Is christianity, or religion in general, a belief of convinience?

Implying to someone that they are 13 or lower is one of the worst insults you can throw over the net, you know. And I'm not sure that God would want to aid Buddhists directly on the basis of actual belief, since the teachings more or less actively work against such ideas.On a basis of personal development or social stability, maybe, but Buddhism is rather different than most religions. I guess you'd see more variation amongst the 'main' religions if that was something desired.

You aren't going to find an objective standard for the Truth. That's sort of the problem with spirituality in general.Some things are so fundamental to you as a person that you don't question them. For some people, Christ is the Truth because they can't imagine a world where that isn't the case. For others, it can be the exact oposite.I would say, even though it might sound a bit dis-respectful, that part of being a human is that you don't WANT this thing we call 'reality' to be a formula for how to think. Some things can remain paradoxal.

Either he is calling you an old hag, which I hope not, or a small plum cake, which wouldn't really suprise me, given the discussion.

The Way according to Lao Tzu differs on many points from the Christan Way. I'm sort of confused by how RingoKid handles Lao Tzu's Way (Do you know exactly what it states?). There are similarities in how Lao Tzu describes his teachings, though, especially in how to relate to your own life when it comes to finding out how to make the best of it (ie, finding the Way).RingoKid has that attitude towards Christianity, and there are a lot of examples of people with similar ideas.This message has been edited by Melchior, 07-28-2004 09:03 PM