Regarding the theme of new religious movements despite the LDS claims that it is the true restored early church of Christianity I am going to have to place it in the category of new religious movements as it is younger than 200 years old and there exists no substantial evidence that it is restored ancient Christianity.
First some fun facts about Mormonism
The Mormon Church (officially known as the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) was founded by Joseph Smith Jr. (1805-1844) in 1830 a.d. He claimed that he established the church based on revelations he received in 1820 from two person who came from heaven. These visitors from heaven told smith that all Christian religions in existence were totally corrupt and that his mission was to restore the true church that had been established by Jesus Christ. The original church that had been established and long since become corrupt shortly after the death of the last apostle.
In order to complete this task, Joseph smith claimed that God made him an apostle and a prophet. He was to be an inspired prophet that would be able to communicate divine revelations and write sacred scripture. There are 3 of these writings that Mormons claim are part of Scripture. “The book of Mormon” “Doctrines and Covenants” and “Pearl of Great Price”. Mormons believe that all succeeding LDS presidents (prophets) after Joseph smith are also inspired prophets.
THE GREAT APOSTASY and the Book of Mormon
This doctrine is what can be called “A foundational doctrine” of Mormonism and without it the church would collapse upon itself. This claim that is made by the LDS needs to be true in order for the church to be true. As stated earlier the first message to Joseph smith was a message stating that all Christian churches were corrupt and shortly after the death of the last apostle the church became fully corrupt and was unable to teach the true gospel of Christ.
Now to get critical. Without even having to dive into the numerous problems with many of the claims of the LDS from the Book of Mormon, the contradictions of one prophet to the next, failed prophecies, lack of any historical or archaelogical evidence for the Book of Mormon. One major flaw of this doctrine always stood out to me. If according to Mormonism the “True Church” and “True Christianity” was lost after the death of the last apostle in 100 a.d and was most definitely worldwide by 200 a.d. Then how was the Catholic church able to determine correctly (200 years after the truth was completely gone from the earth) which books would be in or not be in the bible that all Christians would believe in for ages to come, including Mormons! Its inconsistent and throws up a Red flag. Most missionaries at your doorstep don’t know this information and for good reason. A lot of Adventists religions are unaware that the Catholic church is the organization responsible for the bible.
Reading Mormon apologetics fascinates me. That along with my recent experiences with the Korean group that worships a woman alive right now as God has helped me to understand more than ever the deep seeded desire of people to want to believe in something even if its not true. It is interesting the effort put forth and the miles people go through to make something not true believable. It causes me to doubt Religion as a whole sometimes. Ive read Mormon writers deal with the issue of horses in America pre Columbian era by saying that they may have been “Deer” due to the lack of evidence of them existing during the time frame of the Book of Mormon stories. Ive read Mormons turning the “Chariots” of the Book of Mormon into “Sleds”, again because of the lack of evidence and the fact that none have been found. Ive read the arguments regarding the plants and foods not found in the new world that are plenty in the book of Mormon while the foods that have existed In the “new world” are absent in the Book of Mormon stories. Ive read the theories regarding the “limited Tehauntepc model” which requires altering the understanding of the Book of Mormon in order to work.
Eventually as time passes, people grow tired of hearing endless excuses and fantastic theories that are created just so they’ll believe something for which no evidence exists (just like the Great Apostasy). If you’re willing to saddle up a “DEER” and have it pull you on your “SLED” while calling it a horse and a chariot then you are able to buy book of Mormon Zoology. If you’re willing to accept that verifiable and plentiful “New world” foods are ignored while non-existent “Old world” foods are served up then you just swallowed Book of Mormon Botany. If you are ready and willing to bend the Book of Mormon to the point of contradiction in order to fit a preconceived, “limited Tehuantepec model, then you’re ready to claim the geography of the Book of Mormon as factual Geography. If you can accept the “cities as far as the eye can see” as well as the hundreds of thousands of bodies, armor, weapons, breastplates from Book of Mormon Wars but are completely absent from any archaeological find, then you are able to accept the Book of Mormon as authentic history.
For the rest of us, it is obvious that Joseph smiths book is full of flawed information betraying its purely human origins and is a fabrication.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Final Exam
1. YOUR NAME: Gabriel Mares.2. YOUR USERNAME Archangel703.3. List your attendance (how many classes missed? how many classeswere you late to?). I was late to most classes due to the time it takes me to get off work, then home, then to school. Roughly about 5-10 mins at the most. I have never missed a class.
4. Detail what you read for this class.
5. What grade did you finally receive on the midterm? I received an “A”
6. What grade do you deserve in this class? Substantiate your answer. “A” I read the majority of the readings watched all the videos, participated in class, made sure my posts were high quality.
7. List any extra credit or other circumstances that may help youroverall grade. I read many books during the course of this class that dealt with the subject matter regarding the faiths of Islam, Protestant and Catholic Christianity. Philosophy and World religions as a whole.
8. List all of your postings for this class.9. What precisely do we know for "certain" (in terms of documentation/ history) about the life of Jesus Christ? Be specific and be sure to substantiate your answer.
10. Compare and contrast Judaism with Islam. What are the similarities and what are the differences? Outline it.
Judaism Compared to Islam.
Both are considered Abrahamic faiths claiming a connection to “Abraham” Jews understand the revelation of God to them as a chosen people but Islam only acknowledges that the revelation of God was to Abraham and that it warrants the Jews no such special title. Islam see’s itself as the final, perfect and true fulfillment of the 2 other Abrahamic faiths Judaism and Christianity.
