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Western Religion: Sin in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is known that there are three major religions dominating in the West. They are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. So it is necessary to distinguish their differences as to faith and sin.
Judaism is one of the oldest religions in the world. It is the religion of Jewish people. This religion is known to be monotheistic faith with traditions which are still alive. Judaism is not monolithic in practice and it has no centralized authority. Judaism is the belief in a single, omniscient, omnipotent, omni benevolent, transcendent God, who created the Universe and continues to be involved in its governance. (Hirsch 1989) According to Jewish religion the God created the Universe and then came with people to an agreement.
It means that he revealed principles, traditions, laws and commandments. It can be mentioned that Judaism study and observe these traditions. But Judaism may be hardly mentioned to be Western conventional religion, because it occurred apart from the West. During rising Judaism, Jewish people were slavers, they experienced anarchy and theocracy. (Alter 2004) Christianity is also one of the oldest religions in the world.
It dates backs thousands of years. The beginning f the Christianity is the 1 st century A. D. in the Roman Empire. Christianity is also monotheistic religions. It focuses on the teaching and life of Jesus Christ.
Nowadays Christianity is the largest religion in the world. Christianity and Judaism share some similar traits and sacred scripture. Their early history is of one origin. Christianity is subdivided into Catholicism, Orthodoxy, Protestantism (Baptists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Evangelical). (Vermes 1989) Islam is the youngest religion.
It is also monotheistic religion based on the Quran. Islam is known to be the second largest religion in the world. Muslims believe that the core message of Islam, which is submission to God, has been the essential message in the teaching of all God's prophets. (Hunter 2002) The followers of Islam can be found in the whole world nowadays. Western religions are different, but all of them have principles, moral values and traditions. All of them pay attention to capital sins and commandments how to avoid sin.
Every religion admits that person should follow admonitions in order to avoid sins and to get into Paradise after death. It is known that some of the sins are similar in all religions. Christian Bible also defines ten capital sins which must be avoided. This teaching is the significant part of it and they are called Ten Commandments or Decalogue.
The Bible teaches that Commandments were written by God, who gave them to Moses in the form of stone tablets. (Vermes 1989) These Ten Commandments are the moral values and norms of peoples behavior. Every Christian should obey and follow them, if he wants to get in Paradise after death. Commandments teach people how to avoid capital sins. In order to have more clear idea about Christianity Bible it is necessary to present some examples of Commandments: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
It means that all Christians must believe in Gods existence, to believe that he is deathless and the only creator of the world. (Vermes 1989) Thou shall have no other gods besides me... Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above... It means that person should believe and worship only to one God. (Vermes 1989) Thou shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord. It means that it is a sin to take the Gods name in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Thou shall honour your father and your mother. According to God every person is obliged to honor his parents, because they have given him birth. Thou shall not murder. It is known to be the capital sin, because human life is precious and nobody has the right to kill. (Vermes 1989) Thou shall not commit adultery. It means that no man should live together with married women.
Thou shall not steal. It means that kidnap is capital sin. (Vermes 1989) Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. A person has no right to present false evidence and witness in court. It is known that lying is forbidden, but it doesnt consider as capital sin.
Thou shall not covet your neighbor's house. It is forbidden to person to desire to obtain something which was given to another person by God. (Vermes 1989) Islams teaching of sins is in their sacred text Quran. Quran teaches Muslims how they should live, behave, what they should do. It means that Quran is their way of life. Quran defines main tenets ways of life, which teach how to avoid sins. Muslims must believe that God is the only one who is worthy of being worshiped.
It means that it is capital sin for Muslims not to worship the God. They should worship five tomes per day. (Hunter 2002) Muslims must believe in the Angels. Muslims must believe in the books. For them the most awful sin is to desecrate and to use bad words about their sacred texts Quran, Tawrat, Zabur. Muslims must believe in all predictions, messages and prophecies, because they show them the way to live the just life and to avoid sins.
Muslims must believe in the Day of Judgment, in hell and heaven. Only people, who have no sins and who live the right life get into heaven. (Smith 1999) It is also necessary to mention that there are many others sins in Islam. Firstly they must not drink alcoholic drinks, because it is sin and they must not visit places, where alcoholic drinks are sold. Men should not put on golden trappings. Muslims dont eat pork, because it is also sin. (Hunter 2002) But, of course, the most serious sins are: Premeditated murder (nobody has the right to kill people) Theft (in Muslim countries thieves are cut off hands), Infidelity (if it is proven then men or women can be punished), Slander (if you want to prove something you need four witnesses, because in other case it would be considered as slander). (Smith 1999) As Christianity and Islam, Judaism has its own set of values and sins, which have many similar traits with other religions discussed. It was mentioned that over the centuries, a number of clear formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared, many with common elements, and though they differ with respect to certain details. (Hirsch 1989) There are thirteen main principles of faith, which warn followers to avoid capital sins.
Religion teaches that the God is the only one whom they must believe and it is a serious sin not to follow traditions of Judaism. They should prove their faith by praying. Worship is the only way to pray for forgiveness ones sins. Actually the serious sins are like in other religions: theft, murder, infidelity, sander, greediness, jealousy. The most serious sin is to betray your god or to use rude words towards him. (Alter 2004) So to sum up all the material it is necessary to say that although Western religions are really different, they have some similar traits. They have some common moral values and attitude towards sins.
They agreed that if person wants to get into Paradise he should follow all the traditions and avoid capital sins. The most serious sin in all religions is premeditated murder, because only the God has the right to judge. Actually there are a lot of less serious sins such as lie, greediness, but people should try to live godly life according to their religious norms and traditions. Works cited Alter, Robert. 2004. The Five Books of Moses. New York: W.
W. Norton & Co. Hirsch, Samson. 1999. The Pentateuch. London: Judaica Press.
Hunter, Screen. 2002. Islam, Europe's Second Religion. Westport, CT: Praeger. Smith, Jane. 1999. Islam in America. New York: Columbia University Press.
Vermes, Gens. 1989. The Essences according to the Classical Sources. Sheffield: Oxford Centre for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies and JSOT Press.
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Research essay sample on Western Religion Sin In Judaism Christianity And Islam
