The Legacy of Jacob - Moriel Ministries

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Moriel Thailand Scott Noble B a n g k o k S k y l i n e R i c e f i e l d s C h i a n g M a i Introducing our New missionary to . . . thailand Introduction to Thailand ministries: We have Bible studies with students twice a week during the week and bring students to church on Sundays. Most of these students are either young Christians or non- Christians, and we actively try to invite new students to come. We also have camps with students about once a month, where the Bible is the focus. I have a Bible study with a young Shan Christian once a week, too. This man owns a small restaurant. He was a novice monk in the past, but now is a committed Christian. His Shan friend once asked him why he worships a God that he cannot see, instead of the Buddhist idols which can be seen, and Mana replied to him that those idols have eyes, but cannot see, and ears, but cannot hear, but he has a living God! Also I teach English and Bible at the women’s prison in Chiang Mai once a week. My wife Khae has been going home to visit her parents about once a month now, and just a few weeks ago her Dad decided to become a Christian. We gave him a big altar Bible with large print in Thai, and he’s been reading the Bible each day. Please pray for him, and Khae’s Mom and older brother who are not Christians yet, and also for the students that we work with, that God would give the increase. Thank you for your prayers for His kingdom and His glory. Jacob’s trip... Jacob was in Thailand from January 7th till the 16th. On Sunday the 8th he preached a message at an English Mennonite church 24 Moriel Quarterly • March 2012 here about the dangers of the New Age Movement- that just as many were not ready for Jesus’ first coming, so many Christians won’t be ready for his second coming. Thus, we should not go with the flow of modern ecumenical movements, but rather we should be faithful to God’s Word. Later in the week, we went to Thailand’s northern border, and crossed into Burma, where Jacob, myself, and one Thai student preached the gospel open air in a market place in Thai and in English. We also handed out many gospels of John in Burmese there. There were many Muslim vendors there. On Saturday we took some university students for a Bible camp. Jacob taught them a very basic message on the difference between grace as opposed to trying to earn salvation by works (sewing fig leaves). Though it was a very basic message, it was also a very important message, and many students said they understood the concepts more clearly. On Sunday, Jacob preached at a Hmong church and I translated for him into Thai. There was also good feedback from the students about this message, which was about Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and resurrection, and how each person in the Christian walk faces similar circumstances as did Barabas, the thief on the cross, Simon who carried Jesus’ cross, and Cleopas who walked and talked with Jesus, but who did not recognize Jesus at first, because he did not know his Bible well enough. We also visited a long-neck village and the Opium Museum,both very interesting. Part Two, continued from the December issue: Other Parallels While surfing the web, I came across two lists of parallels between Jesus and Buddha in a discussion forum, posted by the same individual. The first list has 27 parallels, and the second list has 13 parallels. On an Islamic sponsored website the first list mentioned above was given in a streamlined fashion, with 22 parallels. In these parallels, scripture references from the Bible are given for Jesus, but for Buddha, with the exception of one Buddhist scripture reference, these were referenced by giving the name of a scholar. This has made it difficult to track down the scripture locations for these items about Buddha, especially since the Pali canon alone (not taking into account all of the scriptures of other schools) is approximately 15 times the size of the Bible. Fortunately though, I did find a good book which did this work for me. This is the third book which I mentioned: “The Life of Buddha as Legend and History” by Edward J. Thomas. In this book there are 16 parallels which Edwards considers noteworthy (these are based on van den Bergh’s work). Incidentally, the one Buddhist scripture mentioned in the list of 40 parallels, comes from the 11th century AD! That reference was from the Kathasaritsagara: “Although its dates have not been conclusively established, the Kathasaritsagara is said to have been compiled by a Kashmiri Saivite Brahmin called Somadeva in AD 1070. Legend has it that Somadeva composed the Kathasaritsagara for queen Suryavati, wife of King Anantadeva
Scott Noble who ruled Kashmir in the eleventh century.” Of the 40 parallels mentioned above, many can be dismissed just by making the same comparisons with people in general or religious leaders in particular. Items such as they both fasted for a long time, they were about the same age when they began public ministry (Jesus 30; Buddha 35- though Buddha’s age is debatable here), the multitudes required a sign from both, both taught compassion both were of royal descent (in the case of Buddha this is debatable), could be said of many people, especially a religious leader. Thomas (1927) summarizes the work of several scholars in this area of study: Seydel’s fifty instances are reduced by van den Bergh to nine. In proportion to the investigator’s direct knowledge of the Buddhist sources the number seems to decrease. E. W. Hopkins discusses five ‘cogent parallels’, but does not consider any of them very probable. Garbe assumes direct borrowing in four cases, Simeon, the Temptation, Peter walking on the sea, and the Miracle of the loaves and fishes. Charpentier considers Simeon the only unobjectionable example. Other scholars reject all connexion. In any case the chief events of the life- birth, renunciation, enlightenment, and the death, the very items which might give strength to the comparison- disappear from the question. (247-248) Rather than going through all of these, I’ll just address some of the key ones. In the case of Simeon seeing Jesus at the temple, and Asita going to see the infant Gautama, regarding the Buddhist scripture (Nalakasutta of the Sutta-nipata), Thomas says, “It is clearly late, as is shown by the reference to the thirty-two marks; and as it is in general agreement with the Sanskrit accounts, there is nothing to prove that it is as early as the pre-Christian era” (39). The thirty-two marks refer to physical characteristics used to identify a potential Buddha. This is thought to be a later Mahayana