Islam, sharing very little with Christianity finds itself in more of a connection with Judaism. It constantly reiterates its Monotheistic belief that there is only one God just as Judaism does. Christians, in the eyes of Islam have detracted from this with its Trinitarian concept of the father, son and the Holy spirit 3 persons in One God formula. Islam is set up like Judaism in similar fashion regarding prayer, dietary guidelines and moral laws. One example would be Halal and Haram. (acceptable and forbidden) foods being comparable to “Kosher” and non-Kosher foods in Jewish tradition. The ideas are not the same though similar in many respects. Something Kosher for a Jew may not necessarily be Halal for a Muslim. Alcohol for one example.
Islam adds an entirely new spin on many of the stories of what Christians consider the Old testament. For example, Muhammad is considered to be a descendant of Ishmael and Muslims constantly point to both Old and New testament texts as prophecies for the coming last prophet Muhammad where as Jews would not recognize such interpretations.
11. Compare and contrast Taoism with Confucianism. What the similarities and what are the differences? Outline it.
12. How did Judaism evolve away from its polytheistic roots into a monotheistic religion? There are a few theories regarding how this happened and I’ll just give one of them here in a nutshell. Judaism “grew up” so to speak in a world surrounded by polytheistic paganism. One of the “gods” of these Polytheist eventually became “Yahweh” It is said that this particular “god” of many “gods” was Abrahams specific god who he was devoted to. Over the course of time this “one of many gods” revealed to Abraham that he was in fact the “Supreme God” and he was the only one to be worshipped. Later this was revealed to Moses that this same God was the God of Abraham and Moses convinced the Israelites that they were one and the same. That’s the evolution in a nutshell and what followed was the relationship between the Jews and their God, which eventually became the Christian and then Muslim God.
Part of this relationship is described in the following excerpt from the bible and a book by Karen Armstrong titled “A History of God”
“So now, fear Yahweh and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that you once served beyond the River [Jordan] and in Egypt and serve Yahweh. But if you will not serve Yahweh, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the River of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. Joshua 24:14-15
“The people had a choice between Yahweh and the traditional gods of Canaan. They did not hesitate. There was no other god like Yahweh; no other deity had ever been so effective on behalf of his worshippers. His powerful intervention in their affairs had been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that Yahweh was up to the job of being their elohim. They would worship him alone and cast away their other gods. Pg 24.
13. How is the Koran different from the Christian Bible? Be specific in your answers.
The Koran is different in Many ways than the bible. The Koran is considered to be the literal words of God while the bible Is considered to be inspired by God and is the Word of God though not literally the “words of God” in the sense that Islam portrays the Koran. The Koran is comprised of 114 chapters different lengths. It has over 6000 verses but is still shorter than the New Testament. The revealing of Christian biblical revelation lasted over centuries by different authors in different eras which reflect complete clear and different styles in writing. The Koran was revealed over a period of 20+ years and then compiled together written in Arabic. The Koran appeals to the Bible as a connection but the Bible in both old and New testaments never speak of or appeal to the Koran for any connection. The Koran draws its connection “forcefully” in many ways appealing to the bible and at the same time claiming the bible as not the perfect word of God and has been corrupted. Because of the discrepancies in the theology found in the Koran and bible, Muslims teach according to the Koran of course that the “True Muslim Bible” has been lost. The Koran references stories in the old and new testament but with added information such as the “7 heavens” added to the story of Genesis, and the Muslim teaching that Jesus was only a prophet never claiming to be “God” or the son of God.
The Koran constantly reminds the reader that it is the fulfillment and full truth not found in the bible and in a way you can say it discourages the bible as any authority since anything that can be found in the bible can be found in the Koran. Any other translation of the Koran outside of Arabic is not truly considered the “Koran” rather an interpretation of it. Muslims believe that the Koran can only truly be understood correctly in its full beauty in the original language. The Bible, need not be read and understood in its original written language in order to be considered valid understanding.
**Can expand on this if Necessary**
14. What are the differences between Roman Catholicism and those religions which identify themselves as Protestant-Christian?
The answer to this question is a one word answer. The thing is that “one” word answer can have a book written about it. The primary difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant-Christian religions is “Authority”. All and any differences that these different types of Christianity have can trace their roots back to authority. Before I continue explaining what that “authority” is I would like to outline for you some important information regarding Christianity itself that will help set up the back drop on why the authority for Catholic Christianity and Protestant Christianity differ.
Christianity can be divided into 3 major divisions. In no particular order I’ll list them here. There is Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Christianity. The first two, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox are considered “Apostolic” which means that they can trace themselves back to Christ and the Apostles. Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism split from each other in 1054 a.d. But still both can trace themselves back to the Apostles themselves. Protestant Christianity however, is not able to trace itself back to the apostles. They are disconnected from the first 15 centuries of Christianity and find their earliest roots by a Man named Martin Luther in the 16th Century. This fact, as we will see later also contributes to the differences between Catholic and Protestant Christianity.
Lets examine more in depth these 3 divisions to see what makes them different regarding Authority. I’m going to start with Roman Catholicism first.
Roman Catholic. The Catholic church adheres to not 1, not 2 but 3 sources of Authority when it comes to defining doctrine, teaching on matters of faith and Morals and understanding the fullness of Gods plan. These three authorities are “Sacred Scripture” “Sacred Tradition” and “The Sacred Magisterium”.
Sacred Scripture is the Written word of God. The bible. 73 books of the Old and New testament. Divided as 46 Old and 27 New.
Sacred Tradition is the living tradition of the Church. Some of these traditions include the Mass and the Canon of the Bible.
