Judaism, Christianity and Islam are “the big three” religions. They are all monotheistic and stem from a form of the bible. Judaism believes they are the chosen people and refer to their books of laws known as the Torah which was given to Moses on Mt. Siani. They believe that the Christ has not yet come and so they live each day waiting for the Savior of the world and living to reach God. There are different types of Judaism; Biblical, Prophetic, Temple and Rabbinic. Biblical Judaism is considered the Mother of all and refers to the Jews in the Old Testament. They believe we have been disobedient and must return to God and follow the Mitzvot in order to reach God.
Christianity is stemmed from Judaism after the coming of Jesus and they believe is the the Son of God who came to earth to live a sinless life, to die on the cross to cover our sins for forgiveness from God, he was buried and arose again three days later. After his resurrection we were given the Holy Spirit who lives among us until the second coming of Christ. Christians believe in one God in the form of the Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They believe that we are born with sin and that the Bible consists of the Old and New Testament which is the Word of God as a guide for how to live life sacrificially, to share the love of God with all we encounter. We are to study Gods word, pray, give through tithe which is 10 percent of what you make, be disciples to all nations to share that Christ is the one way to heaven.
Islam also believes there is one true God but also that Muhammad is his prophet. They refer to the Qu’ran which was given to Muhammad when the angel Gabriel came to him and had him write the Qu’ran as a more relevant version of the bible. They follow the five pillars which are Shahada, affirmation of faith, Prayer, 5 times daily as submission to Allah (God) which is what is means to be a Muslim. Third is Charity, to give 2 percent of all your wealth and not just your income. Fourth, is Ramadan which is a 30 day fast from sun up to sundown but not just from food. It is a fast from all things evil, that within these 30 days you are to try to live as perfectly as possible as if you could really live without sin. The fifth is Hajj which is to take a pilgrimage to Mecca considered the center of Allah.
All three religions believe that we are created and live with sin and the solution is to follow guidelines given by God which most all include loving others, sacrificing, and submitting. As a Christian I was not moved by the religions of Judaism or Islam though I was very interested to learn what it is they truly believe. It is disturbing but also neat to know that these three religions are so close in nature but there are a few basic truths that are distinctly different to completely change the significance of each religion compared to the others.
No comments:
Post a Comment