Jovana Urumovic

Professor: Suzanne Jacobs

August 1, 2016

Are all religions the same?

It is simply factually incorrect that all faiths are the same. No one says such a thing unless

that person is infinitely ignorant of the fact that different religions of the world teach, or he is

intellectually irresponsible to understand these teachings or he has morally careless indifference

toward them. The Complainant implicitly assumes that the different teaching of world religions

irrelevant, and that the essence of the religion is not truth but something else: the transformation

of consciousness or sharing the care or culture and well-being. If we are ones who create the

roads, it would be arrogant to claim that one way is the only valid, because all people are equal,

at least in the fact that all individuals are a mixture of good and evil. If we create pathways, it

would be silly to absolutize one of them, but if God creates paths, we need to find out if it was

made of one or more of them. Today’s world is tough to understand the place and the role that

religion plays in modern society. Many believe that every religion helps us to find God and to

figure out what is the meaning of life. It is equally widespread belief that every religion had its

good and bad sides and that none of them can claim that only she had the truth and that only it

can bring people to God. Such views are prevalent in today’s society, which claims itself to be

tolerant and to respect different opinions. Those who think otherwise are often considered

narrow-minded, and even redneck. Is it reasonable to conclude that religion which is so different

in its teachings, worship the same God? Being able to come to that conclusion is hard. Such

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differences only cause confusion, so that people are no longer sure who is God what is expected

of those who believe in him. If all religions lead to the same God, it should be obvious that they

seek to unite people and help them to live in peace. What the facts show? History shows that

religion does not unite people, but it causes divisions and wars. World religions do not contribute

to peace and unity among the people, nor they lead to the same God. Instead, they divide people

and create a wrong picture of who God is and how he should be loved. Therefore, whoever wants

to come to the true God must carefully choose which way to go. This is in line with what the

Bible advises, one of the oldest religious books that people know.

CHRISTIANITY

Religion is based on the teachings and life of Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Jesus of Nazareth) in

Galilee, described in the New Testament. All those who have turned to Christ and believe in him

and followed his teachings and his followers are called Christians. All Christians together make

up the Church of Christ, which, according to the New Testament, the Holy Scripture, is the body

of Jesus.

Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah (Christ), whom the prophets said

would come to Earth (the Old Testament) to save people. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the

teacher model of the right way of life on Earth, an incarnation of God, Savior of man, who on the

cross gave his life for all people, so that citizens could atone for their sins and thus to save.

Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after the crucifixion, later raised

to the sky, and thus conquered death. Most Christians consider that Jesus will come again to

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earth to take His church and judge all people ( living and dead ) who have ever lived on Earth.

Jesus Christ preached about God ( heavenly ) kingdom and the importance of his stay on earth.

Christianity represented the first universalist religion, as opposed to the earlier national religions

and preached equality of all people before God: the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the poor, the

rich, women, men. Because of what Jesus preached, which is quite extensively described in the

four Gospels (which are the first four books of the New Testament ), the number of Jesus'

disciples and followers grew rapidly, especially among poor people. Christians call the message

of Jesus Christ through the gospel ( " good news " ) and so the books are written, where Jesus'

preaching and life, called the Gospels ( four Gospels in the New Testament ).

According to its origin, Christianity is akin to Judaism, with which it has a lot of familiar texts.

The Hebrew Bible is known in the Christian context as the Old Testament. Christianity is

considered to Abrahamic religion, along with Judaism and Islam. Later, when it became official

religion, Christianity was linked their interests with the benefit of the ruling class and away from

the ideals enshrined in the Scriptures (the gospel). Dogmatic debate and political conditions and

various interests have led to that today Christianity divided and disunited. Among a large number

of people who profess to be Christians, many Christian principles do not apply today, and they

are not respected. A large number of Christians in various denominations have reduced their

"Christianity" on the ritual - a ceremony attended several times a year.

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JUDAISM

Judaism is the oldest of the three great monotheistic religions of the world. The basis of the

belief that there is only one God who is the creator and ruler of the whole world, transcendent

and eternal, who sees everything and knows everything, and who published his Law, the Torah,

to the Jewish people and chose it to be light and model of the whole humanity. God promised the

Jewish people forefather, Abraham, that his descendants will make a great nation and that he will

give them the eternal possession of the land of Canaan. From the constant aspiration to own land

was born the movement and Zionism, and at the end was established the state of Israel. The

essence of Judaism is in the Semi, which is the name for the three passages of the Bible that

observant Jews read every morning and evening. " Act " contained in the first five books of the

Bible or the Torah is the most important thing. Many Jews no longer respect all laws, but the

orthodoxy value every detail. The synagogue is the Jewish place of prayer and worship, but it is

also used as a place to study, and as a community center. Synagogues were first developed in the

ancient Diaspora to replace the Temple of Jerusalem. By the Middle Ages, the church had grown

into an institution embodying Judaism’s key elements. It is simultaneously a house of God,

Torah, and Israel. Synagogue service can be led by a rabbi or a member of the congregation.

