta".....hehehehhe

[n.siridhab]

great review by ven. dhamika. the length of review is required to cover the whole distorted view of buddhism by a simplistic writer. I truely applause ven. dhamika for his intention to make them right from wrong. sadhu. from usa

[Bankei]

Ven Dhammika also was written "A Buddhist Critique of Fundamentalist Christianity" under the name A L De Silva. Published in 1994.

[jay]

Ven Dhammika also was written "A Buddhist Critique of Fundamentalist Christianity" under the name A L De Silva. Published in 1994.

Are you sure he and AL are one and the same? how do you know? I just assume that he and AL are almost the same due to the argumentative style and some resembleance to his blogs.

[dspiewak]

Frankly, ever since I've become a Buddhist, I don't mind it at all when Christians try to convert me..I don't get irritated. They seem to have good intentions and do it to "save me"... .

There are some very nice people of faith in every religion and I've had the pleasure of talking to many of them...

Of course there are some who are ignorant, like the annoying korean Christian missionary who couldn't stand Buddha ... (I didn't understand why she didn't, but at that time I didn't care too much since I wasn't a Buddhist)

Now if someone really starts talking to me, I try to speak to them about the Dhamma without insulting other people's beliefs.

I have a very strong understanding of the Bible, so I've actually had some more open minded ones gain greater interest in learning the Dhamma once they see the parallels. If I can get some of them to read the Dhamma, that's cool!

Hi Green, in my life I find I can adopt this attitude as well, but I live in the US. As you may know Christian evangelists are not the same in Asia as they are in the West. Christian organizations tend to select only their most aggressive evangelists to go to Asia. It seems that they are more interested in converting Buddhists than they are in converting adherents of other Christian sects, and that is really saying a lot.

The difference I think comes down to familiarity. In the West most (not all) are very familiar with Christianity; those who leave it and adopt another religion still retain a wealth of knowledge of it. We know that missionaries are capable of saying or doing anything as long as it wins converts. We still have great affection for our good Christian friends and we still appreciate the things Jesus is said to have taught about simplicity, humility, and love, but we are wary.

I think there is a great lot more to say on this but I'll leave that to the experts.