Man's Search For Spirituality - E Christopher Reyes (jenna bush book club .TXT) 📗

beautiful maiden of Thessaly. Angry because Coronis was unfaithful to him, Apollo kills her and rips the unborn Asclepius from her womb. He later sends Asclepius to the centaur Chiron to be raised.
Asclepius learns all that Chiron knows about the art of healing and soon becomes a great physician. Because Asclepius threatens the natural order on earth by raising people from the dead, the god Zeus kills him with a thunderbolt. Prometheus, another Greek god, descends from Heaven as “God Incarnate as Man.”
Like Zoroaster, he was also called the “Logos,” and like Horus, he was called the “Word.” His intentions, like Jesus, Christna, Buddha, Mithras and Attis, is “To save mankind.” “The cave of the Vatican belonged to Mithra until 376 A.D., when a city prefect suppressed the cult of the rival Savior and seized the shrine in the name of Christ, on the very birthday of the pagan god, December 25.” ~Barbara G. Walker.
The Centaur is found on coins struck in Babylonia showing that the concept must have originally come from that era, and the Centaur is also found in the Zodiac, the antiquity of which goes up to a higher period, and which had its origin in Babylon.
The Greeks admit this antiquity and derivation of the Centaur; for though Ixion was commonly represented as the father of the Centaurs, they also acknowledge that the primitive Centaurus was the same as ‘Kronos,’ or ‘Saturn,’ the father of the gods. Kronos is the first King of Babylon, or Nimrod; consequently, the first Centaur is the same, created to manifest an aura of mystery regarding monarchial power.
The Centaur is the same as the zodiac sign ‘Sagittarius,’ or “The Archer.” The founder of Babylon's glory was “The Mighty Hunter,” whose name, even in the days of Moses, was “Wherefore, it is said, Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord.” ~Genesis 10:9.
BC 563-483-Prince Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha. “Between Buddhism and Christianity there are a number of resemblances, at first sight striking. The Buddhist order of monks and nuns offers points of similarity with Christian monastic systems, particularly the mendicant orders. There are moral aphorisms ascribed to Buddha that are not unlike some of the sayings of Christ. Most of all, in the legendary life of Buddha...there are many parallelisms, some more, some less striking, to the Gospel stories of Christ. A few third rate scholars [contend that these are borrowings from Buddhism. Why not, as everything else is?” ... “One of its most attractive features was its practice of benevolence towards the sick and needy. Between Buddhists and Brahmins there was a commendable rivalry in maintaining dispensaries of food and medicine” -- long claimed as a holy monopoly of ‘Christian Charity.’” ~Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 3, 28-34, passim.
‘The Supreme Brahm, the most Holy, the most high God, the Divine being, before all other gods; without birth, the mighty Lord, God of gods, the Universal Lord.” ~The Two Babylons or The Papal Worship Proved To Be The Worship of Nimrod and His Wife, By The Late Rev. Alexander Hislop.
Christians adopt the images and personas of world religious figures to further their favorable reception. Buddha preaches enlightenment through morality, meditation, and moderation.
81. He surrenders all his worldly powers and material wealth to help right injustices in the world.
82. Founder of a humanized religion and preached “The Way.”
83. A person who prays to “Bodhisattva” can be reborn into a paradise in the Buddhist cosmology.
Buddha is a “Divine Individual” who, like Christ and Christna, is believed to have been "Resurrected from the dead,” and just as many Christians now believe in an historical Christ, many Buddhists believe there existed a living, breathing Buddha.
Unfortunately, as with Jesus, there is little if any physical evidence supporting the claim Buddha ever walked the earth. All that is known is the legends and sayings surrounding the Buddha character predate Christ by five hundred years. Therefore, it could be argued that Christianity draws just as much from Buddhism as it does from Hinduism.
Just as Christ is said to have died while hanging from a tree, Buddha is believed to have expired while sitting at the foot of a tree. Some claim that Sakya Buddha was crucified, like Jesus, in a sin-atonement. Buddha, like Jesus, suffered for three days in hell, and was allegedly resurrected: Buddha ascended to Nirvana; Jesus arose to Heaven.
On his burial, Buddha's funeral clothes were said to have “Unrolled themselves, and the lid of his coffin was opened by a superhuman agency, when he ascended bodily into heaven.” Similar to Jesus, whose tomb was opened by an “Angel of the Lord,” who came and “Rolled back the stone.” During this period, an imperial edict, found possibly at Nazareth, decreed the death penalty for anyone who destroys a tomb, or casts out the buried, or “With evil intent removes them to some other spot.” ~M. P. Charlesworth, Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Claudius and Nero, Cambridge 1939, 15, no. 17.
Like Buddha, Jesus' grave clothes were all that were found in the empty tomb after his “Resurrection.” Going over Buddha's life one discovers that, like Jesus, he was known as the “Savior of the World” and the “Light of the World.” He was born of the Virgin Maya, who was considered the “Queen of Heaven.” Christna, Christ, and Buddha were of royal descent. Buddha was called by his disciples the “Good Shepherd,’ the “Carpenter,” the “Enlightened One,” and  the “Infinite and Everlasting.” Buddha grew up teaching chastity, temperance, tolerance, compassion, love, and the equality of all. It was Buddha who first said: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Similar to Matthew 5:39. These words are also attributed to Lao-Tze, 500 years before Jesus. Buddha, like Jesus, abolished idolatry, was a “Sower of the Word,” and preached “The establishment of a kingdom of righteousness.” He performed miracles and wonders, which included healing the sick. Like Jesus, Buddha was said to have “Walked on water” and to have fed 500 men from a “Small basket of cakes.”
