Fundamentals of Christianity

[UncoveringPatmo]

There are two fundamentals of Christianity, vital and undeniable:

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

Everything else, namely dogma or one's beliefs concerning the Trinity, Nature of God, Angels, Scriptures, etc... distracts a seeker from this fundamental message of charity and material detachment (to seek immaterial attachment).

Thoughts?

[barnasha]

There are two fundamentals of Christianity, vital and undeniable:

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

Everything else, namely dogma or one's beliefs concerning the Trinity, Nature of God, Angels, Scriptures, etc... distracts a seeker from this fundamental message of charity and material detachment (to seek immaterial attachment).

Thoughts?

Yes, they are concepts to help you understand things. Real faith is in action. "why do you call me lord, lord, but dont obey my commandments.."

[themuzicman]

1) Sin. All have sinned and fallen short, subjecting us to judgment and eternal condemnation.
2) Christ. God came in the flesh and died as a propitiation for our sins
3) Faith: We place our faith in Christ, believing that He is willing and able to save us from eternal condemnation and raise us to eternal life.

[seanD]

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

This is fundamentally wrong and a misinterpretation of scripture, but because the differences are so subtle, the misinterpretation is very easy to make. Christianity doesn't teach aestheticism or a moral compass to get to heaven. It teaches a faithful state of mind, where you are focused and totally reliant on God's will before anything material no matter what situation you're in at the time. You can be poor or as wealthy as Bill Gates as long as you're of this right state of mind. If are not of this state of mind, two things will likely happen: 1) God will cause you lose everything and force you to solely rely on him (that is, if God cares enough), or 2) you will most likely be deceived and "fall away" to the cares of this world. If you notice, Jesus actually admonished the thought of giving to the poor during the situation of the woman who anointed him before crucifixion because of her dedication and devotion to him, and he complimented Zacchaeus who declared he would give away just "half" his possessions to the poor. Jesus told the rich man to sell his possessions to the poor not because this is something one has to do to be a Christian, but because Jesus knew the rich man was not of the right state of mind, and too reliant on his wealth to let it go. Money is not the root of all evil, the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Subtle difference. The moral of the simile about the camel and the eye of the needle is that wealthy people are a lot less inclined to be in this state of mind than a poor person for obvious reasons. Being poor in and of itself doesn't win you any brownie points in heaven, but it's more "blessed" to be poor because the chances of your reliance on materialism is obviously a lot less, and the fall from poor to having nothing at all is lot less painful.

[Bernie]

There are two fundamentals of Christianity, vital and undeniable:

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire)....Thoughts?

But both are impossible for a fallen human being, clothed in a sin-ridden mind and body to acheive in space and time. This, if true, raises a new question: in what sense are the two axioms you've posted "vital and fundamental"? The Arminian might claim that they are vital and fundamental requirements an autonomous free agent must meet in order to gain eternal salvation. The Calvinist may say that they are the promises of a faithful, sovereign God to those He chose to eternal savlation. I'd agree with my Calvinist brethren, though I'm not a Calvinist per se.

[barley]

There are two fundamentals of Christianity, vital and undeniable:

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

Everything else, namely dogma or one's beliefs concerning the Trinity, Nature of God, Angels, Scriptures, etc... distracts a seeker from this fundamental message of charity and material detachment (to seek immaterial attachment).

Thoughts?

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

The greatest commandment is in Matthew 22:36-40. The greatest commandment being verse 37.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

There is no teaching that suggests that you leave your riches and ties to earthly existence. The question is one of priority. In some instances, for some people, such as the young rich man, JC taught him to get rid of his extra stuff. Every one needs clothes, food and shelter. The rich man could have had three vacation homes, etc. If he was serious about being a disciple, he needed to get rid of the excess baggage.

Everything else, namely dogma or one's beliefs concerning the Trinity, Nature of God, Angels, Scriptures, etc... distracts a seeker from this fundamental message of charity and material detachment (to seek immaterial attachment).

God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. II Peter 1:3-4.

To ignore the rest of scriptures is sheer foolishness.

Of course to ignore orthodox teaching of those subjects is wise, the orthodox teachings contain too much error.

barley

[barnasha]

1) Sin. All have sinned and fallen short, subjecting us to judgment and eternal condemnation.
2) Christ. God came in the flesh and died as a propitiation for our sins
3) Faith: We place our faith in Christ, believing that He is willing and able to save us from eternal condemnation and raise us to eternal life.

no mention of the commandments or the teachings?

[Glad-iator]

There are two fundamentals of Christianity, vital and undeniable:

-The "greatest commandment", do unto others as you would have them do unto you/love thy neighbor as thyself, etc. A variation (or perhaps the great Christian commandment is a derivitive) exists in Buddhist views on karma. Essentially, you receive what you give. Give garbage, receive garbage. Give love, receive in turn.

-"Give up everything and follow Christ", leave your riches and ties to Earthly existence and raise your Spiritual nature through material severence. Buddhism resembles this Christian salvific concept more closely, encouraging its adherents to remove attachment to the material realm (desire).

Everything else, namely dogma or one's beliefs concerning the Trinity, Nature of God, Angels, Scriptures, etc... distracts a seeker from this fundamental message of charity and material detachment (to seek immaterial attachment).

Thoughts?

On the contrary, Buddhism takes us away from Christianity. "Buddhism" and other such religions are false. I refuse to rely on a false religion to remind me of what I am supposed to do as a Christian.