Let's Talk Religion

Buddhism does not consider a Creator God, nor one who gives rules to obey (as the idea of God in the Abrahamic religions). But many schools of Buddhism do believe in the existence of spiritual beings (what some religions might call "gods" or demigods). Some might be more like heavenly saints or even more like "angels" in the Abrahamic religions that can be called on for help along the spiritual path. What other religions (like Hinduism) might call a "god" Buddhism might call an "enlightened being". Ultimately, the Buddhism goal is to BECOME enlightened rather than to worship those who are enlightened. Ultimately the Buddhist goal is not even to become an enlightened BEING (bodhisattva) but to move beyond all "being" - that is what Nirvana is about: "beyond both being and non-being." There IS a "realm of the gods" but the Buddhist goal is to move beyond all realms of being. In essence, Buddhism does recognize that god...

Why I believe in God: Throughout my youth I was an agnostic - I did not know what to think about God. Was there a god or not? I simply did not know. It took a mystical experience - a direct personal encounter with God - to convince me that God is real. I cannot deny that experience even as I continually question the nature of that God which was revealed to me. Why I question the nature of that God (why I do not believe God is a "person"): Initially, I assumed that God is what I had been taught God is: a personal god, a supreme being, sort of a superhuman person with a mind, a conscious awareness, emotions and desires in relation to what people do (i.e., God is often pleased with us or angry with us, God has certain things "he" wants us to do and not do). But, after some time I began to question whether what I had learned from other human beings was actually the true nature of that which we call "God". I gradually began to suspect that God is actual...