World Religions - Essay Example

World religions 5. Speaking of the essential differences between Roman Catholicism and Reformation Christianity,one should put emphasis on the following ones. To begin with, it would not be an exaggeration to point out that the idea of personal interpretation of the Bible is central to Reformation Christianity. Indeed, unlike Roman Catholicism, where the meaning of the Holy Scriptures is defined by the central body, Reformation Christianity encourages people to develop their own, sometimes maybe contradicting with others, understanding of the Bible. Another point that should be noted in particular is that Reformation Christianity has a rather unique approach towards the way a person is able to be saved. Contrary to Roman Catholicism which preaches the exceptional role of sacraments in this process, Reformation Christianity suggests that faith alone is a sufficient basis so that a person will be saved. It is obvious that this does not mean that a person may live whatever kind of life one wants to and when elderly genuinely believe in Christ and earn a place in the Heavenly kingdom; it simply reflects an important role of faith in life of a person. Speaking of the internal hierarchy, one should argue that organization of the above mentioned Churches is completely different. Roman Catholicism features a top down approach with the Pope being on the top of the Christian world, while Reformation Christianity rejects such idea of hierarchy. Each church is considered to be an independent unit that reports to no one, but God and may or may not be willing to interact with other churches. All this resulted into the fact that one can hardly find a big cathedral that is used by the people who belong to Reformation Christianity. While Roman Catholicism insisted that beautiful and big churches symbolized the glory of God and may have been used as a visible evidence of supremacy of the Christian religion, Reformation Christianity argues that one can easily praise the Lord in a usual room that is full of genuine believers. There are also several differences on the level of dogma as well. For example, people who have adopted the approach of Reformation Christianity do not share the idea of a saint in a traditional meaning of this word. Thus, the pious figures who acted in the Bible are respected, but they are not prayed to, as it is in Roman Catholicism. Reformation Christianity suggests that a true believer should only pray to God and not intermediary is needed so that the prayer is heard by the All Mighty. Finally, the idea of purgatory – the place when souls of the sinner might stay temporarily in order to purify themselves – is characteristic to Roman Catholicism only. Reformation Christianity argues that the after life is divided into to separate worlds – Heaven and Hell – and there is no need for a third one as the above mentioned concepts are perfect and a true Christian should work hard on getting into Heaven and ending up in a purgatory is not an option. 6. Just like any other religion, Islam has several fundamental principles that define its spiritual tradition. They received the name of Five Pillars of Islam. The first of them is called Shahadah and is largely focused on the key ideas of the Muslim faith: there is no God, but God (Allah is simply the Arabic word for God) and Mohammed should be regarded as the only Messenger from him. These two simple statements form a set of coordinates that Islam operates within. That is why there is no wonder that the above mentioned statement is repeated several times during a day by true believers. The next pillar that should be taken into account is called Salat. Literally in Arabic it means prayer, so one might point out that the second pillar focuses on the role of prayer in one’s life. According to the tradition, the Muslims should pray five times a day which are divided by almost equal periods of time. Contrary to the common belief, Islam does not require people to pray all the time: there are only several occasions during the day that people should devote to building their relationship with God. The third pillar which has a rather important socioeconomic significance is called zakat. Thus, it stands for giving a small percentage of one’s money at the end of the year to the people who are in need and to different projects that promote social equality. It would not be a mistake to point out that at the time of emergence of this religion, the idea of zakat was regarded as rather revolutionary by the contemporary Arabic society; nevertheless, now it is thought to be appropriate and logical. The fourth pillar is called Sawm and it largely focuses on the necessity of self control and fasting. One should note that the Muslims have an entire month dedicated to fasting which allows them to break free from the shackles of daily needs and think about things that truly matters in one’s life. Finally, there is one more pillar that should be discussed, namely Hajj. It stands for the sacred pilgrimage that is performed by a true believer to Mecca (which is the most sacred city of the entire Muslim world) at least once during one’s life. This pilgrimage was designed to engage people in the unity that is formed by faith, since not only Arabic people go to Mecca, but also Muslim from other states as well. It is thought that by doing so, the believers are able to visit the places which the Prophet Himself visited. There is not doubt in the fact that all the above mentioned principles mark Islam as being relevantly different from Judaism and Christianity. In spite of the fact that there are things that the above mentioned religions have in common, such as monotheism or helping the needy, taken in their complexity the File Pillars make Islam a unique tradition with its characteristic features that world a new world for the believers that they are encouraged to explore. Read More