The Salvationist religion Christianity, the Traditional African tribe, and the Egyptian Empire bring about the idea of salvation. The Salvationist religion Hinduism, the Traditional African tribe and the Mayan Empire have different variations of a creation story. Salvation and creation stories & meaning of life in these religions differ greatly from each other. Although these religions idea of salvation and creating stories & meaning of life differ, salvation and creating stories still are apart of a major aspect in the all these religions.
The creation story of the Mayan Empire is based on the book of Popol Vuh. This is a book that has “a list of divinely ordered rules and rituals and a foundation history of the Mayan people…”(Don't Know
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Much About Mythology page 455) This book is divided into five parts for about a hundred pages as its translated into English. The creation story focuses on the importance of the sky above and the sea below. The creation story starts off with two groups of Gods known as the God from the sea, and the God from the sky. These two Gods responsibilities were to create the earth, plants, and people, while the responsibility of the people were only to praise them, and supply them with offerings. The creation of the first animal came to surface because the first time the God’s tried to create a person, they hit a bump in the road because the person had no arms and could only talk/howl. The Gods decided to give it a second try and failed at it once again. This time the person they had tried to make was made of mud and couldn't walk or reproduce. After experiencing these failures they decided to consult a wise old divine couple. Once consulted, the Gods decided to try again by creating people out of wood. Thankfully the people made out of wood could talk and reproduce but on the downside couldn't pray properly or provide necessary offerings. After these wooden people were a created, a man by the name of Huracan decided to wipe out the wooden people with a massive flood. This flood consisted of a gigantic rainstorm and monsters to attack them. Most of the people were exterminated, but some surprisingly survived in the jungle and later became ancestors of monkeys. The Popol Vuh then goes into a different narrative about two sets of twins named One Hunahpu and Seven Hunahpu along with Hunahpu and Ixbalanque. These twins slay the demons and defeat the gods of the underworld. The meaning of life were to appease the Gods by either sacrificing yourself or fighting in battle in order to ascend into Heaven and not Xibalba. There is no specific creation story related to the tribe of Traditional Africans but they’re many different stories that contain some common characteristics. Any source of a creation story has a supreme God, a pantheon of Gods, a guardian spirit, a trickster, an explanation of death, people with special spiritual abilities, and fetishes. A Supreme God is a supreme being that supposedly knows everything and is always present but often disappears. Normally the main reason for the disappearance would be annoyance or disappointment with mankind. An example would be the creator of the Krachi of Togo in West Africa named Wulbari. He had left the people in his village because he got “tired of people asking him for favors and is annoyed by the cook-smoke constantly getting in his eyes” (Don't Know Much About Mythology page 409). A Pantheon of God is a building to call upon other available gods when the supreme God isn't present. They would call upon these available Gods by prayer, sacrifice, or gifts offerings in return of a favor. An example would be the Orishas which are the 1,700 divinities. The story consists of Olourn (supreme God) sending his sons with a palm tree to create the world. One of the sons ended up passed out drunk because he made wine from the palm saps Olorun had given him. The other son Oduduwa stuck to the plan and created earth and called it Ile-Ife. He also had his hen scratch the ground in order to separate the land from the seas. The place of Ile-Ife turned into a great city of the Yoruba. A Guardian Spirit serves the purpose of providing wisdom and being a guardian. These guardians are known to be the souls of deceased ancestors that could be reborn into living things or objects. An example of this would be the refusal of killing certain kinds of snakes from the Zulus people. They refuse to kill these snakes because they believe their dead ancestors live inside of them. The most popular mythic animal character in African religion would be the trickster. The trickster has two different sides one being a troublemaker hero and the other side being a schemer with little concern of consequences. An example of a trickster would be when Ture “discovered” the idea of rubbing sticks together to create fire. He did this by asking the fire to enter the trees when his cloth got caught on fire. The explanation of death has to deal with an animal messenger who failed to deliver the important information told to him from God. When this message does not get delivered, it ends in death. People with spiritual abilities included people having magical powers. Magic does play a huge role in many Traditional African religions. This is because a person could not “approach the divine” unless the individual had magical powers likes priests or medicine men. An example of a fetish would be a rabbits foot. This rabbits foot is thought to be possessed by spirits of a dead ancestor and magical powers. These myths were used to “create a sense of history and cohesion” (Don’t Know Much About Mythology page 413). The meaning of life for African’s was the achievement of family and community. Just like the Traditional African tribe, there is no specific creation story related to the Salvationist religion known as Hinduism. One of the few creation stories in Hinduism consists of an “cosmic egg”. This cosmic egg acts as a major aspect in developing three worlds and three gods named Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. This happened because of a supreme goodness laying her three eggs in a lotus. Brahma and Vishnu