A good medicine vs. a bait

The original korean text: http://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025415919

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(donga.com's netizen forum, May 16, 2005)

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A good medicine tastes bitter. I haven't eaten wild ginseng, but I'm sure it, too, surely tastes bitter (for it is a good medicine). However, such a good medicine tastes bitter but (if eaten) gives good results.

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Christianity is like a good medicine. The Bible declares all human beings guilty, so some of them avoid Christianity. Is there anyone that is glad to hear he is bad? But such a declaration of Christianity is essential for a human being to be whole. If you tell a man of his sickness correctly, he'll pay attention to his health, go to hospital and be treated well, not carelessly use his body any longer, but recover his health and live a happy life.

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Christianity speaks frankly to people. So the people (who have heard the Christianity) come to realize their real situation and to believe in the Son of God who will save them. once a man realizes that he is a sinner and that he is not able to save himself, he will enter the path of salvation which the God has prepared for him. Thus the man who has entered the Christianity, after uttering a bitter confession that he is a sinner, is blessed by God with all the blessings (such as food provisions, marriage, posterity, and eternal life, etc.).

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What is the bait? The bait is a lure to tempt and prey on a life. To catch fish, a fisherman puts a nice bait on the hook. A fish bites it and loses its all.

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What's the lure of the devil to kill humans forever? It looks very noble at first sight. It seems as if the lure elevated the value of the human being infinitely. It is the lie that the human being is the Absolute (God, Buddha). The temptation that one becomes Buddha when he realizes he is Buddha leads many people to the eternal ruin (death).

 

 

What is the result of the biting of the bait that I am Buddha? First of all, the victim of the bait has to break off with the world. He loses his parents, may not marry a woman, may not eat tasty meat in order to be a Buddha. And (according to Buddhist doctrines) he should give up even his self (his ego, his ‘I’) when he has become a Buddha, maybe after the death. Simply put, the lure of the devil robs you of your all, even yourself.

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You must choose either of the two: one, the bait that robs you of your all; the other, the Bible which tells frankly your current state. Don't be fooled. Don't bite the bait. A true friend is not he who flatters, but he who points out the shortcomings frankly. The Bible is a good friend to human beings, because the Bible does not lie.