Wickwoman said:
You’ve heard the saying: “it’s all good.” There are things that happen to us and we judge them constantly as good or bad. The first key: they do not happen TO us, they just happen. The second key: they are neither good nor bad, they just are.
It depends a great deal as to what you mean exactly by “they.” You said that
they are those things that happen that we judge as either good or bad.
Now it is true that some things happen that are neither good nor bad. A plane arrives late, that ‘s bad for the guy on the plane who needs to get to a meeting and will now be late to that meeting. It is good for the guy who left a meeting late and, were it not for the delay of the plane, would not be able to get back home to his family.
So there are
some things that are neither good or bad, they just are.
However, there are also some things that I think we can accurately identify as bad.
The senseless beating of a homosexual to death by some very angry students outside of Laramie Wyoming is not, in my opinion, just somethin’ that happened.
It can be said rightly that this was bad, and that it happened to that young man.
Would you disagree?
Do you see how that is an important qualification to your statement?
Now you said:
This is a Buddhist way of thinking about the things that arise that we would judge as good or bad: “it’s all buddha.” For all that happens is part of the whole. The good parts of us, the bad parts of us, are all part of our essence. Without the experiences that shape us – good and bad – we would not be the people we are today. Without the experiences that will come along today and tomorrow, we would not be the people we are to be in the future.
Ah, here again are elements I can agree with. To start with the agreement, there is the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery, made the scapegoat of a setup, thrown into prison, came out of prison to become the second most powerful man in the largest and most powerful kingdom on the earth at that time, and finally brought drought relief to his father and his brothers who had sold him into slavery.
His statement when he finally confronted his brother was, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
It is true that all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. And in many ways the things we judge ignorantly as bad are really seminal moments in our lives shaping us to be the people God intends for us to be.
I hear the doomsday messages of some religions today and think to myself lately, “it’s all buddha.” I am not alarmed at the growth of “sin.” When I see the world, I see the evolution of humanity towards an ever higher awareness of the earth, ourselves, and of God.
I am assuming by Buddha you mean “teaching.” That it is all “teaching.”
For, if I am correct, that is what the word "buddha" means. I don’t think that “the Buddha” would claim that everthing was him. But I know that Balder can inform us better here. So I agree that, to a great degree, everything is teaching.
God’s purposes will not be thwarted. His redemptive plan will be realized regardless of those who turn against him. So I also, don’t pay much attention to doomsday messages. In fact, I don’t really see a whole lot of doomsday messages in the word. I see apocalypse, which really means revealing or uncovering. I do see times of tribulation but those are all temporary and passing and the end of tribulation is the beginning of the goal of redemption.
But I am alarmed at sin, namely my own. I have enough trouble being alarmed at my own sin to pay an inordinant amount of attention to anyone elses. I see that the track that my sin would have me follow is the same track that the world, with its sin, is on, and the end is destruction, for sin is destined to be destroyed. The only hope is not to “live without resistance” to it, but to battle against it.
Were those students to battle against their own hatred, perhaps a young man would still be alive….
Grace and Peace
P.S. Haven’t seen you in awhile, hope everything was ok..
