Major World Religions

 Major world Religions

There are four main religions in the world they are. Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam,    (Muslim)

An account for 70, of the world’s population of remaining 15 is nonreligious, and 15 subscribe to one of the smaller religions.

Definition: Religion is a difficult term to define at its most basic level; it embraces a set of strongly held beliefs and values by which to live.

 

Hinduism

1.    Founder & Date: Hinduism has no specific founder and no specific date. The word “Hinduism” derives from the Sanskrit term Sindhu (river) referring to the people of the Indus Valley. Hence meaning “Indian”

 

2.    Traditional location: Heavily concentrated in India Also present in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Fiji, Mauritius, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Surinam, and Trinidad Now worldwide

 

3.    Holy book: Hinduism has many scriptures (Bible). The Vedas (knowledge) is the earliest and most revered Hindu scriptures and communicate spirit knowledge. Other scriptures include the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Gita.

                               

4 God: Early Hinduism was polytheistic eventually, three gods become preeminent: Brahma (creator) Vishnu (preserver), and Shiva (Unite) (destroyer) behind the many gods of Hinduism stands the one monistic reality of Brahman the universal soul.

 

4.    Jesus: Jesus attained God-realization and was thus an enlightened guru. He was not a savior, not the son of God, nor did he rise from the dead.

 

5.    Humanity: Every person possesses an undivided soul is known as atman that is extended from (and “one with”) the universal soul (Brahman) –much like drops of water in an ocean

    

7. Sin: Humans are ignorant of their divine nature- they have forgotten they are extended from Brahman. For this reason, they have become subject to the law of karma.

 

8. Salvation: Salvation comes when one realizes that one’s individual soul (atman) is identical with the universal soul (Brahman). Through numerous deaths and rebirths (reincarnation), one finally comes to and achieves absolute unity with Brahman.

 

 9. The life after death: Hinduism believes in reincarnation, which is based on the low of karma. It is believed one will be born in a better status in the next life if one builds up good karma (by goal deeds), one will be born in a worse status in the next life if one builds up bad karma. The ultimate good is to escape the cycle of reincarnation and achieve unity with Brahman.

 

10. Distinctive practices: There are three paths to enlightenment;

1.  Karma marga (the way of action and ritual)

2. Janna marga (the way of knowledge and meditation

3. Bhatia marga (the way of devotion).

 

 

                                        Islam-Muslim

1.  Founder and date: The word Islam means “submission to the will of Allah” Muslim means “one who submits” Islam arose in the Seven century AD. Under the leadership of Muhammad, alleged to be the greatest of a long line of 124,000 prophets.

 

2 traditional locations: Arabian h Peninsula, spreading the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond Now worldwide

 

3. Holy book (Bible): Islam’s holy book is the Quran. Quran literally means “that which is to be read” it contains one hundred fourteen suras (chapters). It is said to supersede all previous revelations.

 

4. God: Allah is the one true God he is absolute unity and not a trinity. He can have no son and no partner Allah is said to be all-seeing, all-hearing, all speaking, all-knowing, all willing, and all-powerful. He is utterly transcended.     

                              

5. Jesus: Jesus is neither God nor the son of God. But merely a prophet Israel and lesser prophet than Muhammad

 

6. Humanity: Man is composed of body and soul, and basically has a good nature. His duty is to obey and serve Allah.

 

7. Sin: Man has lost his way. So long as man continues to follow his own mistaken ways, worshiping false gods, and neglecting Allah’s law’s his eternal destiny is imperiled.

 

8.  Salvation:  Salvation is found incomplete surrender to Allah.

(This is in keeping with the meaning of Islam – submission and Muslim – one who submits.

 

9. The life after death: Allah will resurrect all who have died he will judge all people on the scale of absolute justice. Depending on how one fare one will end up either in heaven is a place of unimaginable pleasure. Hell is a place of unimaginable suffering.

Distinctive practices’ there are five obligations in Islam. 

