Download ERH-211X Reflective Essay

Matthew Hill
ERH-211X
5/5/15
Reflective Essay: Comparative Religions
When I graduate from VMI and after a short career in the military, I want to
become a Christian missionary that wins hearts for Jesus Christ and produces disciples
that possess an unshakeable faith. As an Arabic major, I want to go to the Middle East
and bring peace and love to that region, which it certainly lacks, and this I feel can only
happen if these people see the love and grace of Jesus Christ. So, needless to say, I came
into this Comparative Religions class kind of biased towards other religions and towards
my own, feeling like I had a firm grasp on what religion was. However, I was mistaken, I
learned so much about other cultures and other religions, and surprisingly to me, I learned
quite a lot about my own religion. This Comparative Religions class has opened my eyes
to what religion truly is and how each culture across the world is deeply impacted by
faith, and it was incredible to see religious believers and their deep devotion towards their
religious beliefs and views. It was also a great learning experience about how each
religion in some ways are so closely connected and believe in a lot of the same beliefs.
In the Hinduism and Buddhism section of the course, I learned a lot about a
religion and culture that seems so far away and I knew very little about. In Hinduism, I
learned that India is a very wild and diverse place that is completely committed to its
religious beliefs. I also learned that Hindus worship over hundreds, if not thousands of
different gods that have a very different and unique impact on each believer’s daily life.
There are many different gods that control almost every aspect of Hindu life, such as
Ganesh, the god who removes obstacles, and Pavarti, the goddess of fertility and love
(Class notes). Hindus can pray to an individual god to answer any specific problem, such
as if a believer were to be having trouble conceiving a child, they would pray to Pavarti
to help conceive a child. Hindus also believe in an endless cycle of rebirth and death,
which flows through an endless cycle of creation and destruction and then re-creation,
which is called samsara or reincarnation (Prothero 136). Hindus consider samsara more
of a punishment rather than a reward, because the world is full of suffering and sadness
and whatever happiness exists is temporary and will be gone with the next life, and this is
a cycle that is continuous (Prothero 136). In order to end this struggle, one must achieve
moksha, which means achieving spiritual freedom and liberation from moksha and its
difficulty (Prothero 136). Hindus know that it could take thousands of lifetimes to
achieve moksha, and some may never attain it, but living a good life and fulfilling your
dharma, or duties of a good Hindu, can bring you closer to this liberation from samsara
(Prothero 136). Hinduism also has a holy book, the Vedas and the Gita, which include
stories of how the Earth came to be and how the gods were created and came to exist.
Hinduism is a very complicated religion, and there is much more information available
than what I have learned, but it is a beautiful and inclusive religion that is full of cycles of
life and death.
Buddhism is another religion that is very wild and colorful, and is also related
very closely to Hinduism, considering it is practiced in the same area of the world.
Buddhism begins with the story of Siddhartha Gautama, a prince who lives a life of
luxury, but Gautama is not allowed to leave the castle he lives in until he is in his 20’s.
He has lived a lavish life with his every command being answered, until one day he
leaves the castle and goes to see the outside world. Siddhartha, while out in the world,
sees the suffering, the sickness and the poverty of the real world, and is surprised that all
of it exists because he has never seen or heard of it before. The suffering and death seen it
the real world bring Gautama to a midlife crisis, and at twenty-nine years old, he decides
there must be more in the world than power and prestige (Prothero 170). Siddhartha
leaves his home and vows to live a life of suffering to understand the realities of the
world. Siddhartha finds his way and begins to tell others of his experiences and lays them
out in what is called the “Eight-Fold Path” and the “Four Noble Truths”, which describes
how to find spiritual liberation from the world of death and suffering. Like Hindus,
Buddhists believe the problem of life is the samsara, or the never-ending cycle of life and
death (Prothero 177). Rebirth for the Buddhist is undesirable, with a new life comes new
suffering, and the cycle continues. Buddhists seek to end this suffering and achieve
Nirvana, which refers to an extinguishing of the suffering (Prothero 177). Buddhism is
very similar to Hinduism and the two religions share the belief that the world is full of
suffering and the only way to end the suffering is to do good works and make the world a
better place, and if this is achieved, the suffering will end.
