East and West Religions

I am going to discuss why the eastern religions are so different and why they are so similar, to the western religions, and why all over the world there are gods that are worshiped by people even though they have little else in common. I'm also going to ask how religion unifies and divides people through all of history. I intend to show that although many religions from around that time have many differences, that it is amazing how similar they are even though they were developed by completely different people and different civilizations.

I should also add that my views may be a little biased toward Christianity as I was raised as a Christian in a strict Christian area but I try not only in this essay but in life to be as an objective view as possible.

I'll start off by going over the fundamentals of Christianity. One weird thing about Christianity though is that there are many different divisions within Christianity and one group of Christians could believe something almost completely different from another group of Christians, but as we go on we will find if that is true for all religions, so I'm just going to cover some basics for all the different types of them. Ok so the main thing I think that is true for all Christians is that they believe in one god and that he created the earth and he is the ruler of all. Christians also believe in heaven and hell which is a place they believe your soul or spirit goes after you die. Heaven is a place were they believe your soul or spirit goes when you have been good in life, in heaven they believe you get to do what you like to do best as long as you want, well that is some beliefs but the truth is that there are many different beliefs on what heaven is like and well it's kind of hard to prove who's ideas are right and who is wrong. Hell is were Christians believe you go when have been bad and they believe that you go to hell to be punished for doing bad things, so that's why you shouldn't do bad things, and actually that links up to a more modern I guess religion sadism, which is the worship of the evil type of god that is called Satan and Christians believe he is like gods opposite he is everything evil and bad. Christians take there beliefs out of a book that was written hundreds of years ago called the bible. There are two parts to the bible the old testament and the new testament and the Christians believe in the teachings of both of them. Although this is were some groups a of Christians are divided again, because some take all the stories in the bible for a literal sense and other groups take the stories in the bible for a more symbolic meaning. Christians base what they believe is right and wrong by what is called the Ten Commandments, which are basically a list of ten things you shouldn't do if you want to go to heaven, which is another place were Christians kind of divide up, some believe you can break the commandments all you want as long as you go and confess your wrong doing, called sins, to a priest, which is there holly person. Christians also believe that you should worship god for at least 1 hour a weak. Many Christians also believe that there religion is the only correct one and that it is up to them to convert other people to there religion. Christians also believe in a prophet that, they say is the son of god called Jesus and he is an important figure head and teacher of Christianity.

Next is Judaism, Jewish people believe that there is no hell but that there is a heaven that everyone goes to. They also believe that they are chosen people by god I guess to do there worshiping for everyone. Like the Christians, Jews Get there beliefs out of the bible but the key difference between them is that Jews only believe in the old testament not the new testament and they don't believe that Jesus was the son of god they mainly follow the prophet that is called Moses. Christians also believe in mosses but they think he takes a back seat to Jesus. Jews believe in the same god as Christians do except they don't believe in the Christians anti god Satan. Jews also worship about an hour or two a weak.

Islam's believe in the prophet named Muhammad. Islam's also believe in one god that created all and rules all and they call him Allah. Muslims take there teachings out of a book which is called the holy Quran. The Muslims also have there own type of heaven were you have to be good to get in, in the after life. Actually have many of the same beliefs as the Christians and the Jews about life and the creation of the world and essentially believe in the same god as Christians and Jews except they call him a different name. Islam's worship at least 5 times a day which is quite a lot more than Judaism and Christianity.

Buddhists are kind of a different bunch from the rest of the religions. They believe in a kind of god that is ruler of everything like the others except that they believe every couple hundred years he is reincarnated in a human and teaches them stuff about how to worship him. Buddhists are the most non violent of I think all the religions they believe there is no excuse for fighting or killing at all were as the others do have excuses and exceptions were killing is ok, not Buddhists, Buddhists also believe in treating all animals with respect as well as treating all the earth with respect. They believe in the good of man and that people should help each other. Another thing that is strange for a religion of the past is that Buddhists do not think that there religion is the only way you should worship and that everyone else should join them or die. Buddhists also believe in Reincarnation which means that after you die you come back as someone or something else and that you may never stop being reincarnated over and over again. They believe in different levels of existence and that if you lived a good life doing many good things and little to no bad things then you can move up a level of existence and if your bad then you'll go down a level and once you reach such a high level then you can go to what is like there heaven that they call Nirvana. The Buddhists follow Buddha but the first reincarnation of Buddha came in the form of a man named Sidd Hartha.

Taoism is based out of china, is really based on nature and also really believes in not fighting and killing other people like Buddhism. Taoism is mainly just about nature and teaches about how everything is in harmony with each other and balance to the universe.

Hinduism is the oldest religion that is known to be still going. Is not so much a religion as much as it is just how people live there lives. It is much more hard to explain then the other religions because they believe there is 39