A path to another university outside of Buddhism This post is a revision of Buddhism Or Christ? which already closed.
I posted that Buddhism or Christ? question on a Christian forum too, and after quite a response from them, I felt I have some clues.
I used to be a loyal person and have been studying Buddhism for 6 years. Indeed it helps me a lot to be a better person and almost 100% of my doubt and direction can be found from the legacy of Buddha. Now I have been in Church as an observer for 1 year.
I have an influential and high-level family of Christ that is eager to invite me into Christianity. They even speak at country council level for all the Christian activities. But, I really miss so much of Buddha's teaching and I really want to do something for Buddhism before I turn to Christianity.
But it will create a lot of complications; but I found the below is necessary to clear the misconception and Buddha's name. I believe all Buddhist has responsibility on the below.

There are too many misconception especially to Buddhism and Taoism -- Top 10 MISCONCEPTIONS about BUDDHISM.
Many Buddhism or Taoism disbelief the belief because they don't even know who is Siddhartha Gautama but claimed is a Buddhist. Most of them go to temple, pray something in return, which I believe is inappropriate. What Buddha wants us to do is practice way of life and not actually praying Buddha as an idol. 

How they view Buddhism and other religion -- 4 Ways Christians can respond to a Satanic statue.
&quot;Buddha is a Satan&quot; wording is really &quot;hurts&quot;. They will see Buddha is opponent and some really harsh wording from many Christian seniors is really hurting us as Buddhism Student. My sister went to Church for few months, back to house and screaming like a mad woman to request us to throw away all the Buddhism and Taoism statues. 

Respect and be tactful to those Buddhist visitor to Church - I wish to have a lot of social media sharing, discussion and Church sharing on how to handle the 2 above. This URL for example speaks well on how to handle this.  

You must learn to distinguish original Buddhism from modern variants, in addition to determining which school of Buddhism your friend embraces. When in a discussion, do not be afraid to ask respectful probing questions.



My #2 issue above was shared online today during their Church service and it really touched my heart. I didn't request them to do it during Church services too, but I did share many of the above to them.
I am not sure Bodhisattva or Jesus (God) sent this high level Christ family as messenger to me.
Question: Let me know your thought for my action for item #3. What i really wish is the those huge religion community to publish an apology online letter on the web site for against the Blasphemy Law and immediately remove the content (i.e. Buddha is Satan, Buddhist will go to hell , etc). That's the basic manner of human being.
Cheers,
This isn't easy to answer because I'm not sure what the question is.
It seems to be:

How can I explain Buddhism to Christians?
How can I reconcile Buddhism with Christianity?
How can I answer Christian's attacks on Buddhism?

You found already, and posted in your question, some topics like &quot;Top 10 MISCONCEPTIONS about BUDDHISM.&quot;
They don't make this question easier to answer -- they're too long to review and comment on in detail unless you have a specific question.
There have been a lot of other introductory books and so on referenced on this site, many of them listed here.

To begin with I guess I'd recommend the answers to this topic: How to explain what Buddhism is?
I thought that this, for example, might be good advice:

I'd rather start with what practices I do and to what goal.
You can't help but say something about what you personally think, else you'll be parroting the party line of a particular institutionalize form of Buddhism or boring people with an encyclopedic listing of Buddhist schools.


Indeed it helps me a lot to be a better person
Christianity and Buddhism might have a lot in common -- for example I suppose that Buddhists would agree with this Christian list of &quot;sins&quot;, which includes anger and so on. And apart from the commandments related to &quot;God&quot;, about half of the 10 commandments match the Buddhist precepts.

I have an influential and high-level family of Christ that is eager to invite me into Christianity.
I think you implied in your earlier post that you want to ally with these people for a personal relationship and business partnership.
This was meant to be some advice about choosing a partner -- Any authentic sutta from any tradition that gives guidance on what kind of partner to choose?. One of those answers actually starts with, &quot;Leave aside unproven traditional criteria (including creed)&quot;.

Most of them go to temple, pray something in return, which I believe is inappropriate. What Buddha wants us to do is practice way of life and not actually praying Buddha as an idol.
I don't like to criticise other people.
It's true there are many schools and forms of Buddhism. The one you're describing might be Pure Land Buddhism is it?
It seems to me to be one the things which Christianity and Buddhism share or have in common, i.e. that

some people think it's about going to temple (rites and rituals)
some people think it's about praying (or meditation)
some people think it's about reading scripture
some people think its about daily practice
some people think it's about whether you &quot;self-identify&quot; (as &quot;I am Christian&quot; or &quot;I am Buddhist&quot;)

Incidentally I thought that one of the more interesting answers on this site was this one.

