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Modern religious faiths characteristics

Modern religious faiths characteristics

Today, millions of people worship various religions around the globe. Two of the major religions in the world are Hinduism and Judaism and they have coexisted for very many years. Whereas they are similar in the way they set their morals and rules, they differ in their believes on the afterlife and on where they started from. While the Jews believe of the heaven as their afterlife, Hindus have a belief that one is reincarnated until he/she reaches the Brahma. Jews have a belief that if one did right in everything while on earth, then they shall expend the eternity in Heaven with their God.

Bhaskarananda, 1994 argues that Hindus have believed in Karma which is the faith that if you do good things, then excellent things shall come about to you and vice versa. When one dies in Hinduism, he/she reaches the Brahma where the hurting cycle of rebirth is lastly ended. In Judaism one is supposed to lead a good life and to be kind to each and everyone. If one attains success at this, he/she will lead the whole of eternity in heaven with God. The Jews, adore only one god, who they trust to be the one and only creator and the ruler. Hindus endorse and believe in the Caste System, which is interrelated with their view on reincarnation. Jews necessarily lack this system because they do not characteristically concur with the thought of reincarnation, despite the fact that there are a few, the structure does not subsist as a major thing to this religion. Jews do not have an exact method of steady body discipline, to remain on the unchanged focus as their god, they do something to some extent the same. This is how they pray their God. For Hindus, Yoga is practiced, which is intended to bring their bodies and their souls on the same level and conveys them nearer to the Ultimate Being.

According to Hinduism, remaining pure in life and keeping a good karma, as a result of their good dealings on earth is the key to staying a good life. Those who live both socially and morally pure, they get to have their way upwards the Caste System in their after that incarnation. After some reincarnations, the Hindus may accomplish their ultimate goal, which is to achieve faultless peace of mind, and to be one with Brahma. This happens when they have gone through a life having done no mistakes, and have been “perfect” in essence. In Judaism an individual endeavors to relate well with their god. Throughout their single life that they go through, they have a trust in God, “both love him, and reverently fear him” (Louis, 2007. Pg 511), and to establish a close relationship with him. This is their supreme objective. When they achieve such, “They will be rewarded by God, the messiah will come, and the dead will be resurrected” (Louis, 2007. Pg 511). The religions most likely wanted its faction to believe in these, for the reason that it gave them something to look ahead to, and it presented them with grounds to be good throughout their life.

According to Robert in his anthology of world scriptures, the Hindus have a somewhat unique view on death. Someone who dies, if they are not yet entirely pure, they are reincarnated into another incarnation. This helps them continue their path to ultimate peace and unification with the Ultimate Being (Bhaskarananda, 1994). If a Hindu has no black marks on his soul, and is absolutely pure, they may find this ultimate peace and unification. Their soul will no longer remain in a human body/vessel, but will be one with Brahma. The Jewish view on death is that it’s not something to grieve over, because it is all part of Gods plan, so their time of death, even if it may seem untimely, was planned, and timed perfectly. If the person led a good life, they can look forward to a nice afterlife, similar to the Christian Heaven, but not exactly the same. As they all know that a good person is going to a good place when they die, the death of another is not typically a sad occasion, but there may be grieving, in which there is a set process so a mourner can slowly return to a normal life.

So after looking at both Hinduism and Judaism, which are some of our oldest popular religions, we can conclude that they are both indeed different. They differ a lot in some of the greater points, such as their 3 main focuses of their religion, their goal of life, and their views on death and dying. As we saw though, these could be somewhat similar in that their goal of life was closely intertwined with their views of death and dying. Though, they are typically different, otherwise. This shows that the religions, Hinduism and Judaism, are some of the most differing religions, as well as some of the most ancient.

Robert in his anthology of world scriptures informs that Hinduism was started in India while Judaism started in Israel many years later. The Aryans were the first of the Indian people to establish the Vedas which formed the foundations of the Hindu as a religion. Every law that followed as well as the moral standards of Hinduism was founded off of the Vedas. In Israel just about 3000 B.C.E. people started worshiping God, and live according to the teachings of Moses. Torah, their holy book, comprised of various writings that were supposedly prepared by Moses throughout his 950 year life. These books have teachings about the same moral standards such as; don’t kill, steal, or commit adultery. Most probably, these religions started off where and in the way they did, for the reason that the governments required a way to maintain their people in line, so they came up with these standards and rules by which people could live by.

While these two religions differ in some way, they have some similarities like in how they have some particular rules that must be obeyed by their followers who must do so to get to Nirvana. Each of these religions has got guild lines that state what one should do to appease their gods or God and how to be a good person. All of these rules and guild lines have been put down in their holy books; the Vedas and the Torah. These religions most probably had rule books to ensure that the people went by the accurate path and carried out the correct things in life so as to get to a happy and eternal afterlife. Judaism and Hinduism have several differences based on their origins and on their ideas of an afterlife, but they also have some similarities in the way they share laid down regulations that their faction ought to live by. These two religions have got a massive impact on the contemporary, for the reason that they are still put into practice by millions of people across the globe. They educate people how to lead truthful life, and how to be good to other people while they live on Earth.

All interviews were done in person with two active members of Judaism and Hinduism. The chosen members are all youthful followers of the two religions respectively. The Hindu is a young man of age 24 years, single, staunch follower of Hinduism as a religion and studying in an American university. Here below are the questions I asked and responses from the young man:

1) What is your religious denomination? Well, I am a part of the Hinduism religion.

2) For how long have you practiced Hinduism? I was born into Hinduism as I was born in India.

3) State three tenets of your religion? The three I can think of off the top of my head is Brahmin, Brahna, and Reincarnation.

4) Who was the founding father Hinduism? The founder of my religion is not known and even the date it started is also not known.

5) What do you love about your religion? I love the fact that my religion is very old.

The Orthodox Judaism is a university male student, 23years of age, single, and not a strong follower of Orthodox Judaism as a religion. My face-to-face interview with him ensued into the following discussion:

1) What is your religious denomination? Well, I am an Orthodox Judaism.

2) What is the difference between Christianity and Judaism? In Christianity Jesus is worshiped as the messiah, while Judaism doesn't. Also, Judaism believes in the Old Testament while Christianity believes in the New Testament.

3) Do you people believe that Jesus really existed or do you believe that his being was fictionalized? Our belief is that Jesus existed. In fact, Jesus was a Jew himself!

4) You just decide not to worship him? There is no reason for us to worship Jesus, who is just another man. Actually we are taught that he wasn’t such a good man.

5) So what you mean is that Mary the virgin was not actually a virgin? Hehe! Hehe, that’s not what I was getting to. I really know little about Jesus, but I know of him to do very un-Jew-like dealings. I don’t want to offend you man, so I am avoiding getting into so much detail about Jesus.

Works cited:

Bhaskarananda, Swami. “The Essentials of Hinduism: a comprehensive overview of the world's oldest religion” Seattle, WA: Viveka Press, 1994.

Louis. "Judaism." In Fred Skolnik. Encyclopaedia Judaica. 11 (2d Ed.). Farmington Hills,      Mich.: Thomson Gale.2007, p. 511.

Mary Pat Fisher, Living Religion 7TH edition

Robert E. Van Voorst, Anthology of World Scriptures 8th Edition Jacobs,

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