Abraham's Journey

The life of Abraham is one of varied geographical places as Abraham moves from place to place as well as an expedition through life's ups and downs with its challenges and disappointment. Abraham's spiritual life is also a journey, as he moves from periods of great faith to those moments of weakness and sin. Ultimately we find that Abraham, this man of faith, learned to trust in God as he traveled, not only from his home in Ur but as he journeyed towards faith.

One of the many decisions that has to made in life is what, if any, religion they will practice. Christianity, the belief in God, and Jesus as his son, or Judaism, to follow the direction of the Torah are some of the major religions that a person may choose. This decision may be one of the biggest decisions of a person’s life, and each religion has similarities and differences, and pro’s and cons. Two of the major religions, Judaism and Christianity, are alike in their inspiration of sacred texts, but are different in their identity of Jesus, and practice of worship.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all have similar origins, development, beliefs, and sacred texts. Contrary to popular belief all three of these religions share more common ground than one would think. The differences are present of course, but the similarities help one understand where all three were derived from and why. All of the religions share the common ground as to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the belief of monotheism, and “ethical standards required social justice for individuals and for the community” (144). Judaism is the oldest religion out of the three, then falls Christianity, and lastly Islam.

There is a close relationship between Christianity and Judaism both from a theological and historical perspective. The similarities between these two religious platforms emanates from the notion that Christianity arose and protested from Judaism. However, it is worth noting that Christianity is not a continuation of Judaism as some people perceive. Both Jesus and most of his disciples, who pioneered the earliest Christian churches, were Jews. Particularly, Jesus’ family practiced and followed Jewish beliefs, and He frequently referenced the Hebrew bible. On the contrary, the disciples believed that Jesus was the one and only Messiah, which is predicted in the Jewish Bible. While the creation narrative is still mysterious to many people, most individuals are still obsessed with the attempt to discover how everything came to existence. The primary purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the basic ideologies of Christianity and Judaism (Neusner, 76).

In the Old Testament, Abraham and Moses were two very prominent leaders chosen by God to do his will. Throughout Genesis and Exodus, both men play important roles in fulfilling God’s will. They are put to many tests, given covenants, and communicate constantly with God. Although they have many similarities such as being leaders and men of God, there are also many differences between the two.

There are many similarities and differences between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are also many differences that separate the three major religions of the world. This paper will delve into all three of them.

God’s covenant with Abram, whose name was later changed to Abraham, was to be the father of many nations. The covenant includes promises concerning a land covenant, a seed covenant, and a blessing covenant. The foundation will flow out of the “Seed Covenant” to his descendants Isaac and Jacob, through whom the twelve tribes of Israel were born.

Chapter Three Discussion & Assignment Questions: 1. What role did Abraham play in Jewish history? Abraham was a man who was visited by the Lord and was promised prosperous lands (in Egypt), bear children, and bring about a great nation; however, the Lord required Abraham to do tasks in order to prove his allegiance.

Christianity and Islam are some of the largest religions in the world today. Relative to the massive followers there are quite some intriguing differences and similarities that can be found between the two, from their beliefs, their origin, practices and doctrines (Redditt). The Christians belief in the holy trinity, which comprises of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, while the Islam believe in Allah as their God and Mohamed as the true Prophet. While there are quite a number of differences between the two religions, there are also similarities to match. One of the major similarities is the fact that the two are Abrahamic religions, meaning that they both believe that there is only one God. This paper delves into the aspect of the afterlife and that of deities between the two religions, by trying to establish the main differences and similarities.

Islam, Christianity and Judaism are known as the three great monotheistic faiths. Their followers make up 55.5% of the world’s population. (Hackett, 2017) Christianity having the largest following followed by Islam and then lastly Judaism. Though their congregations may differ in faith, they still have more similarities than differences. Such as, their shared heritage to similar traditions, rituals and their view and nature of God through scriptures. They do however have differences that have helped to bridge a gap that has separated them amongst one another. The main objective of this paper is to show how Islam, Christianity and Judaism have a shared heritage and show similarities in their traditions, rituals and the different view of God through their individual scriptures.

Although the Jews, Muslims, and Christians all share a common understanding in the story of Abraham, there are many things that divide their unique understandings of Abraham and their identities as Children of Abraham. The Jews strongly believe in a law and Covenant with the most high God, their one and only God. They believe it is important to have “one God that counts”. The Jews still practice Abraham’s Covenant with God which committed to “keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice.” For the Christians, Paul wrote, “the promise to Abraham and his descendants did not come through law.” Christians also believe that baptism in faith would more that suffice the righteousness of circumcision. Islam believes that God chooses people on the grounds of commitment rather than lineage. This means that the Muslims believe that faith plays a huge role in their relationship with God.

Abraham’s seriousness and dedication in regards to his covenant with God control tense actions and events between Abraham and Isaac. Abraham is compelled in his actions by his understanding and faith that his belief in God will reap benefits. Without hesitation, he considers doing everything that God tells him to do. Abraham’s willingness and sacrifice of Isaac show the great power that God has over Abraham. Abraham’s desire for God’s approval and blessings compel him toward grave actions without the concrete command from God. Abraham merely implies God’s intentions from the limited conversations held between Abraham, God, and the angel.

Christianity and Judaism are major world religions which, though they worship the same God, have marked differences which have caused two thousand years of strife and animosity between the two religions. In his book We Jews and Jesus, Samuel Sandmel likens the link between Judaism and Christianity to a type of parent-child relationship, saying, “Early Christianity was a Judaism; within a century after the death of Jesus it was a separate religion. It was critical of its parent, and hostile to it, and elicited from its parent reciprocal criticism and hostility.”1 Opposing views of Jesus Christ caused the initial rift between Judaism and Christianity and is the primary source of the tension between

     Abraham stands as one of the most important figures in the Hebrew Bible, and is central to the understanding of God’s solution to the problem of mankind. Man, the mysterious creature that God wraught as a semi-experiment, is constantly prone to believe he is self-sufficient and capable of survival without God, the central problem God must deal with in the Hebrew Bible. To solve this problem, God decides to strike fear in the heart of man and to revolutionise his lifestyle by creating laws and empowering a chosen group of people, who will spread the word of God by example. These people are the Hebrews, and Abraham is the father of their race, the man from whom all

For the layman, familiarity with the major religions stems from the stories that are associated with them. Using the narratives that are derived from the sacred texts is the most prominent way in which our society identifies the Western religions. The Jewish tradition is best correlated to stories like the Exodus and the parting of the Red Seas, for example, as are the many tales of the miracles of Jesus connected to Christianity. This essay will present narratives as an easy method of providing the basic groundwork for the Western religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam because of their simplicity and easily transmittable nature.