Reconciling Religions

Reconciling Religions

The main difference between the three great world religions of today, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, is the way each religion views the man known as Jesus of Nazareth. For many Jews, Jesus is a scholar, or perhaps a rabbi in the Jewish community, who overstepped his boundaries into self-proclaimed divinity; to some Jews, Jesus Christ did not exist at all. To Christians, he is the son of an all-loving and all-powerful god. Finally, for the people of the Islamic faith, Jesus is another prophet in the long line of prophets in the Jewish tradition. Despite this major difference, however, these three religions are very compatible, holding many of the same values and principles. It is these principles, and their belief in the same God, and not the belief about the divinity or status of one mortal man, that bind together the spirits of these people.

Judaism's basic tenants, the Ten Commandments, are also held by the Christians of the world. Many of the Muslim laws, outlined in the Koran, mirror these commandments. The first of the commandments given to Moses states,

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and forth generation of those who reject me. (New Oxford Annotated Bible, Ex. 20:4-6)

is very similar to a passage in the Koran that states, "Call the sinners, their wives, and the idols that they worshipped besides Allah, and lead them to the path of hell. Keep them there for questioning…" (Saint 106) Both laws state that any belief in a god other than Allah, known as Yahweh to the Jews and "I am" to the Christians, is strictly forbidden and will be met with strict punishment.

Another example of one of the commandments being similar to a law in the Koran is as basic as the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (New Oxford Annotated Bible Ex. 20:14) Not only does the Koran condemn adultery, but gives the reason that adultery is "foul and indecent." (Saint 112)

A second piece of common ground is the belief that the three peoples will be protected by God for believing in Him.