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Seeker of Truth

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Hi All, I am Seeker of Truth, I'm new here and am trying to find my own personal truth with regards to religion. I was raised as a Seveth-Day Adventist but haven't been to church for about 10 years now (I'm 26). I am trying to find a new faith. I enjoy Buddhist principals, I am not 100% sold on reincarnation (I lean more towards theories of genetic memory), it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest something that combines the two...more or less?
Thanks very much!
 
hi and welcome to interfaith seeker.
I have no solution to your dilemma, only to say that sometimes, when you stop looking it comes up and smacks you right in the back of your head. LOL
Thats what happened to me. LOL>
The old phrase, you cant see the forest for the trees, comes tomind.
 
Hi, Seeker, and welcome to the Forum.

I believe in reincarnation. I think reincarnation makes perfect sense, and I can find no flaw in the concept whatsoever. If you wish to discuss reincarnation (perhaps even prove me wrong?), please let me know.
 
Thanks Nick! Still at the beginning stages of my 'seeking' I would love to discuss it and expand my knowledge and understanding of the subject. Lets take this to the proper forum - there's a discussion titled 'Rebirth' in the Eastern Philosophy section that is going on. I will work my way through it and join you there! ...or perhaps we should start a new thread?!
:)
 
Hi Seeker —
Seeker of Truth said:
I enjoy Buddhist principals ... it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely
Click to expand...
A big issue with 'conversion' is that to do it properly, it's all-or-nothing. So you've got to decide whether to give it an honest shot, or just dabble.

A religion is not just a religion, it's a world ... so changing religions is more than emigrating, it's life on a new planet, even though many of the solar principles are the same. If you're gonna get anything out of it, you can't be a foreigner, you've got to get into it.

My brother-in-law was 'top kiddie' for a while in the world of Kendo, Japanese fencing (bamboo swords and body armour). He studied for years in Japan. The Japanese loved him, and made him welcome, and treated him with great respect, and he trained in the magnificently equipped dojo at Tokyo University, and they took him home to meet their parents ... and they made allowances for him being a foreigner ...

But Mike's not like that. He found a dojo in Yokohama, a real back-street down-and-dirty club run by dock workers. He started training there, and they'd laugh at the very idea of it as they beat the crap out of him.

In the World Championships, the unthinkable happened. He made it to the final. He was never gonna win, that option was never on the table, but usually the runner up was a local, or Korean, or a naturalised American of Japanese heritage ... but never before or since a European.

That night there were Japanese dockers in the audience, shouting for their man, the gaijin ('roundeye' — not a polite term). He didn't win, but they knew that anyway, that didn't matter. He carried their pride and he gave as good as he got and, ****-me (as they might say), he even scored a point!

If you're gonna do it, go native, that's my advice.

I was drawn to Shingon Buddhism once, but there was nowhere in the UK to study, so it was a non-starter. You can't do it from books.

And find the 'real deal' — not some offshoot, find the root of the Tradition, and draw from that.

But don't spend your time in Buddhism comparing it to Christianity ... you'll be like our expats, who set up 'little England' communities wherever in the world they settle.

Good luck!

Thomas
 
Greetings seeker and a warm welcome to IO.
As a committed atheist I cant be of much help to you in any search for a new set of superstitions but wish you well in your endeavour :) I think Thomas offers sage advice though. In for a penny, in for a pound as the saying goes.

tao
 
Seeker of Truth said:
Hi All, I am Seeker of Truth, I'm new here and am trying to find my own personal truth with regards to religion. I was raised as a Seveth-Day Adventist but haven't been to church for about 10 years now (I'm 26). I am trying to find a new faith. I enjoy Buddhist principals, I am not 100% sold on reincarnation (I lean more towards theories of genetic memory), it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest something that combines the two...more or less?
Thanks very much!
Click to expand...


Hi,

Welcome to IO. :)

Of the regular posters here, in view of what you ask about, I would perhaps particularly recommend seattlegal (a Christian who has regular attacks of slapping folk with zen fish) and earl, who I think would be happy to be described as a Christo-Buddhist (correct me if I’m wrong). I also recommend them safe in the knowledge that neither of them would try to sell you their truth. Also, there is a book you may be interested in, called “Living Buddha, Living Christ” by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I hope you take the time to sit back and mull a lot of stuff over. A hasty change may not be the best change.

