I Also Wanted to Convert to Full-Time Buddhism Before
Today is considered as Asala Dharma day in Buddhism according to the Buddhist lunar calendar. Dharma is considered as righteousness for both Hindus and Buddhists. I would like to recall a bit of my experience when I nearly converted to Buddhism. My ethnic Chinese folks were mostly Roman Catholic while they also practiced Buddhist and Taoist superstitions. It was a common practice to ask a Taoist astrologer for the right date for certain events - even for marriages that were to be held in a Roman Catholic parish! I knew a family of Taoist diviners who were also Roman Catholics! It was also a common tradition for some Chinese Catholics that a Roman Catholic novena was said for the dead. After the ninth day or sometimes on the 40th day - a Buddhist prayer ceremony for the dead is performed. The sad truth is that after the novena and after the Buddhist prayer ceremony - every last person who rejects Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will still be in Hell even after all those rituals! What a sad fact that none of those prayers could ever help anyone who is without Christ. It's very easy to say that it won't help any bad person. However, even the best of pagans will still be in Hell if they die without Christ!
In my case, I nearly wanted to convert to full-time Buddhism at one point. I could be considered to have been formerly Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and Taoist all in one. I was getting tired of Catholicism while studying in a Baptist school. Instead, I decided that I would become a Buddhist at one point. Maybe, it was because I was already too mad with my folks who kept going to Mass and never showed any real change. I felt that Buddhist chantings were somehow more peaceful than the dead hymns of Rome. I felt that maybe kneeling during a Buddhist service, maybe going for a vegetarian diet (and I was already starting to like eating more vegetables thanks to a Buddhist nun), and maybe try to really embrace Buddhism full-time for a start. I even started to hate the fact Jesus died for our sins (as taught by Catholicism) because people were becoming hypocrites on Holy Week. Thankfully, Jesus did because it's what bridges the gap between man and God!
In my case, I nearly wanted to convert to full-time Buddhism at one point. I could be considered to have been formerly Roman Catholic, Buddhist, and Taoist all in one. I was getting tired of Catholicism while studying in a Baptist school. Instead, I decided that I would become a Buddhist at one point. Maybe, it was because I was already too mad with my folks who kept going to Mass and never showed any real change. I felt that Buddhist chantings were somehow more peaceful than the dead hymns of Rome. I felt that maybe kneeling during a Buddhist service, maybe going for a vegetarian diet (and I was already starting to like eating more vegetables thanks to a Buddhist nun), and maybe try to really embrace Buddhism full-time for a start. I even started to hate the fact Jesus died for our sins (as taught by Catholicism) because people were becoming hypocrites on Holy Week. Thankfully, Jesus did because it's what bridges the gap between man and God!
Buddhism was becoming an attractive replacement to Roman Catholicism to me ever since I attended one Buddhist prayer service for the dead. It was done on the 40th day after a novena was said in the first nine days for the dead. I was getting too tired of Roman Catholicism. If there's one thing about Babylon Religion - people do get bored really easily and you get nothing more than conflicting stories. Pagan religions evolve for the worse. For instance, just check how many schools Buddhism and Hinduism have, and they all clash with each other. Tibetan Buddhism acknowledges the Dalai Lama like how Roman Catholics look up to the Pope. However, other branches of Buddhism don't consider the Dalai Lama as their Pope. It's really a confusing thing and I had no idea what I was about to enter into. Pagan religion is really an obvious mess! Buddhism and Hinduism are just among a few of the many religions that just can't make up their minds!
The relations between Buddhism and Roman Catholicism are getting closer. The late John Paul II had already embraced the Dalai Lama. Some may have said they converted from Buddhism to Roman Catholicism but it's usually just an add-on. Observe how Buddhist temples and Roman Catholic parishes all require prayers for the dead. Chinese Ghost Month arrives and syncretic Chinese Roman Catholics have prayers offered in Buddhist, Taoist, and Roman Catholic parishes. What's so sad is that so and so has been dead for so many years and none of the prayers are helping the dead. Why would these prayers help the dead? Hebrews 9:27 says that once a person dies without Christ then judgment comes. What's the logic of having Roman Catholic prayers for the dead followed up by Buddhist prayers for the dead? Buddhist prayers for the dead are aimed towards peaceful reincarnation. Roman Catholic prayers for the dead are for the departed faithful who died in God's grace. Both prayers though similar are contradictory.
The big problem of Buddhism is works-based salvation. The gospel of works is very easy to believe because man is so used to it. However, Isaiah 64:6 says that the righteousness of men is but filthy menstrual rags before the LORD. I don't disagree with leaving with the Buddhist eightfold path. However, salvation by the eightfold path is not biblical. A Christian can agree to live by rightful thinking, resolve, speech, action, livelihood, effort, thought, and meditation. However, to say that to do all eight is to attain salvation is unbiblical. Truth is Christianity demands you walk the tenfold path of the Ten Commandments perfectly if you want to work for your salvation. Unfortunately, Romans 3:10-19 reveals that we've all sinned and nobody can walk the tenfold path perfectly. James 2:10-11 says that it only takes one sin to break the whole Law. So, how can Buddhism even save if the law of God requires 100% keeping it up if you want to work yourself to salvation? It's already broken the first two commandments about having other gods and graven images. I'm not doing this to shoot down whatever good works come out of Buddhist charitable organizations. I admire their good works, I seldom use them to strike a point that if they do charity then those who claim to be in Christ but detest good works must be ashamed. However, every Buddhist is sent to Hell even if they lived the best they could because God can't allow even the tiniest amount of sin in His presence. God isn't going to weigh our good works from the bad. Instead, one single sin is more than enough to outweigh all our good works. All they can get is lesser punishment in Hell but even they won't get a glass of water or any cooling mechanism. All they will get is less heat but it's still so hot it'll torture them for all eternity.
Fortunately, there's something beyond Buddhism. It was a relationship with Jesus. It's easy for me to say I found something better than Buddhism or Islam. No, Someone better than Buddhism found me instead when we talk at a Reformed view. A Buddhist may say Gautama Buddha helped the poor. But did Buddha open blind eyes, make the lame walk, and even raise the dead? Gautama himself could only tell the woman with a dead child to accept death. Jesus did the impossible by raising a woman's dead son to show He is truly the Son of God. Gautama passed through the natural cycle of life and death. Jesus died and rose from the dead. Why would I want Buddhism when a relationship with Jesus is far more precious?