[S I M T A N]

Gautama was a prince who was probably a thinker, who left his wife to seek the meaning of life.  He had all that his father could throw at him, that his wealth could buy but still he was not happy.  All the material wealth, the good food, fine clothes, beautiful dancers and the best of the best court musicians did not give him what he wanted.

As Christians, we all know this too well, that Man does not live by bread alone but by every word which proceedeth from the mouth of God.   However successful we are at studying, in career or business, in raising chewren, we know that there is a spiritual void, and when we receive the Lord Jesus and let Him come into our life, everything about and in this world begins to make sense.  You need to deal with your EGO and PRIDE, get on your knees if you must, and ask the Lord to open your eyes to let you see and not just see but understand, and not just understand, but then take that first step to do, which is to confess and repent, and receive Christ into your life.

Gautama was not God or god and he never once said he was.  Some peepur may say he will never be reborn again because he has reached nirvana, and that is arguable.  I will not argue with you on that except to state that he was and is not God.  And no Buddhist would challenge me if I say that he was a man all through his life, and did all that a man would do including eating, bathing, putting on clothes, getting married and becoming a father.  I would also agree with you if you counter, but then!  but then!  Jesus did the same, except that He did not marry.  He ate, He slept, He wore clothes, He had to depend on two legs to walk about, He was a man!  You are damn right.  Jesus was God in the flesh. 

He came to his own, into this world, but the world knew Him not.

If you wish to know why God took the form of a man, I would be glad to explain.  Let me know.

The Bible says that Jesus died for the SIN of the world so that all mankind could be saved.  Jesus was not the first man God raised from the dead.  It was Lazarus.  God raised Lazarus from the dead to show the peepur that He had power over Death yet they crucified Jesus.  They were blinded just like you.

But there is a difference and a big one.

Lazarus was raised from the dead in SIN, and eventually died again.  Jesus was raised from the dead SINLESS AND WILL NEVER DIE AGAIN!  Hallelujah! 

Buddhism is about the 4NT and 8FP.  It's just stating the obvious.  You suffer because of desires. Of course.  We all know that. Right now, I am eyeing a Picard wallet, went to Isetan at Tampines last night to look see look see, but could not decide between Picard, Santa Barbara, Valentino Rudy and Goldlion, which were all screaming "Buy me!  Buy me!  I am on offer!  Got big discounts!"

Remove the desires, and you remove suffering.  That's a tall order.  While writing this, I am still thinking of that Picard wallet wor.  Made of calf leather, not cow leather.  There's a difference...

But even if you can deal with the Picardish desire,  you will still die.  Christ offers to you HOPE of eternal life.  You don't die but will live, reconciled with Almighty God who created all of us.  You are His Creation, and even if you deny it, it does not detract from the TRUTH and FACT that He is your Creator..  

For a layman, you know a fair amount about the mainstream religions, the nature and meaning of existence. In terms of content, your write-up is good. It provides some enlightenment about spiritual matters and voyage, a welcome change from worldly concerns and the cares of everyday life though it's also been given a cold welcome by your nemeses.

People whose motto is to eat, drink and be merry may not be leading empty, meaningless lives nor feel something missing from their lives now. There may come a point in a man's life when he has to think deeply about his life, his future and perhaps face the fact of his own mortality with the passing of a loved one.

When life throws him a few curveballs he may not know how to handle it, and it may leave him feeling empty and bitter. Listening to his inner voice is the first step along the road to recovery and maybe to Damascus too.