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The relationship of religion to ethics
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The relationship of religion to ethics
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Hindus and Christians have their ways for why they follow ideas. In Hinduism, Hindus follow ides based on their religion because on the belief of karma: Hindus know the living in a balanced universe. If an individual disturbs the order, he or she will suffer commensurately. In an ethical and moral life, with undisturbed dharma, it will lead to happiness Thus, they specifically follow the idea of karma because Hindus know what will come out of their actions whether if it is good or bad. They want to live a life of happiness, as a result, in following the idea of it. Additionally, many Hindus believe that a person's status depends upon actions in a past life. Likewise, good thoughts and actions can release a person. This is the belief of samsara,
According to document A, “Hinduism was (and is) polytheistic - Hindus believe in many gods…..In this kind of Hinduism, people believed in reincarnation - that people could be reborn into other bodies after they died.” The excerpt shows that the daily life would be affected since Hindus will worship more gods and believe in reincarnation. Moreover, Hindus believed in Karma as well as Dharma. Karma was the good or bad actions that had an effect on the soul in later reincarnations. Dharma was the spiritual duties that one must follow. Now it is evident that beliefs were influenced by religion.
Hinduism is a religion with no known founder, with its understandings and actions developing over thousands of years. This religion has roots from the Aryan people’s religion, when they invaded India at 1500 BCE. The Aryans created a caste system when they invaded India so their kin would remain in power. Hinduism has absorbed and accepted this caste system as a large part of their religion. They believe in reincarnation, which is being reborn after you die, and Samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. If the person completes their dharma, the rules of their caste, and live a good moral life then they advance to the next caste, but if they do bad in their life then they remain at their caste level or they are downgraded. The most respected caste group is the Brahmins, they are high priests, making them very religious, and they are the closest in the caste system to reaching moksha, release from samsara or entering paradise. Another way of viewing moksha is that their Atman, the soul, gets reunited with the Brahman, the universal spirit. They then infer that everything that does not exist forever, unlike their Atman, are not real, which they call a veil, also known as Maya, because it is not permanent. Along with reincarnation there exists karma, similar to the idea what comes around goes around, so if you live an immoral life, your future lives will be a punishment. Guidance for priests and rituals are written in the most ancient Hindu scriptures called Vedas. The Rig Veda is the most important scripture out of the Vedas. The Upanishads, however, explain the Vedas through a teacher student dialogue, this helps anyone learn the Vedas much easier. Finally, the rituals described in these scriptures incl...
The English word religion loosely translates into “rules” in Latin. Therefore, a religion teaches us how to think, how to act, and basically everything except what to eat in the morning. The Hindu and Christian religion agree on many things and our society follows some of the rules too because religion and laws are based on humanity. From holy literature many different ideas have been pawned but they are all supposed to lead you to the same things: a happy, healthy life, contribution to the world around us, and some kind of liberation after death. Concerning these ideals the Hindu religion has come up with three ways to make sure that everybody will get what they want out of life and those are the four stages, the four goals, and the four castes of life. There is so much holy war about which religion is right and wrong but if they all are striving for the same thing it is hard for me to see why they take place. In this essay I will show that Christianity is very similar to Hinduism.
"In Hinduism, salvation is achieved through a spiritual oneness of the soul, atman, with the ultimate reality of the universe, Brahman. To achieve this goal, the soul must obtain moksha, or liberation from the samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. As a result of these basic teachings, Hindus believe in reincarnation, which is influenced by karma (material actions resulting from the consequences of previous actions), and dharma (fulfilling one's duty in life)"(Teachings and Beliefs, 2004, par. 1).
Erickson (1998) says there are a few theories on the atonement depending on how your read certain scripture, the theories are as follows: The Socinian Theory (1998:801); This theory speaks of Christ on the Cross as a perfect example of what kind of dedication followers of God must do, there is no connection to a sacrificial death whatsoever. The moral influence theory (1998:802); This theory believes the cross was an example of God’s love and not much more. The Governmental theory (1998:806); This theory sees the death of Christ on the Cross as atonement and also as a picture to the believer as to how serious sin is, and it must not be taken lightly. The Ransom Theory (1998:810); In this theory it is proposed, and quite popularly so, that as slaves to the world of Satan, humanity needed saving, Jesus’ death became our ransom, his death took our place. With this theory, the identity of Jesus was concealed from Satan, so he would accept the ransom. Finally the Satisfaction Theory (1998:813); This theory speaks about Christ’s death as satisfaction in place of all man-kinds sin, it also speaks against the fact Satan needed a payment of any kind, and it isn’t centred on man.
