Recently somebody posted an old talk by Pastor Mark Ng of New Creation Church on youtube where he pokes fun at Chinese beliefs and customs. In that talk he raised an interesting point about triad gangsters and policemen in HK both praying to the deity Guan Gong, so if they clash, Guan Gong wouldn't know who to protect. So according to him there was no point praying to idols since they wouldn't protect you. But in reality, Guan Gong is very clear which devotees he would protect. There was also an article on 13/6/2010 discussing this topic (seen above).For over 1,700 years, the Chinese have regarded the deity of General Guan as a personification of loyalty and righteousness. In Taoism he is revered as a high ranking warrior god, whereas in Buddhism, he is a well respected Dharmapala guarding all Mahayana temples. Triads pray to him for his loyalty, as they want the triad members to be loyal to the leaders and the underworld code of honor. Police pray to him for his righteousness, asking for protection while they do their jobs to maintain law and order. So there is no contradiction there as each side has their own objectives in praying to the same deity. However, for triad members who engage in highly unwholesome trades like selling drugs or assassinations, no deity can protect them from the consequences of their own evil karma. As for policemen, as long as they remain upright in their daily lives, they will be protected by the deity. This is because like all guardian deities, Guan Gong respect the righteous and disdain the wicked. Nobody can be immoral and disloyal and yet expect protection from such divine beings. That's the simple truth. Indeed, to say Guan Gong does not protect his devotees would be to deny the fact that the worship of this deity has endured from the end of the 3 Kingdoms era until today. As long as people remember the traditional values of loyalty and righteousness, Guan Gong will remain in their hearts forever.
6 comments:
Christians worship cross and symbols of Jesus on the cross. I cannot understand why they do not call themselves seeking protection from a gangster and his "father" who issue subtle threat that they will only admit Christians to heaven and condemn all non believers to eternal hell. I found it funny that there are only Christians in heaven.
I raised this cos 2 months ago my 8 year old son walked to me and asked me if he and I are going to hell cos his friend (another 8 year old) told him non Christians go to hell. It is not hard to guess who brainwashed this 8 year old kid to condemn all non Christians to hell.
I had to explain to my son that good people go to Heaven irrespective of gender, race, religion, belief.
Yes, God creates mankind, and for thousands of years, the majority of mankind goes to hell to burn for eternity, because the majority refuse to obey him. This will continue until the end of the world (if it happens). WHY didn't God foresee all that, and do something about it, in advance ? Isn't he supposed to be the almighty and the all-knowing ? Or is Christianity another superstition ?
The fact that pastors like Mark Ng have to resort to poking fun at traditional Chinese beliefs or other non-Christian beliefs only proves that they are spiritually inferior because they are uncapable of practicing respect of other religious traditions. It also points to the fact that they cannot even proselytize their own religious teachings based on its own merits, since they feel they must always denounce other religions. Although everyone certainly understands that one of their primary objectives is to win converts, their manner of attempting to do so is offensive and disrespectful. On another note, I wonder if any Christians know that from the perspective of Buddhist teachings, their so-called "God" is only a being in the Deva realm (like Brahma), and therefore inferior to the level of a fully enlightened Buddha? I hope that some of these disrespectful Christians can take THAT and think about it.
The truth is we can rely on nobody else except ourselves for salvation. Heaven and hell originate from our own mind, and there is no God or gods who can bring or throw us there if we did not create the conditions for it in the first place. The path to awakening starts right there.
Wayne,
I am one of the administrators for the blogisattva awards and was wondering if I could ask you something. You can email me at krlovett at gmail.com
Thanks!
Kyle
I also have been having this nagging question for years -- A good man who has done good deeds all his life will go to hell cos he doesn't not believe in Jesus. A totally sinful man who has killed, raped and harmed numerous will go to heaven cos he repents at his deathbed and accepts Christ. Is this fair?
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