Do you think all religions have the same point, but different ways of expressing their beliefs?

Question

All religions are different, but isn't i the point the pursuit of happiness in all religions?

Answer 1

That's a good question Leo.
I personally don't think so.
The different religions are actually, well... different.

Take Islam and Christianity. To be a Christian you have to claim Jesus as your Messiah, and as the Son of God. Islam rejects this claim, so does Judaism. Or take Buddhism which teaches the rejection of all passions. When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan he was asking the question 'who was a good neighbor to the man who was robbed and left for dead on the road?' The answer was 'he who had compassion on him.' Compassion is an emotion, so, although Buddhism stresses charity, it doesn't do so from the same perspective as Christianity.

I have friends both in and out of the other religions, and I think there is a lot of wisdom in the great religions. Otherwise they would not have survived this long or have so many adherents. But Christianity really is stunningly different from all of the others.

Christianity does not actually have as its goal the 'pursuit of happiness', although it is often presented this way today. In fact Jesus continually warns His followers about how much they will suffer for following Him. Check out the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 for starters. 'Blessed are you when men persecute you and say all kinds of false things about you, for thus did they treat the prophets who were before you.' The point in Christianity is not 'what will make me happy', but 'what is God's Kingdom and how can I be a part of it?'

For the first Christians following the Messiah was the fulfillment of all their hopes, not to mention the prophecies of the Old Testament. To be part of the Kingdom was worth any price, even suffering and death. They believed that by serving Jesus as witnesses to the Gospel they were overcoming Evil in the world, and would eventually inherit eternal life with Him. That consummation would certainly make them 'happy', but my point is they were not focused on themselves at all. Paul, Peter and James all considered themselves servants— slaves even, of the Messiah. I personally don't think you see that kind of devotion these days much, though I aspire to it...

Answer 2

Not exactly.
Two of the three monotheist religions have a point of converting everyone else (or getting rid of them). Judaism has a point, but it's basically to get back to the home that they say God promised them, even though God seems to have made the same promise to folks already there.

Hinduism has a point, but it gets repeated over and over, so eventually the point becomes meaningless and mixed in a thousand million names and faces of various deities, and depending on where you're born in the caste system pretty much determines your fate.

The point of Confuscianism, which isn't so much a religion, is to enforce the hierarchical status quo of emperor over kingdom, father over family, and man over woman.

Buddhism is pointless in a good way, that is, if you can hear one hand clapping, and that pointlessness is that life sucks (sometimes), everything changes, and your best hope is to realize that your own suffering is pretty much like everyone else's suffering, so compassion is your best strategy in getting along in life to deal with your own suffering and everyone else's too.

So, no, the major religions don't all share the same point. Or rather, some have more points (and sharper, too) than others.

Answer 3

The world religions are much the same - in that they are only concerned about their power and control over the population, they use the guise, ie. scam --- that they are 'spiritual' when they are not. They instil myths upon us, which are not 'real' nor authentic - they gain their power and control through these myths and act like (like politicians who act out their part) an intermediary between God (who does not exist) and mankind.

Almost all of the world religions do this. Give us myths that can only be believed in, if you will discard common sense (reason and logic) - and many people (of course) cannot do this, and so they are the non-believers and unconvinced.

Think about this and observe yourself, what the religions do - they only make 'claims' and do not give us facts.
There is no proof or evidence for most of what they say.

Answer 4

yes ive always thought this way. Even when i was a little kid.

I believe not so much the pursut of happiness but the pursuit of enlightenment, to become one with God and to find inner peace. I guess happiness comes with that.

Vedanta, a religion and philosophy that says and believes exactly this. You can be any religion and still be a Vedantist.

Check it out if you like, www.vedanta.org

Answer 5

No. I think that where the believer starts - the faith object - is crucial. I can be a Hindu focusing on the many idols of that religion, and still be far away from God. I can be the most Religious Roman Catholic in the world, and still not be saved.

So the focus Christians like me have is on God. Not in the rituals, not in the lighting of candles, not in the repetitive prayers. It's God who is my focus, and as much as what Jesus said it to be as possible.

Answer 6

The point of religion is to part of an exclusive group.

Answer 7

In religions, no.
In spirituality, yes.

From the spirituality standpoint of view, all religions have the same take but have different terminology.

Answer 8

Nope,in SPIRITUAL satanism our goals are to reach godhood and be enternal.By the way thats just the main point but SPIRITUAL satanism pre dates christianity by thousands of years but the christians changed its name to scare people off from it with there fake image of the devil and have them running to there fake god.

Answer 9

How about "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love,and to be loved in return"?

(Is love in all religions or am I just a hopeful idiot?)

Answer 10

i once heard a joke that the jews must be spiritual cause IN nearly every religion and youll find jews in it,.


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