What is distinctive about various religions?

[struggle4progress]

Various spiritual systems arose in different contexts and hence unsurprisingly have different flavors.

There are, of course, a number of views that have been widely held. For example, notions of justice appear frequently, though in different guises: the ancient Egyptians taught that after death a person's soul would be weighed and evaluated, to determine that person's eternal portion; certain Buddhists have a different but similar notion, according to which karma determines a person's rebirth.

But I am asking about distinctive views. Judaism, for example, appears to have focussed on the significance of history as a theological subject -- rejecting widespread cyclical notions of eternal return in favor of an idea that it is a good to remember certain particularities of history. The Taoists seem originally concerned with the importance of naturality, to the extent that some early texts object to even boats and bridges as symptoms of human degeneration. Buddhism apparently originates in a heroic act of introspection, in which the founder exhaustively examines the nature of mental processes, and a sort of psychological training remains widespread among Buddhists. Christianity curiously steals the deification-language of the Roman emperor "son of god," applies it to an essentially unknown person executed by the empire as a common criminal, then uses that execution to argue that no further expiation-sacrifices are required

[xchrom]

1. jesus is also known as the son of man.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. And Lakota

people see the interrelatedness of all beings in the phrase "To All My Relations" (Metaquiatsun). In inipi (sweatlodge ceremony), spirits are called into the lodge and asked for aid and comfort. Ceremony, be it sweatlodge, Vision Quest, or Sun Dance, is not done for the individual, but rather for the People: when a person goes out to the spirit world on a Vision Quest, the supporters are given private audience to ask the Quester to pray for them; in Sun Dance, Dancers get requests for prayers; one Sun Dance where I was a supporter, one of the Dancers was Dancing on behalf of all those with Diabetes; another for healing between the Mississippi and Oklahoma Choctaws. The sense of praying and doing for others, the idea of all things being sacred, reminds me of the concept of honoring all sentient beings one finds in Buddhism. Yet in Lakota, even the rocks have breath, and are therefore beings; the exhalation happens in the lodge as the glowing rocks are brought in and placed in the pit as the Grandfathers Song is sung.

[struggle4progress]

6. Yes, that notion of real respect for the natural world is very different ...

... from the most of the churchy christian theology I heard growing up

[liberal N proud]

3. Christianity is the only religion that believes you are save simply by the grace of God

All others require certain actions of the believer and rituals to be followed.
While Christianity has rituals and specific actions that each member usually follows, the story is told that if you are a believer in Christ and accept him, then you are saved. It claims to be that simple.

[19jet54]

4. National Geographic- Great Religions of the World

Jest of their Intro - Most world religions emerged all within a 1,000 year period; mostly when man encountered man from other cultures exploring. Most cultures were seeking riches & violent encounters by both sides. As this progressed, most cultures were also seeking "how to peacefully co-exist" with others, thus being ripe for the emergence of religions for self improvement. Of course, the flavors were based on their cultural history of beliefs, very much like language roots.

My jest: While the origins were nobel, power & greed always take over (i.e. Church & State Marriage of Medieval Times) requiring absolute obedience. This equates to the various rifts, denotations, power struggles, control and warping of various religions almost universally. We can argue details until we are blue in the face but human behavior regarding power, control and growth are unmistakable.

Those who are religious, dogmatic fanatics are just as dangerous as the selfish conquering 'pagan' (for lack of a better term) in that destruction is really the common denominator. The universal common theme of good is usually 'the best for the people' & 'defending the helpless' while evil is 'death, destruction and hardship' of the people. This is always from an in internal view (what's in it for me) perspective.

I think there are more common themes than differences in religious origins theory, and in the corrupt application by men.

Which is why I personally favor the Democratic Party more than the GOP, rejecting their 'Moral Majority' practical application as selfish and 'evil', regardless of their stated beliefs.

Hypocrisy helps us decide motives - It all boils down to credibility (Politics, Religion, Personal Relationships & Friendships)

I like Einstein's view of the Religious awe of the universe around me & there must be a God - I am humbled greatly. The other local issues are just an ant, on a limb, on a tree, in a forrest, of a land, on a mountain, in a very large world of it all. Who am I to say?

[nealmhughes]

5. That is a vastly simplistic a view of religions' differences.

Every philosophy and religion function on multiple levels: a deep almost purely metaphysical level for those who are true students/followers and a surface level of lip service and cultural compliance with the basic formulary and rituals.