In his final years, Buddha was said to have “Crushed a serpent's head” and to have been “Transfigured on a mount ...” The father of Chinese Buddhism, Hui-Neng [AD 638-713] teaches his pupils to apply the principles of “Seeing into nothingness” in order to maintain a state of “No mind,” in an attempt to transcend the processes of thought itself. The account given by Catholic Encyclopedia of the ‘Lord Buddha’ and of Buddhism, by the uncomplicated substitution of the names Christ [the name already being known as the Savior of Buddhism] is, ‘Crishna, the Incarnation,’ of the Supreme God Vishnu.
Christianity may well be mistaken for a sermon of this ancient ‘Holy Faith’ and Founder who would no more recognize the present day Christianity that acquired its name than would Buddha. “It is noteworthy that Buddha was a contemporary of two other famous religious philosophers, Pythagoras and Confucius. In the sacred books of later times Buddha is depicted as a character without a flaw, adorned with every grace of mind and heart.”
“There may be some hesitation in taking the highly colored portrait of Buddhist tradition as an exact representation of the original, but Buddha may be credited with the qualities of a great and good man. ... In all pagan antiquity no character has been depicted as so noble and attractive.Buddha's order was composed only of those who renounced the world to live a life of contemplation as monks and nuns... [In the time of King Asoka, 3rd century B.C.] Buddhism was in a most flourishing condition; it had become a formidable rival of the older religion [Brahmanism], while a tolerant and kindly spirit, [unknown to Christianity] was displayed towards other forms of religion… [By the 7th century CE, here it parallels Christianity again] an excessive devotion to statues and relies, the employment of magic arts to keep off evil spirits, and the observance of many gross superstitions, complete the picture of Buddhism, a sorry representation of what Buddha made known to men… The vast majority of the adherents of Buddhism cling to forms of creed and worship that Buddha, if alive, would reprobate Northern Buddhism became the very opposite of what Buddha taught to men, and in spreading to foreign lands accommodated itself to the degrading superstition of the people it Sought to win.”
It is now quite evident as to the intentions of the Holy Mother, the Universal Church of Rome as to why she vaccilates between the auspices of idols and icons, financial rewards. The Church makes millions upon the lack of knowledge of its congressional membership as to the history of its icons and religious facts. “Wheresoever the bishop shall appear, there let the people be; even as where Jesus may be there is the Universal Church.” ~Saint Ignatius, ad Smyrn., n. 8.

“It is now evident, and will further so appear, that there is no single novel feature nor "revealed truth" in all the Christian religion: our Holy Faith is all a hodgepodge or pot pourri of the credulitles of every superstition from Afric Voodooism to the latest one anywhere in holy vogue among the credulous. Even our ‘Idea’ of God with its superlatives of "revealed" high attributes is very primitive: The idea of a Being higher than man, invisible, inaccessible, master of life and death, orderer of all things, seems to exist everywhere, among the Negritos, the Hottentots, the Bantu, the Nigritians, the Hamites; for everywhere this Being has a name. He is the 'Great,' the 'Ancient One,' the 'Heavenly One,' the 'Bright one,' The 'Master,' sometimes the 'Author' or 'Creator'. ... Nowhere is He represented under any image, for He is incapable of representation.” ~Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. One, 183, 184, Forgery in Christianity by Jopseph Wheless, and the Bank of Wisdom, www.infidels.org.
BC 558-468-Darius I, King of Persia, in BC 552, the Magian Priests attempt to dethrone the king. Chief Priest Gaumatais is defeated. The events of the reign of Darius are carved into limestone for posterity in three languages. Called the “Behistun Inscription,” the languages written are: Cuneiform [Old Persian], Assyrian, and Elamite. The Cuneiform is from an ancient language dating back to about BC 3000.
BC 551-479-K’ung-Fu-Tzu, Confucius, taught high moral principles, ancient classics in Chinese literature, and power by example in a time rampant with crime, low morals, and excessive government corruption. Chinese communism in the 21st century still has to deal with government corruption.
BC 550-Jainism: Doctrine of Ahimsa, reverence for life [all living things] Members walked about unclothed until religious laws forced them to wear garments. In the 15th century, they reluctantly chose to wear white robes.
BC 539-Cyrus, Persian Ruler [Iran] conquers Babylonia and worships at the Temple of Marduk. Freedom is granted to the exiled Jews inhabiting Babylon. These Jews now speak Southern Aramaic, which is a tongue adapted from their previous conquerors. Later, Jesus [Yeshu, is the shortened version of the Hebrew Hehoshua, son of Nun] and his disciples will speak in the Northern dialect. The Greek term for Aramaic is Syriac. Jesus is accused of being a “Necromancer,  and a magician, and a deceiver of the people.” ~ Justin Martyr.
[Nigromantia, by folk etymology fr. LL necromantia, fr. LGk nekromanteia, fr. Gk nekr- + -manteia -mancy] (1522), conjuration of the spirits of the dead for purposes of magically revealing the future or influencing the course of events].” ~1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated.
He is said to have been initiated in the Magical Arts in the heathen temples of Egypt. Both Jesus, and Horus the Egyptian savior, are represented on monuments with magic wands, in the received guise of necromancers, while raising the dead to life. Father Justin Martyr treats the Pagan books of Christian evidences, as prophetic Scriptures