The Convenience Store Across the Way, Paying-Goodness-Forward, Christianity's Hope vs. Buddhism's Reality, and Defining Moments

Uncle MythMan says ...

The convenience-store across the way (on the corner of Classen & NW 27th) gave me the leftover bottle of hydrogen-peroxide I needed to clean a cut the other day.

And that giving plants a seed whose growth is my responsibility until such time as I pass it on. That's why the Christians' Golden Rule is often understood as 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'

Enlightenment allows one to see the causes of 'doings' and their possible effects. In human experience, we often see others' doings as "effects in themselves" (e.g. someone is asked to move in with someone else, the unenlightened leader thinks the ending-effects there are 'moving in together' or 'not moving in together'), but enlightenment shows one's 'doings' to be further 'causes' of the desired 'effect' (in the example, that the two aid each other in the journey of life).

In other words, "assume the best cause." Mine is 'to make me good for God,' which is why Christians hate me—in lots of cases, 'good for God' is bad for Christianity. I don't care—that is what Jesus meant when He said, "It is finished."

That is what many perceive Jesus's defining moment to be. That's when (according to the New Testament) the 'price' was 'paid,' the tabernacle-veil was rent-asunder, and Jesus went to Hell. (Many say His 'defining moment' was actually when He appeared to his disciples three days later, but that was just to "prove He was the Son of God.")

At the 'it is finished'-moment, he "figured-up the tally: bad fruit eons ago = destructive punishment and death today ... done! and ... done!"

But a man is not defined by how things turn out; rather, he is defined by how he handles things before they turn out—following Jesus' rule, we ought to see Him by the same definition ...

More-"How He Became the Christ"

When Satan tempted Him to use His Godly power to satisfy his mortal hunger, He refused-to and received reward for His patience. When betrayed by Judas, He held His friends from protecting Him and went off peacefully. When Pilate asked if He were "King of the Jews," He replied in truth (rather than in the lip-service to Caesar that would have 'saved His life.')