Brit Hume says that Christianity offers something that Buddhism does not.

Would you know how to articulate the things that are offered by Christ that are not offered by Buddha? Do you know the basic differences between Christianity and Buddhism?

Christianity is based on the self-revelation of the Trinitarian God who creates, redeems and sustains all things. Buddhism is based on a self-actualized life of enlightenment wherein an individual acknowledges that life is primarily suffering and tries to live as ethically as possible to reduce that suffering.

The Judeo-Christian tradition sees the source of that suffering as human sin and the solution as forgiveness from God. Christians believe that redemption comes only through Jesus Christ. Buddhists do not believe in the existence of a personal, revealed, active God. So, they have no belief in the concept of “sin” as offending such a Being. Therefore, in Buddhism, there is no hope that help might be offered from the “outside” to forgive or redeem.

According to the Buddhist law of karma, Tiger Woods is going to have to “redeem” himself. He is going to have to pay for whatever wrongs he's committed. There is no means in Buddhism for the proverbial slate to be wiped clean as Buddhism does not provide a mechanism for the forgiveness of sins nor the redemption of life by the benevolence of a loving, personal God.

For Buddhists, the only hope is to be found inside the self.  What Brit Hume offered was the possibility of forgiveness and a new life that comes from outside the self as a gift from a loving, gracious and merciful God.

Part of the challenge we face as Christians addressing this subject is that many of us have muddled thinking on the subject of sin. We do not have a decidedly “biblical” view but something much more syncretistic.  Many Americans have cobbled together a religion of their own making that has some “Christian” components like Christmas and heaven and the Golden Rule, but many non-Christian pieces come from Eastern religions as well.

As fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ we have to be exclusively with Jesus. Not Jesus plus Buddha, or Jesus plus New Age crystals, or Jesus plus astrology, or Jesus plus humanism, or Jesus plus anything. Just Jesus, no additives, fillers, preservatives, or foreign gods. As always, the examination of faith begins with our own.

For more on the subject, I recommend reading the Jan. 10 New York Times op-ed piece by Ross Douthat.

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