were soon burned to ashes after they refused to make love to their mother. Now the last son being Shiva actually went along with this deed only if he could acquire his mothers “fiery third eye”. Once the eye was received Shiva “shows no mercy, he uses the third eye to incinerate his mother and revive his two sibling gods.” (Don’t Know Much About Mythology page 332). Now Shiva and his brothers were determined to populate the world so they needed to find themselves a wife. In order to acquire a wife, they split the goddesses ashes into three sections and used the magical powers of the third eye to create three goddess they could call their wives. Creation of these wives were established and they now could populate. This is only one of many creations stories about Hinduism. They are other stories about creation involving other cosmic egg stories, tales drawn from the Mahabharata, and a man appearing. The meaning of life for Hindus was to achieve the four ends of life being Moska, Kama, Artha, and Dharma. These four ends of life “point to the different sides of human nature, the instinctive and the emotional, the economic, the intellectual and the ethical, and the spiritual” (The Ways of Religion page 21). Moska being the most important, refers to achieving enlightenment at the end of your life. Enlightenment means being free from all limitations, having spiritual freedom and being reborn into a new person. Kama refers to learning how to accept the enjoyments in life. Artha refers to individuals aiming for wealth and success. Dharma refers to controlling your impulses/desires and act accordingly with morals and ethics. The topic of salvation is brought upon in the Salvationist religion called Christianity.
Salvation is deliverance from sin and its consequences. In order for salvation to occur, sin must be present. Sin could be defined as disobedience towards a specific commandment or to a more general principle. These sins cause a separation through all of our experiences in life from us and God’s love. Salvation is a normal part of Christianity because during the sacred ritual of “baptism we acknowledge our dependence on God to forgive our sins and to participate in our lives, through the action of the Holy Spirt, in such way that we are transformed into something previously unknown and unnamable to us” (An Introduction to Christianity page 80). In other words, we are born knowing we will sin and must have redemption thus the idea of being in need of salvation. Salvation also occurs in the sacrament of Penance where after an individual has been baptized, they pursue salvation by confessing their sins. Salvation is important for Christians to ascend to the “holy gates” known as Heaven. Heaven is where internal peace lies and where God and the angels are located. The whole point of following Gods path is to make it to Heaven to be with him. Hell is obviously a place you would not want to end up because all that lies there is the devil and evil beings. According to Christians, if you don't follow Gods path by sinning or breaking commandments without forgiveness, your punishment will be will …show more content…
spending eternity in gates of hell. Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection has to do with saving people because he died on the cross to save us. What I mean by that is Jesus died on that cross to sacrifice our sins. By dying for us meant that our relationship with God wouldn't be ruined, we could still resolve our relationship with him. He was able to be punished in our place because of that fact that he didn't commit any sin. Another example of salvation for Christianity would be the early story of St. Augustine. He was the first great Christian philosopher which influenced the way people practice Christianity and absorb its principles just like Jesus did. He decided to convert to Christianity in 386 after much self examination and dealing with his own moral pain for too long. He knew all the sins and corruptions he had committed needed to be repented. This was his way to find his lost soul back to God to seek redemption, thus the reoccurring idea of salvation. “…The recalling of my wicked ways is bitter in my memory, but I do it so that you may be sweet to me..” (Three Ways of Religion - Selections, The Confessions page 365) Augustine had accomplished many things by not only becoming Bishop of Hippo but leaving a lasting and permanent impression on Christianity from all the work he had achieved before his death . These lasting impressions would include placing an essential emphasis on the role of the church and highlighted individual Christians having faith. All of the things most likely wouldn't have occurred if salvation didn't take place. The topic of salvation is also prevalent in the tribe known as Traditional African. In this tribe salvation is not focused on individuals befitting by attending a peaceful afterlife like christianity. Salvation in this tribe is based on “not simply the empirical life but also the super-empirical life which is life beyond the grave since, in their view, the two are inseparable and interdependent” (Traditional African Religion page 455) In Christianity, when an individual commits a good act it is believed that you will be rewarded in your afterlife, and when you commit a bad act, if you do not repent your sins you will deal with your punishment in the afterlife. While in the Traditional African tribe, when you commit either a good or bad act, your reward or punishment will transpire during your present life. “African religions also tend to be more here and now, focusing on earthy life instead of an afterlife” (Don't Know Much about Mythology page 408) Salvation in this tribe is based on physical and immediate dangers of either an individual or a community. Africans believed that even though people were physically dead they were still able to be contacted, relied upon for strength/wisdom and help their family members. This shows how a dead person's spirit plays a continuing role in the tribe. Religion effects every part of their life including personal, family and soci-politcal life. The topic of salvation is present in the Egyptian Empire.