1. Recite the Muslim creed                                                                                 

2. Pray five times daily

3. Give alms

4. fast during the month of Ramadan

5. Take a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once during one’s life          

                                       

11. Divisions: The two largest Islamic sects are the Sunnis and the Shiites the Sunnis make up eighty percent of all Muslims. The thing they follow the traditions of Islam.

* The shuts broke off from the main body of Muslims in the late seventh century over a                                    dispute about the successor should come through Muhammad's bloodline.

*the Sunnis, by contrast, believe Islamic leadership should elect the leader.

 

Buddhism

1 Founder &Date: Buddhism has founded by the Buddha (enlightened one) originally Gautama Siddhartha (563-483 BC) the enlightened path the discovered was (the middle way) avoiding the extremes of indulgence and asceticism, focusing rather on meditation.

 

 2. Traditional Location: Nepal and India, spreading to China, Japan, Korea, and beyond, now worldwide.    

                             

 3. Holy Books (Bible): The Buddhist Bible is the Pali Language Trip taka. Trip taka means three baskets of the law.”

1. The Abidharma partake contains philosophical doctrines.

2. The Vinay a partake contains laws and regulations.                              

3. The sutta partake contains. Parables and sermons of Gautama 

 

 4. God: While the Buddha acknowledges the existence of impermanent gods, he discouraged their worship he encouraged his followers to simply heed his teaching.

 

6.    Jesus: Jesus - Jesus was an enlightened master

 

6. Humanity: Humans do not possess an immaterial soul. Rather they consist of five temporarily connected aggregates; material form (rupa ), feeling (vedana), perception (sanna), disposition (sankhara), and consciousness (vinnana)

7. Sin: Sin is related to desire, according to the four noble truths,

1. Life is full of pain and suffering.

2. Everything’s is impermanent, and suffering is caused crudest by the desire for things that are impermanent

3. Suffering is eliminated by eradicating the desires for impermanent things

8. Salvation:

1.  Right worldview - perspective that recognizes that all things are impermanent

2.  Right intention- to remain on the path of liberation

3. Right speech -speaking words of truth.

4. Right action- following Buddhism’s moral code.

5. Right livelihood-engaging in work conducive to liberation.

6. Right effort-persevering in a mind -self free from desire.

7. Right mind fullness-maintaining a wariness.                                 

8. Right contemplative absorption- maintaining a meditative consciousness that facilitates enlightenment by following these principles, one ultimately becomes liberated from the cycle of reincarnation (same ate) and is absorbed into universal absolute.

 

9. The afterlife: Through reincarnation, one’s desires or feeling “wander across” to another body and one then live another life making further progress toward absorption into the absolute.

 

               10. Divisions: There are too primary divisions of Buddhism (1) Theravada Buddhism teaches that Buddhism is for a select few (full-time monks), and that b Buddha was just amen-an ethical teacher (2) Mahayana Buddhism teaches that Buddhism is for all people, and that the universal absolute (and hence was a divine person).

 

CHRISTIAN.

1.  Founder and Date: Christianity takes its name from its founder, Jesus Christ. Christian emerged shortly after AD- 30 in Palestine.

 

2.  Traditional location: The Roman Province of Judea in Palestine quickly spread worldwide.

 

3.   Holy Book (Bible): The Bible, which is divided into the Old Testament, written predominantly in Hebrew, and the New Testament, written in Greek. The Bible includes letters, histories, poems, prayer, and other kinds of writing All Biblical writing were inspired (God-breathed) by the writing Holy Spirit (2 Tim 316-17; 2 peter1:12) and hence are inerrant and infallible (Jan 10:35).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

God: God is an eternal (I Tim. 1:7) all-powerful (Matt. 19:26) all-knowing (Isaiah 46:10) personal Spirit (John 4:24) who is everywhere present (ps. 139:8) and who is creator and sustainer of the universe (Gen. 1:1) One of His primary attributes is holiness (Ex. 15:11, ps. 71:22, Isa. 6:3, Rev. 15:4) within the unity of the one God are three co-equal and co-eternal persons- the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit- who are distinct in personhood but are equally divine (Matt. 28:19); 2 Cor. 13:14).

