It is increasingly bizarre and indeed distressing to see such flagrant and widespread mockery made of Christianity in our land.
With so many ministers and churches giving way to the sodomite agenda and so many ministers and churches turning church services into something more akin to a carnival, it is very evident that standards have slipped drastically.
However, it is still remarkable, even in such a context, that the Church of England harbours a man who has risen to the rank of canon who is also a Buddhist zen instructor.
Canon Chris Collingwood (pictured, top) is referred to as a ‘Sensei’, or teacher, within the Buddhist zen group he leads in York.
It would be rather laughable were it not so serious.
The Buddhist faith is utterly at odds with Christianity and the differences between the two are insurmountable.
How Canon Chris Collingwood has managed to do just that is frankly ludicrous.
The website ‘Diffen’ gives a comparison on many key points of the two faiths.
It states that, under the category ‘Belief of God’, “the idea of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent creator is rejected by Buddhists. The Buddha himself refuted the theistic argument that the universe was created by a self-conscious, personal God.”
So Buddhism outright denies the God of the Bible, right from the outset.
The very first words of the Bible are: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”.
Within 10 seconds of beginning to read the Bible, it is clear the two faiths are incompatible.
Then, in relation to their beliefs in regards to life after death, this is what the Buddhist faith claims:
“Rebirth is one of the central beliefs of Buddhism. We are in an endless cycle of birth, death and re-birth, which can only be broken by attaining nirvana. Attaining nirvana is the only way to escape suffering permanently.”
Reincarnation, in other words, is a central belief in Buddhism. One may currently be a human but could be “reborn” in a future life as a chicken or a turtle or who knows what else.
The only rebirth known of in the Bible is when we are saved from our sins by faith in Christ and we instantly are made a new creature spiritually.
John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We cannot see heaven without being born again.
Buddhism speaks of “attaining nirvana”, or earning or working towards “achieving a transcendent state in which there is neither suffering, desire, nor sense of self, and the subject is released from the effects of karma and the cycle of death and rebirth”.
This sense of nothingness is the final goal of Buddhism. It hardly seems worth the effort, does it?
Regardless, it is the absolute opposite of what is promised to those who believe on Christ, with Him there is “fulness of joy” and at His right hand “there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Also, Buddhism teaches a false gospel of works based righteousness, it speaks of “attaining” this “nirvana”.
Attainment means to “succeed in achieving something that one has worked for”.
This notion runs utterly at odds with what the Bible teaches and this is something Canon Chris Collingwood ought to know and, as such, he should shun the practices of this false religion.
The Bible teaches that salvation is of the free grace of God and is not obtained by any good or righteousness in us.
Exodus 33:19 says: “And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”
God chooses upon whom He will show His mercy, He doesn’t ask us to perform a series of works, as is the case in Romanism or Buddhism, to one day possibly, maybe, hopefully reach paradise.
In Romanism and Buddhism and so many other religions, their idea of salvation is all doing, with true Christianity, which Protestantism is, salvation is all done.
Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Even though Canon Chris Collingwood claims, in an interview conducted with the Daily Telegraph, that “Zen poses fewer problems (than other non-Christian customs) because it doesn’t claim to be a system of doctrine or belief”, he is leading people away from the truth of the gospel.
He is encouraging others to waste their time on the practices of eastern, Christ-denying religions, time which would be far better spent worshipping God and studying His Word.
If they did so, they certainly wouldn’t have a desire to engage in pagan practices such as zen meditation.
Canon Chris Collingwood, in the same interview, said he is “religiously bilingual” and has “a foot in more than one religious camp”.
This is another unscriptural position to which to hold.
Jesus said “he that is not with me is against me” (Matthew 12:30).
He also said in Matthew 6:24 that “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Canon Chris Collingwood is trying to serve two masters, he is claiming to serve God while dabbling with Buddha.
What a sad situation that is for him and those who come under his spiritual instruction.
Sadder still is the fact that he has been permitted to hold a meditation group in York Minster, the famous Church of England cathedral in the city of York, for the past number of years.
However, for whatever reason, they have recently been told to find another premises, with it being stated there had been complaints, rightly, that such practice was “incompatible with Christianity”.
While it is a long overdue resolution to reach and indeed such nonsense should never have even been given a second thought in the first place, it is to be welcomed that a voice of opposition has been raised.
And let us never be afraid to speak out against religious error wherever we find it.
There is much mingling of the seed in this day and age and it is up to those of us who are saved to cry out against it and refuse to let harm be done to the cause of Christ in our land without noisy opposition being mounted.
In such circumstances, religious compromisers and polluters of the temple, as it were, will be much less brazen in their disobedience to God and more likely to think twice about their ungodly actions.
On so many occasions the priests and the Pharisees wanted to physically attack Jesus, and they treated the Apostles in the same shameful manner, but the fear of what consequences it might bring stopped them from fulfilling their evil purpose.
Acts 5:17-19, 24-26: “Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.”
And let us even be that same thorn in the side of those who by their actions put themselves at odds with God.
Isaiah 58:1: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”
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