In the Egyptian Empire, salvation doesn't mean “deliverance from sin”, it means “a source or means of being saved from harm, ruin or loss”. The Egyptian people believed that the leaders of their nation were not only considered leaders, but they were also considered to be gods. For example, the Pharaohs were the leaders of the Egyptian Empire and also considered to be a god. The Egyptians praised them and revolved their lives around making the Pharaohs happy. This happiness from the Pharaohs would result in harmony and balance in the empire. Balance and harmony would include good harvest seasons and protection from invaders trying to posses the land. In other words, if the Egyptians praised the gods correctly, the Pharaohs would save the people of Egypt from being harmed by a flood or drought, ruined by foreign invaders or the loss of the theocracy. Salvation would only occur when Pharaohs were kept
happy. Salvation or in other words redemption in religion is the act of saving your soul in order to ascend into an afterlife. Creation stories are an important aspect in every religion because without them, there wouldn't be an identity for that specific religion. The meaning of life for a religion is essential in acquiring the tools in order to obtain internal peace.
...lvation is achieved differs significantly among the various Christian groups, for example, the Catholic Church believes that salvation is attained through good works such as acts of charity and almsgiving, while the Anglican Church as a deeper focus on personal faith and acceptance of Jesus as the Savior. The concept of salvation is a driving factor in the formation of ethics and morals in the Christian faith, as individual desire to receive eternal life in heaven underpins many actions and choices that they make, such as the choice to attend church or participate in aiding the poor and helpless.
It is very likely that most people have heard about the Mayan Civilization in one way or another. Whether fictitious or factual, this ancient culture iw idelt recognized. The Mayan people lived from about 250 to 900 CE in Mesoamerica. Which includes modern day Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and parts of southern Mexico.These people had many remarkable achievements, all of which can fit under the categories of scale, genius effort, and significance. These achievements include an advanced trade system, an amazing understanding of numbers, and the ability to design and build cities that are still mostly standing today. However, their most impressive achievement is their complex calendars.
The Mayans lived in Southern Mexico and Central America in their capital, Tikal, which is in present day Guatemala. The Mayans were known for their engineering, one structure they were famous for is their pyramid temple in Tikal (Document 1). This pyramid was the tallest structure in the Americas up until the 20th century and is still standing today. The government must have been strong and well organized in order to carry out such a large task. The Mayan religion had multiple gods and this pyramid was most likely devoted to one or used as a place for sacrifices. Another accomplishment of the Mayans was the creation of their calendar. An extra document that would be useful is one that explains how the calendar was created. The Mayans must have studied astronomy and math to a great length. Similar to the Ancient Egyptians, they wrote with symbols and pictures known as glyphs that were used in the calendar. These glyphs were gods, such as Zotz (Document 2). The use of glyphs is an acknowledgement of a writing system, which is another accomplishment.
Out of all the ancient civilization that inhabited central and south Mexico, the Aztec and Maya are always the first that come to mind for many people. Both of these civilizations started as a small group of farmers and peasants and yet somehow they managed to become a vast and powerful civilization with enormous cities filled with temples that honored the gods and bustling with life and wealth. They became arose and became the most feared tribe among the other tribes that existed, especially the Aztecs. They were perceived as an aggressive and blood-thirsty tribe that had to know defeat. Of course that time eventually came along for both of the tribes with the coming of the Spaniards, it was rather incredible how such a small groups overpowered these great civilizations of the Aztec and Maya. Although the Spaniards were astonished by their culture and wealth when it came to their religion, they could only feel disgust and sickened by their ways of practice. The tradition of human sacrifice along with other blood-letting procedures to please their blood thirsty gods made them seem savage and demonic in the eyes of the Spanish. However these practices came to an end as the cultures assimilated into the Spanish culture. Nevertheless the Mayas were able to survive along with some of the traditional religious practice. The question the remains is whether the Maya that reside in Mexico still carry on traditional religious ceremonies and custom.
