Sabina Hasanagic World religions TR Fall 3013 December 8, 2013 Comparing Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam All these

religions have one thing in common. They all believe in one god. God may have many different names or different messengers but they all believe in the same one. I have learned by experience how different and similar all three of these religions are. Christianity believes in Jesus, Muslims believe in Muhammad, and Buddhism believes in Buddha. What they all have in common is one leader went around spreading the word of equality and that we are all one, they all believe that we should live a peaceful life together and that we should treat each other the same no matter where you come from, everyone is welcome. What all the religions have in common is the spread of love and peace. I have learned in Christianity that Jesus had spread the word of love around and talking about not being violent. He was a peaceful messenger from god which he called father. He had followed the 10 commandments which are; to believe in one god, no idols, dont kill, no adultery, dont steal, dont lie, honor parents, converting, false witness, keep Sabbath day holy. Christians debated and had studies Greek Philosophers. They lived life separated from the world and devoting oneself to serving worship to god.

There are 27 books of The Bible which is called The New Testament. There are also Gospels which are the life teaching of Jesus. There is also the Revelations or the Apocalypses and Epistles which are letters to Christians. There are 4 different books. There is Mark which is the shortest book and one of the first that begins with the adult life of Jesus. Then there is Matthew who has many Hebrew quotes and a Jewish background. Then Luke which is a womens gospel because of the delicate portraits and last but not least John which is filled with philosophers talking about how Jesus is full of mystery and how the Devine is made into human form. One of the Letters to Paul was quoted Trust in God, hope in the future, peace in ones heart and in the church. Jesus was a Jew. He was born a descendent of David and was born in Bethlehem. He had preached across Palestine and inhabited by the Jews and taught mostly Jews. He was crucified by the Romans because of his spread of love and equality. The Death of Jesus was crucial. They had nailed his hands and feet to the cross and put a Lora on his head which are leaves that have thorns in them. When they noticed Jesus was dead he stabbed his right ribcage just to make sure he was gone. Jesus had died on Friday and was quickly buried. After 40 days had passed he had descended into Heaven and promises to return. On the other hand Buddhism is the religion of enlightenment they believe that all humans have no Atman or soul because of all their sins, but they do have a soul and they need to clean their soul and not be selfish and dependent on one another. Finding the path to enlightenment will take more knowledge to find it. Being thankful for everything that you have and to take nothing for granted. Buddha gave up all his riches

so that he could find peace with himself and to have the world around him be peaceful as well. Buddha was a prince but he had given up all his riches after he had realized that not everything is perfect. When he walks he finds 4 passion sights when he sees an old man he then realizes that in life you do get old and wrinkle. Then he sees sickness, and a corpse a sign of death. He then reaches the holy man. He was shaken by the first three not knowing such thing could exist then he was attracted by the holy man knowing that there is a life beyond the one we are living in. Finding peace with your self is by letting go of all the negative thoughts. By getting rid of negative thoughts you have to get rid of ego centrism. By getting rid of your ego you will be a happier person. Being peaceful with your self will not only make you happy but it will make people around you happy as well. The world would be a peace place to live if everyone was at peace with themselves. Humans are very self centered creatures with no souls. I believe that humans should not be selfish. Humans must gain more knowledge to understand what it is to be at peace within you to be able to find a clean soul. If you not peaceful or kind to others then you might not be reincarnated to a desirable figure in the afterlife. One must learn to understand not to be self induced and try to find an Atman. In other words Islam is also a different religion. I have learned in Islam that most of their prayers are a form of yoga and are to help you stay active in your life and to keep your body moving no matter how old or young you are. The ritual performed is a Salat or prayer by cleaning your feet to your knees, your hands to your elbow and to

