Christianity vs. Jainism
Christianity v. Jainism I have chosen Christianity and Jainism, two of the major world religions as the two religions I would like to compare. I chose these two religions because of my familiarity with Christianity and my interest in wanting to learn more about Jainism. I started my research by wanting to know about their similarities but ended up learning a lot more about their differences. I will begin by giving a brief summary on each religion and then I will list and explain three differences in their views on perfection, beliefs in Gods, and lastly their beliefs about non-violence. Lastly, I will inform the reader how these differences affect the people within the religion. First, let’s take a look at Christianity. It is a monotheistic religion that started nearly 2000 years ago. In the book, Living Religions, it states Christianity as a faith based religion that focus its’ views on the life and views of Jesus Christ (Living 295). Christians should make every effort to be like Jesus. The ideas that Christians believe about Jesus (his life and teaching) are based on biblical text (Living 297). The Bible, which contains the teaching of Jesus through scriptures and text, has been referred to as the divinely inspired Word of God. Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God created all things (Konig). Jainism, on the other hand, is a non-theistic religion. It is a non-Vedic religion that derived out of India. There is no creator or destroyer (Living 122). Jainism is one of India’s oldest and was one of its least known religions but is now becoming recognized as a complete and fruitful path (Living 120). Christianity and Jainism differ in their beliefs about perfection. Christians believe that no one except Christ is perfect. Christians believe that there is no way to reach that perfect state. They believe that as long as there are people, there will always be sin. The only way we can get to God is through repentance of our sins
Cited: Board, Pravin Shah and other members of JAINA Education. JAINISM. 13 March 2009 . Fisher, Mary Pat. "Living Religions." n.d. 295. Konig, George. Christian Beliefs. 1999-2009. 13 March 2009 . "Holy Bible." Matthew. King James Version, n.d. 7:12. McDowell, Josh. Handbook of Today 's Religions. 1983.