Considering that I want to be a missionary in the Middle East, understanding
Islam is of major importance to me. Islam revolves around the “Five Pillars of Islam”
which are, prayer, Shahadah, tithing, fasting, and hajj (Prothero 33). The central pillar is
the Shahadah, a profession of declaring that there is only one God (Allah) and
Muhammad is God’s messenger, and this profession is repeated during the prayer five
times a day (Prothero 33). In order to become a Muslim, all you need to do is to testify
that there is no other God than Allah, and that Muhammad is his messenger, and you
testify this out loud and understand it with intent, ideally in public in a mosque (Prothero
33). The second pillar, prayer, involves praying daily five times, facing towards Mecca, it
is done in primarily in Arabic and it is to connect with Allah and his will. Muslims are
also required to give to charity to the poor, or tithe, typically Muslims are required to give
2.5 percent of most of their assets (Prothero 33). Muslims also observe Ramadan, which
is abstaining from eating, drinking, and other pleasures from dawn to sunset, and instead,
reciting and listening to the Quran (Prothero 33). Ramadan is a time that is meant to
remember Allah’s revelation to Muhammad, and it falls on the ninth month of the Islamic
calendar (Prothero 33). The last pillar is the Hajj, which is required of all who are
physically and financially able, and Muslims are required at least once in a lifetime to go
on a pilgrimage to Mecca (Prothero 33). The Hajj is to celebrate and reinforce the unity
of all Muslims, and to remember Muhammad’s trip from Medina to Mecca (Prothero 33).
The Five Pillars of Islam are the central tenants to the religion, something that all
Muslims are required to respect and uphold.
The last religions that were studied in class were Judaism and Christianity, which
are very closely connected. The religions are closely connected because they worship the
same God, and the Old Testament in the Bible is the religious book of Judaism, the
Torah. The first story of Judaism is about how God created the World and man, with the
story of creation and Adam and Eve. The conflict of the first story is when God creates
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and evil comes into the world. Adam and Eve
were tempted by a serpent into eating fruit from a forbidden tree in the Garden, one of
which God told them not to eat from. For this incident, Adam and Eve are banished from
the garden, and sin comes into the world. As Adam and Eve’s descendants live and carry
on in sin, God destroys the world by water to rid the world of its sinful ways, in the story
of Noah. God lets Noah, his family, and animals of all kinds live to repopulate the Earth
after the flood to bring goodness back into the world. Unfortunately, the world once again
becomes an evil place and sin covers the Earth. Many years later, God establishes a
relationship with a man named Abraham and promises him that his descendants will rule
a special land. Much of the rest of the Torah talks of how the Israelites, the people of
Abraham, wander the deserts and escape slavery in Egypt to find this special, promised
land, the story of Moses As the years go by, the world is still living in sin and God sends
his perfect and sinless son to die as a sacrifice for the sins of all creation. Christianity
begins and it is the story of God’s son and his teachings, Jesus. Jesus comes to the world
to establish a new relationship between the people of Earth and God, but in order to begin
this new relationship, sin had to be destroyed. Christianity says that Jesus lived a sinless
life and was crucified as atonement for the sins of the world. Jesus was a perfect sacrifice
and God said that his sacrifice was good enough to defeat sin and begin the new
relationship between God and man. And thus, God can have a personal relationship with
all people who believe in him. God sent his son because he wanted to be closer with his
people and because he loves us, he did not want to see evil rule his people any longer.
The religions covered in this class are complex and wild, but in many ways are
very beautiful. Because of this class, I have a better foundation in the knowledge of the
religions and cultures around the world, which is important if I want to be a missionary.
The knowledge discussed above about each culture is some of the knowledge I gained
from this class and to me, are the most distinctive features about each religion.
Bibliography:
Prothero, Stephen. God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run The World. New
York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010. Print.