wash your face before each prayer. Once you have cleansed yourself you find a place on the clean rug on the floor and stand to begin your prayer. You begin the prayer by standing and saying the prayer in your head or quietly whisper it with your arms laying one over another right are goes over the left. Then while you are praying 3 times you kneel down and touch the clean rug with your forehead and pray 3 more times. Then you would stand back up and do this another 3 times. I believe it is 3 times of repetition. Once the prayer is done you sit back down and wait until the Imam reads from the Quran then everyone all at once will do the prayer, like they are one. The Muslims believe that we are all equal as if we are one. They do not discriminate against any other religion nor do they discriminate against people of different skin color or different races. They believe that we were formed from Adam and Eve and we are related to each other no matter if we all are coming from different families. They believe that we were born from one family and only one God. They believe that we should love one another because we are all brothers and sisters from God. We are all created from one God and one God only and his messenger is Muhammad. Muhammad isnt the only messenger he is one of the last messengers to be sent from God. The Muslims believe that by being respectful and honor Allah the world will be a better and peaceful place. By honoring Allah and following him Muslims will understand the true meaning of life, which is to be at peace with yourself, Allah and others. They believe that when you do well and helping others you will go to Heaven. They highly encourage people to put in at least 2.5% of their extra money to Zakat which is Charity for the people who do not have money to buy food on their own. They also believe in

Sawn which is fasting. They follow the Islamic Calendar which is followed by the lunar calendar. They fast on the 9th month of the Islamic calendar from Dawn until Dusk. They fast from the beginning of the moon from crescent to the new moon. Throughout the fast from Dawn until Dusk Muslims are not to eat, drink or have sexual relation throughout the day until Dusk. The fast is for all adults and children who have reached puberty. Pregnant woman and adults that are sick are not to fast. The whole meaning of fasting is to cleanse your body from all the toxins. It cleanses your restraints, spiritual, mental and physical health. It teaches you patience and unselfishness. When they are allowed to eat they can only eat healthy food and no alcoholic beverages. The first night of the fast they can have a feast and the last day, but throughout the whole month they are to eat in moderation. This fast is to know how the poor feel and what they are going through and to be thankful for what you have. After their fast is over they celebrate Eid al-fitr which is to be thankful for what you have and to go give some of your extra money to charity. This helps us realize that we need to help one another in this world no matter if you are rich or poor. I feel that all the religions have many factors in common such as believing in one god and in heaven. They all teach you how to behave and to have morals. They teach you to honor and respect everyone and most of all to love one another. They teach you that there is a power greater than you and the creator and messenger of this universe. The amazing thing about religion is that it teaches you to love one another as brothers and sisters and not to judge anyone. They teach you how to be human and that you get rewarded by the goods you do in this world. These 3 religions I talk today about all state giving charity. Not to be selfish and take our money, but to use it for good and to feed

the people that dont have money. They all teach us the type of people we sh ould be and the type of people we are. We are all descendent from god and we need to respect him and understand what life is really about. The religions talk about good things and to do well in your life. They all have a golden rule to follow. No matter of all the teachings in his world they want you to believe in one god and one god only and to follow him. The whole point of religion is to find oneself and to understand the aspect of life. Why are we here? Who had made us? How were we made? All of these questions go unanswered because the simple answers to all of those questions are no one knows. We are here because we were chosen to spread the word that our ancestors were spreading a long time ago, which is love. We need to spread love like a wild fire in a forest. We need to work together as brothers and sisters to be able to step ahead in life. When we work together we shall see this world change and be at peace. God is looking for is to spread the love around to bring peace. Once there is peace we will be at peace. All the religions have a certain way to practice their own faith. They might believe in the books or in the prophets or by statues, but god is just being covered by all of these images or beliefs that we see. But god himself cannot be seen and I think the reason why we have religion is to help guide us throughout our lives to make us good people. I believe that if we all opened up our eyes and see what is beyond the universe that we will find god somehow and when we do it might be too late to start praying. We pray to show respect and honor toward god no matter what religion. We all say a prayer to god no matter what religion it is to be, we say a prayer to someone that we know and feel is there but we cannot see him. We try to cover god up so that we can see him and have a reason to pray and have a reason to see. But what I believe is that we pray to someone or

something that isnt there physically but what is there is a spirit that cannot be seen but can be felt in the heart. I believe that we all as one are children of god and that if we work together as one we can solve all the world problems and live a peaceful life filled with love, because I believe that is what god is trying to tell us.