superstitions
July 10, 2007
i’ve been listening to alot of this guy ajan brahm’s lectures on youtube for a while.
He’s pretty thorough in his explanations, which i like. i heard his talk on superstitions tonight.
He’s under the standpoint that Christianity is a superstition.
He made the statement that a lot of superstition is just believing without actually checking it out. From my understanding, he said superstition=blind faith. i agree. The only way for Christianity not to be a superstition would be if it’s an experiential religion. From my understanding, Christianity is meant to be an experiential religion Granted, to have this deposit of the Holy Spirit, someone must believe; likewise though, when ajan speaks of seeing the mind, one must meditate. He speaks of the possibility of even seeing a past life you’ve lived. i like what he said when he explained how he’d experienced an early life memory, then encouraged the listeners to find out for themselves and not to take his word for it. i do agree that superstition exists in Christianity just as he acknowledged that it exists in buddhism.
For instance, ajahn mentioned how the student went to him and some other monks to have them chant over her so she’d do well on her examn. i once was talking to a muslim man who was turned off by Christianity because (if i remember correctly) of people he’d encountered who mentioned they needed some spare change to put in the offereing plate, so they’d get their blessing. And how many athletes have you seen who wear a gold cross necklace which many consider to be their good luck charm. Maybe there are those who wear it as a statement of faith, but i don’t know that clothing/jewelry can really make a faith statement if it’s not backed up by something inward.
Forgiveness
What right has that person to forgive you? The only thing they can do is to urge you to forgive yourself…
