Coversational Apologetics:Jesus Talks with Buddha
When once asked "who would be your dream interview?" Larry King without hesitating said "Jesus Christ of Nazareth!" Well, Larry will have his day in the sun, or should I say his day before the Son, as we all will, when Jesus returns and judges the deeds of men. Needless to say the world would have tuned in for that conversation, ratings would have hit the proverbial ceiling and beyond.While I’m on this course of thought, what other conversations would make your millennium, if you had the chance to witness them? Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X; Martin Luther and Brian McLaren; Lemuel Haynes and T.D. Jakes; what about John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius?
In the book 'The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus talks with Buddha', author and apologist Ravi Zacharias gives us a respectable, and God honoring glimpse into the what if. In a conversational apologetic style, Ravi brings us court side into what the conversation might of been like, if Jesus Christ spoke with other influential figures in history who represent opposing world-views to that of the Judeo/Christian worldview. In 'The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus talks with Buddha' Dr. Zacharias builds a dialogue using the lives of the core figures and the core doctrines taught in both world-views (Christianity and Buddhism) to expose differences, inconsistencies, and misperceptions, while dealing with the deepest existential troubles of the soul. Here's an excerpt from the book:
"Buddha: I lived in a happy household with a host of material comforts. My parents gave me a very sheltered life. Actually, just seven days after I was born my mother died and I was raised by my aunt, whom my father married after the death of my mother. While still young, I married my cousin Yasodhara. She was a devoted wife. My parents had great hopes for us, and they wanted me to be shielded from all pain and suffering.
Ah! There's a key word, Jesus: suffering! Long before you came into this world-I wrestled with this issue. The answer to this problem became the ultimate quest of my life.
Jesus: Your pursuit has obviously inspired your followers. But I think it's important that before you proceed we lay to rest this notion of "long before I was born."
Centuries before pain and suffering became your pursuit, one of the patriarchs of old, a man by the name of Job, wrestled with it night and day. I'm not sure you've even heard of him. In fact Priya, I should add that he suffered even though he was a morally upright man. You can imagine his soul search in trying to figure it all out.
The answer he found was drastically different than yours, Gautama. And in his story, Satan played a pivotal role-even as he did in yours, your discomfort with the idea of the evil one notwithstanding.
Buddha: This must've happened long before my time, because I haven't heard of Job.
Jesus: And if we must talk about who predates whom, another of my choice servants was Abraham, who also lived long before you. He lived to be a very old man, and I know the infirmities of old age particularly troubled you. But just when Abraham thought life was over, God birthed a miracle. Modern history and some of its anguish harkens back to what happened in Abraham's household.
I say all that just to say this: Abraham came more than a thousand years before you. And just for the record before Abraham was, I Am.
That is why John the Baptizer, who announced my coming, said of me, "There comes one after me who is greater than me because he is before me."
So time ought not to be a factor of seniority here, if you don't mind. Those who define truth by he calendar run afoul of Him who created time."
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