The Epic Struggle of the Children of Abraham
The largest three faiths in the world today, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, were all born from the same prophet. Abraham is the centerpiece from which all three of these religions materialized. They are all monotheistic; they believe in the one God, Allah, Elohim, Yalweh, or the Father, depending on the religion. Each of these religions has their own sacred texts and belief system, but essentially share the same concept. God created the world out of nothing and created man out of his own image. God is also depicted quite differently by each of the individuals within the specific religions. Yahweh is created as unattractive but still very imposing. Allah is created as majestic, all-powerful, and wise. But, he is also shown as compassionate and kind, and does not walk among humans. And Christians view God as divine, authoritative, and merciful.
"The God of Jews, Christians and Muslims is a God, who in some sense, speaks. His Word is crucial in all three faiths. The Word of God has shaped the history of our culture. We have to decide whether the word "God" has any meaning for us today." - Karen Armstrong
Humans have worshiped Gods from the time they were able to comprehend their beliefs. We do this to find meaning and value in life, as well as feel as if we are protected and eliminate our fears. Unfortunately, as with anything, religion can even be misused, such as zealots who have turned the peaceful religion of Islam into a battle cry of sorts to commit terrorist acts across the globe.
The word of each of these religions is the Bible, Torah, and the Qur'an. All three originated from the same source, but are vastly different. The Bible consists of hist...
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...n or hell.
All of the differences between these religions have created great conflict in the world, and in the Holy Land. However, their similarities seem to outweigh their differences. Either way, religion will continue to change, it has to be cultivated, it adapts to the changing times. Once it appears to be illogical, it will not be effective and will change, sometimes into something very different.
References:
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Fisher, M. P., Bailey, L. W., "An Anthology of Living Religions", (2000). Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ
Peters, F. E., "The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam", (2004). Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Armstrong, K., "A History of God", (1993). Random House Publishing Group, New York, NY.
Roof, Wade Clark. "Contemporary Conflicts: Tradition vs. Transformation." Contemporary American Religion. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2000. 226-27. Print.
Annemaire de Waal Malefijt, “Religion and Culture An Introduction to Anthropology of Religion” The United States of America 1989
Smith, Huston. World’s Religions: A Guide to our Wisdom Traditions. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994.
Boyer, Pascal. Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2001.
Smith, Huston. The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions. San Francisco: Harper SanFrancisco, 1994. Print.
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Eastman, Roger. The Ways of Religion: An Introduction to the Major Traditions. Third Edition. Oxford University Press. N.Y. 1999
Every religion has its own goal, and their own path and believe to reach their goals, however there are also many similarities in believes. Although the followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam may see things differently, they all fundamentally hold the same values and codes. To Islam, the Prophet Mohammad’s teaching is a complete and final revelation. On the other hand, according to the bible, Christianity believes that Jesus Christ is the true lord and savior will grant you the access to heaven in the afterlife. Judaism is founded by Abraham, and it is the base from which both of the other two religions sprung. Even though the three religions differ in many areas and on many aspects, they also agree on the monotheistic, the belief in ‘One True God.’ Those religions have many similarities and a number of significant differences about God, role of women, prayer, and salvation.
In conclusion, these religions are very crucial to modern day lifestyle. They have a lot of similarities and very distinct differences. Without theses three religions we would not have the history or wars we have today. Judaism is the root of all three religions and the start off monotheistic history. Christianity started moving time forward after the death of Jesus and the most popular. Lastly Muslim introduced fasting and is now very diverse and new monotheistic
Oxtoby, Willard G., and Alan F. Segal. A Concise Introduction to World Religions. Oxford, Canada: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Kohn, Risa Levitt, and Rebecca Moore. A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007. Print.
Dirks, Jerald. The Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam : similarities & contrasts. Beltsville, Md.: Amana Publications, 2004.
The major similarities that all three religions share are that they are all monotheistic. This all means that they believe in one god and that he is the supreme ruler of all things. They also believe that all things are created equal under one god. They all have books of what they believe to be God's word. The Jews have their book known as the Torah. The Christian's have their book known as the Bible. Lastly the Islamic people have their book known as the Qu'ran. All three of these books have scriptures.
Barbour, Ian G. Religion in an Age of Science. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990. Print. (BL 240.2 .B368 1990)
There are many religions today that people worship and adapt into their daily lives are their creed. Some may have a lot of gods, while some only have one god. But three of these religions are considered as the major religion practiced by most people in the world today. Although different in some senses in terms of history and other teachings, they all have things in common that most of their followers do not seem to realize. The similarities are very important to understand each religion better and be able to determine which parts they vary. In this paper, I like to discuss the similarities found in the three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.