A few weeks
ago, in my lunch break I asked some of my Buddhist Vietnamese coworkers the following
question: In Buddhism belief how did man originated? Is man created as in the
Christian belief of Adam and Eve or is man the by product of primordial soup as
in the theory of evolution?
Such
thoughts never cross their minds and they did not know what to answer! Therefore,
one of my coworker, who is more faithful and active in Buddhism, called the Buddhist nun at the
Temple and have her answer the question. I appreciated this and as far as I
could tell the nun seemed very kind and did her best going around the question without
giving an answer.
Now, I
myself studied Buddhism and I am very familiar with this belief to some
certain extend in understanding the basic of it. This simple belief is overwhelming
and complicated when you go deep into it, so I don’t claim to be an expert.
However, my
question to my coworkers and to the Buddhist nun was very easy – as the famous
statement goes by Rene Descartes, “I think, therefore I am.”
So, where these
thinking men such as us humans originated from?
I know that
from a Buddhism belief this question is hard to answer because Buddha himself refuse
to answer such questions – which are known as the unfathomable questions. The
Pali texts gives 10 of those questions and the Sanskrit texts 14 questions.
These 14 questions
are categorized in four groups and is concerning the existence of the world/universe
in time, the existence of the world/universe in space, personal identity, and
life after death.
Furthermore,
the Sabbasava Sutta also mentions another 16 questions which are seen as unwise
reflection by Buddha.
And these
questions are:
What am I?
How am I?
Am I?
Am I not?
Did I exist
in the past?
Did I not
exist in the past?
What was I
in the past?
How was I in
the past?
Having been
what, did I become what in the past?
Shall I not
exist in the future?
What should I be in the future?
How should I be in the future?
Having been
what, shall I become what in future?
Okay, so if
you are a curios person like me and are not pleased with Buddha’s attitude
towards these questions which he finds unwise to answer, I would like to share
with you the answers to those questions from a Christian faith according to the
Bible.
The first book of the Bible is called Genesis which means the origin or formation of something. And the first sentence in the Bible makes the statement: “In the beginning God…”
The book of Genesis
narrates the primeval history of the world in chapters 1 to 11, so with this in
mind lets take into consideration the entire Bible and answer those questions.
1. What am I? You are the image of God (Genesis 1:27) So God created man in his own image – In the image of God he created him male and female he created them.
How am I? You are dead (Genesis 3:1-5) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you would be like God knowing good and evil.” In addition you can also read Ephesians 2:1 and Colossians 2:13. You are dead in transgressions and sins; as Ravi Zacharias once said “Jesus did not came into the world to make bad people good. He came to make dead people live.” According to the Bible “there is none good but God”
Am I? Yes, you are! Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
That price is case you didn’t know is the blood of Jesus. According to life
science humans can’t live without blood. Without blood, the body’s organs
couldn’t get the oxygen and nutrients they need to survive, we couldn’t keep
warm or cool off, fight infections, or get rid of our own waste products.
Without enough blood, we’d weaken and die.
I would like to invite you to meditate on the word of God that says: "For
since the beginning of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power
and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20
My friends on the day of judgement when you have to present yourself before
God you will have no excuse! Because he speaks to us through the elements and
principles of our world. Without blood
you cannot get rid of your waste products, without blood you die - this is life
science 101. Without the blood of Jesus you cannot get rid of the sins in your
life, without the blood of Jesus you die – this is the gospel! For the life of
all flesh is its blood and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of
sins, for God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus is the Savior who will justify
many and bear their sins – in our world blood transfusion
is done in a way of saving a life that’s injured or ill; and sinners are saved by is the precious blood of Jesus. Are you a sinner?
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s
womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your
works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was
being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes
saw my unformed substance; in your book were written every one of them, the
days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm
139:13-16
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the
ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will
return.” Genesis 3:19
Shall I exist in the future? Yes! “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it would be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. Matthew 13:40-43
Jesus said “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but
cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both the
soul and the body in hell. Are not to sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of
them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very
hairs of your head are all numbered. So, don’t be afraid; you are worth more
than many sparrows. “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also
acknowledge before my father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I
will also disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10: 28-33
So the question is where do you choose to exist in the future? Heaven or
Hell? For God said: “This day I call the heavens and the earth as witness
against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.
Now choose life! Deuteronomy 30:19
What should I be in the future? What we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:3
Where came this person? From the mind of God! Then God said: “Let us make mankind in our own image, in our likeness.” Genesis 1:26 And the first men that He created from the dust of the ground was Adam and Eve as I previously made mention before.
Where would he go? The choice is yours – either Heaven or Hell…
God has put enough into the world to make faith in Him a most reasonable
thing. But He has left enough out to make it impossible to live by sheer reason
or observation alone. Ravi Zacharias.
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