different religions in a nutshell?

Question

i'm not looking for insults or opinions, i consider myself christian but i know absolutely nothing about any other religions, i just want to know some facts about other religions, like if they believe in god, satan, heaven, hell and how we got here. in other words what are the main characteristics of the different religions? thanks for your help!

Answer 1

It's much more complicated than listing the main characteristics of each religion like you have asked. I, for one, could not possibly list all of the characteristics of every religion anyway. I took a comparative religion class my first year in college, and it talked about all kinds of different religions and how they were different or similar to one another. There is so much conceptual variation in the religions of the world, and so many different perspectives and worldviews that it would be useless to list characteristics for different religions. For example, even the god concept differs between religions. I suggest that if you are really curious and genuinely interested in learning about other religions, you do some reading on each one, one by one. You're a Christian, so maybe start by reading about Judaism or Islam from an historical or comparative perspective since they are so closely related to your own faith. You could then branch out and learn about Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, etc. Don't forget about the variation within religions as well; within Christianity, there have been various movements with very different outlooks that many main stream Christians, such as the Gnostics, the Quakers, or various communal sects. A book that I really enjoyed was Houston Smith's "The World's Religions" which is very good and very easy to read. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Judaism is still waiting for the Messiah. Thats why Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D.... Jesus described the tribulation of Jerusalem in great detail in the Book of Luke and the reason for it was because "they did not recognize the time of their visitation". In other words, the Jews did not recognize Christ as God.

Christianity is the evolution to completeness from Judaism. Saint Augustine once said, "The New Testament is hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed in the New." It is even in the Old Testamant where God tells us He will make a New Covenant with His people where the law will now be written on our hearts.

Islam is a religion and culture of death and hatred:

The Qur'an, Surah V 51 says; O you who believe! do not take the Jew and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.

In the Qur'an's Surah IX, v.30 it also says: And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

Islam teaches Muslims to hate and destroy Jews and Christians. It is not a religion of love and tolerance for their brother human beings. They are to "Strike the infidel at the neck"

Thats pretty much it for the Big 3.

Answer 3

The local library will give you the basic facts you seek, but this is not the place to do what you want to do. I have (and still do) known and loved people from many different faiths, and visited their place of worship with them. That's the best way to learn.

As it turned out none of the various religions worked for me, but the easiest ones to understand were two of the native American and Jewish.

Having done all that exploring, I remain an athiest.

Answer 4

Kemetic Orthodoxy(a revival of the ancient Egyptian religion):

-We believe that the Gods created us, but we also believe in evolution and scientific answers too. We don't see any reason these things can't co-exist. There are a few different creation myths, but these aren't seen as exactly what happened. They're used more as a metaphoric or over-simplified version.

-We believe in Many Gods and Goddesses that are all a part of one Higher being (The One and the Many). These Gods and Goddesses have their own existance and personality and yet are part of one. It's kind of like... Ice cubes in a glass of water. The ice cubes are still a part of the water, but are slightly different from the rest of the water (solid and liquid but still H2O).

-We don't believe in a Devil. We do, however believe in a creature called Apep, which is outside of creation and uncreation itself. It only causes harm, and is the reason people cause Isfet (or do bad deeds). We believe people have free will but when they do cause Isfet, they are giving power to uncreation and chaos. The doing of good deeds (or 'Ma'at', a concept and Goddess of that concept) helps create balance and order. So we always try to do the right thing - never lie, or hurt, or hate. We don't believe in sin or that we are all bad, but It's our duty as Human beings to help uphold Ma'at.

-When we die, we go to the Hall of Two Truths, which is where the God Yinepu(Anubis) weighs your heart against the feather of Ma'at (the feather is the symbol of Ma'at). If your heart weighs less, than you become an Akh (blessed dead/ancestor) and go to the Duat, which is sort of like Heaven and earth put together. Almost like living on earth, but having every day be a good one, with no hunger, famine, pain, etc. But if your heart weighs more because of bad deeds, your soul gets devoured my the monster Ammit and you cease to exist.

-We have hundreds of celebrations and holidays every year, it's a rather celebratory and happy religion. ^_^ We do a ritual called the Senut every day, and give offerings to the specific Gods in our life or God Him/Her/Itself and ask for help or pray. We also give offerings to our ancestors, since we believe that there needs to be someone to remember you and some sort of physical name or body to help the living remember you by in order to exist in the Duat - which is why the ancient Egyptians were so adament about getting their bodies mummified. Sort of a 'just in case/just to make sure' sort of thing. :)

Um... Sorry, I've rambled. I just thought I'd try answering your question on my own religion, but I think I went overboard. In reality though I've hardly covered anything. ^_^; If you wanna learn more, the link in 'sources' is a very good informative website.

Answer 5

Well Islam has a God and has demons but I do not know about devil..I know there is a heaven and hell though I don't think they call them that.

Hindus believe in reincarnation

Buddists dont have heaven or hell they just keep reliving until they purify themselves.

Answer 6

That you want to know these things is a good thing.

As far as Jehovah's Witnesses are concerned, below are two links. The first takes you to a brochure called "Jehovah's Witnesses—Who Are They? What Do They Believe?"

The second is to our official web site.

Answer 7

spiritualism in a nutshell lol
OK
we believe in life after death with evidence given through spirit messages

we believe in a creator many of us would say in prayer " eternal spirit " " loving spirit " " loving father "

we do not believe in Satan or hell although we believe in lower realms of spirit but realms that can be progressed from through spiritual enlightenment so to speak

we get to spirit world directly after passing as we are met with loved ones who have passed before us

we may need a little healing and respite after passing before going to our new home

we have 7 principles in our religion that we try to follow

and we are told that even in the philosophies and spirit teachings we are given that we must only accept what makes sense to us as individuals

Answer 8

Just look the religions up on the internet. Don't be lazy.

Answer 9

There is only one G-d

Answer 10

A good outline