COMPARATIVE RELIGION TAKES US NOWHERE BUT INTO THE LOWER ANALYTIC MIND. THE STUDY OF RELIGION KEEPS US SAFE FROM THE SACRED EXPERIENCE OF THE ONE. THE STUDY OF RELIGION TAKES US AWAY FROM THE SPIRITUAL TRUTHS OF OUR VERY BEING. COMPARATIVE RELIGION REINFORCES THAT BELIEF WE HOLD ONTO THAT RELIGION IS JUST ANOTHER ACADEMIC PURSUIT OF THE BRAIN. WE NEED TO STOP ANALYSING AND START THE PROCESS OF EXPERIENCING. AND WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT THE EXPERIENCING OD THE DIVINE, OF THE SPIRITUAL AND SACRED TRUTH OF ALL CREATION AND OF OURSELVES CAN NEVER BE A MERE ACADEMIC ENDEAVOUR.
Abrahamic or Western Asian religions
Main articles: Abrahamic religion, Western religion, and Islamic religion
In the study of comparative religion, the category of Abrahamic religions consists of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, which claim Abraham (Hebrew Avraham אַבְרָהָם; Arabic Ibrahim إبراهيم ) as a part of their sacred history. Smaller religions such as Bahá'í Faith that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted.[9]
The original belief in the God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism. Judaism is considered by religious Jews to be the expression of the covenant that God established with the Children of Israel. Jews hold that the Torah is part of the larger text known as the Tanakh or the Hebrew Bible, they also believe in a supplemental oral tradition represented by later texts such as the Midrash and the Talmud.[10]
Christians believe that Christianity is the fulfilment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus (Hebrew Yeshua יֵשׁוּעַ) is the awaited Messiah (Christ) foretold in the Old Testament prophecies, and believe in subsequent New Testament scripture.[11] Christians in general believe in that Jesus is the incarnation or Son of God. Their creeds generally hold in common that the incarnation, ministry, suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection of Jesus was for the salvation of mankind.[12]
Islam believes the present Christian and Jewish scriptures have been corrupted over time and are no longer the original divine revelations as given to the Jewish people and to Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. For Muslims, the Quran is the final, complete revelation from God (Arabic الله Allah), who believe it to have been revealed to Muhammad alone, who is believed by Muslims to be the final prophet of Islam, and the Khatam an-Nabiyyin, meaning the last of the prophets ever sent by Allah ("seal of the prophets").
Based on the Muslim figure of the Mahdī, the ultimate saviour of humankind and the final Imām of the Twelve Imams, Ali Muhammad Shirazi, later known as Bab, created the Bábí movement out of the belief that he was the gate to the Twelfth Imām. This signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, Bábism. However, in the 1860s a split occurred after which the vast majority of Bábís who considered Mirza Husayn `Ali or Bahá'u'lláh to be Báb's spiritual successor founded the Bahá'í Movement, while the minority who followed Subh-i-Azal came to be called Azalis.[13] The Bahá'í division eventually became a full-fledged religion of its own, the Bahá'í Faith. In comparison to the other Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the number of adherents for Bahai faith and other minor Abrahamic religions are not very significant.
Out of the three major Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Judaism are the two religions that diverge the most in theology and practice.
The historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it gradually became the major religion closest to Judaism. As opposed to Christianity, which originated from interaction between ancient Greek, Roman, and Hebrew cultures, Judaism is very similar to Islam in its fundamental religious outlook, structure, jurisprudence and practice.[14] There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions. These practices are known collectively as the Isra'iliyat.[15]
The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam. Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith – with some differences in interpretation – and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the final revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations, including the Bible. Notable comparative religion figures include Ibn Hazm, Ahmed Deedat and Zakir Naik.
from WIKIPEDIA article on 'Comparative Religion' n.d.
Richard Dell's STARS IN OUR SOULS Insight 11 'The Great Hymn to God' offers a beautiful way in which we can transcend the differences between the world's religions, and indeed gain greater value from all the world's religions:
THE GREAT HYMN TO GOD
There are many paths to God. So there is just one path to God. All the ways in communion, one with all others – and only when in communion, one with all others: sound humanity’s great hymn to God.
The paths to God are many.
And the number of paths to God is known.
For there are as many paths as there are us.
For each one of us alone, there is our one path:
Though that path can change as we change.
To seek God, we seek the path.
The path we seek is true when it is true to us,
And when it is true to us all.
***
So many paths:
The quiet paths;
The reflective paths;
The rhythmic paths of ritual;
The unadorned paths of the ascetics;
The ecstatic paths;
The wild paths of the shamans:
A billion people, a billion paths.
Seven billion paths!
Together they are a glorious fabric of paths.
Together, they are a chord of paths.
Each one of us, each on our own path,
Sounds a pure note of aspiration and endeavour and hope:
A single pure note, calling unto the heavens to God.
All of us together:
Sound a hymn.
Humanity’s great hymn to the stars.
