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World Religion Religion has been playing a tremendous role in world affairs since almost the beginning of time, and is still a very influential subject today. Nowadays many of these peoples hate to each other is based on the origins of their religions. The main religions of the worlds, namely, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, have similarities and disparities because they all essentially began in the same parts of the world, but more significantly Islam and Christianity are based on the religion of Judaism, and all share many of the similar beliefs. Judaism is the religious belief of the Jews.
Judaism has always been Monolithic. Monotheists are people that believe in one God. They believe in one God who is the creator of the world. Nothing that humans experience is worthless everything has a meaning. God that created the universe revealed himself to Mosses and the Israelites at the Mount Sinai. When Moses came down from Mt.
Sinai, he had the world of God with him. He had the Ten Commandments which today are found in the Torah, the sacred word of God his actual laws to live by. (Encarta Judaism 1) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be perfect, and will make My covenant between Me and you and I will multiply you exceedingly. Abram fell on his face and God spoke with him, saying, as for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. Neither shall your name be called anymore Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, because I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you.
And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your seed after you. And I will give to you, and to your seed after you the land of your sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. (Rice 79) The second major concept of Judaism is the covenant or the contractual agreement between God and the Israelites. The God of creation entered into a special relationship with the Jewish people at Sinai. Thus they acknowledge that God is the sole ultimate king and his people must obey his commandments or laws. All Jews believe that the great prophet or Messiah will come God and take away the suffering. Islam was founded in Arabia and based on the teachings of Muhammad, who is called the prophet.
The Arabic word Islam, literally means to surrender. In religious terms in the Koran, it means to surrender to the will or law of Allah A person who practices Islam is a Muslim. A Muslim is a follower Muhammad and is a member of the Islamic community. The Muslims object to the spelling Moslem which they think is a distortion of Muslim. (Encarta 4) The Muslims regard the Koran as the word of Allah to Muhammad, mediated by Gabriel, the angel of revelation; they believe that God himself, not Muhammad, is the author and therefore that the Koran is infallible. (Encarta p 1. ) The Koran is a collection of the passages revealed to Muhammad during the twenty-two years life as a prophetic Muslim prophet. It is divided into 114 chapters of unequal length. The shortest contains only three verses, the longest containing 306 long verses. (Time 101) The Sunna is an example of the prophet or known through the Hadith, the body of traditions based on what the prophet said or did regarding various issues.
Unlike the Koran the is memorized-either in whole or in part-by many followers of Muhammad during their life time. The Hadith is mainly transmitted orally, however it is possible that error could occur because it is usually carried through word of mouth from person. Therefore, the Hadith is a secondary source to the Koran even though it is almost equally fundamental for most Muslims. (Time 102) The Muslim religion is monotheistic because they believe in one God. God provided the element of creation with its own proper nature, or laws governing its conduct, so that it follows a characteristic pattern. According to Islam, God has four fundamental functions with respect to the universe and to humanity in particular; creation, sustenance, guidance, and judgment.
The ultimate purpose of humanity, however is to be in the service of God, that is, to worship him alone and to construct an ethical social order free from corruption. (Encarta Islam 2. ) Because of humanity's moral weakness, God has sent prophets to teach us correct moral and spiritual behavior. Adam was the first prophet after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, God forgave him for his lapse for this reason Islam does not accept the doctrine of original sin. All prophets are human. (Encarta 3) Christians believe in Jesus Christ. His teachings are told in the Gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. Jesus was crucified on the cross, resurrected from the dead on the third day, and this was the first Easter.
Easter is the most important holiday in the Christian religion. A new religion founded in Jerusalem, Christianity. Jerusalem was the center of Christianity until its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD then the center grew to other cities in Palestine. Much of this new religion came from Judaism. Jesus himself was a Jew. (Time 177, 178) A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.
There are seven sacraments Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. Baptism and Penance are called sacraments of the dead because their main purpose is to give the supernatural life of sanctifying grace to souls spiritually dead through sin. Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and Matrimony are called sacraments of the living because their chief purpose is to give more grace to souls already spiritually alive through sanctifying grace. Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders can be received only once. They imprint on the soul a spiritual mark, called a character, which lasts forever. (Connell 181) Similarity's and differences of these religions I have talked about are, each of these religions believe in a God or supreme leader. Judaism believed that the Messiah will come and take away the suffering for the Jews.
