The Purpose of Religion - Essay Example

?The Purpose of Religion Introduction What is the purpose of religion? This question is rather interesting for the discussion. Almost all people in the world believe in God. Some of us have substituted their religious beliefs by logical interpretations of reality, but still religion has been one of the strongest inspirers and supporters of humanity for ages. It is hard to find out the essence of the religion, but it is rather interesting to make an attempt to interpret its meaning and purpose for people. Further discussion is limited by terms of Abrahamic religions and Dharma religions. But before we start our discussion, it is interesting to discuss the role and purpose of religion as a universal phenomenon. The purpose of religion For the majority of people, religion was invented for intimidation of people, their self-organization. Basically, religion is a limiting factor of our lives. Still, an initial intention of religion should not be sought in its purpose to oppress people, because the core issue of religion is enlightenment and steering people onto the right path. Therefore, it is better to consider the purpose of religion from a more humane perspective. Religion facilitates our physical pain and spiritual wanderings; our grief and sorrow are diminished once we appeal for God. Moreover, we often go to church looking for redemption. Our daily blames and faults are facilitated in church or even when we appeal for God inside of us. When we think that God has forgiven our faults us, we feel much better. What is even more interesting is that through redemption we transform our faults and sins in our strengths. Thus, the purpose of religion is to assist us in our lives, to help and save our souls from grief and sorrow. Religion makes our lives better for sure. It is necessary not to look for its essence, but just believe in God and salvation. Abrahamic vs Dharmic religions Still, why do not all people believe in one God? Or maybe we believe in one God, but it has different appearances? The emergence of different religions is the reflection of the nations’ peculiarities. Every nation wants to believe in the most appropriate spiritual power for them. People look for a spiritual contact between God and an individual in the religion. Thus, it is necessary to take into account individual’s peculiarities before creating the most ideal God for oneself. A split of religion into Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and Dharmic religions (Buddhism, Hindu) is the reflection of historical worldview of Western and Eastern people (Rue, 2005).   These religions are united by faith in one God. For Christians, it is Jesus Christ, for Judaists, Abraham is One God, for Islamists, Muhammad is a prophet who is the messenger of God’s counsel.  There are three different Holy Books, these religions are followed: Bible for Christians, Torah for Judaists and Quran for Islamists. In contrast to Abrahamic religions, Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions (Rue, 2005). Gautama Buddha is the central Divine in Hinduism and Buddhism. There are constant arguing between Hindus and Buddhists. The latter underline that during the time of Buddha there was no such thing as Hinduism; the former do not intend to separate Hinduism from Buddhism.  The main intention for Buddhist and Hindus is to find out an internal harmony, to establish inner peaceful relation between a body and a soul. This religions propagate a self-breeding, a self-perfection: "We are the causes of our own suffering"; "Think about your life" etc (Rue 2005, p. 43). As far as we can see, the main emphasis in these religions is made not on God, but on individual’s work for self-perfection. Moreover, a central concept for both Hinduism and Buddhism is “Karma”. Nothing depends on a man; everything is predetermined. A man should be a peaceful, pacified creature, who is able to follow Divines leading him to enlightenment and bringing him closer to spiritual world of Divines. The main arguments of Christianity differ from these statements greatly. In this religion it is important to follow God’s 10 Commandments, have a God in your heart otherwise after death you will come not to Heaven, but to Hell. Thus, there is a certain intimidating factor in Christianity (Rue, 2005). For Christians, it is important to believe in God in order to get salvation; for Buddhists, a man can refuge himself though self-perfection spiritual practices. Moreover, it is necessary to go to Church and worship God, but for Buddhists such practices are unusual. Moreover, there are many differences between Dharmic and Abrahamic religions. Dharmic religions are more tolerant, while Abrahamic religions believe in the universality of their monotheistic dogma. Abrahamics discard the option to worship many forms of Ultimate Reality, which is propagated by Dharmics (Rue, 2005). It is impossible to discuss all differences between these religions in four page research paper, but it is possible to explain why core differences between Abrahamic and Dharmic religions occur. Abrahamic religions are linear. They depict a man in the beginning of his life and then erase him from the line at the end of his life; life on the Planet is linear as well: once God has created it and will destroy it in the same way. Dharmics depicts a life of a man in a more cyclic manner: reincarnations are possible and there are many successive afterlives.   Moreover, there are differences in setting different virtues by Dharmic and Abrahamic religions: in Abrahamic religions it is necessary to take virtue actions: to prosper, to have an authority and of course to worship God. The Dharmic religions propagate more tolerant and pacified way of life.  In Abrahamic religions God is a human-like being, who has masterfully created life plans of his followers. In the Dharmic religions, Divines may be reincarnated hundreds of times, reflecting re-birth of central mind of the Universe. Dharmic religions do not bring people close to Divines; they do not need it, because God is the wisdom of the Universe for them. He does not have to create masterful plans of their lives; he just inspirers them for self-perfection, peace and tolerance. In other words, Dharmic religions do not intimidate or oppress its followers (Rue, 2005). Vice versa, these religions are wise inspirers of their followers and underline a crucial role of a man in his own life. There is no one but you to blame for all your faults. In the Abrahamic religions, the main purpose is to direct people’s actions in accordance with the principles reflected in the Holy Books. A human nature of God requires from people who believe in his power to follow his laws and morals. Otherwise an immense enragement of God may occur. Conclusion There are clearly set principles of partnership relationship between God and people in the Abrahamic religions: once a follower listens to God, everything would be OK in his life; but once he did not follow God’s instructions he would come across God’s anger. Therefore, a central figure in the Abrahamic religions is God and his worshipping and in the Dharmic religions it is an individual, who is able to live his successive afterlives successfully in the course of self-perfection spiritual practices. As far as we can see, the main purpose of religion as a universal phenomenon is to lead a man along a thorny path of his life, assisting and helping him. For this purpose an individual has to pay a great price: God lives in his heart throughout his life and his worshiping or spiritual self-education occurs this Divine.   Works cited 1.      Rue, Loyal, 2005. Religion Is Not about God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature and What to Expect When They Fail. Rutgers University Press.   Read More