Christianity & Judaism

I found this topic of the study to be very interesting.  As Adam Hamilton talked about in the video, it is easy to feel comfortable talking about Judaism because we already know so many of the stories and events from The Old Testament.  Their origination is our origination.  We didn't talk in class about the function of Atonement in the Jewish Faith.  This is such an important aspect of the religion, they have a celebration, Yom Kippur (which is outlined in Leviticus 16:29-30).  From what I've read, there is a word Teshuvah that directly translated means return.  As in return to the path from which you've strayed.  The thing I feel we can learn a lot from Judaism is based on this.  They don't simply say "I'm sorry I did that", and go on down the road.  There is complete process that includes verbalizing your regret to God, and making a plan to avoid that mistake in the future.  Their goal, as should be everyone's, is to never repeat the same transgression again.  

More if you care to read and also where some of the above information came from:

 

http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Teshuvah_-_Fixing_Mistakes.asp

Christianity and Islam

As I said this morning in class, I am passionate about this topic.  Mostly because of the current state of world affairs, but also because of my past ignorance on the topic.  Once I learned some of the facts and background on Islam it occurred to me that we share so much history and basic philosophy,  it should be easy to share the common ground.  The religions differ dramatically on very important issues and that's OK.  I am going to continue to believe the way I do, and my Muslim neighbor is able to continue his beliefs.  The important part is just to acknowledge those differences and then focus on the similarities, i.e. Love and Charity.  I perused through the world wide web and came up with a couple of links that outline the similarities and differences in the two religions.  I purposely chose links with an Islamic point of view.

http://muslim-canada.org/islam_christianity.html

The above link is in a table format and quick and easy to read.

http://www.themodernreligion.com/terror/terrorism_compare.html

This link is an essay that points out some of Christianity's shortcomings.  I do not necessarily agree with some of the thoughts, but I found it interesting from his perspective.  It is long if you do not feel like reading it all, it is summarized well in his conclusion:

"In comparing any two great civilizations one should not focus on one land or one decade or century, but rather glance over many centuries and over many lands. If we do that, then it becomes clear that whether one looks at the teachings of the two religions or the conduct of their followers there is no basis in fact in the claim that Christianity is more of a religion of love and peace than Islam. Christians have no doubt talked about love and peace more, but Muslims have practiced these values more."

Amy brought it up today that it is almost shameful how much time in a day we spend praying compared to Muslims.  That is the point of this lesson on Christianity and World Religions.  We should be open minded on these other religions and use the information to make us better Christians.  Don't be ashamed, just pray more!

Please share your thoughts through the comments link below.