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Prior to the establishment of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) religious justice was a muddled picture. In the polytheistic religions, gods each had their own interests, which often conflicted with the interests of other gods. “The belief in one god allowed the Abrahamic religions setup a fundamentally different dynamic in ethics; the dichotomous distinction between right and wrong.” (Stark, 2001). Human actions no longer served one god or another’s interests, they were now judged by the embodiment of all that was perfect and sacred; God.
The implementation of this new ethical paradigm allowed for Abrahamic societies to link their belief in God to common social values and responsibilities (Stark, 2001). The approach which Judaism, Christianity and Islam each take toward these common social values and responsibilities displays which values are held highest in each religion. Despite differences in each religion’s approach, common themes exist. The role of justice and forgiveness in each religion displays a common belief that man’s nature is to stray from God’s justice, but that man can ultimately connect with the divine through the contemplation and understanding of what is good and right.
Each Religion’s Approach towards Justice
Judaism
One translation for the word “Torah” is law (Lawton, 2007). This is because the Torah is largely made up of laws, containing 613 rules for how devout Jews should conduct their lives (Lawton, 2007). The purpose of these laws, or mizvots, is to define the right or ideal relationship, one should have with God.
The mizvots of the Torah are not seen as absolute. With the exception of three of the mizvots, all other mizvots may be broken in order to save a l...
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Conclusion
Each of the religion’s approach to justice and forgiveness is affected by how they view man’s role in the world. Judaism’s approach stresses the role of community and living right by one’s fellow man as well as God. Christianity’s approach focuses on the damaged nature of man and importance of redemption. Islam’s approach holds careful interpretation and accordance with God’s will as the core facets of its jurisprudence.
When compared to each-other, each of the religion’s approach to justice and forgiveness is remarkably similar. Although the customs and standards may vary widely, and in fact vary even within different sects of each religion, justice and forgiveness operate on largely the same principle: man’s nature is to act against God’s justice, but man is capable of repairing his relationship with God through the process of forgiveness.
The Christian faith focuses on the orientation of the human heart behind human thoughts and actions. Living by faith is a beautiful alternative to the way people think of themselves and the way they live in relation to others in their daily lives (Merrick, 2014). Christians see themselves in terms of God’s profound love for them but not in terms of what they do. The teachings of the Christian faith; nonviolence, non-retaliation, inward integrity, selflessness, and love your neighbor as yourself provide the framework for ethical thinking. Although, adopting belief in Christianity can bring forth confusion in the heart and mind causing agony of learning to sacrifice one’s rightful claims for personal justice for the restoration of another (Merrick, 2014). Unconditional forgiveness is difficult to understand because spiritual forgiveness and actual costly forgiveness is viewed as the same in the gospel. If you do not forgive, then one does not have faith in God’s forgiveness as it really is. Christianity influences a person thinking and behavior developing wisdom which requires faith. The faith that is needed to reorient the heart away from selfishness to selflessness.
Justice and forgiveness are two topics that are interpreted differently by many people. Many people forgive, but many other people only seek justice. They can’t go hand-in-hand together though. People are not capable of forgiving while they also seek justice toward a person. Forgiveness is led by sorrow to a person while justice is revenge based. Many who seek justice can not resist the temptation of revenge but those who seek to forgive show strength by doing the right thing.
There is a significant difference between government and religious morals even though both are ethical authorities. These two moral authorities conflict with one another while both are to help people make sou...
Torah (the Law) "…means "teaching" or "instruction"…(Harris, 3) for mankind. The Torah includes both the Oral Law and the Written Law. In addition, the Law is an extension of sacred oral tradition, thus broadening the meaning of Torah to designate the entire body of Jewish laws, customs, and ceremonies.
Forgiveness and justice are very similar than we believe them to be. We believe that justice is
There are only three modern religions that are monotheistic: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Donceel 52). For comparison purposes, this paper will use the concepts and ideas brought forth by the Bible and Christianity. The book of Genisis begins by assuming that there is only one true God that created the Heavens and Earth and rules over it, and that assumption is maintained throughout the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. Christians believe that God gave His only son, Jesus.
Ephesians 1:7(ESV) explains it this way, "In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace" and only through faith in Christ can humanity be saved with the hope of eternity with God in Heaven. The Islamic perspective is that only through humanities works and deeds that follows the commandments and laws of the Quran (as amplified by the Hadith and interpreted by the schools of the law, Shari'a) can be forgiven. Surah 25:7 in the Quran states, “And whosoever repents and does righteous good deeds, then verily, he repents towards Allah with true repentance.” However, it is of importance to also point out the similarities of forgiveness as it relates to the two worldviews. Both faiths believe that confession of sin should always be directed to God or Allah, that one should turn from their old ways with the intention to never do it again and that they should trust in the promises of God's forgiveness. They both also believe that true repentance is always open. Nevertheless, for the Islamic faith, forgiveness is through good deeds only. For the Christian Theism faith, it is through faith in Christ (John 14:6). Therefore, from an Islamic perspective, the hope of
For the layman, familiarity with the major religions stems from the stories that are associated with them. Using the narratives that are derived from the sacred texts is the most prominent way in which our society identifies the Western religions. The Jewish tradition is best correlated to stories like the Exodus and the parting of the Red Seas, for example, as are the many tales of the miracles of Jesus connected to Christianity. This essay will present narratives as an easy method of providing the basic groundwork for the Western religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because of their simplicity and easily transmittable nature. Furthermore, narratives impart many of the rules, laws, and moral fundamentals for these faiths, and are used by religious writers as a novel method of initiating discussion or providing a parallel for other narratives.
In Judaism, God is seen as having a contractual relationship with the Jewish people where they must obey his holy laws in return for their status of the chosen people. God rewards or punishes Jewish people based on whether they obey or disobey his will. In parts of the Old Testament, however, God does show mercy or forgiveness, and in later interpretations God’s laws such as the Ten Commandments are followed
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.
Although there are many religions in the world that have affected the lives and cultures of many people it is clear that most of the historical developments that have affected the way people now live seem to have been greatly influenced by the three religions with close relationships to each other resulting in being clustered together as the Abrahamic faiths. While there are many differences among the three most populous religions called the Abrahamic faith (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), there are a number of similarities that deserve a closer look. In this article will look at three major similarities. At times there may be more similarities between any two of them but dissimilarity with the third. For instance, on the personality and
At the first glance, Islam and Christianity appear to have nothing in common, however; as you go beyond the surface, they appear to have many similarities such as their beliefs of God, their beliefs of life after death, their holy scriptures, and their prayers. These religions, although two entirely different beliefs, share a similar origin. Like many other religions, they both claim to be the one and only true way to God. In order to truly see and understand their similarities, one must date back to the rise and birth of Christianity and Islam. Throughout the course of this essay, I will compare the many facets that show the alikeness between these two growing religions.
There are many similarities and differences between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are also many differences that separate the three major religions of the world. This paper will delve into all three of them.
One of the central developments was to establish what principles is shared by people of different faiths, as Christianity is not completely universal nor necessarily natural in all of its principles set forth. Grotius took part in initiating this development as he denounced the notion of universal Christianity, and suggested a better degree of validity would be possible under a less biased set of moral principle (Coleman, pg. 67). This development was found to be what is most “reasonable” for mankind by modern theorists such as John Finnis, yet branching from the notions set forth by prior theorists. Finnis’ theory operates in the absence of a divine figure, yet still holds a universal standard of what is “good.” This reasonable notion is further evaluated as moral principles are naturally embedded into human beings, and a particular system such as religion is not necessary to reflect such (Coleman, pg.
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.