Sacred Magisterium. The Sacred Magisterium is the church itself. The living authority that interprets infallibly the Word of God. The bishops in Union with the Pope.
All three of these traditions together formulate the authority of the Catholic church. They all work in conjuction together and neither of them supercede the other nor can they contradict each other. Kind of like the United states government set up of Executive, Judicical and Legislative branches. All three are in place as a checks and balance system providing a Tripod stand that holds up the Catholic faith as a whole. In a way you can say that the Church is always the final authority, being the living interpreter and teacher of the word but it cannot contradict Sacred Scripture. For example, the Church cant one day proclaim that we no longer need to follow a particular book and throw it out of the bible. This is not possible. The Church is the servant of Scripture as it states in paragraph 86 of the Catechism of the Catholic church. In this set up of 3 authorities we see that the church upholds its ancient traditions and understanding of scriptures primarily by the teaching of the church. Consequently and probably due to the sheer size of the 1 billion worldwide Catholics we find that many lay members are unfamiliar with the scriptures and sometimes unclear of what exactly is the “Tradition” of the church. We see a heavily reliance on the church for any and all teachings of the faith particularly in the West.
The Eastern Orthodox have a different view of the Magisterium then Roman Catholics. They operate on 2 of the 3 authorities of the Roman Catholic church. They accept Scripture and Tradition as the final authority but reject the Roman Catholic Magisterium because of their rejection of the primacy of Rome. They believe that the Church is not “One Universal” in the sense that Roman Catholics understand it but that they are many churches and each individual church is “One” in communion with each other. Because of the rejection of the Magisterium as understood by Roman Catholics we see the effects it has had on Eastern Orthodox. Without a true visible unified head one can point out the reason why the E. Orthodox have had issues regarding being in communion with each other. For example Church “A” is in communion with church “B” and Church “B” is in communion with Church “C” but “C” and “A” aren’t in communion with each other. Another disadvantage we see is the fact that they have not had an Ecumenical council in ages and there isn’t one on the horizon again possibly due to the lack of a central figure found in the Roman Catholic church’s Hierarchy.
Finally we have the Protestant denominations. Under this 3rd category we have a whopping 33,000+ denominations under this umbrella. The primary reason for this is the sole authority of which Protestantism was founded off of. Virtually all Protestant denominations believe in the doctrine of “Sola Scriptura” which is Latin for the phrase “The bible alone” They reject both the Tradition and the Magisterium and operate under the belief that “Sacred scripture” alone is the final authority in faith matters. Consequently as we can clearly observe this ideology has had some interesting results especially when it comes to the idea of “Memes” This particular “Meme” or ideolgoy which was started by Martin Luther in the 16th century has had a very rapid reproduction rate. I would equate the idea of “Sola scriptura” to the opening up of Pandora’s box because ever since this first began we have seen an explosion of radically different interpretations of scripture that ranges from the conservative Lutherans to the radical extreme fundamentalists of Westboro Baptists church. The very nature of Protestantism which itself is “Protest” and “rebellion” have caused it to give birth to countless denominations and non-denominational churches (which are really Non-denominational denominations). Because of the rejection of the 2 authorities modern Protestantism finds itself as a distant relative of early Christianity and has been all but divorced from the ancient traditions and understandings of early Christians.
**Can expand on this topic if necessary**
15. Why is atheism appealing to many in America today? Atheism is very appealing in America today because it sells a message of “freeing” oneself from a deity that has dominion over the individual. In essence, you become your own god and you are free from any and all moral obligation. Anything you choose is a product of your own will that you choose for yourself. You can neither impose or have anyone else’s morality imposed on you. This makes life guilt free and you can basically do whatever you want without any consequences inside the law of the land. That plus the fact that Some atheists are absolutely no different than radical fundamentalists religions. Instead of hijacking early Christianity claiming there is some 1500-1800 year gap that links them together, these Atheists hijack science and claim it as their own propagating the idea that religion and science are at war while Atheism is the father of Science. This is an inaccurate view that has somehow found its way around many schools across America. Atheism aligns itself with science and makes itself appear smarter than what it is. Not to say that it is stupid but some atheist use this tactic to masquerade Science as opposed to religion when in fact they can co-exist. The truth is to claim oneself, as an Atheist requires a certain amount of that dreaded word. “Faith”
16. What is the appeal of new religious movements, like the one founded by Adi Da? Ive had the privilege, (if you want to call it that) of dealing with this question in real life this year. For nearly 3 months I spent all of my Saturdays, and Tuesday evenings studying with a “new religious” movement known as the “Worldwide Missionaries Society Church of God” Without going into detail im going to be upfront. They are a cult and to make matters worse they are a “End of the World” Cult that teaches as an “Apocalyptic Eschatology”. Unfortunately there is a young girl I knew who was caught in this group and because of her desire to convert me to her faith I was able to study with them for a few months.
Over the course of my time there I kept track on word documents of the scenarios I found myself in, the behavior and actions of the members of this cult. I’m going to detail here what I witnessed in order to answer this question.
