XBK Chat (unofficial archive)

ifegenia · Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 17

Who's That Knocking on the Door?
A Buddhist's Guide to Evangelical Christianity'

by Ven. S. Dhammika

Ven. Shravasti Dhammika, an Australian monk, is a regular contributor
to
newspapers and journals with perceptive observations on matters
related to
Buddhism, Buddhist culture and Buddhist practice. He is a
distinguished
lecturer who has spoken on Buddhism and Asian religions in
universities and
on television and radio in Australia and throughout Asia.

He is widely known for his thought provoking analysis on a number of
issues.
Ven Dhammika is the author of many popular books on Buddhism.

Ven. Dhammika's latest work is entitled 'Who's That Knocking on the
Door? A
Buddhist's Guide to Evangelical Christianity'.

The Buddhist Times (Vol. 2 No. 8 Unduvap 2546 - December 2003 issue)
has
published an extract from the forthcoming book Who's That Knocking on
the
Door? A Buddhist's Guide to Evangelical Christianity.

We reproduce this extract below via courtesy of Buddhist Times:

"About six months ago there was a knock on my door and I opened it to
find
two evangelicals Christians there. I knew they were evangelicals
because
they had that fake friendly smile on their faces, which all
evangelicals
have when they are trying to convert someone.

This was the third time that month that evangelists had come knocking
on my
door and disturbing me so I decided to teach them a lesson. 'Good
morning'
they said. 'Good morning' I replied. 'Have you heard about the Lord
Jesus
Christ'? They asked. 'I know something about him but I am a Buddhist
and I'm
not really interested in knowing more' I said. But like all
evangelists,
they took no notice of my wishes and proceeded to talk about their
beliefs.

So I said, 'I don't think you are qualified to speak to me about
Jesus'.
They looked very astonished and asked, 'Why not'? 'Because', I
said, 'you
have no faith'. 'Our faith in Jesus is as strong as a rock' they
insisted.
'I don't think it is' I said with a smile. 'Please open your Bible
and read
the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, verse 16, 17 and 18' I said and while
they
flicked through their Bibles I went quickly inside and came out again.

One of them found the passage and I asked him to read it out loud. It
said,
'He who believes and is baptized will be saved but he who does not
believe
shall be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe in
my
name. They shall cast out devils, they shall speak in tongues, they
will
handle snakes and if they drink poison it will not hurt them and they
will
lay hands on the sick and they will recover'.

When he finished I said, 'In that passage Jesus says that if you have
real
faith you will be able to drink poison and not die'. I took a bottle
of
Lankem from behind my back, held it up and said, 'Here is some poison.
Demonstrate to me the strength of your faith and I will listen to
anything
you have to say about Jesus'.

You should have seen the looks on their faces! They didn't know what
to say.
'What's the problem'? I asked. 'Is your faith not strong enough'? They
hesitated for a few moments and then one of them replied, 'The Bible
also
says that we must not test God'. 'I'm not testing God', I said, 'I'm
testing
you. You love to witness for Jesus and now is your big opportunity'.

Finally one of them said, 'We will go and speak to our pastor about
this
matter and come back and see you. 'Ill be waiting for you' I said as
they
scurried away. Of course they never came back again. Here is a bit of
advice.

Keep a copy of this Bible reference and a bottle of Lankem ready and
every
time the evangelists come to your door to harass you give them this
test.
You might like to have a polanga ready as well.

Evangelical Christians are often predicting that the world is going
to end
very soon and Jesus is going to come again. When I was 18, I remember
very
distinctly that the Jehovah's Witnesses came to our house and told me
that
the world was going to end in 1975. If you find any old Watch Tower
or Awake
magazines from that period you will see many articles about the world
ending
in 1975. Of course they were wrong, just as they were wrong when they
predicted that the world was going to end in 1895 and again in 1914.
In the
1990's many churches were claiming that the world was going to end in
2000.

Some naive and impressionable people were frightened enough to
believe this
nonsense and converted to Christianity. In 1991 I was working in a
particular place and every lunchtime, I would go to the restaurant on
the
ground floor. One day I met three young men who told me that they
were doing
part time work for a man on the 5th floor. One day as we sat having
lunch
together the subject got on to religion and they told me that their
boss
believed that the world was going to end in 2000.

One of them was obviously a little frightened by this possibility and
asked
me what I thought about it. 'It is complete nonsense' I said. 'I don't
believe it and I guarantee that your boss doesn't really believe it
either.'
'Oh but he does' the three boys said. They told me that he had books
on the
subject and he had showed them passages in the Bible proving that the
world
was going to end in nine years. 'I tell you, your boss doesn't really
believe that', I said.

'Do you mind if we tell him that' they said and I told them that I
didn't
mind. The next day the man together with the three boys came to see
me. We
had a friendly chat about Christianity and then we got onto the
subject of
the end of the world. The man insisted that the Bible clearly
predicted that
the world was going to end and that he had utter faith in the Bible.

I laughed at him. 'You Christians are so confused and lacking in
awareness
that you don't know what you believe' I said. 'You have no right to
doubt
the depth of my faith' the man said, now a little annoyed. I said, 'I
can
prove that you don't really believe the end of the world and Jesus'
return.
'Prove it then'! he challenged. The three boys were now listening to
our
discussion very intently. 'Alright'! I said. 'Do you believe that the
world
is going to come to a complete end in the year 2000'?

'Absolutely'! said the man. 'The Bible predicts it and I believe it
will
happen'. 'Okay' I said. 'I have a friend who is a lawyer. I will ask
him to
come here tomorrow and you and I will draw up a proper legally binding
contract in which you will agree to give me all your property - your
house,
your business and all your assets - in the year 2001. Do you agree to
do
that'?

The man was flabbergasted. He didn't know what to say. 'Come on', I
said.
'If you are right, and you insist you are, in 2001 I will be in hell
and you
will be in heaven with Jesus where you wont need all your worldly
goods'.
'This is just silly' said the man now very flustered.

Now one of the boys joined in. 'Its does not seem silly to me. It
seems like
a good chance for you to prove you beliefs'. 'I agree' I said. 'Now
is your
big chance to demonstrate how genuine you and strong your faith is.
These
boys might be so impressed that they might become Christians. Put
your faith
where your mouth is'.

The man became very angry, got up and walked away. The three boys were
smiling and the one who had been a little frightened about the end of
the
world was smiling the most.

kyra · Joined: 19 Apr 2004 Posts: 66

Great post!! Laughing

Yes is it sad how many people blindly follow something and deep down they know they are attempting to follow and believe in something that they don't.

Guest · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:20 am Post subject:

I kinda need a house within the coming year, so, if anybody out there beliefs in any ending of the world around that particular period, I'd be glad to receive his properties at that time. Thank u.

Guest · Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 9:31 am Post subject:

We can only but laugh at others' pathetic little beliefs.

But we must never forget about our own pathetic little beliefs.

They must be laughed at too.