Traditional Jewish worship requires a minyan ( a quorum of ten adult males) to take a place. In

the Jewish religion, worship services held at a synagogue. They use it as a building for prayer

and the study of God. The first purpose of the temple is a house of prayer. Some of the prayers

take place outside of the synagogue, but group prayer is very significant in Judaism.

BUDDHISM

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The founder of Buddhism is Sakyamuni Buddha. Buddha is not a personal name but a title that

means awakened, the one who woke up from a dream about life and who sees reality for what is.

Before he gained the title Buddha, he was named Siddhartha Gautama. He was born as a prince

in the small kingdom of Sakya. Buddhism or Buddhadharma is learning about spiritual

awakening. Buddhism spread from India throughout Asia. It had a significant influence on India,

China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Tibet and other Asian countries. Today, Buddhism is the majority

religion of Japan, Tibet, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia,

Bhutan, and Vietnam.

Buddhism is the learning that is occurring by the Buddha’s awakening experience or insight into

the actual nature of life and it’s described in detail the path leading to it. The adverse and

unfavorable work that we are doing are not the results of our formerly evil nature, but come from

ignorance about the nature of life, greed and aversion are raising, and from them all the other

woes such as anger, desire for hurting, fear, envy, jealousy, impatience and anxiety that is making

human life difficult, painful, and human relations intricated.

Buddhistic countries are extremely culturally and artistically rich, Buddha figure appears in

countless forms of Asian art, from colossal statues to delicate figures. Scenes from his life have

the same importance in Asia as the story of Christ in Western art. Buddhism, less ambitious than

some religions, and cheeses after the intervention of some philosophy, is rather the discipline. It

consciously limiting the search for salvation represents at the same time and his strength and his

weakness. Adapts quickly to diverse religious life and this explains its incredible expansion in

Asia.

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COMPARISON OF THREE RELIGIONS

The main difference between Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism is the absence of the concept

of a Creator God in the Buddhist doctrine, and even more than that, renouncing the possibility of

God by Buddhism. And Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity seek and provide methods for

salvation. The salvation of man assumes a kind of pessimism about life and his struggling. Both

religions seem to be based on a negative evaluation of existence: the kingdom of God in

Christianity is opposed to the realm of " this world ", the demonic forces that govern history and

personal life. Nirvana in Buddhism is opposed to the world of virtual reality. In Judeo -

Christianity, it is the idea of " original sin " and its consequences for man and humanity. In

Buddhism, this pessimism is deeper, because it goes down to the roots of human beings as

creatures of desire. But while Christianity seeks the transformation of desire, its sublimation and

turning that energy into the knowledge of God, Buddhism calls for the radical destruction of

every desire. When we are talking about differences between Buddhism, Judaism, and

Christianity, it is not possible to escape their attitude towards history and historical processes.

While in Buddhism, from the principle of nirvana can not perform any belief in history, nor an

impetus for the transformation of the history. In Christianity, there is a positive attitude towards

history. There is also a significant difference in the approach of the believer to Jesus Christ or

Buddha. The fact of Jesus’s sufferings, his resurrection and the gift of Holy Spirit, centuries of

persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire and beyond its borders, and the life of the

Buddha and its end in which there is nothing tragic. Christians believe that those who accept

Jesus Christ as your Savior and leading righteous living will be rewarded with life in heaven,

while sinner who is not forgiven will go to Hell. Judaism is based on the future success of the

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Jewish race, not the heavenly reward from God, and they don’t believe in Holy Trinity. If we

talk about rituals, celebrations, and festivals, Jews and Christians celebrate in typical Easter. The

meaning of the holiday is different, however, because the Jews celebrate the exodus from Egypt,

and the Christians mourn the death of Jesus and celebrate his resurrection from the dead.

CONCLUSION

Today, the religion measures by how much contribute to the common life in the understanding

and loving, and not in that in which they differ theologically, philosophically, historically so.

Today, therefore, every religion should be evaluated by the extent to which the changes pounds

for dialogue, understanding, and communication with other religions, for the common interest.

Great religions indeed have common some of the fundamental teachings concerning the human

relationship. For example, most religions teach that we should not kill, lie, steal, commit incest,

and be respected, and to love your family. But when it comes to other things, especially about

how to present God, religions are completely different. For example, Hindus worship a multitude

of deities, whereas Buddhists do not believe that God is a person. Islam teaches that there is only

one God. The same thing is showing churches who claim to be Christian, but most of them also

teach that God is a Trinity. The only roof under which different believers and religious

communities can live in relative peace is tolerance. If you can not be with each other, can be next

to each other, not necessarily against each other. One smart idea came up to us on the east side of

the world, where, after all, and encourage all of the Western religion: " A man who respects only

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his faith, and underestimates the other, is a man who respects only his mother and despises the

other mothers ‘.

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Sources:

Living Religions, 9th edition, Mary Pat Fisher 2014

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