Muslims believe in Allah as there god they pray to him five times a day. Christians believe in Jesus Christ as there god. The Christian religion is based on Judaism. These two religions get most of the resources from the same places.
These religions came from the same part of the world Palestine. These religions and their beliefs have sparked many conflicts throughout the world, mostly in the middle-east. It is interesting to see what religions are practiced in China and Japan. It is true that Christianity is only practiced by 1 % of people in China, but when taken into account the very dense population, that one percent turns into quite a large number of people. It is estimated to be as many as fifteen million.
Unfortunately that is quite small compared to the twenty five million Muslims and one hundred million Buddhists though. Basically Christianity is a practice that is forbidden in China. All religions must register with the Religious Affairs Bureau and gain approval to allow public worship. Since many sects of Christianity are not approved, numerous worship gatherings called house churches and underground churches have been established. (Rodenbough 1) Some of these unfortunately are more of cults than Christian gathering places, but many of them are of the uplifting nature. Muslims have been able to practice this faith in China ever since the seventeenth century. In fact, it is one of the religions that is still officially recognized in China today.
Christianity is known about, but it is not really recognized in the same way as Islam is. The origination beliefs of the Islamic faith are quite interesting. It is believed that Islam began in China during the Caliphate of Uthmanibn Asian, the third caliph of Islam. (Islam 1) This caliph supposedly sent a deputation to China in the year 650 CE, which would have been eighteen years after the death of this particular faiths Prophet Muhammed. The movement was headed up by his uncle, Saad ibn Waqqas. (Islam 1) After this request, the Chinese emperor at the time, Yung-Wei, ordered the establishment of the first mosque in China. This mosque, named the Canton Mosque, still stands today a full fourteen centuries after its erection. Taoism began as a culmination of thoughts and philosophies and then eventually evolved into a religious faith around 440 CE. (Taoism 1) It soon became, along with Buddhism and Confucianism at the time, one of the three major religions of China.
It thrived for some time, but with the inception of Communism in 1949, it dwindled along with the Islamic faith. Much of the Taoist heritage was damaged and hasnt come back with quite as much impact as it once had. It currently has about 20 million followers, but it needs to be said that that number is most likely about one fifth what the number once was on pace to be by this time. There are currently 1, 600 Taoist temples in China. (Backgrounder 1) Most people are free to worship in these places regularly. There are two major religions in Japan which affect the everyday living of the people, these are Shinto and Buddhism.
These religions, although conflicting at first, have come to be complimentary and important to the people of Japan. Each has its own history and beliefs and are worshipped in different ways, however they show a face of Japan no seen in other ways. Shinto is the indigenous belief of the Japanese people and is fundamental to their everyday life. It does not have sacred scriptures like other religions and there is no need for the people to preach because the belief is rooted into the lives and traditions of the Japanese people. The complementation's between Shinto and Buddhism came quickly once people accepted the Buddhist theories along with their Shinto ones. During the Nara Period, the great Buddhist monasteries in the capital Nara, such as the Todajii, gained influence by the politicians or the time and were one of the reasons for the government to move the capital to Nagaoka in 784 and then to Kyoto in 794.
Nevertheless, the problem of ambitious and militant Buddhist monasteries remained a main issue for the governments for many centuries of Japanese history. Though religion may just be a belief, for many groups of people it still generates violence, indifference, and hate. Some people feel so strongly about their belief, that they can hate others who believe differently. Since the beginning of religions, and probably until the end of time, the strong feelings of the believers will lead to many more conflicts, and many more senseless deaths. However, none of the mentioned religions worship violence and aggression, this is why the believers must understand the true goals of the religions they practice.
Bibliography: Connell, Francis. The New Revised Baltimore Catechism and Mass. Massachusetts: Boston, 1949. Encarta. Christianity, Islam, Judaism. Rice, Edward.
The five Great Religions. New York. 1973. The Worlds Great Religions. New York. 1957.
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