Judaism, Christianity, and Islam- Justin Wesson

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are the three Abrahamic religions. Each traces their heritage back to Abraham. All three also trace back to the garden and Adam and Eve. Judaism is the first of the Abrahamic religions historically. Judaism begins with the exile from the Garden which begins the problem with humans. After the garden scene God chooses the Jews starting with Abraham, calling him out of his homeland to go to a land he promised. The human condition, according to Judaism is exile. We see it in the Torah, exile from the garden, exile in Egypt, wondering the wilderness for forty years, etc. In Judaism, one is trying to get out of exile and back to God. You do this through following the commandments. The Jews are waiting on a Messiah to come and return them to the Promise Land. Christianity comes along and says they have the Messiah, a Jewish carpenter’s son. Christianity finds the problem in original sin, when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. Instead of exile, there is condemnation. Sin enters the world and no one can be made right with God. The only way to be made right is the need for a perfect sacrifice. In comes Jesus who preaches the Kingdom of God is near, repent. After roughly three years of ministry, he is crucified and buried. Now come the part that loses people, three days later he is risen, wonders the earth for forty days appearing to his followers and crowds before ascending to heaven. The resurrection is seen as God accepting the sacrifice. Christianity solution is now to have faith in the work of Christ and to follow God and live righteously in expectation of Jesus’ return. Islam comes along though and claims that the Jews and Christians have messed up God’s word and that they are the true way to follow God. Islam splits from Judaism at the bonding Isaac, Islam teaches that it is instead Ishmael. They see the problem is pride. Pride is the reason for the human condition; we are only concerned about ourselves. The way to fix the problem is to submit to Allah and obey his Commands. Islam was founded by the prophet Muhammad when Allah sent Gabriel down to give the Qur’an to Muhammad. A Muslim must submit themselves to Allah’s will and follow the teachings and commandments found in the Qur’an.

I am a Christian. Do I believe my way is the right way? Yes, but what Jew or Muslim wouldn’t say they believe their way is the right way. I am not one of those, however, that rejects aspects from other religions just to look like an idiot, I believe all truth is God’s truth and he can use any means to reveal it. I found things in Judaism and Islam that I found fascinating. One of them being the devotion to prayer, I think Christians can say we pray but do we? Do we set aside scheduled time to get away and pray to God?