I had read it before. In philosophy, Sociology classes but its entirely different thing when you are actually going through it. You read about the Human beings “Deep seeded” desire to believe in a higher power. Is it the “God gene?” is it built into our DNA to believe in something? Maybe so, and if it is hardwired in your brains all these people from that religion had it built into them strongly. They are taught that a Korean man who has come and already died was the Second coming Christ and that a Korean woman currently alive at the time that I am writing this is in fact “Mother God”
They believe it with all their might too. There are many reasons I observed as to why they believe this. They needed that church to help them cope with their real lives. Maybe some of them were lonely and sad. Maybe they needed friends and they found them in that church. They needed hope, they needed faith and spiritual nourishment and they found it in the message of that church. It made them feel alive and free. It made them feel special and chosen with its many promises. Some of the cult members would probably be quick to argue that they were in no such depression or need for anything but because of the message of the church and the “Prophecies of the bible” (as interpreted by their god of course) led them to see the truth. Some of them are financially well off. One thing I would like to stress is that these people were completely normal in all aspects accept when it came to their faith. In the videos I watched they hugged their “woman god” and truly believed she was God. Imagine the feeling of being able to hug God in the flesh right now. The amount of emotion that overcame them was incredible to witness. I felt bad for them and almost wanted it to be real just for them. The reality of the situations is that it “IS” real for them.
Feeling special helps them to cope with their problems and failures in life. It helps them not to feel alone. Some of them came from broken homes or from settings where they didn’t have the attention they desired. Some of them felt lost but the church brought them home. They truly sought out what they believed to be the truth but they didn’t put much effort beyond what their elders in the church taught them. To do so would be to “challenge God” They discouraged thinking outside the box and with good reason. It wasn’t hard for me to get them to think “outside the box” frequently at the lunch table. It was like I was dealing with the limited mindset of a young pre-teen or teenager trying to find himself regardless of what age they actually were.
Ultimately the reason people fall for New religious movements is for all the reasons stated above. They want to “Matter” in this sea of religious cofusion. They want to be able to proclaim that they have the truth. They want to feel love, special and important. The truth is we all do, we just go about it different ways. Sometimes these new religious movements use that desire we have as humans to exploit others to submit to them.
**can expand on this topic if necessary**
17. What are the fundamental differences between science and religion?
EXTRA CREDIT: write an essay examining how learning to "doubt" changed your views on religion.
I’m not going to pretend to anyone that I have all the answers. my life is blissful and amazing because I believe in the Bible because that would do absolutely no justice to my answers and to the Catholic perspective of things. Life is hard. Its filled with joy sometimes and other times its filled with trials and hardships. Much of the Joy I have felt ive attributed to God either directly or indirectly. Other times I wasn’t sure if he was even there as I question everything just as everyone does. Maybe its possible that God has tried to make it easy for us to know his existence but just as in the parable of the Wheat and the weeds the doubt has clouded the truth.
In the parable the farmer plants the good seed and then while everyone is sleeping the evil one comes and plants the bad seed. The wheat and the weeds grow side by side together until the Harvest in which the Wheat is to be bundled and taken to the barn and the weeds are to be thrown into the fiery furnace. The meaning is that there will always be good side by side with Evil. There always be doubt next to truth. There will always be that negative next to that positive. Evil will always be there to influence good people to do bad things. Evil will always be there to cast doubt and create problems for those trying to do good. Does that mean Doubt is evil? No not at all. Doubt is good. As a Catholic I was encouraged to NOT swallow everything given to me and to test it myself. Because of that I have tested many different faiths against the Teachings and understandings of Christianity through the Catholic faith. . I’ve tested atheism, Islam, Orthodox Catholics, and Protestantism to name some. Not nearly as thoroughly and exhaustive as I would like to have, but I still am currently working on it all.
If you want a strictly logical unspiritual reason to believe in God then its possible that quest will lead to “the primary objective” of the species and that is to duplicate our DNA.
I’ve pondered for nearly 10 years now the alternative to faith in God, which is not having any. In studying we find that there is an idea that “Religion” may be hardwired into our DNA. Why is that? Well in terms of evolution it may have evolved because the guy who believed in a God of sorts outlived the guy who couldn’t because his faith basically saved his life on many different occasions. It gives the individual a purpose a reason to go on. It keeps us masked from the fact that we are living in a big giant Ball of Death and there is no escape for any of us. Logically if this is all there is to it. We die and nothing matters anyways. But if there is God it all matters and this is partially how..
So lets say that everything I said in my previous paragraph is still true but there is God. We still have it hardwired in us to duplicate ourselves. Religion is hardwired in our DNA because it was put there so that we may seek God. It gives us a fighting chance just like our “desire to eat and drink”, enables us to live because we know eating and drinking is good for us. By seeking God and finding him we are given a purpose and become instruments to him and more beneficial to everyone around us. We still live in a giant Ball of death but we are able to find Joy in it through the Grace of God. This is our trial, this is our Quest. I can go on for hours but I will not here. So basically I am not afraid to test my faith, the faiths of others and the idea of no God at all, which in fact is still faith. As professor Lane put it in one of our required readings concerning Mysticism he stated
“Doubt it so much, in sum, that you would want to "test" the veridicality of mysticism itself.” –David Lane
This is the approach I have taken for religion as a whole. I’m not simply a blind believer. The idea of blind faith both sickens me and makes me Jealous. Why? One, I have personally observed and due to my studies, know absolutely that certain faiths can not be true at all. I’ll use the example of Apocalyptic cults. Obviously the blind leading the blind. On the other hand If there is God I wish I could just blindly believe in him like I did when I was younger, when it was easier to pray, easier to believe. When the supernatural was just around the corner.
I must admit at some point in Faith you have to make a choice of taking that “Leap” You have to pick the guy who you don’t mind being Duped by if "Religion is all a lie” so to speak. Personally I pick Jesus. Why? Because Christs message is solid in its full context. If there was a God and he wanted us to love each other and be ONE than loving our enemies and turning the other cheek makes complete sense. I don’t want to go in much detail about that here but I will say for now in reference back to what Hudson Smith said in our first assigned video viewing (but in my own words and version of course)
“If there is God, The Catholic faith is the language I choose to speak to him from because he calls to me from this direction.”