The true differences are more nuance than not on the deep level, while the surface strata is what one sees in popular usage.

The actual prototype of the self-sacrifice of Jesus is actually based upon the near sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, and the paschal lamb of Passover, a completely Western Semitic tradition. It is probably based on legends of child sacrifice in Mesopotamia, hence the "redemption of the first born son" in traditional priestly Judaism and the fact that the "first born" of flocks belonged to God. Hence, Jesus, as the only begotten Son of the Father, would in that aspect have "belonged to God".
And was not redeemed, but sacrificed by the people for their own sins, making all further sacrifice except for sacrifice of praise and song and prayer and service unnecessary, and actually a sin since Jesus's one sacrifice was for all time thence and forever.

By your analogy of "belief only" in Christ as sufficient, that is a rarity in most traditions. It is common in Islam, where recitation of the formula that God is one, and Mohammed is his prophet is what makes one a Muslim.

[struggle4progress]

7. I'll agree to the multi-level notion of religion. Whether, however,

"at some deep level" they differ only in nuance is more questionable.

I very carefully avoided a description of Christianity that involved reinterpretation of events-claimed-to-be-historical as some coming-to-pass-of-events-prophesied, since that doesn't appear particularly novel to me. Nor is the abandonment of child-sacrifice, which can never have been terribly popular, although I think most cultures continue to practice it in disguised forms (such as war-making).

Still, the belief-only aspect of Christianity may be innovative, as you observe.

[19jet54]

8. Reality vs Metaphysics

I did not wish to get into the details, However;

My life experience has taught me that when people look for 'differences', they only want controversy, division, conflict, a changing of others minds and/or war.

Those who look for 'similarities' and inward improvement are usually looking for enlightenment & peace.

Those two paths are very different? One leads to conflict while the other leads to peace.

To discuss any particular 'belief' in detail, one must accept the basic foundation (books or whatever) as 'wholly inerrant & divinely inspired' - I simply do not!

I 'choose' logic, intelligence & history to define my beliefs.

While GOD does not demand obedience, somehow man playing god does? I call that slavery.

BTW - I have studied Konia Greek and can read the original (really there are non) manuscripts for myself; The same applies for most other world religions & philosophies too as a lifelong study/hobby of mine.

Hey, you asked for it (my opinion) If you don't want it, don't ask for it. I intentionally took the second path above - If you take the first path, you simply don't get the big picture of religion (IMHO).

[struggle4progress]

9. You assume there is nothing distinctive to be learned from any ..

.. of various traditions. And you assume that one cannot learn from a spiritual teaching, unless one adopts some pre-existing doctrine regarding it. And you claim that anyone, who takes a contrary view of such matters, is interested only in controversy, division, and conflict.

I simply disagree with you on all these points.

[19jet54]

10. Not true...

... I claimed non of what you suggest - You are putting words in my mouth.

Don't get me wrong, I am a warmonger veteran; but I simply do not assign any evil I do to God. My & my wife's families on the other had are 'chicken-hawks' wishing others to die for their religious cause. We suffered lifelong abuse that we did not 'home school' so our children were brainwashed like their's were.

What is true about me is that I normally only associate with 'veterans' and avoid these type of discussions with anyone else. It is not that their viewpoints are invalid, only limited is scope of travel and depth of world social experience and cultures. Sort of an Easter Island Syndrome so to speak.

Me, I want to live with as many cultures as possible - It just doesn't mean I want to become that culture.

[MistressOverdone]

12. Well said

You have made me think this morning.

Looking for similarities is the path to peace, indeed.

[19jet54]

11. Scam Artist All?

Snake oil sales - Asking this question on Easter? Leading answers to Jesus? Manipulation of Answers given by responses? I think you have more in common with Judas than Jesus.

There is no great commission in the original Greek - Your tactics are evil & "you will know tree by the fruit it bears".

In regards to 'belief only' - that is the gnostic view - ref: "Faith without works is dead"

I knew this from your original post - I just wanted to screw with some bible thumpers who thought they were being clever.

Anyone who uses 'trickery' to profess their faith are frauds!

I reject all such tactics, and the people who use them.

:evilgrin:

[struggle4progress]

13. That might be one of the most incoherent posts I've seen recently

[19jet54]

14. Fresh, Clean & Articulate too...

:rofl: