It would be wonderful if the world became truly,
sincerely Christian.
Indeed it would.
If it merely adopts one of the defective cults, not so much.
Agreed.
It would be wonderful if it became sincerely Buddhist.
Buddhism does not offer a solution to the the problem of
Death. The solution to the Death problem is eternal life.
John 3:16 solves the Death problem.
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The subject was the 'world' turning. As for 'afterlife', that will take care of itself.
The "afterlife" will take care of itself if you have eternal life.
So?
So what do you think about the following?
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish"___The Lord Jesus
in John 10:27-28
Any truth to it?
Note the contrast between "eternal life" . . . and . . . "perish" .
What do you think about that?
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Remember, any talk of 'God' can only, by definition, be metaphor. How could a limitless creator be contained in mere words and thoughts? At best, these could point to what they would like to state absolutely.
Leaving all religion aside for the moment, there being far too much to deal with there, let us look just at the words we have ascribed to Jesus.
And remember about metaphor. Jesus only taught (and this is stated in the Gospels) in metaphors. He understood human psychology, that is clear.
Jesus can be seen as metaphor, as, indeed, he must be. 'Father', 'Son', 'Holy Spirit' have to be seen thus, also. 'Trinity' must. 'Unity' must. Everything we bring to understanding this part of human concern, this examination of deity, has to be combined with genuine objectivity. Many people know all about god and will have none of it. They have categorically classified such talk as nonsense and a waste of thought. This is an extremely easy position to understand. There is a kind of wisdom to it, or at least philosophical veracity.
Still, our race (human) has always and everywhere investigated this. It may be part of psychological heritage, seeing how omnipresent it is in cultures. It certainly can be called natural to humans.
For our story, then, let's go ahead and assume Jesus existed/exists and what he said was/is true. Now, let's look at things and see how a sane sage could say some of these things. This will involve understanding linguistics and psychology. What did Jesus say when confronted about paying taxes to Rome? "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's". Those he was addressing were confused by this, mostly because they had hoped to snare him with the question. Since then, it has often been used to excuse paying taxes to the state and absolving one's self of responsibility. But washing your hands doesn't free one of existential responsibility.
We could look at the words here as saying to those examining him, "You are all learned religious men. You ask me if it is right for Hebrews to give money to Rome and its gods. You show me a stamped image of Caesar on a piece of metal, the gold you so love. You tell me it is Caesar when I ask whose image it is. Image. Then I tell you to give to God what is God's. What is not from God? These coins are metal that was created with everything else. You want me to say it is wrong so that you can accuse me of sedition. If I say it's OK, I'm not religious enough. But you religious men know that all comes from and belongs to God. Trying to trap someone that way is not holy, not religious. You are hypocrites and we all know it, but this word game you lose." Great mind game, great manipulation of manipulated words, great dodging the bullet.
Life, eternal life, fuller life, rebirth in a new, other life can also only be metaphor, as they speak of a state of 'being' that is oxymoronic. One can't 'be' dead. Dead is no longer being. We are only ever alive. When that life ends, we don't experience death. We may experience dying up to the point of loss of consciousness, but ultimately you don't 'die'.
Remember, this is all metaphor.
I am not stating this is 'true' in any way that would exclude any other sincere suppositions. In this way, eternal life might be seeing deeply in our consciousness how our life goes back beyond sight into the log ago. Our genes, in fact, are immortal. DNA started billions of years ago and has never been interrupted has merely, faithfully replicated. Perfectly identical copy, totally interchangeable, have passed through almost infinite regeneration. This was here, is here, and to all appearances will be here as far into the future one can imagine. Carrying that around in mind makes life fuller, and 'death' less fearsome.
That's a little of what I think about that, to answer your question. Thanks for asking.
