A few years ago I began suspecting that while the Bible speaks only of God in Hebrew history, that didn't mean God didn't interact or care about other groups of people, sending prophets or even sons (not *begotten,* perhaps, but the angels are referred to as sons of God in the OT). Spreading the way we are to consider ourselves, others, and all creation seems to have mattered in many cultures years before the picture presented in the Bible is made available as it is.

Excellent choice Keith! Western Christians writing and seeking to understand the ancient wisdom and divine revelations in many of the eastern teachings is long overdue. Eternal wisdom is ETERNAL. One Divine Intelligence. One God. One Truth. Thank you for bringing some Light to the connecting spirit where east meets west. Wiliam L. Ingram/Author

There is only one God. You get it. To paraphrase, "Love is love. All love is God’s love."

this is what turns me off of christianity. you dont get to dictate how many gods there really are.

This quote, "Truth is truth. All truth is God’s truth. Whether Jesus says it, or Buddha says it, or both say it." makes my heart sing!

I agree, there are many parallels in the Bible from earlier texts , some written hundreds of years earlier. The flood story for one. I also agree with you that truth is truth and love is love, neither need the stamp of Christianity or any other religion to make them so. They are absolutes.

Of course if you have no foundation you will believe anything.
‘Thy word is truth.’

Some believe that Christ came at different times as the Angel of the Lord or Melchizedek. If He did He would have taught these truths to everyone He encountered. I've heard it said that no all roads lead to God but that God can take any road He chooses.

Interesting speculation. Also there is a striking similarity between Buddha being confronted with three temptations under the bodhi tree by the demon Mara and Jesus' three temptations in the desert.

It's pretty well established within the archaeological community that ancient people traveled MUCH farther than we think possible. Otzi the ice man was crossing the alps in a several hundred mile hike, and nomads in Asia routinely wandered (literally) thousands of miles in their lifetimes.
So I can certainly imagine a scenario where travelers are sitting around the campfire and one of them is like "Buddha? Yeah, my grandpa went to school with that guy!"

Buddha and Buddhism are seperate from christianity and for good reason. i am well aware of the way christians are to other beliefs. its like a beauty contest judged by Grimhilde and the mirror. You cant win because the only winner is the queen with the mirror. Which reminds me. perhaps some self reflection would help most people especially those that condescend other beliefs outside of christianity

I'm very interested in this, totally agree....the Truth is the Truth and everyone can seek and find. My thinking is that Buddha taught The Way and Jesus is The Way. The universal salvation of Christ is in all of us no matter what we think or believe. Preaching the Good News is just that, not requiring baptism, some statement of faith, allegiance to a church etc. The Good News is that Christ is your new Adam, you true self, now go find out how you can be that self and one with God.

I was always given the impression that the Magi were Gentile mystics...the sort that were condemned by Jewish tradition/law...but if find the idea intriguing that they might be descendants/disciples of Daniel - which is credible. I think it is a little stretch to throw Buddha in there, but with the prophets proclaiming, and Matthew quite interested in, the nations showing up ("Every knee shall joyfully bow") i don't see any theological reason to dismiss the idea.

To start off with, you have to assume that there actually were Magi, and that they were not a fictive addition to Matthew's birth story to parallel the priests of Egypt, to better align Matthew's story with the history of Moses. But the main problem is the fact that (1) you need to search the Old Testament for parallel sayings too, and (2) you need to line up ALL of the Buddha's teaching with those of Jesus to see how well they align. For example the Buddha would never have said Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all you soul and all your mind, because he taught that there are no Gods.

No need to doubt scripture. It Is true.
‘Then God said
“Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for SIGNS, and for seasons and for days and years’. Gen 1.14
By studying the heavens the astrologist Magi found great things that were missed by those given the written Word.
Rev 12 is another example

While speculation is fun and occasionally profitable in spirit, your question, Keith, is pretty much unanswerable. Even if by a big stretch it turned out to be true, it wouldn't change much of anything significant other than perhaps opening up a few minds. If you are serious in this quest, I would recommend two fairly short books: The Jesus Sutras by Martin Palmer and the Lost Sutras of Jesus by Riegert and Moore. These are based on documentary and archeological evidence and relate the early eastward expansion of Christianity along the Silk Road on into China, where it gained quite a foothold in high places before eventually being stamped out along with Buddhism as foreign religions. In the early church, this eastern realm was bigger in extent than the western church including what we today call the Eastern Orthodox, and is all but unknown today, or if known, sneered at as "Nestorian." Here are real connections to the Persians and to Buddhism.

This is fascinating and looking to read more. Thank you for your work.

Magoi were Zoroastrian priests. I see no reason to assume any connection to Daniel or Buddha.

These magi were followers of heavenly signs (astrologers) which puts them out of line with Judaism and Buddhism.

the persian empire was zoroastrian and where the first to accept the concept of one god.