Question 2
All major world religions encourage their followers to follow some form of the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Choose two religions and describe how followers might practice this differently.
posted by John Beebe @ 9:56 AM
3 Comments:
Every religion wants us to "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The reason this differs between different religions is because each separate religion has its own ideas of what one would want done to themselves.
In some evangelical forms of Christianity it is believed that if you are not “born again” and don’t take the Bible and Old Testament literally word for word, it is believed that you won’t go to heaven, but rather hell. The intentions are good, but the beliefs are controversial. As we saw in the Christianity movie and powerpoint there are vivid accounts based on contradicting books, of miracles happening with Jesus. During the time of Jesus, Judaism and all the other competing religions had all these amazing miracle stories going on. How do you beat out a seemingly magical event. I’m not trying to put down, or somehow disprove ancient texts, but all these things are only beliefs of certain Christians.
In Judaism as we learned in the powerpoint and packet “The legacy of Abraham”, Abraham is believed to have shown his loyalty to God by sacrificing his son, Moses is believed to have lead the Jews out of Egypt, and received the Ten Commandments. Jews also believe a monotheistic belief, which is a bit contradictory to some Christian beliefs.
My point in stating all of these difference between Judaism and Christian, and many other religions for that matter, is to show how traditions that different religions have, do not define the religion, it’s the belief behind that. When people get to caught up in rituals, arguments happen, and people lose sight of the overall morals.
Kelley Champlin
5W
All religions have some sort of rule that helps them follow the right path or journey to their enlightenment. One religion that I would choose to describe how religions have their followers follow some form of the Golden Rule is Buddhism. The Eightfold Path is one example of the Golden Rule, “Do unto other as you would unto you.” The Eightfold Path has many key elements to it that relate to the Golden Rule, one of them is the Right Speech. What the Right Speech means is “say nothing hurtful to others.” This follows the Golden Rule because it is basically saying if you say something mean to another person, you are not being true to yourself. It also makes you think how you would want to be treated.
Another religion that encourages their followers to follow some form of the Golden Rule is Islam. In this religion they encourage their follower’s to follow the Five Pillars. In those Five Pillars there is one that is called Zakat (4th Pillar). This 4th Pillar is Almsgiving. For this pillar the Muslims give offerings to the poor. This may not seem like it follows the Golden Rule because it does not connect to the “Do unto others as you would have them unto you.” But in a similar way this 4th pillar does. It is an act of kindness and that is basically what the Golden Rule is.
The Golden Rule is very important to all societies, and all religions have some form that rule to help their followers follow the right path.
I have to agree with Jonas, because I believe that Islam and Judaism promote one to follow the Golden Rule. It is a fundamental basis of these religions is to do good to others. I believe that each religion has the “Golden Rule” as the structure of their religion, because if one can master these then the rest of their doctrines and beliefs will stem from doing good deeds. Instead of having the Ten Commandments like Judaism, Islam focuses on the equality and fairness of everyone. For example in Islam it is required of a person to give alms to the poor, where say as Christianity, its not deeds that account for your religious status. In Christianity, a murderer can murder and still be forgiven by the priest, even though common sense and the “Golden Rule” say that it is an evil thing to do. I feel that each religion’s “Golden Rule”, depends on their beliefs in what they believe good deeds are.
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