Comparing Buddhism And Christianity

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causes of our future happiness and misery. Karma is entirely focused upon individuals -- group karma is impossible as it must relate to one person.
Christians believe that the efforts of another person or being (eg. Jesus, Virgin Mary, Saints, etc) can progress the spiritual condition of a single individual, and thus be the cause of their salvation, whereas Buddhists believe this is not possible and that only through personal effort can good be produced and bad reduced in the life of an individual. 'We save ourselves' is very much the message of Buddhism. In any case, Christians actually say no-one can be saved except through Christ. Which appears a little egotistic, to say the least. Buddhists do assert that certain saintly and highly gifted people exist and can help us, but they still maintain that personal salvation will only occur through your own personal effort. I would also contend that the profoundly judgemental Christian concepts of Sin, guilt and shame have been ...

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-- and correspondingly rather variable in their encouragement of it. Indeed, we can observe many who call themselves Christians who seem happily involved in killing, in acts of cruelty or in wars of belief, in the killing of animals for human consumption or in the amassing of large fortunes of personal wealth. Christianity thus seems to be ethically very hypocritical, and socially divisive, whereas most Buddhists are very clear about such matters and cannot become involved in killing, anger, crime, social divisiveness or indulgences like wealth. They realise the unhappiness (for self and others) which is created by involvement in such activities.
Buddhism encourages personal poverty, ...

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