The core doctrine of Hinduism is reflected in the scriptures of the religion through good Karma and yoga, which allows one to get out of the cycle of reincarnation, through meditation and good deeds, and go through the different levels of the caste system until one becomes a Brahmin. “And if I were to ask myself from what literature we who have been nurtured almost exclusively on the thoughts of Greeks and Romans, and of one Semitic race, the Jewish, may draw the corrective which is most wanted in order to make our inner life more perfect, more comprehensive, more universal, in fact more truly human a life, again I should point to India (Smith,
The concept of suffering plays an important role in Christianity, regarding such matters as moral conduct, spiritual advancement and ultimate destiny. Indeed an emphasis on suffering pervades the Gospel of Mark where, it can be argued, we are shown how to "journey through suffering" (Ditzel 2001) in the image of the "Suffering Son of Man" (Mark 8:32), Jesus Christ. Although theologians have suggested that Mark was written to strengthen the resolve of the early Christian community (Halpern 2002, Mayerfeld 2005), the underlying moral is not lost on a modern reader grappling with multifarious challenges regarding faith in the face of suffering. In his article "A Christian Response to Suffering", William Marravee (1987) describes suffering as an "experience over which we men and women continue to stumble and fall". The way we view God is crucial to the way we view suffering according to Marravee, who delineates the disparity between a view of God as an ‘outsider’ and the biblical image of God – where God is an ‘insider’ who suffers with us in our struggle. This essay seeks to explain the Christian view of suffering and the purpose suffering can have in our lives.
Hindus have no intellection of rebellion against a holy God. They believe that there is no clear plan of salvation in Hinduism. Their purpose for living is moksha. One exercise Hindus perform to cleanse their souls is Yoga and meditation. Yoga and Meditation was taught by gurus to gain moksha. The majority of Hindus live in India. That is over nine hundred and fifty million in India and another twenty million in Nepal. Indonesia and Bangladesh have an estimate of fourteen million. Hinduism is also known to be different from other religions because of it being multifarious in its traditions. They practice a variety of amalgamation rituals. This amalgamation was traditionally called Santana Dharma. Santana Dharma is a universal law which is the kind of life the ten commandments is for Christians. It is a way of living for them and is a form of freedom to follow ones own path to becoming the conclusive being. Unlike Christians, Hindus have more then one God. Brahma is the creator god and is the most important of the gods. He has four heads and four arms. Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge and the wife of Brahma. Shiva is the
“Why are you acting like that? Don’t you want to go to heaven?” Chances are we have all heard something like this at some point in our lives because in Western society the dominant religion is Christianity. This religion brings the promise of heaven and eternal life to its greatest followers. However, this is not the case in the Eastern world particularly in India where Hinduism brings the promise of moksha to its followers and Buddhism brings the promise of nirvana to its followers. Since Buddhism originated during the time of Hinduism dominance there are some core similarities.