4.  Jesus: Jesus the eternal son of God and second person in the trinity is an absolute deity (John 1:1, 8:58, 10:30, 20:28, Col. 2:9, Titus 2:13-14 ). His name literally means (Savior). In the incarnation, His took a Human nature so that He was 100% God and 100% man As the God-man, he died on the cross as the savior of Humankind (Rom. 5:6.).

 

5.  Humanity: Humans are creatures, created a little lower than Angel (Ps. 8:3-6) They were created both male and female in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) They have both a material (Bodily) nature and  immaterial nature (soul & Spirit (I Peter  2:11).

 

6.  Sin: All human beings are contaminated by sin (Rom. 5:19, I Cor. 15:21- 22) A key meaning of sin is (missing the mark) Sin is a failure to live up to God’s holy standards.

 

7.  Salvation: Salvation is threefold. God is the past delivered us from the penalty of Sin (Rom 8:1-4). God in the present delivers us from the presence of sin (Rom 13:11) Salvation cannot be earned by good work, but is based entirely on God’s grace (Eph. 2:8-9 the means of receiving salvation is faith in Christ (Acts 16: 31).

 

The After Death: Both believers and unbelievers will be judged. Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, where they will receive or forfeit rewards based on their behavior (Rom. 14:8-10). Unbelievers will face the Great white throne judgment (Rev. 8:10). Believers will eternity in heaven (I Cor. 2:9). Unbelievers will suffer for all eternity in Hell (Rev. 14:15).

                    

8.  Distinctive practices: There are two ordinances in the New Testament. The first fruits

Is the Lord’s Supper (Mark. 14:12-26) The bread and wine symbolize Jesus’ body (bread) and Jesus’ body (wine, in His death and resurrection (1 Cor. 11:24-25). The second, Baptism, points to the believer’s complete identification with death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:1-4).

 

9.  Divisions: There are (3) divisions in Christianity. Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern orthodoxy- within each of those three major divisions is subdivisions or families of denominations                                       

 

 

  

Last note

                              Are all Religions essentially the same?

1. Some people claim all religions are essentially the same and only superficially different.

2. The truth is all religions are essentially different and only superficially the same.

3. To illustrate this, consider the doctrine of God.

a.  Jesus (Christianity) taught there is a triune God (Matt 28:19

b. Muhammad (Islam) taught there is only one God who is not a trinity.

c.  Hinduism teaches there are many gods that are extensions of the one impersonal Brahman.

d. Buddhism teaches that the concept of God is essentially irrelevant.

4. Obviously, these religions are not pointing to the same God.

a.  If one is right, the others are wrong.

b. If Jesus was right (as Christianity believes) then all others are wrong.

5. Jesus claimed that what He said took precedence overall others

a.  He said His humanity only means of Salvation (John  14:6)

b. Those who followed Him confirmed this (Acts 4:12, Tim 2:5)

c.  Jesus also warned about those who would try to set forth a different “Christ” (Matt 24:4-5)

6. Here is an important distinction to keep in mind

a.  The author world religions seek to take bad people and make them better by personal ethics.

b. Christianity, by contrast, seek to take spiritually dead people and make them spiritually alive (John 3:5)

c.  This is accomplished solely through Jesus sacrificial death (John 14:6).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

·            Here is an important distinction in mind:

The other world religions seek to take bad people

(Or insufficiently good ones) and make them better

My personal ethics.

Christian, by contrast seeks to take dead people

and make them alive. That is, Christianity seeks to

take spiritually dead people and make them spiritually alive

(John3:5)

This is accomplished solely through

Jesus’ sacrificial Death

 (John 14:6).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faith in Jesus is the

Only way

To true salvation.

ACTS 16:31