development (K.R. Norman, 1983, Pali Literature: including the canonical literature in Prakrit and Sanskrit of all the Hinayana schools of Buddhism, 42). James Kennedy (1917), in his article “The Gospels of the Infancy, the Lalita Vistara and the Vishnu Purana”, addresses the walking on water parallel: The story occurs in the introduction to Jataka No. 190…in this case all we know is that the story of the monk, and the Jataka which follows it, were considered old enough to be included among 546 others, when the Jataka book was compiled in the fifth or sixth century A.D. (528) Regarding the multiplying of food parallel, Kennedy writes, “Like the story of the monk we have just discussed, it occurs in the introduction to a Jataka [No. 78], and is subject to the same comment” (529). Another parallel claim made regards the prodigal son stories of Buddha and Jesus. For an excellent description of the content differences in these stories, please see the following website: (www.comparativereligion. com/prodigal.html). This story in Buddhist scriptures is found in the Saddharmapundarika sutra. According to the following Buddhist website, the composition date of this volume is later than the composition of Luke (the gospel in which Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son). Luke was Luke’s first volume, the second being the book of Acts (both of which are dated before 63 AD). Here’s the dating assigned to the Saddharmapundarika (also known as the “Lotus Sutra”): Contains elements of various eras. The final edition is believed to have taken place around 200 CE, but a lot of later interpolations are found within it. The Buddha here is not a historical figure, but the manifestation of an eternal, abstract ‘Buddhahood’. Further, it contains the doctrines of ‘Expedient Means’ (upaya) and of the ‘One Vehicle’ (ekayana) www.akshin.net/literature/budlitsourcessanskrit.htm Shin Buddhism (a form of Pure Land Buddhism developed in Japan) This form of Buddhism has been thought of by many to be very similar to Christianity, because the end goal is a “pure land,” and achieving that goal is not based on self-effort, but through the merits of Amida Buddha. There are, however some serious differences between Christianity and Shin Buddhism. When seeking out a doctor, people want to be sure that the doctor’s training has taken place at a reputable school, that the doctor is basing the diagnosis on medical facts rather than just speculation, etc. When it comes to the soul, how much more important is it to establish the reliability of the source and the content of claims Looking at Shin Buddhism in this way, there are some serious insufficiencies: Dharmakara’s credibility: Dharmakara is said to have been a king who gave up his throne to become a monk and later became Amida Buddha. It is claimed he lived approximately 65 billion years ago- using the time unit of a kalpa, which can also be interpreted as being “inconceivably long” (http:// www.akshin.net/pureland/pl-purelandbuddhism-partone. htm). If this is the case, why did he wait until the 2nd century AD (some say the 2nd century B.C.) to reveal this plan of his pure land It seems rather suspect that this concept was not developed until after Siddhartha Gautama made his claims. Dharmakara’s limitations: Even if we are to believe this person existed, he was still just a man, who was preceded by another Buddha, and who spent approximately 22 billion years (apparently not as a man at this point), studying other Buddha lands, in order to develop his famed “Pure Land.” Already it’s apparent that he’s not on the same level as God Almighty as revealed in the Bible. No atonement: Shin Buddhists place their faith in Amida Buddha to secure salvation for them. Unfortunately, this is like trusting Moriel Thailand a homeless man to pay our million dollar bail to get out of jail. He barely has the means to sustain himself, let alone get us out of the jail caused by our sins. Anyone with their own sins to deal with (which is everyone, including Dharmakara if we are to suppose he existed), can only take the punishment for their own sins. Even then though, being imperfect, this bearing of sins can only fulfill justice. It can’t pay for salvation. Only Jesus, being God in the flesh, and sinless, could take the punishment for others. Shinran’s choice of patriarchs (focusing on the first patriarch): Shinran is the man who developed Shin Buddhism into what it is today. He lived in Japan from 1173- 1262 AD. In an attempt to establish authority for his new interpretation of Pure Land, Shinran chose seven patriarchs: He acknowledged Sakyamuni Buddha as being the voice of Amida Buddha, and then named the first patriarch- Nagarjuna, a man in India who lived from c. 150 AD- c. 250 AD . This wide gap from the time of Sakyamuni Buddha, to the time of the first patriarch (500 years, if not more) shows just how far removed from the original it is. Also, Nagarjuna is said to have had interactions with giant snakes, just as Sakyamuni encountered Mucalinda: Mahayana tradition explains the chronological discrepancy by contending that they were indeed taught by the Buddha to advanced disciples, but that he ordered that they be hidden in the underwater realm of nagas (beings with snakelike bodies and human heads) until the time was right for their propagation. The legend further reports that the second-century philosopher Nagarjuna (fl. ca. 150 C.E.) was the person preordained by Buddha to recover and explicate the Perfection of Wisdom texts. After one of his lectures, some nagas approached him and told him of the texts hidden in their kingdom, and so Nagarjuna traveled there and returned with the sutras to India. This is a man who was taught by giant snakes! How can we entrust ourselves to such teachings What parents would leave their baby in the care of a cobra Half of Nagarjuna’s name is of Hindu origin, and the other half comes from his interactions with these nagas: When he preached the Dharma in the monastery park, the nagas performed acts of reverence such as six of the serpents forming a parasol to shade him from the sun. Having thus become the Lord of the Nagas, the Acarya was named “The Naga”. Because his skill at spreading the Mahayana Dharma resembled the shooting speed and mastery of the famed archer Arjuna, he became known as well as “The Arjuna” Shin Buddhism’s scriptures: Shin Buddhism is based on the writings of the seven patriarchs, as well as on the three primary texts: scriptures of this tradition [Pure Land in general] (which later became known as the Triple Sutras) appeared during the ini- March 2012 • Moriel Quarterly 25
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