Religion
- Sacred texts are supernaturally inspired writings that the deity (God) gave to his prophets to teach the people about him and how they should live with each other and the system, therefore forming the basis of religioustraditions. For example Christians believe that Moses was given the tabernacles at Mt Sinai so that they might know the law of God.
- Key leaders are some of the people God used to pass his message to people. These included Moses, Abraham, John and Muhammad among others. I think that key leaders in the today society includes the pastors, bishops, imams and others commonly referred to as the “men of God” while others are their followers.
- Theological framework is a framework that tries to reason out things or issues in the light off the Holy Scriptures and the foundation of religion.
- System of morals is an avenue that enables individuals to behave in a given way given the principles of evaluating those conducts. This implies that there exist certain set policies and rules that governs the way a person/society ought to conduct itself including the references of where they should evaluate their conduct. In the contemporary times, I believe that system of morals is those guidance’s that enables us to maintain/stay put in a given religion without thinking of shifting to another religion.
- Worldview can be taken to mean the generally acceptable. In this I mean that religion should have a world view implying that it should generally have the backing of the global arena if circulated and campaigned for. It could also mean what others from different places say concerning a given thing.
- Rituals are actions, proceedings or ceremonies that are performed in a given society or religion in a customary way. In this context, many religious activities that are done relates to historical times and were brought by the founders of religions based on the sources that they obtained those information from. For example, the Christians celebrates the last supper as a commemoration of Jesus last mission on earth. Likewise, Muslims visit Mecca each year to stone the devil. These are ceremonies that have been carried out from generations to generations.
- Society is a group of people living together and sharing some social interactions, geography or territory. They may experience similar or different religious expectations but are subject to the same authority. The society may generally entail the population of a place or a community.
The problem of evil and its solutions
From the day to day happenings in the world, it is evident that evil exists. The evil exists in different forms as manifested in our own suffering, the suffering that other people undergoes, the abuse of power, individuals selfishness, violence between individuals and between nations, and terrorism among others. The question as to, whether God, who is omnipotent, a creator, and who is just, if he can allow evil should not arise since by his justice and goodness, he prefers man to live on a free will. Free will in this case allows a human being to act in the manner that he/she acts in. Under the free will, one can do what is good or what is evil. God did not create human to enslave him but rather gave man the liberty to do his will or follow his selfishness. This leads to the conclusion that evil is a construction of man in his endeavor to rebel from what God’s purpose was. God could not go against his words. Why should he then deprive man of his rights? He must allow him to suffer for the consequences of his own doing/evil. This therefore applies even to those who do good. They suffer as a result of those who do evil. To combat evil, Christians’ belief that the coming of Jesus, his saving power through the blood shed on the cross, and the assurance of resurrection sums it all.
Solutions for evil
Supposing that moral evils are as a result of the misuse of the human freewill or freedom, I think that the best remedy for evil therefore should be to desist from doing evil. Though intrinsically placed and beyond our comprehension, the world cannot be without evil since God permitted it. And since he constantly talks of freewill, we can muzzle evil (stop doing it) and live peacefully. Though this can never happen in reality, we eat, drink, see evil and this complicates the solution. All in all, from an individual point of view, one may refrain from doing what would hurt others thereby evading evil.
If there was no evil, man would wish there was, and there could be no world. But God knew that man would sin and therefore he let him loose. The solution for the physical aspect of evil should be punishment/retribution. This would help offender reform and stop doing evil. At the extreme, evil could be solved by eliminating all people thereby leaving a land that is inhabitable. Yes this could solve and address the evil issue but is it worth? God in the creation story wanted to eliminate the whole world through water but he saw it unnecessary. Christian view evil as having origin in creation, but Jesus came to carry the cross (sins). This being the case, we should only follow Jesus steps and solve the evil problem. But mark you, it is not as easy as I write it. It is more complex (evil).
Q3. Surface similarity is that fundamental commonality between religions that is superficial in nature in the sense that the outward appearance are formally and /or functions in a similar way. In surface similarity, the source as well as the surface shares connected systems of relations. In the religion setting, there are many surface similarities that exist between sects/religions including the fact that many of the religions believes in the existence of a supreme God who does not live among people. Another common feature or surface similarity among religions is the fact that God exists and communicates/interacts with the world in some ways; say through the prophets, the holy book among other aspects. Prayer being beneficial and powerful is another commonality between different faiths and that is why many people from different faiths believe in the power of prayer. I believe even the pagans have somebody or something that they believe in, even if it is nature. The Abrahamic religions have one common thing in that they share some parts of the scripture. On the other hand, fundamental differences are those aspects of a given religion that differentiate one religion from another. The fundamental differences relates to culture whereby one religious group accepts certain beliefs and abhors others.
It is important to keep these distinctions in mind since they help an individual to know how to behave or act when in the company of other people. It also helps one to understand the reason as to why a certain religion act in the way it does, knowing the difference would therefore help one to address issues that other people have from different faiths.
An example of surface similarity between the Abrahamic religions and Islam is that they both belief in a holy deity (though has different names). Another commonality between these religion is that they belief in life after death. On the other hand, they are both dependent on the scripture and these religions advocate for the forgiveness of sin, submission of oneself to the deity as well as repentance. The fundamental differences between the two religions include the fact that Muslim believe that Jesus was second to Muhammad while Christians believe that he is the second in trinity and a God.