hinduism The term Hinduism refers to the civilization of the Hindus (originally, the inhabitants of the land of the Indus River). Introduced in about 1830 by British writers, it properly denotes the Indian civilization of approximately the last 2,000 years, which evolved from Vedism the religion of the Indo-European peoples who settled in India in the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC. The spectrum that ranges from the level of popular Hindu belief to that of elaborate ritual technique and philosophical speculation is very broad and is attended by many stages of transition and varieties of coexistence. Magic rites, animal worship, and belief in demons are often combined with the worship of more or less personal gods or with mysticism, asceticism, and abstract and profound theological systems or esoteric doctrines. The worship of local deities does not exclude the belief in pan-Indian higher gods or even in a single high God. Such local deities are also frequently looked down upon as manifestations of a high God. In principle, Hinduism incorporates all forms of belief and worship without necessitating the selection or elimination of any. It is axiomatic that no religious idea in India ever dies or is superseded-it is merely combined with the new ideas that arise in response to it. Hindus are inclined to revere the divine in every manifestation, whatever it may be, and are doctrinally tolerant, allowing others - including both Hindus and non-Hindus - whatever beliefs suit them best. A Hindu may embrace a non-Hindu religion without ceasing to be a Hindu, and because Hindus are disposed to think synthetically and to regard other forms of worship, strange gods, and divergent doctrines as inadequate rather than wrong or objectionable, they tend to believe that the highest divine powers are complement one another. Few religious ideas are considered to be irreconcilable. The core of religion does not depend on the existence or nonexistence of God or on whether there is one god or many. Because religious truth is said to transcend all verbal definition, it is not conceived in dogmatic terms. Moreover, the tendency of Hindus to distinguish themselves from others on the basis of practice rather than doctrine further de-emphasizes doctrinal differences. Hinduism is both a civilization and a congregation of religions; it has neither a beginning or founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization. Hindus believe in an uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent, and all-embracing principle, which, comprising in itself being and non-being, is the sole reality, the ultimate cause and foundation, source, and goal of all existence.
Many religions believe in the idea of karma; where executed actions of an individual affect them and the life they live. The belief of karma is that good deeds, words, thoughts, and commands lead to beneficial outcomes for a person, whereas negative actions, words, thoughts and commands lead to harmful consequences. In the short stories, “The Way Up To Heaven” by Roald Dahl, and “The Possibility Of Evil” by Shirley Jackson, both authors explore the theme of karma through similar characters who did not appreciate that negative actions have negative consequences. The characters Miss Strangeworth and Mr. Foster consistently show that they are manipulative and controlling towards others, which leads them to make reckless decisions, and in turn
Hinduism is considered as one of the oldest religion in the world, which is the dominant religion of Nepal and India. It describes about the eternal responsibilities all Hindus have to follow, regardless of class, caste , sex or origin. “ Unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one Prophet, it does not worship any one God, it does not believe in any one philosophic concept, it does not follow any one act of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not satisfy the traditional features of religion or creed. It is a way of life and nothing more.”
Now that we have covered the social classes what are the main point of the belief system, well they have several principals that almost all Hindus believe in The three-in-one god known as "Brahman," which is composed of: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Shiva (the Destroyer). The Caste System. Karma. The law that good begets good, and bad begets bad. Every action, thought, or decision one makes has consequences good or bad that will return to each person in the present life, or in one yet to come. Reincarnation. ls also known as "transmigration of souls," or "samsara." This is a journey on the "circle of life," where each person experiences as series of physical births, deaths, and rebirths. With good karma, a person can be reborn into a higher caste, or even to godhood. Bad karma can relegate one to a lower caste, or even to life as an animal in their next life. Nirvana. This is the goal of the Hindu. Nirvana is the release of the soul from the seemingly endless cycle of rebirths (Beliefs). These five central beliefs are what makes up the Hindu religion.
In the “Bhagavad-Gita” there are many lessons to be learned from a Hindu perspective, much of it dealing with fulfilling your destiny and living the life you were meant to, and being the best Hindu possible within your designed parameters. There are many lessons that relate to Christianity and ideas of how one should act. I agreed with many of the teachings and can see benefits to them, one of them being self-discipline. In my life I do try to discipline myself in different ways so I can become closer to God and live a better life. One idea I did not like is that Hindu’s have one purpose in life and are supposed to fulfill their destiny to have good karma so that they will be reborn in a higher position in life.
The Bhagavad-Gita is an epic story taken from the sacred text of the Hindu, the Mahabharata. The sacred story, often referred to as simply the Gita, begins with observing two opposing armies on the battlefield awaiting an epic battle. Arjuna, the central figure in the Gita, gazes out over the battlefield and observes soldiers on both sides. Arjuna starts noticing both armies are filled with his family and friends. Arjuna then begins to wonder if the battle should commence. Arjuna’s chariot driver, Krishna, begins to counsel him on aspects of karma and religion. Krishna was actually an embodiment of Vishnu, who appeared to guide Arjuna through this impasse. This dilemma posed the question, does in-action bring about more results than action through an unpleasant experience?