Is the Bible True?, page-542

I think Buddhism should be an essential study for any Christian to try to break the crippling hold over them and damage done by Western fundamental beliefs.

When Buddha began His mission there were thousands of Deity so Buddha taught an esoteric almost negative theology. He taught about all the things that God was not, neti neti, not this, not this.

He was neither an atheist nor a materialist. There are no original teachings of the Buddha so there will never be certainty as to the authenticity of His teachings, but basically He instructed the path to enlightenment and of course once enlightened the student would find God.

He did not teach that which is pure speculation and thus did not serve the immediacy of this life. His supposed words about various gods is likely to be introduced long after His passing as a drift back to worship of a range of Deity becan to corrupt His teachings.

The universe has never had a beginning. From the point of view of essence it transforms itself. God is eternal in essence and in time. He is his own existence and cause. This is why the material world is eternal in essence, for the power of God is eternal.

Briefly, there were many universal cycles preceding this one in which we are living. They were consummated, completed and their traces obliterated. The divine and creative purpose in them was the evolution of spiritual man, just as it is in this cycle. The circle of existence is the same circle; it returns. The tree of life has ever borne the same heavenly fruit.