Are Buddhists happy? In the end, they probably get Alzheimers, on some ventilator, with cancer etc. just like everyone else. Christianity (following Jesus that is) has the benefit of healing.
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Huh. My grandfather was a good Christian man. Went to church every Sunday, was the caretaker of the local cemetery, was an active layperson in the church.
Guess Jesus didn't love him enough to heal him from the five years of steady decline into Alzheimer's and death.
Maybe he was a closet Bhuddist or something.
-pb
Them Buddhists have the magic powers of health drinks made from the body fluids of near-extinct tigers. Nyah.
Wow, that guy's whole post is hilarious. "You're more likely to be incarnated as bacteria than as a human, so Buddhism is false". What an utter idiot.
You know, there was recently an article in National Geographic which examined the physiological effects and causes of various emotions. In this they looked at the brain chemisty surrounding happiness and euphoria and found a positive link with the kind of meditations which many Buddhists practice.
Conclusion: Yes, they are happy. in fact, some of the happiest people on the planet.
Yes they do die, just as horribly and painfully as the rest of us.
Ok most of them do see themselves reincarnating (although I'm lead to believe that the ultimate aim is to break the reincarnation cycle?) but they also see death as perfectly natural and nothing to be afraid of, there certainly isn't any divine eternal punishment coming in the end merely another chance to get things right and avoid any mistakes you made this time around.
I bet. That's why my uncle, who was a minister, had several strokes and spent the last 4 years of his life mostly miserable. And he really wasn't that old, either.
Christians get those things, too, and they die just like everyone else. Believing in Jesus doesn't keep you any healthier, or cause you to live any longer than anybody else.
With the exception of John the Evangelist, all of Jesus' disciples died in various unpleasant ways. (John, on the other hand, may still be alive - see John 21:22). If Christianity didn't save them, there's not much hope for alasdair.
Yeah, right.
If anything, I wouldn't be surprised if Buddhists had a lower instance of Alzheimers than the general population. It seems like meditation could help keep the mind active and focused, like those puzzle games or something, to guard against it.
The Buddhists I know seem to be healthier, happier, less paranoid, and less insulting to other religions (and a whole lot less pushy about their beliefs) than the fundie Christians I know. Come to think of it that might be why they are healthier, less hassling other people means less hassle for you!
Just because Buddhists are prey to all the afflictions of mortality doesn't make them less happy than delusional fundies who pretend that Jebus will protect them from life's nastiness. Everyone dies, alasdair. I'd rather live as a Buddhist, embracing reality, than as fundie embracing self-delusion.
Healing what? In my Catholic youth, I read part of a book that told the story of a girl who wanted to see her grandmother healed. The priest came by and gave her last rights, and the grandmother died. According to the priest, that was God's way of healing her -- by taking her to heaven.
Didn't understand it then, but it took quite some time to realize what nonsense it was.
I am very angered by this. Normally, I tend to be more sarcastic and a question asker than really angry, but they hit a nerve with Alzheimer's, which was what my grandmother ended up dying of this spring. To have her disease, which she fought against so hard, did everything she could to find a cure (even giving up all the money she had to finding a cure, and asking others to donate to centers to find a cure even after she died), and in the end died of, to be used as a slander against another people who have done nothing against this person... It just makes my blood boil.
alazdair, you are a horrible person.
Sorry if I'm sounding more serious than normal. It was just that it hasn't even been a year since my grandmother died, and I was still in the denial phase before this came along(That numb phase where you can't believe that a loved one of yours had died. Sometimes it feels like they haven't actually, that the funeral was just a dream). This post quickly pushed me into the anger phase, but... well, at least I'm just facing my anger at people who actually deserve it.
My late companion, Marsha, was a lifelong devout fundamentalist Christian (even a creationist). She was also a lifelong paraplegic because of being born with spina bifida, which of course never went away or even improved no matter how devoutly she or anyone else prayed about it.
Marsha finally died at the age of 43 of a host of medical complications accumulated over the years, in fact spending her last 18 months "on some ventilator" -- again, despite many people's fervent prayers for her to get well again (including, of course, her own).
In short, alasdair, to put it as cordially as I can: Get stuffed.
~David D.G.
My Mother, as devout a fundie Christian as I've known, is AT THIS VERY MOMENT laying in her sick bed dying of Alzheimers and not expected to last the week, so...
fuck you very much.
[Christianity (following Jesus that is) has the benefit of healing..]
No, if it did, it would have healed your lack of mental capacity for critical reasoning
Oh, I see. So there are no Christians suffering from Alzheimer's, hooked up to ventilators, or otherwise afflicted with horrible, fatal diseases? Or do you just shift to "The Lord works in mysterious ways?"
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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