So for me I pick Jesus the apostles and his 2000 year old church, all the saints and the Martyrs from that Church. All the good and the bad people from it (Wheat and the weeds). Why? Partially because Christs message is solid to me in its full context. Because Christianity is a religion that claims to be fact not a philosophy or idea. In short If there is a God and he wanted us to love each other and be ONE than loving our enemies and turning the other cheek makes complete sense. Do I know God is really calling to me from this direction? The true answer is I don’t know. But it seems the most logical to me if it is.
If I am going to be duped and Religion is all a lie I’ll be duped by Jesus. Not Mohamed’s Jihad, not Joseph smiths Mormons. Not Chuck smiths Calvary chapel. Not the “Bible alone” (which really means, the guy who sees his interpretation Credits the Holy spirit but for some reason disagrees with the other 30,000 different interpretation from other guys who all believe the holy spirit is guiding them too. That is just not logical and is why I have to reject all of Protestant Christianity) Each of the other faiths ive mentioned have failed my tests to see if they can stand up to Scrutiny. For example the Mormons (LDS) cant stand up to historical/archaelogical scrutiny for the claims of the Book of Mormon to save their lives. Islam also relies on people to not be familiar with Judaism and early Christianity to plead its case. As a skeptical person this is unacceptable to me. If you are going to be true and if God has revealed to you truth please don’t give me straw man arguments and false information to make your case. Its dishonest and learning to doubt Relgion as a whole has taught me that if Occams razor can make it bleed easily its probably not true.
In the end none of us know the “Absolute Truth” but at the same time its important for us to know what “Isn’t and cant” be true to protect ourselves from dangerous beliefs or dangerous ideologies. For example I’m not God but there are people on this earth that claim to be and believe it or not People believe them and follow them and worship them as God. Doubt is a good thing and it is a good measuring tool in deciding what your going to believe in if you choose to believe in anything.
Any religion that lets you or encourages you to doubt it is a good religion because it is not afraid. That religion knows that if there is truly God then he can stand up to your finite limited human doubt. And that is partially why at this time in my life I am still Catholic.
**can expand on this if necessary**
4. Detail what you read for this class.
5. What grade did you finally receive on the midterm? I received an “A”
6. What grade do you deserve in this class? Substantiate your answer. “A” I read the majority of the readings watched all the videos, participated in class, made sure my posts were high quality.
7. List any extra credit or other circumstances that may help youroverall grade. I read many books during the course of this class that dealt with the subject matter regarding the faiths of Islam, Protestant and Catholic Christianity. Philosophy and World religions as a whole.
8. List all of your postings for this class.9. What precisely do we know for "certain" (in terms of documentation/ history) about the life of Jesus Christ? Be specific and be sure to substantiate your answer.
10. Compare and contrast Judaism with Islam. What are the similarities and what are the differences? Outline it.
Judaism Compared to Islam.
Both are considered Abrahamic faiths claiming a connection to “Abraham” Jews understand the revelation of God to them as a chosen people but Islam only acknowledges that the revelation of God was to Abraham and that it warrants the Jews no such special title. Islam see’s itself as the final, perfect and true fulfillment of the 2 other Abrahamic faiths Judaism and Christianity.
Islam, sharing very little with Christianity finds itself in more of a connection with Judaism. It constantly reiterates its Monotheistic belief that there is only one God just as Judaism does. Christians, in the eyes of Islam have detracted from this with its Trinitarian concept of the father, son and the Holy spirit 3 persons in One God formula. Islam is set up like Judaism in similar fashion regarding prayer, dietary guidelines and moral laws. One example would be Halal and Haram. (acceptable and forbidden) foods being comparable to “Kosher” and non-Kosher foods in Jewish tradition. The ideas are not the same though similar in many respects. Something Kosher for a Jew may not necessarily be Halal for a Muslim. Alcohol for one example.
Islam adds an entirely new spin on many of the stories of what Christians consider the Old testament. For example, Muhammad is considered to be a descendant of Ishmael and Muslims constantly point to both Old and New testament texts as prophecies for the coming last prophet Muhammad where as Jews would not recognize such interpretations.
11. Compare and contrast Taoism with Confucianism. What the similarities and what are the differences? Outline it.
12. How did Judaism evolve away from its polytheistic roots into a monotheistic religion? There are a few theories regarding how this happened and I’ll just give one of them here in a nutshell. Judaism “grew up” so to speak in a world surrounded by polytheistic paganism. One of the “gods” of these Polytheist eventually became “Yahweh” It is said that this particular “god” of many “gods” was Abrahams specific god who he was devoted to. Over the course of time this “one of many gods” revealed to Abraham that he was in fact the “Supreme God” and he was the only one to be worshipped. Later this was revealed to Moses that this same God was the God of Abraham and Moses convinced the Israelites that they were one and the same. That’s the evolution in a nutshell and what followed was the relationship between the Jews and their God, which eventually became the Christian and then Muslim God.
Part of this relationship is described in the following excerpt from the bible and a book by Karen Armstrong titled “A History of God”
“So now, fear Yahweh and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that you once served beyond the River [Jordan] and in Egypt and serve Yahweh. But if you will not serve Yahweh, choose today whom you wish to serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the River of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are now living. Joshua 24:14-15
“The people had a choice between Yahweh and the traditional gods of Canaan. They did not hesitate. There was no other god like Yahweh; no other deity had ever been so effective on behalf of his worshippers. His powerful intervention in their affairs had been demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that Yahweh was up to the job of being their elohim. They would worship him alone and cast away their other gods. Pg 24.
