The Image of God in Leading Religions of the World - Essay Example

 The Image of God in Leading Religions of the World Introduction The leading religions of the world include the names of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The followers of the above mentioned ways of life have an explicit belief in the presence of God while some of them tend to build a connection with a Divine Entity by offering prayers and others seek him in the natural beauty of the world. Moreover those people who do not consider themselves as religious consult with God only when they need him or his help in any worldly matter. But importantly every human being has an implicit or expressed belief in the God (Atran pp.35). Importantly there are no significant differences in the image of God in three leading religions of the world. Judaism is the oldest religion of the world as it propagated from the nation of Moses after that Jesus developed Christianity and finally Islam came into the world through the teachings and guidance of Mohammad. Judaism believes that humans are created in the image of the God and therefore they are representatives of their creator on Earth. The Jewish community holds on to the belief that every human is an agent of God regardless of his or her race, religion and ethnicity (Barlas pp.3). Christianity on the other hand conceptualized the power of God to be divided into three distinct parts (Clines pp 60). The first portion resides with God himself whereas the other two are with Jesus and his mother. In this way Christianity believes in three dimensional divine super-powers. Finally Islam conforms to Jewish theological foundations by admitting that there is only one God. Islamic teachings also identify man as the true representative of the God Himself. This paper suggests that there is no feasible difference in the views of God among leading religions of the world because all of them consider man as the real representative of God. Still the lack of tolerance and mutual understanding is currently undermining all the similarities of theological frameworks. Modern research suggests that those people who have a firm belief in the presence of God and his role in their lives are spending contented life as compared to those who do not believe in supernatural at all. Nevertheless it is also important to note that Christianity is a little bit different in conceptualizing the God because it recognizes Jesus as the son of God and therefore entire humanity becomes a race that emanated from the divine entity. Islam and Judaism are having quite a different view of God from previously stated one as they consider him as omnipotent (Hill and Pargament pp. 65). The concept of God in Christian belief differs because what Jesus did by welcoming the hanging on the cross cannot be done by an ordinary human being and therefore he was identified as a God in Christian literature. The concept of God is as ancient as the humanity itself. Nevertheless the presence of a Divine Entity is repeatedly reinforced by Prophets and Saints throughout the history of mankind. The notion that God exists while he posses the power of punishing and rewarding humans for their misdeeds and deeds respectively is supported by scholars of all leading religions. The religions impacted every aspect of human life ranging from social practices to sexual relationships. Thus humans identified their creator with the help and reference of the Prophets in all ages (Ellison and Levin pp.714). The concept of God helped humanity in attainment of spiritual and intellectual growth by ordering them to think about the surroundings in which they are living whereas in Quran Allah openly commanded the whole of the mankind to devote its struggles towards attainment of knowledge and enlightenment (Fish pp.35). All of the leading religions are emphasizing on the role of God in the journey of spiritual development of humanity at large. In the light of above argument it can be established that God himself wants humans to continue the journey of enlightenment (Hill and Hall pp. 14). In the end humanity has to understand that every religion inserts a premium on God’s involvement in the process of human development. Jews believe that every person without referring to his or her beliefs should be respected (Horowitz pp.178). However the common message of leading religions is to believe in Divine Entity who has the power to punish and reward human beings against their misdeeds and deeds (King pp.198). According to Quran God loves humans seventy times more than their mothers. In the view of leading psychological experts the meaning of love is the willingness to support spiritual growth of those whom one is in love with (Lawrence pp.218). Thus the ultimate purpose of Godhood is to cause human development against all costs. God Himself wants his representatives to overcome the force of entropy. The presence of God is the fundamental belief of every leading religion of the world. Every human being has an explicit or implicit belief in the reality of a Divine Entity. The theological framework of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are pretty much same regarding the concept of God. The Judaism and Islam advertise the belief in one God while Christianity believes in three dimensional divinities. The notion of human intellectual development is fundamentally a representation of God’s will to foster the process of inspiration in the bloodlines of Adam The modern religious philosophy has come to acknowledge the resemblances among leading religions of the world as all of them focus to induce humans towards identifying God. Finally it is suggested to appreciate the resemblances of religious thinking and let go all of the hatred because humanity needs to be united in order to support their growth that is the will of God Conclusion The concept of God in Judaism and Islam is strikingly similar while the Christianity has somewhat different concept of Godhood. However the subliminal message of all religions is the same. The hidden message states that man should truly hold the image of God. Humans who believe in God are noted to have a noticeable regard for fellow humans and due to the fear of punishment they keep their behaviors according to the directions given by God himself. But the Christianity has slightly divergent Godhood philosophy. Yet the religions are found to be emphasizing on women, animal and children rights. Conclusively they are promoting peace and brotherhood among all races. The concept of Judgment Day is also quite prevalent in religious teachings that induce humans to keep their behavior aligned with the will of God. Finally entire religious literature is fabricated in order to foster human intellectual growth to say the least. In short the presence of God is recognized by every human being because it gives a certain degree of order to the universe. Additionally people follow the philosophy of doing the right thing so that they can gather exquisite rewards in the afterlife. Secondly every leading religions of the world believe in God who is responsible for acting as a beacon for humans in dark realm of ignorance. But on overall basis Judaism and Islam believe in God with similar characteristics while Christianity has been viewing the concept of super being with a different perspective for number of centuries. Yet with reference to the link between man and God all of the featured religions are agreed upon the fact that the former entity is the representative of the latter one. References Read More