Christianity has hit a wall when it comes to offering people a real sense of meaning today. The way it splits God from nature and the mind from the body just doesn't hold up anymore, especially since science, which Christianity ironically helped pave the way for, has pretty much dismantled that whole worldview. As a result, a lot of people are left feeling empty or nihilistic, stuck with a moral system that's life-denying. The focus on one true God and one chosen group has made it hard to embrace other perspectives, and the idea of some big final judgment day feels out of step with how we actually understand the world now. On the other hand Buddhism, with its idea of everything being connected, feels way more relevant. It doesn't ask you to believe in some sky daddy but invites you to find meaning in the here and now, in the actual stuff of life. It's not about guilt and salvation later, but about awareness and balance in the present.

>>212379812 (OP)
Christianity built civilizations and empires

the buddha is a christian saint

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barlaam_and_Josaphat

>>212380843
didn't buddhism start several hundred years before christ-insanity doe?

>>212379812 (OP)
i would love to believe in buddhism but i can't get past the whole thing about being reborn as an ant if you have bad karma

>>212380933
those teachings only exist precisely because people like you are still preoccupied with that level of thought
of self and other, of life and death, sin and karma, heaven and hell, faith and belief
the idea that there is some concrete universe that exists independent of observation

it is skillful means, the teaching delivered in a form the buddha thought you would be able to understand in your limited faculties

there is a deeper teaching, but the buddha is compassionate and does not want to throw you into the deep end of the pool when you do not know how to swim
he first helps you dip your toes and wade into the shallow end where you can feel comfortable

this is the greater vehicle of the mahayana