You hear people say nowadays, “The universe will provide,” or “the universe this or that,” instead of God. This is Pantheism, “Pantheism is the philosophical religious belief that reality, the universe, and nature are identical to divinity or a supreme entity. The physical universe is thus understood as an immanent deity, still expanding and creating, which has existed since the beginning of time.” (Pantheism, Wikipedia). In contrast we Christians do not believe God is the Universe, but rather God created the universe, “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at The Word of God (Jesus, see John 1:1-14, Revelation 19:12-13)'s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible,” (Hebrews 11:3), “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him,” (John 1:1-3), and “The Preeminence of Christ: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross,” (Colossians 1:15-20). The universe and all things was made through Christ, the universe was forged by The Lord, and is at His feet,
“Lord, we lift you high, Oh God, be magnified
You have overwhelmed my heart
I'm amazed by who You are
The universe is at Your feet
And angels bow when You speak
So high above our greatest song
But still You call and we will come,” (Amazed, Kutless).
People now go around saying “that’s Karma,” or they “they deserve it, that’s Karma.” Its applied like the saying, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own sinful flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life,” (Galatians 6:7-8), but Karma is not simply “cause an effect, action equals reaction,” it is part of a a false religious system of reincarnation and rebirth, “Hinduism identifies karma as the relationship between a person's mental or physical action and the consequences following that action. It also signifies the consequences of all the actions of a person in their current and previous lives and the chain of cause and effect in morality.” (Kaa, WebMD), and “Karma (Sanskrit, also karman, Pāli: kamma) is a Sanskrit term that literally means "action" or "doing". In the Buddhist tradition, karma refers to action driven by intention (centa) which leads to future consequences. Those intentions are considered to be the determining factor in the kind of rebirth in samsara, the cycle of rebirth.” (Karma in Buddhism, Wikipedia). Hindus believe in reincarnation, Buddhists in rebirth. In Hinduism if you do your good karma (actions) you come back as better being & station in life or bad karma and you could come back as an ant. In Buddhism the opposite is sought, to stop the life, death and rebirth cycle of samsara; the ultimate goal of buddhism is to end the cycle of death and rebirth, because they believe this life is suffering; this end they call nirvana. We humans do not go through a cycle of reincarnation or rebirth; there is no reincarnation and coming back again and again when we die, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:27-28), and “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:14). We do not keep coming back and are rewarded for our good deeds with better lives or reach the end of coming back by ending a cycle of Buddhist rebirth. We are appointed to live once, and then we are judged by the Lord Almighty, “He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur (hell). This is the second death,” (Revelation 21:6-8), and we are judged by whither we believe this: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed” (John 3:16-20).
Another distinction is while the goal of Buddhists is to stop the cycle of coming back (rebirth) and thus end suffering, we Christians are told by the Lord and apostle to embrace suffering, “Anyone who wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me,” (Luke 9:23), “children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him,” (Romans 8:17). While Hindus try to escape suffering by the false hope of reincarnation, and Buddhists misguidedly seek to end suffering by stopping rebirth, we Christians are called to embrace suffering, to let it mold and shape us, to deepen our faith and help us grow. Suffering we are taught by our flesh and false teachings of false religions that run from suffering and the erroneous prosperity teachers in churches is something to mitigate, avoid, and eradicate. But Jesus set forth us an example, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). We see suffering in our post modern world and culture as evil, but suffering produces many good things, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5). Suffering leads to character building, it is like a fire that tests us and shapes us like gold in a furnace. The idea we should flee from suffering is Buddhist, Hindu, False Prosperity Teachings in the Church, and Post Modern ideology. If flee from suffering we are in effect allowing our vessels to remain twisted silver and gold, rather than shaped into a glorious vessel by suffering. Now a day will come when our suffering ends, when we are with Christ after we die or when He Returns, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4). Until we die or Jesus Comes on the Clouds of Heaven (Matthew 24:30):, we are to pick up our crosses (Matthew 16:24-25) and let suffering refine us in this world. To follow our Savior’s example. As we soon are to celebrate Good Friday, remember that The True God Jesus Christ does not delude mankind with the idea of escaping suffering in this life, but rather it is a tool to turn us more into His likeness and to grow, and know the depths of His glory if we will but let suffering produce perseverance, character, and hope in us. Amen.
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