--- In [email protected], "sparaig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "jim_flanegin" <jflanegi@> wrote: > > > > Granted the world's great religions like Christianity, Buddhism, > > Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism and Islam all preach being 'good' and > > doing 'good'. Because most if not all of the spiritual teachers > > in the world have had exposure to religion, they too profess > > being 'good' as a condition for enlightenment. > > > > But why is this then taken as a truth? In some religions, like > > Christianity and Buddhism, being 'good' and doing 'good' are > > seen as major cornerstones to achieving salvation. There are > > some on this forum who have said it is more enlightened if > > someone does 'good', than if they meditate, so this idea is > > widespread. > > > > What is the reason for this? Is it because we just thoughtlessly > > associate being 'good' with being enlightened? Or is there a > > direct, provable and causal link between being 'good' and > > attaining enlightenment? > > > > I don't think there is any connection between the two, at all. > > Hmmm... Budddhism doesn't have salvation, per se, and > Christ explicitly said that "good works alone" won't > get you to heaven....
There's been a long-running debate about faith vs. works for about as long as Christianity has existed. Paul came down on the "faith" side, but it seems his followers took this a bit too literally, thought all they had to do was say, "Oh, yeah, I have faith," and then sit back and relax. James then chastised such people for being lazy, but what *he* wrote was interpreted too literally the other way, as meaning "works" were the only way to get to heaven. Martin Luther resolved the apparent contradiction, saying that doing good works doesn't make a person good, but a good person will do good works--which sounds a lot like "spontaneous right action." However, as Bhairitu pointed out, it's not always easy to tell which actions are "right" and which aren't, which gets back to Krishna's "Unfathomable is the course of action," even to the enlightened.
