Comparative Religion
Divisions on this page:
INTRODUCTION:
Religion is always, at least partially, a matter of perspective. I find it helpful to look at another's religion,
whenever possible, through the eyes of the individual believer. I, myself, have experienced several perspectives
of different religions, having been raised an Evangelical Baptist; been a member of the Salvation Army; studied
with Jehovah's Witnesses; tried Pentecostal, Seventh-day, and other churches; and finally, joined myself to the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I still prefer to learn of another church from one who is a member,
but consider what differences there may be between what that person believes and what their religion, if it has
an official position, teaches.
ORIGINAL RELIGION:
The world's original religion is obviously debatable, but here, I will present my point of view. I do not accept
the idea of mankind having evolved somehow from some "lower" animal. Man, in the persons of a real
man Adam and a real woman Eve, was placed on earth at the beginning and to them was revealed the one true religion.
They were taught man's relationship to God, his obligations to God, and the true form of worship: faith in Christ,
repentance, baptism by immersion for the forgiveness of sins, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, obedience, service, and
enduring all things well.
Our Biblical record of the time from the beginning until the Great Flood is brief and obviously incomplete, but
Selections from the Book of Moses (in The Pearl of Great Price), especially the last part of
Chapter 6, give us more detail concerning the nature of the original religion:
v.58 Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children, saying:
v.59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born
into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even
so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even
the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in
this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
v.60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are
sanctified;
v.61 Therefore it is given to abide in you; the record of heaven; the Comforter; the peaceable things of
immortal glory; the truth of all things; that which quickeneth all things, which maketh alive all things; that
which knoweth all things, and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment.
v.62 And now, behold, I say unto you: This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine
Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time.
v.63 And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me,
both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things
which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and
beneath: all things bear record of me.
v.64 And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and
he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water,
and was brought forth out of the water.
v.65 And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and
became quickened in the inner man.
v.66 And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is
the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
v.67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity
to all eternity.
v.68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen.
After the death of Adam (at 930 years), and a revival under the preaching of Enoch (the seventh from Adam), there
was a general apostasy, resulting in God's sending the Flood, leaving only faithful Noah and his family of eight
survivors to repopulate the earth. Noah's religion was the same as the original, but from there the story gets
interesting, and it is the consequent history of religion which is really the topic of this page.
MONOTHEISM:
JUDAISM:
Religion based on the Torah received from Moses (c.1400 or c.1200 BC) as a Prophet of Jehovah Elohim,
The Writings and Poetry of subsequent prophets, and the Talmud, the body of civil and ceremonial law and legend.
CHRISTIANITY:
Religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, who taught between c.30 and c.33 AD
that the Books of Moses (Jewish Torah) and Prophets of the Old Testament spoke of Him. He clarified and enlarged upon the Old Testament scriptures.
The Early Church:
The Great Apostasy:
The Roman Church:
ISLAM:
The religion recieved from Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.
Sunni:
Shia:
POLYTHEISM:
Before man was placed here on earth, our spirits lived with God, our Heavenly Father. There we had interactions
with Him and with each other. There were "great ones", some known as archangels. When the decision was
made to send our spirits to the earth to continue our growth in becoming like our Father, there was dissention and
a war. Those who wanted their own way, led by Satan or Lucifer, were cast out of heaven onto the earth. It was he
who tempted Eve in the Garden. It seems reasonable to me that men were taught the things that happened in
heaven as we could not remember it. These things are reflected in many of the older polytheistic religions and
their gods.
EGYPTIAN:
BABYLONIAN:
PERSIAN:
GREEK:
ROMAN:
OTHER RELIGION:
BUDDHISM:
Founded by Siddartha Gautama (Buddha; c.563 c.460 BC),
which teaches that the elimination of the self is the route to enlightenment.
Theravada (Non-Theistic Buddhism):
The oldest surviving Buddhist school (from c.250 BC). The predominant school of Sri Lanka, Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and parts of SW China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh.
Mahayana (Theistic Buddhism):
The second surviving Buddhist school (from the first Century BC) when it spread from India to China, and from
there throughout East Asia: China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism):
ANIMISM:
The belief that plants and inanimate objects have souls.
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