The most interesting thing about religions is how the people who subscribe to a certain sect think that their belief are unique and are the best in comparison to others (Van Voorst 15). Many people affiliating to a particular religion believe that their religion is the only true one and either do not clearly mention the fate of the people subscribing to other religions or they just assume that they are headed in the wrong direction (Knott 60). However, a closer examination of the major religions clearly depicts a lot of similarities in their doctrines about life and life after death. Most of the religions believe in a life after death influenced by the actions of an individual while alive.
Christianity
The birth, death, and resurrection …show more content…
Christianity originates from the ‘apocalyptic Judaism’ who were Jews believing in judgment day whereby the kingdom God would come to raise the righteous from the dead. The earliest view of resurrection involved the literal bodily resurrection (Barnes 80). However, as Christianity spread among the gentiles, a syncretized view of life after death started to emerge. A culture highly influenced the original view of resurrection was Greek. The Greeks had a dualistic approach to the life after death in a dual way whereby the spirit was independent from the physical body (D’costa 73). The spread of Christianity to such places like Greece led to varying views of life after death. Several questions arose from the Christians view of the life after death. A major question was what is resurrected? Some Christians believed that the physical body was resurrected and others believing that there exist another body that was raised from the dead. Another view was that the soul was the prisoner of the body and it was freed upon death of an individual. Apostle Paul, through his epistles to the churches brought a standardized view of …show more content…
The Buddha suggested that desire is the main cause of death and hence rebirths. Therefore, the only avenue of keeping off the cycle of death and rebirth is freeing oneself from desire. In this doctrine of reincarnation the Hindus and the Buddhists have a common understanding. However, Buddhism differs with Hinduism on the idea that people do not possess souls, but they consist of a ‘bundle’ of habits, sensations, desires, memories and so forth (Kay 170).
According to Buddha the process of life is suffering and it is during this time a person strives to live a righteous life that will help him achieve nirvana upon his death. Abandoning false sense helps a person to achieve nirvana by disintegrating the bundle of joy and impulses. Like in Hinduism, Buddhism believes that it is critical for a person to remain aware of his thoughts at the time of death because the thoughts immensely influence the after death influence and the state of incarnation if he fails to achieve nirvana (Kay
Christianity
The birth, death, and resurrection …show more content…
Christianity originates from the ‘apocalyptic Judaism’ who were Jews believing in judgment day whereby the kingdom God would come to raise the righteous from the dead. The earliest view of resurrection involved the literal bodily resurrection (Barnes 80). However, as Christianity spread among the gentiles, a syncretized view of life after death started to emerge. A culture highly influenced the original view of resurrection was Greek. The Greeks had a dualistic approach to the life after death in a dual way whereby the spirit was independent from the physical body (D’costa 73). The spread of Christianity to such places like Greece led to varying views of life after death. Several questions arose from the Christians view of the life after death. A major question was what is resurrected? Some Christians believed that the physical body was resurrected and others believing that there exist another body that was raised from the dead. Another view was that the soul was the prisoner of the body and it was freed upon death of an individual. Apostle Paul, through his epistles to the churches brought a standardized view of …show more content…
The Buddha suggested that desire is the main cause of death and hence rebirths. Therefore, the only avenue of keeping off the cycle of death and rebirth is freeing oneself from desire. In this doctrine of reincarnation the Hindus and the Buddhists have a common understanding. However, Buddhism differs with Hinduism on the idea that people do not possess souls, but they consist of a ‘bundle’ of habits, sensations, desires, memories and so forth (Kay 170).
According to Buddha the process of life is suffering and it is during this time a person strives to live a righteous life that will help him achieve nirvana upon his death. Abandoning false sense helps a person to achieve nirvana by disintegrating the bundle of joy and impulses. Like in Hinduism, Buddhism believes that it is critical for a person to remain aware of his thoughts at the time of death because the thoughts immensely influence the after death influence and the state of incarnation if he fails to achieve nirvana (Kay