13. How is the Koran different from the Christian Bible? Be specific in your answers.
The Koran is different in Many ways than the bible. The Koran is considered to be the literal words of God while the bible Is considered to be inspired by God and is the Word of God though not literally the “words of God” in the sense that Islam portrays the Koran. The Koran is comprised of 114 chapters different lengths. It has over 6000 verses but is still shorter than the New Testament. The revealing of Christian biblical revelation lasted over centuries by different authors in different eras which reflect complete clear and different styles in writing. The Koran was revealed over a period of 20+ years and then compiled together written in Arabic. The Koran appeals to the Bible as a connection but the Bible in both old and New testaments never speak of or appeal to the Koran for any connection. The Koran draws its connection “forcefully” in many ways appealing to the bible and at the same time claiming the bible as not the perfect word of God and has been corrupted. Because of the discrepancies in the theology found in the Koran and bible, Muslims teach according to the Koran of course that the “True Muslim Bible” has been lost. The Koran references stories in the old and new testament but with added information such as the “7 heavens” added to the story of Genesis, and the Muslim teaching that Jesus was only a prophet never claiming to be “God” or the son of God.
The Koran constantly reminds the reader that it is the fulfillment and full truth not found in the bible and in a way you can say it discourages the bible as any authority since anything that can be found in the bible can be found in the Koran. Any other translation of the Koran outside of Arabic is not truly considered the “Koran” rather an interpretation of it. Muslims believe that the Koran can only truly be understood correctly in its full beauty in the original language. The Bible, need not be read and understood in its original written language in order to be considered valid understanding.
**Can expand on this if Necessary**
14. What are the differences between Roman Catholicism and those religions which identify themselves as Protestant-Christian?
The answer to this question is a one word answer. The thing is that “one” word answer can have a book written about it. The primary difference between Roman Catholicism and Protestant-Christian religions is “Authority”. All and any differences that these different types of Christianity have can trace their roots back to authority. Before I continue explaining what that “authority” is I would like to outline for you some important information regarding Christianity itself that will help set up the back drop on why the authority for Catholic Christianity and Protestant Christianity differ.
Christianity can be divided into 3 major divisions. In no particular order I’ll list them here. There is Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Christianity. The first two, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox are considered “Apostolic” which means that they can trace themselves back to Christ and the Apostles. Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholicism split from each other in 1054 a.d. But still both can trace themselves back to the Apostles themselves. Protestant Christianity however, is not able to trace itself back to the apostles. They are disconnected from the first 15 centuries of Christianity and find their earliest roots by a Man named Martin Luther in the 16th Century. This fact, as we will see later also contributes to the differences between Catholic and Protestant Christianity.
Lets examine more in depth these 3 divisions to see what makes them different regarding Authority. I’m going to start with Roman Catholicism first.
Roman Catholic. The Catholic church adheres to not 1, not 2 but 3 sources of Authority when it comes to defining doctrine, teaching on matters of faith and Morals and understanding the fullness of Gods plan. These three authorities are “Sacred Scripture” “Sacred Tradition” and “The Sacred Magisterium”.
Sacred Scripture is the Written word of God. The bible. 73 books of the Old and New testament. Divided as 46 Old and 27 New.
Sacred Tradition is the living tradition of the Church. Some of these traditions include the Mass and the Canon of the Bible.
Sacred Magisterium. The Sacred Magisterium is the church itself. The living authority that interprets infallibly the Word of God. The bishops in Union with the Pope.
All three of these traditions together formulate the authority of the Catholic church. They all work in conjuction together and neither of them supercede the other nor can they contradict each other. Kind of like the United states government set up of Executive, Judicical and Legislative branches. All three are in place as a checks and balance system providing a Tripod stand that holds up the Catholic faith as a whole. In a way you can say that the Church is always the final authority, being the living interpreter and teacher of the word but it cannot contradict Sacred Scripture. For example, the Church cant one day proclaim that we no longer need to follow a particular book and throw it out of the bible. This is not possible. The Church is the servant of Scripture as it states in paragraph 86 of the Catechism of the Catholic church. In this set up of 3 authorities we see that the church upholds its ancient traditions and understanding of scriptures primarily by the teaching of the church. Consequently and probably due to the sheer size of the 1 billion worldwide Catholics we find that many lay members are unfamiliar with the scriptures and sometimes unclear of what exactly is the “Tradition” of the church. We see a heavily reliance on the church for any and all teachings of the faith particularly in the West.
The Eastern Orthodox have a different view of the Magisterium then Roman Catholics. They operate on 2 of the 3 authorities of the Roman Catholic church. They accept Scripture and Tradition as the final authority but reject the Roman Catholic Magisterium because of their rejection of the primacy of Rome. They believe that the Church is not “One Universal” in the sense that Roman Catholics understand it but that they are many churches and each individual church is “One” in communion with each other. Because of the rejection of the Magisterium as understood by Roman Catholics we see the effects it has had on Eastern Orthodox. Without a true visible unified head one can point out the reason why the E. Orthodox have had issues regarding being in communion with each other. For example Church “A” is in communion with church “B” and Church “B” is in communion with Church “C” but “C” and “A” aren’t in communion with each other. Another disadvantage we see is the fact that they have not had an Ecumenical council in ages and there isn’t one on the horizon again possibly due to the lack of a central figure found in the Roman Catholic church’s Hierarchy.
