Swords clash, bombs explode, and governments disintegrate; the world is at war and God is the Commanding General for both sides? Past, present, and future, there is in fact a Holy War being waged. The combatants are not your typical organized armies, they are bodies of faith. Religious conflict has been a staple of existence since the beginning of time. Ted Hodges, expert in conflicts in history, said “Some of the worst wars, mass murders, and other outbreaks of violence in history have been motivated by religious hatred or revenge. And often the roots of such violence and hatred are found in an event or grievance that occurred hundreds or even thousands of years earlier” (Hodges 48). So why is this? What makes it so necessary for peoples of a religion to wage war? No answer has been found to date (Hodges 14).
God is God. There is no argument between Christianity and Islam as to the existence of a single, omnipotent, omnipresent, and all powerful being. Both religions accept that God is separate from humans and resides in another realm and plane of being called Heaven. All of the messengers from the faiths are accepted on both sides as prophets of God’s word. For each body it is believed that all commandments transcribed into holy text is derived from direct conversation with God.
Christians and Muslims follow the Old Testament. While there is a paralleled beginning to the Holy Bible and the Quran, Islam views the text as corrupt and follows later writings by Mohammed. Christians simply refer to previous texts as the Old Testament, while Muslims call it Injil (Islam vs. Christianity). Muslims maintain that the current version of the Christian Old Testament is corrupt; Christians believe it to be the infallible wor...
... middle of paper ...
...lighting the similarities between the Old Testament and Injil, reverence to God as the one and only God, and ethics it all comes back to the rapture of God’s children from this world. Who is right, and who shows strength of conviction appears to be the overall goal. The Crusades, terrorism, and the war to end the world reflect my original idea of: Past, present, and future, there is in fact a Holy War being waged. Which side is God really on?
Works Cited
Hodges, Ted. Religion and World Conflict. Farmington Hills: Thomas Gale, 2006. Print
The Holy Bible: New International Version. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998. Print.
“Islam vs. Christianity – What Are the Major Differences” Islam vs Christianity. N.p., n.d.. Web.
5 January 2012
“Islam vs. Christianity, the Coming Holy War.” Islam vs. Christianity, the Coming Holy War.
N.p., n.d.. Web. 28 January 2012.
Generally, war results from arguments between nations over things like land, power, money, or religion. War over religion contradicts religion itself. In the passage titled “On War”, James Boswell states, “That amiable religion which “proclaims peace on earth,” hath not as yet made war to cease.” If religion proclaims peace on earth, then war goes against those morals.
All throughout history, people have been fighting, there have been wars and conflicts ever since man has become ‘civilized’ enough to raise an army. And, many, many if not almost all of these conflicts have involved religion in some way or another (Ben-Meir). The question is why, and how, do people use God as justification for fighting and killing one another. Isn’t killing supposed to be wrong in God’s eyes? Whatever happened to ‘Thou shalt not Kill’? And how is it that hundreds of thousands of people have died by the hands of those who call themselves Christians?
If wars were declared, innocent people would be threatened; therefore, some may argue that wars are unfogivable. Given the devil destruction of wars, those conflicts carried on by arms are conditional. Only defensive war should be righteous, but even the defensive war should be considered as the last resort. According to various religious views, though peace is usually the mainstream from different religious perspectives, defensive wars seem to be a moral exception.
People are in search of understanding life and the happenings that surround them. When things go wrong, people turn to God for hope and understanding. As we look at the Jewish and the Christian faiths, both of which trace their origins back past Abraham and Moses, to the original stories of the Garden of Eden, we notice basic similarities and major differences between the two religions. The three main differences between Jewish and Christianity is the concept of God, judgment, and salvation. The most eminent difference between both religions is the concept of God. Christianity believes that God is trinity which means three persons in one the father, the son and the holy spirit. However Judaism sees God as a single entity, and viewsTrinitarianism as a violation of the Bible's teaching that ...
