The God Connect

Early on Christianity had a split.  It happens to all religions and spiritual paths.  For Christians it was circumcision versus relationship with Jesus.  Circumcision meant that you were in the club.  It was something done to you, like baptism or initiation rites.  It is a one time thing.  Throughout Christianity many people felt that was enough.  It seemed to include a belief in God as some entity separate from the believer, like a tree or a rock.  Relationship not necessary.  The other side of Christianity was John's Gospel, the vine and the branches.  You had to have an ongoing relationship, e.g. prayer and meditation.  Going to services did not guarantee much because many people do that and then don't give God much time until the next worship service.  You cannot be a once, now and again vine on a branch.  In Buddhism, it says that if you see the Buddha, kill him.  What?  If you see the Buddha as a separate entity from yourself, you are going in the wrong direction.  Buddhist meditation is  about connection, not with Buddha, but with other sentient being, people.  Why else would a Bodhisattva give up Nirvana to go and bring others onto the path?  Compassion, love, self-sacrifice are part of all spiritual ways.  I meet people who say the are Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Moslems and Christians, but there is no daily relational practice, much less connection with the suffering people around them. These paths are not clubs you join.  For Christians, God is either a relationship or there is no God.  That is why we have Trinity as central to us.  God is relational or else not God.