Finally we have the Protestant denominations. Under this 3rd category we have a whopping 33,000+ denominations under this umbrella. The primary reason for this is the sole authority of which Protestantism was founded off of. Virtually all Protestant denominations believe in the doctrine of “Sola Scriptura” which is Latin for the phrase “The bible alone” They reject both the Tradition and the Magisterium and operate under the belief that “Sacred scripture” alone is the final authority in faith matters. Consequently as we can clearly observe this ideology has had some interesting results especially when it comes to the idea of “Memes” This particular “Meme” or ideolgoy which was started by Martin Luther in the 16th century has had a very rapid reproduction rate. I would equate the idea of “Sola scriptura” to the opening up of Pandora’s box because ever since this first began we have seen an explosion of radically different interpretations of scripture that ranges from the conservative Lutherans to the radical extreme fundamentalists of Westboro Baptists church. The very nature of Protestantism which itself is “Protest” and “rebellion” have caused it to give birth to countless denominations and non-denominational churches (which are really Non-denominational denominations). Because of the rejection of the 2 authorities modern Protestantism finds itself as a distant relative of early Christianity and has been all but divorced from the ancient traditions and understandings of early Christians.
**Can expand on this topic if necessary**
15. Why is atheism appealing to many in America today? Atheism is very appealing in America today because it sells a message of “freeing” oneself from a deity that has dominion over the individual. In essence, you become your own god and you are free from any and all moral obligation. Anything you choose is a product of your own will that you choose for yourself. You can neither impose or have anyone else’s morality imposed on you. This makes life guilt free and you can basically do whatever you want without any consequences inside the law of the land. That plus the fact that Some atheists are absolutely no different than radical fundamentalists religions. Instead of hijacking early Christianity claiming there is some 1500-1800 year gap that links them together, these Atheists hijack science and claim it as their own propagating the idea that religion and science are at war while Atheism is the father of Science. This is an inaccurate view that has somehow found its way around many schools across America. Atheism aligns itself with science and makes itself appear smarter than what it is. Not to say that it is stupid but some atheist use this tactic to masquerade Science as opposed to religion when in fact they can co-exist. The truth is to claim oneself, as an Atheist requires a certain amount of that dreaded word. “Faith”
16. What is the appeal of new religious movements, like the one founded by Adi Da? Ive had the privilege, (if you want to call it that) of dealing with this question in real life this year. For nearly 3 months I spent all of my Saturdays, and Tuesday evenings studying with a “new religious” movement known as the “Worldwide Missionaries Society Church of God” Without going into detail im going to be upfront. They are a cult and to make matters worse they are a “End of the World” Cult that teaches as an “Apocalyptic Eschatology”. Unfortunately there is a young girl I knew who was caught in this group and because of her desire to convert me to her faith I was able to study with them for a few months.
Over the course of my time there I kept track on word documents of the scenarios I found myself in, the behavior and actions of the members of this cult. I’m going to detail here what I witnessed in order to answer this question.
I had read it before. In philosophy, Sociology classes but its entirely different thing when you are actually going through it. You read about the Human beings “Deep seeded” desire to believe in a higher power. Is it the “God gene?” is it built into our DNA to believe in something? Maybe so, and if it is hardwired in your brains all these people from that religion had it built into them strongly. They are taught that a Korean man who has come and already died was the Second coming Christ and that a Korean woman currently alive at the time that I am writing this is in fact “Mother God”
They believe it with all their might too. There are many reasons I observed as to why they believe this. They needed that church to help them cope with their real lives. Maybe some of them were lonely and sad. Maybe they needed friends and they found them in that church. They needed hope, they needed faith and spiritual nourishment and they found it in the message of that church. It made them feel alive and free. It made them feel special and chosen with its many promises. Some of the cult members would probably be quick to argue that they were in no such depression or need for anything but because of the message of the church and the “Prophecies of the bible” (as interpreted by their god of course) led them to see the truth. Some of them are financially well off. One thing I would like to stress is that these people were completely normal in all aspects accept when it came to their faith. In the videos I watched they hugged their “woman god” and truly believed she was God. Imagine the feeling of being able to hug God in the flesh right now. The amount of emotion that overcame them was incredible to witness. I felt bad for them and almost wanted it to be real just for them. The reality of the situations is that it “IS” real for them.
Feeling special helps them to cope with their problems and failures in life. It helps them not to feel alone. Some of them came from broken homes or from settings where they didn’t have the attention they desired. Some of them felt lost but the church brought them home. They truly sought out what they believed to be the truth but they didn’t put much effort beyond what their elders in the church taught them. To do so would be to “challenge God” They discouraged thinking outside the box and with good reason. It wasn’t hard for me to get them to think “outside the box” frequently at the lunch table. It was like I was dealing with the limited mindset of a young pre-teen or teenager trying to find himself regardless of what age they actually were.
Ultimately the reason people fall for New religious movements is for all the reasons stated above. They want to “Matter” in this sea of religious cofusion. They want to be able to proclaim that they have the truth. They want to feel love, special and important. The truth is we all do, we just go about it different ways. Sometimes these new religious movements use that desire we have as humans to exploit others to submit to them.
**can expand on this topic if necessary**
17. What are the fundamental differences between science and religion?
EXTRA CREDIT: write an essay examining how learning to "doubt" changed your views on religion.
I’m not going to pretend to anyone that I have all the answers. my life is blissful and amazing because I believe in the Bible because that would do absolutely no justice to my answers and to the Catholic perspective of things. Life is hard. Its filled with joy sometimes and other times its filled with trials and hardships. Much of the Joy I have felt ive attributed to God either directly or indirectly. Other times I wasn’t sure if he was even there as I question everything just as everyone does. Maybe its possible that God has tried to make it easy for us to know his existence but just as in the parable of the Wheat and the weeds the doubt has clouded the truth.
