Prayer for Love and Mercy

 Christianity used the "foul play" that Christ is the son of God. And it defeated me, but because it was a foul play, that ultra-secret came with serious side effects. That was the  "Trinity." If Christ is the son of God, how is he connected to God the Father? The Holy Spirit connects the Father and the Son, and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the Trinity... What's that? No matter how many times I hear the Trinity, I just don't understand it. It's completely incomprehensible, even before I even consider whether I believe in the Trinity or not. I just can't understand it. By the way, what about his mother, Mary? Whenever I hear priests say things like "In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen" during Christian prayers, I always think, "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Why are there three?" and think it sounds so complicated. It's so difficult that my intellect can't keep up. Am I the only one who doesn't ...

 In the Old Testament, prophets are sent one after another. Each time, humans refuse to listen to them and always "rebel against God." God is patient, and no matter how many times we rebel, he continues to send new prophets. But why do we seem to not understand God's love? He's troubled. "Even after all this, you still don't understand?" And so He sent Christ. His beloved, only Son. He cleansed our sins by sacrificing His own Son. God commanded humans to offer their firstborn to Him, and He Himself offered His beloved, only Son as a sacrifice for humanity. When I heard this, I thought, "I've been defeated!" I was listening from the perspective of a disciple of Shinran, or more specifically, a Buddhist. I thought the greatest way to show mercy to others was to offer yourself to them. Even the Buddha has a story about feeding himself to a hungry tiger. I used to think that giving your life for another person was the ultimate form of love, but...

 Last time, I reflected on God's strict command to offer one's firstborn as a sacrifice, and I'd like to share some of my thoughts on sacrifice. In religions, there are rituals in which humans offer a sacrifice to God. Whenever I hear about it,I always wonder,  "Would such a merciful God require something like that?" But then I remembered a scene in the Bible where a character was about to offer his firstborn to God, "Stop!!" and the moment God stopped him, I felt a sense of relief, thinking,  "Ah, God is merciful after all." In reality, God doesn't want a sacrifice. God tests humans by commanding them to offer what is most precious to them, but in the first place, everything in this world belongs to God. Since existence itself comes from God, everything is offered to God at the same time it exists. So what would we offer to God now? That said, we ordinary people believe that it would be unsightly to give thanks to God empty-handed. So we f...

 So, how can I talk about Christianity without opening a Bible once in over 15 years? Actually, there's no way I can do something so crazy, I'm trying to write this, but where should I start? I've been forgetting more and more, and while I say that love is all that's left, isn't the God of the Bible a strict one? Especially the Old Testament. Hmm, I suppose that's true, but in the end, love is all that's left. In other words, God's strictness is the strictness of a strict father, a strictness that comes from love, backed by true love. When I think back to my childhood, my father was strict. But looking back now, I feel like it was because of that that I am who I am today. Looking back as an adult, I'm actually grateful that it was strictness born out of love. I've pretty much forgotten that strictness now, but what I still remember is offering my firstborn to God. I thought it was a cruel request from God, but the moment I was about to kill my fi...