Monotheistic religions -- are they similar?

[bandXtrb]

I hear from my religious friends that the world's monotheistic religions are generally similar. Is this true, or are the differences too great to call them 'close'?

Is a Christian going to Muslim hell, and a Muslim going to Christian hell? I've heard this argument used many times by atheists -- being screwed no matter which religion you choose.

 

[PoonDaddy007]

I can give one example of differences of religions. It is my understanding that there is a stark difference between Christianity and any other monotheistic religion. It is that in most if not all religions other than Christianity, the man has to perform to try to reach a level of deity or gain acceptance into the "Heaven" of that religion. It is only Christianity that the diety came to the man.

Christianity - God came to Earth in the form of man
Other religions - man must preform tasks in order to try and reach "God" or the level of grace

 

[bandXtrb]

Very interesting.

Any more comments?

 

[nachiketa1]

<< Christianity - God came to Earth in the form of man
Other religions - man must preform tasks in order to try and reach &quot;God&quot; or the level of grace >>

That is not entirely true. In Hinduism, there are nine Avatars (incarnations of God) that have descended upon Earth throughout time, with the tenth still to come. The two most beloved in Hinduism are Rama and Krishna. The ninth avatar, Buddha, was the founder of Buddhism, which shares some of the same principles of Hindusim, such as reincarnation and non-violence.

 

[nachiketa1]

bump

 

[chiwawa626]

hmm, intresting, but i dont think religions will sit and aggree &quot;yes our hells will be the same but...&quot;

 

[Bignate603]

They do seem to share many similar qualities. Judaism is directly related to Chritianity because Christianity came from Judaism. The founder of the Muslim faith actually stated at one point that their God was the same God as Jews and Christians (I remember reading this in a history text book, I do not know a huge amount about the Muslim religion though). Muslims even respect Abraham, a prophet of the old testament in the modern Christioan bible.

 

[Mapidus]

The three major (agreed) monotheistic religions of today (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are related. They all share the same God. The old testament of the Christian Bible and the Torah of Judaism are pretty much the same. Essentially the initial split is that Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah, while Jews are still waiting for the Messiah. This is why ultra orthodox Jews such as the Hasidic Jews do not believe that Jews should be occupying Israel now because they do not believe in returning to the &quot;homeland&quot; until the Messiah has come. Muslims believe in all the Jewish and Christian prophets. To Muslims, Jesus was a prophet and not the Messiah. Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last prophet. There main religious book is the Quran, which they belive is the exact word of God (Allah) which is why they believe it should not be taught in translated forms.

Hinduism can be argued to be a monotheistic religion. Hindus worship many gods, but all these gods are believed to be different projections of one god, so essentially it is monotheistic. Also, this main Hindu god (Raman? not sure if this is right) also has human projections. This is similar to how some Christians (Catholics?) believe in the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit, three different manifestation of one God.

Certain forms of Buddhism can also be argued to be monotheistic. Buddhism in its original and I believe majority form has no concept of a &quot;god&quot;, but certain forms of Buddhism worship a single &quot;god&quot; figure. In one of these forms of Buddhism (Mahayana), Buddha is not considered a human, but as the human manifestation of a god. The Mahayana god has a trinity form, similar the the Christian Trinity.

 

[Mapidus]

On the Heaven/Hell subject:

Judaism does not teach or stress much about the afterlife. The emphasis is on being a good person in this life and to let God handle what happens next. Christians emphasize the afterlife heavily and this is one of their main points in proselytizing people. Christians believe that only baptised people have a chance of going to Heaven and at least for Catholics, you will automatically go to Heaven if you are baptised on your death bed and say you are sorry for whatever bad you have done. Babies who die before being baptised (and non-Christians who are good) are believed to be in Limbo for the rest of eternity. In Islam, some people believe that if you are a strong supporter of the religion (especially dying for it) then you will enter high levels of Heaven.

Many of the Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism believe in a circular life cycle of reincarnation. One goal of Buddhism is to stop this cycle of reincarnation and finally reach a state of Nirvana where one becomes a harmonious part of the universe and is not further reincarnated. Some Buddhists also believe that if you are good in this life, but not good enough to reach Nirvana, one will be rewarded with a better life in the next cycle. This is similar to the concept of Dharma and Karma in the Hindu religion. Essentially for Hindus, you have this (Dharma) kind of duty and destiny in life. By being a good person and living with your Dharma, you can earn Karma (like reward points) that will give you a better Dharma and life in the next cycle. This is what led to the caste system in India where people are born into certain social classes such as priests, landowners, warriors, merchants, farmers, and untouchables.