In the parable the farmer plants the good seed and then while everyone is sleeping the evil one comes and plants the bad seed. The wheat and the weeds grow side by side together until the Harvest in which the Wheat is to be bundled and taken to the barn and the weeds are to be thrown into the fiery furnace. The meaning is that there will always be good side by side with Evil. There always be doubt next to truth. There will always be that negative next to that positive. Evil will always be there to influence good people to do bad things. Evil will always be there to cast doubt and create problems for those trying to do good. Does that mean Doubt is evil? No not at all. Doubt is good. As a Catholic I was encouraged to NOT swallow everything given to me and to test it myself. Because of that I have tested many different faiths against the Teachings and understandings of Christianity through the Catholic faith. . I’ve tested atheism, Islam, Orthodox Catholics, and Protestantism to name some. Not nearly as thoroughly and exhaustive as I would like to have, but I still am currently working on it all.
If you want a strictly logical unspiritual reason to believe in God then its possible that quest will lead to “the primary objective” of the species and that is to duplicate our DNA.
I’ve pondered for nearly 10 years now the alternative to faith in God, which is not having any. In studying we find that there is an idea that “Religion” may be hardwired into our DNA. Why is that? Well in terms of evolution it may have evolved because the guy who believed in a God of sorts outlived the guy who couldn’t because his faith basically saved his life on many different occasions. It gives the individual a purpose a reason to go on. It keeps us masked from the fact that we are living in a big giant Ball of Death and there is no escape for any of us. Logically if this is all there is to it. We die and nothing matters anyways. But if there is God it all matters and this is partially how..
So lets say that everything I said in my previous paragraph is still true but there is God. We still have it hardwired in us to duplicate ourselves. Religion is hardwired in our DNA because it was put there so that we may seek God. It gives us a fighting chance just like our “desire to eat and drink”, enables us to live because we know eating and drinking is good for us. By seeking God and finding him we are given a purpose and become instruments to him and more beneficial to everyone around us. We still live in a giant Ball of death but we are able to find Joy in it through the Grace of God. This is our trial, this is our Quest. I can go on for hours but I will not here. So basically I am not afraid to test my faith, the faiths of others and the idea of no God at all, which in fact is still faith. As professor Lane put it in one of our required readings concerning Mysticism he stated
“Doubt it so much, in sum, that you would want to "test" the veridicality of mysticism itself.” –David Lane
This is the approach I have taken for religion as a whole. I’m not simply a blind believer. The idea of blind faith both sickens me and makes me Jealous. Why? One, I have personally observed and due to my studies, know absolutely that certain faiths can not be true at all. I’ll use the example of Apocalyptic cults. Obviously the blind leading the blind. On the other hand If there is God I wish I could just blindly believe in him like I did when I was younger, when it was easier to pray, easier to believe. When the supernatural was just around the corner.
I must admit at some point in Faith you have to make a choice of taking that “Leap” You have to pick the guy who you don’t mind being Duped by if "Religion is all a lie” so to speak. Personally I pick Jesus. Why? Because Christs message is solid in its full context. If there was a God and he wanted us to love each other and be ONE than loving our enemies and turning the other cheek makes complete sense. I don’t want to go in much detail about that here but I will say for now in reference back to what Hudson Smith said in our first assigned video viewing (but in my own words and version of course)
“If there is God, The Catholic faith is the language I choose to speak to him from because he calls to me from this direction.”
So for me I pick Jesus the apostles and his 2000 year old church, all the saints and the Martyrs from that Church. All the good and the bad people from it (Wheat and the weeds). Why? Partially because Christs message is solid to me in its full context. Because Christianity is a religion that claims to be fact not a philosophy or idea. In short If there is a God and he wanted us to love each other and be ONE than loving our enemies and turning the other cheek makes complete sense. Do I know God is really calling to me from this direction? The true answer is I don’t know. But it seems the most logical to me if it is.
If I am going to be duped and Religion is all a lie I’ll be duped by Jesus. Not Mohamed’s Jihad, not Joseph smiths Mormons. Not Chuck smiths Calvary chapel. Not the “Bible alone” (which really means, the guy who sees his interpretation Credits the Holy spirit but for some reason disagrees with the other 30,000 different interpretation from other guys who all believe the holy spirit is guiding them too. That is just not logical and is why I have to reject all of Protestant Christianity) Each of the other faiths ive mentioned have failed my tests to see if they can stand up to Scrutiny. For example the Mormons (LDS) cant stand up to historical/archaelogical scrutiny for the claims of the Book of Mormon to save their lives. Islam also relies on people to not be familiar with Judaism and early Christianity to plead its case. As a skeptical person this is unacceptable to me. If you are going to be true and if God has revealed to you truth please don’t give me straw man arguments and false information to make your case. Its dishonest and learning to doubt Relgion as a whole has taught me that if Occams razor can make it bleed easily its probably not true.
In the end none of us know the “Absolute Truth” but at the same time its important for us to know what “Isn’t and cant” be true to protect ourselves from dangerous beliefs or dangerous ideologies. For example I’m not God but there are people on this earth that claim to be and believe it or not People believe them and follow them and worship them as God. Doubt is a good thing and it is a good measuring tool in deciding what your going to believe in if you choose to believe in anything.
Any religion that lets you or encourages you to doubt it is a good religion because it is not afraid. That religion knows that if there is truly God then he can stand up to your finite limited human doubt. And that is partially why at this time in my life I am still Catholic.
**can expand on this if necessary**
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