Religion Questions Essay Paper

Agnosticism is usually regarded as a system of beliefs which states that it is impossible to prove neither existence nor non-existence of God.  Agnosticism is usually placed between theism and atheism because it presents a middle way between these two opposite views (Flood, 1999).

Atheism is defined as a denial of God. In contrast to theists, atheists base their system of beliefs on the idea that there is no God or any other supreme power. They mainly base their reasons on the absence of reasons which would prove the existence of God.

Fundamentalism now is defined as a strict following to belief system.  Originally Fundamentalism is a branch of Protestantism which emerged in 1890s.  At the present moment Fundamentalism is a general term which stands for total commitment to any religious ideas (Barbour, 1997).

Immanent is a term which refers to the description of divine as a part of our mind which exist inside of us. According to this view God can be found anywhere because it exists everywhere.

Monotheism is a  religious system which is based on the belief in one deity. Monotheism is opposed to polytheism which is a religion  based on the belief on many deities (Haynes, 1990).

Phenomenology is a philosophical movement which aims to distinguish relations between an individual and society.

This approach is situated between practical and theoretical approaches using both methods.

Sacred is often equaled to divine. Some specialist view  sacredness rather like form of prohibition and separation, which divides one thing  from the other things, making them special. Sacred makes people see the division of the world to the things which are sacred and which are not.

The term profane is used in opposition to sacred. It stands for usual, ordinary, not sacred events of our life (Haynes, 1990).

 

1. Jewish people had to experience much hardships though the history of mankind. There is no other nation which would go under such threats and dangers. Till recent past Jews did not have their territory, moreover, they were physically demolished through the centuries. They managed to survive and even create a country and revive their language and traditions and their religion ”“ Judaism, is one of main moving forces which helped the nation of Israeli to survive and gain strength. Judaism is one of oldest monotheistic religious in the world. It has become the foundation for many world religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Samaritanism and Baha’i Faith.  In the list of organized world religions, Judaism occupies the 11th place. Despite Judaism has a strong monotheistic basis and theology, it seldom was a monotheistic religion in practice (Adams, 1993).  Nevertheless, Judaism is based on strong religious principles. Adherents of Judaism believe in transcendent and omniscient God, who has chosen Jews as the carriers of this his will. They believe that God passed sacred laws to Jewish people and these laws are written in Torah, the main sacred text of Judaism.  Traditionally Judaism is regarded as a religion of suffering people prosecuted for their religious beliefs. Jews call themselves the nation of “chosen people” and explain their hardships and misfortunes by the God’s will(Barbour, 1997).  Numerous struggles of Jewish people are described in the Old Testament. Jewish people suffered in the Egyptian captivity and had to wander around the desert after Moses had took them from Egyptian captivity. After centuries of humiliations and forty years of hardships and wandering, Jewish people finally reached the Promised Land ”“ Israel but couldn’t stay there for long. The wanderings of Jewish people didn’t finish since their land became an object of severe attacks of their hostile neighbors and newcomers, such as Persians, Macedonians, Greeks and Romans.

 

2. The Virgin Mary is a mother of Jesus Christ, the Christian prophet and Savior. Mary and her husband Josef gave birth to Jesus of Nazareth conceiving him through the Holy Spirit. Josef did not become a father of Jesus because Mary remained a virgin till the birth of Jesus (Adams, 1993). The concept of immaculate conception is a very important part of Christian doctrine. This concept depicts Mary is innocent person who was noticed by Grace since her birth. During her marriage Mary had a vision of archangel Gabriel who announced her that she will become a mother of God’s Son. Mary is often mentioned to be present on the Jesus’ sermons. She was present during crucifixion.

 

3. After death of Jesus his image became interpreted as Messiah, who came to save humans. He was viewed as suffering son of God. The image of Christ was universalized after his death and Paul, one of his apostles made a great input into his generalization. The story about the Paul’s conversion to Christianity is very symbolic and important for the development of the entire Christian teaching. Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, who was a severe prosecutor of sect of Nazarene was converted to Christianity after Jesus appeared before him. He became later known as Apostle Paul and his writings compose an essential part of the New Testament. It was Paul, who helped to widespread Christianity to Gentiles and Hellenistic world. Paul’s conversion was sudden and complete. From the Pharisee, who wanted to follow rules and laws, he turned to universalist, who tried to combine Jewish law and separate rituals (Ellwood & Mcgraw, 2001). That is the reason Paul is often considered to be the first Christian.  In the beginning of his preaching, Paul made spontaneous speeches in the households. He spoke with the language understandable for ordinary people. Paul abolished rituals, such as Sabbath or kosher dietary, which separated Jews from Gentiles. It was Paul, along with the number of other apostles, who insisted on the cancellation of circumcision for Gentile Christians. This let to attract new adherents to Christianity. Paul put a lot of effort making Christianity a universal religion in order not to lose any potential converts(Ellwood & Mcgraw, 2001).  Becoming Christian did not require circumcision or any special diet any more. This is one of the reasons Christianity became so popular all over the world. Judaism, which had a lot of restrictions, such as ritual animal sacrifice, special diet and circumcision, was hard to follow for ordinary people and Paul made great job in popularizing Christianity and making it acceptable for everyone. This process did not pass the image of Christ. Pauline church got rid of mystical spirituality, which surrounded the image of Christ. Now Christ was regarded as Savior, who died for the forgiveness of all human sins.

This image replaced earlier image of Christ, as the prophet of inner kingdom of God, the teacher of love and compassion. Paul replaced an accent from inner kingdom, proclaimed by Christ to the image of Christ himself. This way Christ, who was perceived as a person, who had a message of God became the message itself and people switched his attention from his words to his personality.



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