 

[bandXtrb]

<< On the Heaven/Hell subject:

Judaism does not teach or stress much about the afterlife. The emphasis is on being a good person in this life and to let God handle what happens next. Christians emphasize the afterlife heavily and this is one of their main points in proselytizing people. Christians believe that only baptised people have a chance of going to Heaven and at least for Catholics, you will automatically go to Heaven if you are baptised on your death bed and say you are sorry for whatever bad you have done. Babies who die before being baptised (and non-Christians who are good) are believed to be in Limbo for the rest of eternity. In Islam, some people believe that if you are a strong supporter of the religion (especially dying for it) then you will enter high levels of Heaven.
>>




Does anyone agree with this?

 

[Optimus]

Some clarifications:


<< Christians believe that only baptised people have a chance of going to Heaven >>


Catholics believe that you need to be baptised to go to Heaven unless: A) Baptism was not available (people who never heard of Christianity, but were genuinely good) or B) Despite not being baptised with water, your life and heart were good enough that you are considered &quot;baptised by desire&quot; - i.e. if you knew, you would have been baptised... etc
Actually there are several ways, but it boils down to this:
Unbaptised people CAN still get to Heaven, but it is incredibly more difficult. In the end, though, no one can say but God.


<< and at least for Catholics, you will automatically go to Heaven if you are baptised on your death bed and say you are sorry for whatever bad you have done. >>


If you truly repent and confess, now or at the end of your life, you are forgiven through the sacrament of Confession. Baptism is a sacrament that when it is recieved also absolves you from sin, ONLY if you are truly sorry, but Baptism also removes the punishment for past sins to that point. So if given to a sincere and truly repentant person, even on the deathbed, it absolves thier sin and removes the punishment for it to that moment. Any sin after that still counts, but if the person then dies without sinning after that late Baptism they could well go straight to Heaven, yes.
Why, if they are truly sorry, would God refuse to forgive them???



<< Babies who die before being baptised (and non-Christians who are good) are believed to be in Limbo for the rest of eternity. >>


No - they are there until the Final Judgement - the end of the World. At that point, and we are not sure how, they are given a chance to freely choose God or not - the same choice the rest of us have here on earth our entire lives.

 

[ElKevbo]

<<

<< On the Heaven/Hell subject:

[lots of stuff about heaven and hell snipped] >>


Does anyone agree with this? >>



What does it matter if anyone agrees with it? People shouldn't ask of religion approval or comfort, any more than we look to science for that. The only question people should ask is is it true?

Those are just my thoughts...


Kevin

 

[linuxboy]

<< is it true >>



would you like to engage in a discussion on truth? Universal skepticism is a solid, arguable worldview.




<< What does it matter if anyone agrees with it? >>



Ok so then peer approval and conformity to norms have ABSOLUTELY no effect on people?
I don't understand your post.

 

[Mapidus]

Optimus:
I guess I was generalizing too much to make the description short.
Of course there are always deviations in beliefs, but most Christians believe that unbaptised people do not have a chance to go to Heaven (at least directly) because of the concept of everyone having original sin before being baptised. This is actually why Baptists are so strict about only baptising when they are old enough to choose. I believe most other Christians baptise at birth and then again at confirmation and later maybe before death. Some Catholics do believe in what you state, but that is not the only opinion on the subject in the Catholic Church. Many Catholics I have talked to said that they were taught that unbaptised babies could not go to Heaven, but many of these people did not think that it was fair. Throughout the centuries there have been many debates in the Catholic Church about this and I am sure it has not been resolved yet. At one point St. Augustine taught the strict doctrine that unbaptised babies went straight to Hell. Many in the Church did not agree with this teaching and later created the concept of a state of Limbo where these children were in neither a state of bliss nor one of suffering. This state of Limbo is distinctly different from Purgatory because there is no chance of &quot;promotion&quot; from Limbo, other than Final Judgement as you mentioned.

 

[bigd480]

i can't believe no one has mentioned Zoroastrianism... it was the first monotheistic religion and predates &quot;the big three&quot;... some Zoroastrian concepts that show up in later religions include: heaven/hell, final judgement, concept of &quot;angels&quot;, praying 5 times a day (islam), religious initiation of the child (bar mitzvahs in judaism), and probably more that I can't recall offhand...

i was going to post a link but none of the articles on the net fully cover it... the reason you don't hear much about it now is that Zoroastrians do not convert or intermarry so there's only about 100,000 or so left in the world...

back in the day, the Persian empire, of which Zoroastrianism was the state religion, extended from Egypt to China at one time... Much of it was destroyed by Alexander and the Greeks, and when the Arabs invaded in 600AD the Zoroastrians were forced to convert or be killed... Many fled East to what is now India and Pakistan... Most of today's Zoroastrians are in western India and larger communities exist in the U.S., Canada, England, Australia, Pakistan... There are a few left in Iran (some still in hiding) and also a few of the southern former-Soviet republics...