How to Share your Faith with Bailey the Buddhist
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Basic Description
Buddhism is an Eastern religion which revolves primarily about suffering. Its founder is named Siddhartha Guatama (later called the ‘Buddha’ – where we get Buddhism from). He was born nearly 600 years before Christ. At some point in his young life he decided to travel the country, and when he did he became troubled by all the suffering of the common people. He desperately wanted to do something about all the pain he saw, so he studied the Hindu scriptures under their priests, but decided that was not the way to help. Eventually he stopped praying to the Hindu ‘gods’ and decided to become a homeless person and survive essentially by begging. During the years that followed, he dove completely into self-denial and meditation, and decided that this practice would lead to peace and help with suffering. He also believed that through self-denial and meditation, a person could eventually achieve a god-like state of ‘Nirvana’. He then decided that his mission in life was to spread his message wherever he went, at which point he became known as the ‘enlightened one’ or the ‘Buddha’. There are an estimated 613 million Buddhists worldwide; and 1 million in the United States. Buddhism seeks to answer the universal question about why we suffer.
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What Bailey Believes
About Buddhism:
What Bailey believes about Buddhism can be summed up in what are called the ‘Four Noble Truths‘
- There is pain and suffering in the world. – suffering is our existence.
- Attachment to people and things causes suffering. – suffering is created by our desires.
- The suffering will stop when a person can rid him/her self of all desires. – suffering can come to an end by eliminated desire.
- There is a path to the extinguishing of all desires. – The way out of suffering is the 8 FOLD PATH
….as well as the 8 Fold Path: Right Views, aspirations, speech, conduct, mode of livelihood, effort, awareness, and concentration.
Note: It is important to remember that the Buddha never considered himself to be a god, or a divine being of any type. He basically viewed himself as a person showing others ‘the way’ to enlightenment. Bailey doesn’t consider Buddha to be a god either. Scriptures include the Tripitaka (10-11 times the size of the Bible)- the 3 baskets used primarily by the conservative Buddhists, the Theravada. The Liberal Buddhists, the Mahayana, follow much more than the Tripitaka, which contain over 5000 volumes.
About God:
Bailey does not believe in the personal, Sovereign God of the universe revealed in the Bible.
About the Trinity:
Bailey does not believe in the Trinity.
About Jesus:
Bailey believes that Jesus Christ was a good teacher, though less important than Buddha.
About the Bible:
Bailey does not believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God, because she doesn’t believe in a personal God in the first place. Bailey also rejects the notion of rigid commands.
About the Afterlife:
Bailey believes in reincarnation through the cycles of Karma, which is an afterlife driven by the law of cause and effect. This means what Bailey does in this lifetime, either good or bad, determines what will happen to her in another lifetime, on and on through time, until she has gone through enough suffering and purification to reach Nirvana.
About Salvation:
Bailey believes salvation is by self-effort only through the Four Noble Truths. Remember that ‘salvation’ to Bailey is ultimately complete extinction at death, in other words freedom from the cycle of Karma.
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What the Bible Teaches
About God:
God identified Himself as “I Am” (Exodus 20:2) – meaning He is the self-existent (has no beginning or end) eternal Creator of the universe.
About the Trinity:
There is one God and yet three Persons (Isaiah 45:5; Deuteronomy 6:4; James 2:19).
About Jesus:
Jesus is fully God and fully man. He is not just an enlightened man. He is the God of the universe (John 1:1, 14, 18; 8:58; 10:30. Compare Titus 2:13 and Isaiah 45:21), and He is equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
About the Bible:
The Bible alone is the word of God. It is without error. It cannot and should not be added to or subtracted from (2 Timothy 3:16-4:4; Revelation 22:18-20).
About the Afterlife:
Those who trust in Christ alone as their only hope of salvation spend eternity in heaven. Those who reject Christ spend an eternity in hell. (John 5:24-30; Revelation 20:11-15). The Bible denies the concept of reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27-28).
About Salvation:
Salvation is by faith in Christ on the basis of His death on the cross. Good works or self-denial have nothing to do with being saved (John 3:16-17, 36; 6:29,47; Romans 4:1-5; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
Things to Remember
Remember that Bailey is coming from an extremely different worldview, so totally avoid ‘Christianese’ terms such as ‘new birth’, or even ‘born again’. Some good alternatives that they could better relate to would be terms like ‘endless freedom from suffering, guilt, and sin’, and ‘gift of eternal good life without suffering’. Also, focus on the uniqueness and unique claims of Jesus – especially His resurrection and teaching that He was the only way to God (John 14:6). Ultimately, you want to get the conversation to the point of sharing the gospel, so don’t get too sidetracked by arguing about Buddhist beliefs. Your goal is not win an argument, but to win the right to be heard by your friend. Try to work your own gospel journey story, especially as it relates to your freedom from guilt and assurance of heaven in the midst of suffering.
As always, remember that you are in a spiritual battle, so put on your spiritual armor (Ephesians 6) and pray without stopping!