The Maya Civilization originated in the Yucatán region during the Preclassic Period at around 2000 BC. There is some argument as to when the Preclassic Period began for the Maya. It 's argued to have began as late as 2600 BC, while there 's claim that it 's earlier because there are permanent Maya settlements along the Pacific coast that date to 1800 BC. A difference of eight hundred years, depending on region.
The very roots of Maya civilization are obscure at best. However as our understanding of new and old discoveries increases, we're more able to paint a vague picture of their early beginnings. By around 2000 BC, the southern Maya area had already been occupied by early speakers of Mayan languages. We know that this area was occupied by archaic Maya groups prior
When Spaniards first set foot on Mesoamerican shores in the early sixteenth century, they encountered not the godless mass of natives they believed they found, but a people whose rich spiritual traditions shaped and sustained them for thousands of years. These diverse spiritual practices legitimized nearly every aspect of Mesoamerican daily life, from science and architecture to art and politics (Carmack 295), in many of the same ways Catholicism did in Spain. The collision of these cultures in the Great Encounter and the resulting Spanish colonial state mixed not solely two different peoples—Indian and Spanish—but thousands of variants: elites and slaves, peasant farmers and traders, priests and traders, organized and local spiritual customs, all with different degrees of diversity in their respective religious practices. This diversity set the stage for the syncretic religious traditions that emerged in Mayan society and remain a vital part of that culture today.
Houston, Stephen. “Classic Maya Religion: Beliefs and practices of an Ancient American People.” BYU Studies 38.4 (1999): 43-64. Print.
The ancient Maya once occupied a vast geographic area in Central America. Their civilization inhabited an area that encompasses Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and parts of the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, as well as Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. "From the third to the ninth century, Maya civilization produced awe-inspiring temples and pyramids, highly accurate calendars, mathematics and hieroglyphics, and a complex social and political order" ("Collapse..." 1). Urban centers were important to the Maya during the Classic period; they offered the Mayans a central place to practice religion.
The Mayan civilization was located in southeastern Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. One of the first American civilizations, it lasted from about 1000 B.C.-1542 A.D. Their civilization flourished during the Sixth Century. They built many temples and over forty cities. The Mayan population consisted of almost fifteen million people who were all living in one of the many cities. The Mayan people were extremely religious and believed in multiple gods which meant they were polytheistic. Their most commonly worshiped god was the Maize God, or god of corn, as corn was the most grown and most relied on crop. The Mayans grew all of their own food so they needed to have useful farming methods. The one they used most often was the slash and burn method, which involved cutting down trees and burning them to make the soil fertil which was necessary to grow crops. This method worked for many years, but soon started to backfire. The Mayans were ahead of their time, but that did not prevent their mysterious decline which occurred between the years 800 A.D.-900 A.D. Although it is not known exactly why the powerful empire fell, but there are various probable theories. The mysterious decline of the Mayans may have been caused by
The Dark Ages were a time of great loss in regards to the lack of any grand achievement being made in Europe. After the fall of Rome, it was as if European society paused, and resumed during the Renaissance. This was not true for the Mayans, however. While the Europeans were squandering trying to subsist through the fall of the Roman Empire, the Mayans were building great pyramids, making substantial discoveries in astronomy and mathematics, their culture was rich. The Maya stood out for its sophisticated culture and society, which is eventually overshadowed by Europe’s monumental resurgence during the Renaissance period. It’s salient that the Maya never had a time period in which their culture was lost, despite the mysterious abandonment of
Thompson, john. The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization. 2 edition . Univ of Oklahoma, 1973. 335. Print.
... he was sent to earth to save human beings from sin and death. The teaching's of Jesus center around love. The way to salvation is do good works. Also too have faith in G-d and the Christ's resurrection.
Maya civilization was based mainly on agriculture and religion. Maya every day life revolved around an innumerable number of earth Gods. The most important God was chief, ruler of all Gods. The Mayans prayed to these God’s particularly about their crops. For example, they prayed to the Rain God to nourish their crops. They practiced their religion during ceremonies conducted by priests. They also practiced confession and even fasted before important ceremonies (Gann and Thompson 1931 118-138). The Mayans also b...
Salvation or "being saved" means redemption from the power of sin. In practical terms, God 's salvation is what we need to get to heaven or attain eternal life. (Leitch, 2010) Salvation is a major theme in the many parts of the Bible and the Qur’an. It was written in to the stories so that followers of the religion would adhere to the rules and regulations set by God and achieve the common goal: eternal life in heaven. Salvation in religion will be explored through a brief overview of Salvation and what it means in the general sense, Salvation in the texts in the Bible, the teaching of salvation in Christianity and Islam and how this differs.