Both Christianity and Islam mirror Judaism. From Judaism, Christianity and Islam derived the doctrines of monotheism, prophecy, resurrection, and a belief in the existence of heaven and hell. Both Islam and Christianity have a holy book. Christians consider the Bible the inspired word of God, however Muslims believe that the Koran is the literal word of God. Mohammed was merely transcribing the words of Allah, much as a court reporter does. Muslims therefore attribute greater spiritual
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism differ greatly in matter of belief and practice. They all understand from God to the prophets and Jesus and scriptures differently. Christians believe there is one God in three distinct persons, which is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Islam believe in Allah. Judaism believes in Yahweh. It is evident that the three religions are different in many
Concerning sacred texts, the Christianity traditions use the bible to be their text. This bible text contains two sections the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, in the Old Testament part, it contains the text words like: Tanakh that means the Hebrew bible, Tarah which means the Pentateuch, Nevism which means the prophet, and Ketuvin that means writings. All these Christian texts were believed to have been chosen from Greek translation that was done by the Jews in the Egypt in the third century BCE. The Christian people also believed that these sacred texts set the stage for the advent of the messiah who is called Jesus Christy. On the other hand, the Islamic sacred text is different; it is a Quran that is believed to be a sacred scripture and was recited by the Muhammad. The Muslim also alleged that the Quran contains the message from their prophet Muhammad. This sacred text contains 144 chapters called surah and it ranges from 280 to 6 verses. Another Islam sacred text is the hadiths. This is the collection of sayings that talks more about the deeds of the prophet Muhammad. The Islam religion also valued this hadiths not to be like the Quran which was written by Muhammad
From the information above it is clear that Christianity and Islam believe in one Supreme God. All believers should focus on following the commandments and rules as stated in the respective holy books. However, Christianity and Islam share great differences hence it is appropriate to conclude that Christianity is different from Islam.
Similarities and Differences between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. 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 these.
The world religions of Islam and Christianity may have their differences to the naked eye, but when you take a closer look into their histories similarities arise. They both went through transformations that had drastic impacts on the way they were controlled and the way that the religion was taught to the followers. Christianity and Islam have both experienced splits between their members due to the fact that followers thought that their beliefs were the correct way to practice the religion. While these transformations are long in the past, the splits that have occurred within each religion continue to have lasting effects on Islam and Christianity to this day.
However much Islam and Christianity would seem to share common ground, the discussion is not complete without noting the parallels between this two that have taken center stage. Some of the remarkable differences as they try to answer deep life complexities arise in the areas of religious practices by both their adherents and the clergy (Dorothy 13-28). “There is also a stark contrast to the belief system subscribed to, means of salvation, scriptures”. The most prominent difference present concerns the belief of life after death and practices of depicting the metaphysical
Judaism and Islam are known to be two of the main religions that are found throughout the world. They each have similar traits and many more differences. They both are monotheistic, which means they only believe in one god. Muslims worship the God called Allah, which means in Arabic “the God”. And Jews worship the god called Yahweh, which means the God of Israel. Their differences include their core beliefs, rituals, symbols, and history.
The conception of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is monotheism, the belief in the existence of a single indivisible God. The three of religions maintains that there is only one God, who is active in and concerned about the world. These religions are also patriarchal, male-dominated, which has resulted in God being described as “He.” However, how Christians, Judaism and Islam conceptualize God in their respective theologies is actually quite different. In Christianity, God is the supreme creator and ruler of the universe. Christians believe God is infinite, omnipotent, all-powerful, perfect, personal, eternal, unchanging, holy, all-knowing, and all-loving. Their idea of God is shown in the belief of the Trinity. God is one, but with three aspects: God is Father, the creator, ruler, and sustainer of all life, and divine judge; God is the Son, who is Jesus, God made incarnate and savior of humanity; and the Holy Spirit, who is God working in the world. Both Muslims and Christians love and respect Jesus, however, the major difference between Islam and Christianity is the Christians insistence on the supposed divinity of Christ. In Christian scriptures, God never claimed divinity while the emphasis in the Islamic theology of God is “absolute unity;” God is sublimely one. Muslims think that by believing in the Trinity, Christians believe in three Gods. For them, God is One God. Judaism views the existence of God as a necessary prerequisite for the existence of the universe, and the existence of the universe is sufficient proof of the existence of God.
Although Islam and Christianity differ in major ways, they also share some similarities in their belief in God. First of all, Christianity and Islam are both monotheistic religions; worshipping only one God. While both believe in the same God, he is called by two completely different names. He is referred to as "Allah" by Muslims and "God" by Christians. The basic creed of Islam is brief: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah”.
A major concept that separates both of the religions is the fact that the God of each faith has different qualities. This means Islam and Christianity don’t worship the same God. Islam and Christianity are two separate belief systems in which two separate Gods exist. The commonalities of Christianity and Islam center around the idea of believing in one God. The God of Christianity and Islam is separate from the world and creation.