Sweet Jesus

Good Lord, what has the news come to?

Fox News reporter Brit Hume suggested Tiger Woods find Jesus instead of messing around with this Buddha thing.  After all, as a Christian, according to Hume, Woods could commit sins then ask for forgiveness and everything would be OK.




What in the world?  What a retarded and pompous thing to say.  Who is Hume to judge?  Isn't God supposed to be the judge in the Christian faith anyway?

"Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" Genesis 18:25

Hume, like most proselytizing Christians, is such a hypocrite ( more on Christian hypocrites later as I have been thinking up a blog post on that topic).

And what does Jesus say about Woods' indiscretions?

"And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him.  But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." - John 7:53-8:11.

According to Jesus, it's OK to sin because everyone does it, just apologize and don't do it again.  That's what Tiger needs to do, apologize and don't do it again.

Hume doesn't seem to think Buddhism offers that same benefit package.

But in Buddhism, adultery is also against the rules.  It's one of the Five Precepts, or ethical rules, of Buddhism; don't kill, don't steal, no sexual misconduct (adultery), no lying, no drunkenness.

Hume's critique of Buddhism is that this religion allegedly doesn't allow for forgiveness of sins.  Once you've sinned in Buddhism, you have the bad karma and it sticks with you.  This assumes that sin and bad karma are exactly the same thing, which they are not.

In Buddhism, karma is action.  If you do bad things, you suffer somehow and lead a bad life.  If you do good things, your suffering is reduced and you lead a good life.  The focus is on what you are doing now and not what you did in the past or what you are going to do tomorrow.

So in Buddhism, if you want to "get rid" of bad karma, start doing good things.  That is your path to redemption.  That is nearly the same, in principle, as the Christian idea of redemption, just apologize and don't do it again.


"We want to cling to our own suffering. But the Buddha said very clearly, do not cling to the past, the past is already gone. Do not wait for future, the future is not yet there. The wise people establish themselves in the present moment and they practice living deeply in the present moment. That is our practice. By living deeply in the present moment we can understand the past better and we can prepare for a better future."  Thich Nhat Hanh

And I couldn't end this post without Jon Stewart's take on the story... 

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Temple of Hume
www.thedailyshow.com
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