&quot;Buddha is a Satan&quot; wording is really &quot;hurts&quot;.
This sutta might be relevant, SN 7.2 -- if that wording nourishes anger and/or hurt, you don't need to share in that nourishment.
Some people, including Christians, are kind of &quot;sectarian&quot; even amongst themselves. Here was a fairly famous joke

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, &quot;Don't do it!&quot; He said, &quot;Nobody loves me.&quot; I said, &quot;God loves you. Do you believe in God?&quot;
He said, &quot;Yes.&quot; I said, &quot;Are you a Christian or a Jew?&quot; He said, &quot;A Christian.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?&quot; He said, &quot;Protestant.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too! What franchise?&quot; He said, &quot;Baptist.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?&quot; He said, &quot;Northern Baptist.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?&quot;
He said, &quot;Northern Conservative Baptist.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?&quot; He said, &quot;Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.&quot; I said, &quot;Me, too!&quot;
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?&quot; He said, &quot;Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.&quot; I said, &quot;Die, heretic!&quot; And I pushed him over.

When I was taught Christianity as a child they definitely taught me that Christianity was correct and that non-believers couldn't go to heaven, also that only that specific sect/Church of Christianity was correct.
It happens in Politics too sometimes: &quot;Either you're a loyal member of the Party or you're not!&quot;
There's a famous Buddhist sutta on the subject -- Sectarians (Ud 6.4) which describes &quot;the blind men and the elephant&quot;, and people &quot;wounding one another with weapons of the mouth&quot; -- I think that implies some Buddhists might have done it too i.e. quarrelled like that.
I think that Māna (pride or conceit) is identified as one of the causes for such quarrelling:

Māna (Sanskrit, Pali; Tibetan: nga rgyal) is a Buddhist term that may be translated as &quot;pride&quot;, &quot;arrogance&quot;, or &quot;conceit&quot;. It is defined as an inflated mind that makes whatever is suitable, such as wealth or learning, to be the foundation of pride. It creates the basis for disrespecting others and for the occurrence of suffering.

It's hard to argue with -- some (not all) Christians might think, &quot;I know better than you do&quot;, as well as, &quot;I'm trying to persuade you for your own good, so that you too will experience the benefits I believe I experience for myself.&quot;

My sister went to Church for few months, back to house and screaming like a mad woman to request us to throw away all the Buddhism and Taoism statues.
That kind of controversy happens sometimes within Christianity too -- see Iconoclasm in the Byzantine and Reformation eras.
I think the premise is that people shouldn't be worshipping statues (of which the most famous prototype was the golden calf).
In the Reformation some people grew to dislike the statues found in Churches.
Some Christian churches are deliberately austere (not very decorated).
In churches which do have statues, I think they'll teach (if you ask them) that they don't worship the statues (e.g. statues of Jesus and Mary and the Saints), that the statues are &quot;representations&quot;.
I suppose that some Buddhists may say the same, i.e. that a statue is meant as a reminder or a representation of the Buddha -- but there are rituals and veneration associated with statues, see for example:

How does one do an &quot;eye opening&quot; for a new statue?
What’s the Eye-opening ceremony

Even so I think that statues weren't a feature of early Buddhism -- see Pre-iconic phase (5th century – 1st century BCE). And, perhaps as with Christians, some Buddhists are and some Buddhists aren't keen on statues, see for example this answer:

Is it wrong to buy a Buddha statue in Thailand from a Buddhist point of view?
Yes it's wrong. Throw away your statues and burn your dharma books.
Why do you need statues for veneration? The Buddha discouraged making images in his likeness (Ananda Bodhi jataka), and has said that the Buddha cannot be likened to a statue (aprati samo). Venerate the dhamma within you, recollect your generosity, virtue, compassion, dhamma knowledge and wisdom. Practice and develop the satipattana. Let the statues made of corruptible wood and baked clay and trinkets be.


I wish to have a lot of social media sharing, discussion
This site is more intended for Question-and-Answer than for discussion.

You must learn to distinguish original Buddhism from modern variants
That's hard to do, arguably all modern Buddhism is a modern variant by definition.
Still some people say that the Pali suttas -- or perhaps the Chinese Agamas are the closest thing we have to &quot;early Buddhist texts&quot;. If you want to explore those then this topic might be helpful:

English (or other European) translations of Pali Canon
Chronological or other sequence for beginners


What i really wish is the those huge religion community to publish an apology online letter on the web site for against the Blasphemy Law and immediately remove the content (i.e. Buddha is Satan, Buddhist will go to hell , etc).
If that's what you really crave, then you might &quot;suffer&quot; if you don't get it! The Dhammapada warns against repretitive thinking such as, &quot;He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.&quot; etc.
My understanding of Buddhist doctrine is that you must control yourself, and cannot necessarily control what other people do and say.
One the one hand we're advised not to keep company with &quot;fools&quot;, on the other to maintain a mind of good-will towards others.
That's another doctrine which is similar between Christianity and Buddhism, if not quite the same -- the Parable of the Saw (MN 21), compared with Turning the other cheek and non-violence in Christianity -- also the Punna Sutta (SN 35.88).