Religious Journey V

I'm now thirty years old (1980), a Buddhist and Marxist. I hear a political speech by someone I had a huge dislike for (Ronald Reagan) , and it made sense. What I don't remember is the subject of the speech, just the impact. Of religion and politics I only know what my fellow travelers are saying about Christianity and Conservatism. I really don't know or read Conservative political writers, or Christian writers. I began a fifteen year long journey, re-viewing, studying and re-evaluating my belief system (BS), religiously and politically. Buddhism as it turns out, in my view, is nihilist; from nothingness you come, to nothingness you return. There is no salvation. In Christianity, when you pass from this life, you go on to better things, and it doesn't end there. You keep getting challenged and improving the quality of your spirit forever. Always being closer to God. Jesus said he is going to prepare a place for us saying, "...I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also" (John 14:3), and instead of the Nothingness that Buddhism results in we have this promise: "...and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away...And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts..." (Revelation 21) More that just Nothingness; and the Buddhist way of life, distilled, is 'you're born, you suffer, and you die'. Then return to Nothingness. So not only does Christianity promise more closeness to God after, but here, living now, through Jesus, we have salvation, a way living that is the best bar none. It is our guide and standard for living, as Pastor Jack Hayford calls it, the "spirit formed life". There are scriptural principles for leading a right life, with integrity. I've come to the conclusion that without this, without God at the center of all we say and do and believe, then you can and will say and do and believe anything that feels good and is comfortable at the moment. You will justify anything. It took me from 1980 to 1996 to finally submit myself to Him. The beginning of that submission was in 1992, when attending a Tony Robbins seminar, Tony asked, "What's most important to you in your life?' Immediately "God" popped into my head, and I said to myself 'what'? So from 1992 until 1996 I fought and resisted, and in 1996 I was baptised, and submitted to His will.