As to reincarnation; this to me suggests the re-incarnation of a soul from one life to another. Rebirth means or can mean a whole different notion, I think.

Snoopy.
 
Welcome to the forums,

I'll see ya around Seeker :)
 
I haven't found a new direction to be very simple to find in my own personal journey. If the only thing you're hung up about is reincarnation I'd say that's pretty good! Part of adopting any religious is about imersing yourself and discovering as you go along - there won't be one that fits you perfectly. Read, question, and be involved with what you feel is closest to your heart, would be my best advice.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Seeker of Truth said:
Hi All, I am Seeker of Truth, I'm new here and am trying to find my own personal truth with regards to religion. I was raised as a Seveth-Day Adventist but haven't been to church for about 10 years now (I'm 26). I am trying to find a new faith. I enjoy Buddhist principals, I am not 100% sold on reincarnation (I lean more towards theories of genetic memory), it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest something that combines the two...more or less?
Thanks very much!
Click to expand...
Since you are a Christian Seeker of Truth interested in Buddhism, I would suggest this thread as a place to start.
http://www.interfaith.org/forum/comparing-the-messages-in-matthew-10222.html
 
Thank you ALL for your warm greetings, advice and opinions - all are most welcome!

Nick - thanks for starting the thread - I have posted a text that confuses me a little...

Thomas - a lovely story and sound advice!

Jbash - I hear what you are saying about immersing myself in a religion and discovering as I go along. And I think I needed your reminder that "there won't be one that fits you perfectly. Read, question, and be involved with what you feel is closest to your heart, would be my best advice".

Snoopy - thank you for the recommendations - Seattlegal has been most helpful and I look forward to getting in touch with Earl. The book seems to be a great start too - thank you!

Tao_Equus - in my experience an atheist's opinion is always important and grounding

Thanks All!
 
Welcome to IF, Seeker of Truth!

I approved a couple of your posts that were hung up in the moderation que for imbedded links. It is a safety measure to help us counter spambots. The downside is that newbies with less than 10 posts get hung up in the que for links. Sorry about that, but it is a necessary evil we just have to deal with.
 
Seeker of Truth said:
Hi All, I am Seeker of Truth, I'm new here and am trying to find my own personal truth with regards to religion. I was raised as a Seveth-Day Adventist but haven't been to church for about 10 years now (I'm 26). I am trying to find a new faith. I enjoy Buddhist principals, I am not 100% sold on reincarnation (I lean more towards theories of genetic memory), it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest something that combines the two...more or less?
Thanks very much!
Click to expand...

Seeker of Truth, there is so much to cover in order to respond to your question. I would try to keep it simple even if my answer will bring some new questions

When we pass on to our eternal home, we leave behind our descendants who are from our direct blood lineage. Lineage is very important because we are connected spiritually.
Whatever, we have done well while we are on earth benefits our descendants. What we have done wrong is hard to resolve because we do not have our physical body any more and cannot do good actions.

The way we can still grow and advance spiritually is for our descendants to solve and be victorious where we failed or did no mature.

We do not come back on eath with a different body as it is believed in reincarnation.

Often we can notice people dealing with similar issues and temptation than their ancestors.

We call this process "return ressurection" . Our ancestors are shouting from the sidelines for us to do well and be victorious in the "game" (if I can call it that way) of life. They want to help us if we ask for their help.

They depends on our good deeds to. They wish they could have done more while they were on earth.

I just need to add that if the fall had not taken place , there was no need for religion and we would not have the original sin. Adam and Eve would have matured and grow to spiritual maturity. It would have been very different.

Please let me know if I was helpful. We can go from there.
 
Seeker of Truth said:
Hi All, I am Seeker of Truth, I'm new here and am trying to find my own personal truth with regards to religion. I was raised as a Seveth-Day Adventist but haven't been to church for about 10 years now (I'm 26). I am trying to find a new faith. I enjoy Buddhist principals, I am not 100% sold on reincarnation (I lean more towards theories of genetic memory), it feels uncomfortable to let go of my Christian roots entirely and was wondering if anyone out there could suggest something that combines the two...more or less?
Thanks very much!
Click to expand...


Just don't seek too hard :)
 
Hi Seeker. I am also an ex- SDA. Were you ever a true believer in adventism, or did you just grow up and out of it with no real conviction?

Chris
 
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