Weili Lin Lin 1
Dr. Carl
World Religion
2 December 2017
Jesus in different religions
Jesus, the son of the Lord, is the most controversial person in the world. There are over one billion Christians in the world belonging to different affiliations, and they worship Jesus. His word, the Bible, has impacted the society in western countries over many years. The question is, how do people view Jesus and Christianity in various religions?
For Islam, the Koran did not deny the existence of Jesus. The Koran actually talked about the story of Mary. Allah is merciful; he sent Jesus to the world with his power through Mary, and Jesus was one of the messengers God blessed (19:19-21, Yusif Ali). He is the sign of Allah to this world (21:91, Yusif Ali). It is partly corresponding to the Bible. They believed Jesus was a messenger of God and Gabriel was the angel that sent Jesus to the world. Jesus did not have great power like God, but was a messenger for Allah. Even though Koran states that Jesus was from the Angel of Gabriel, it also denies Jesus was the son of God. They isolated Allah from the world and believed that Jesus was not the son of God.
For Christianity, the father, Jesus and the holy spirit are one. In the Bible, there are 26 different verses from different people proving that Jesus is the son of God, he is not only a messenger but the savior of human ().
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Koran and Bible have many things in common and also many differences. From the Koran’s perspective, God created both Jesus and Adam from the dust. (Ali ‘Imran 3:59). Also, Jesus was not born from the natural procedure (Quran 2:30；15:28；32:7). Jesus was the Messiah, and he was distinguished from the rest of the world for he was from the heaven (Koran 3:45) for God is the holy (19:34-35, Yusif Ali). In the Bible, God created Adam on the sixth day of his creation. Adam was from the dust and he broke the relationship between God and human. For Jesus, the son of God, is unique and powerful. They came to the earth with different missions. Adam came to the world because of the love of God for humanity, and Jesus came to the world for the salvation of humanity. Also, Jesus was not just a messenger, he was the Son of God: “anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God” (1 John 4:15).
Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified on the cross, and they completely deny the cruxifixction of Jesus. He died like a normal human being and did not rise from death. Someone replaced him while he was on the cross. Muslims believe that Allah would not allow the cruxifixction of Jesus: “Allah is the kindest so he raised Jesus to the heaven”(Kuran 4:157).
In conclusion, Jesus, in Muslim belief, is not the son of God. He is the messenger from God. He was not crucified but someone died in his place. Furthermore, He was born from the Virgin Mary, and Gabriel sent him to the world. Adam ate fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he regretted his action. Eventually, God forgave his sin, and Adam became the first messenger of Allah. They believe that people do not
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need a certain group(God) to be saved, they just have to follow the Koran(the word of God).
In contrast, Jesus, in Jewish eyes, was an ordinary Jewish man who was crucified by Roman authorities. After his death, Jesus’ disciples declared that he was Messiah without real proof, and they also said that Jesus will come back to fulfill his promises to the world. Jews believe that the coming of Messiah will bring peace, and Jesus did not bring peace to the world, so they claim Jesus as a “false Messiah.”
Christianity was actually one of the branches of Judaism from the Jewish perspective. Because of the division of opinion about Messiah between Jews and Christians, Judaism and Christianity eventually became two different religions. As we know, Jews have been living under conflicts with other groups of people for hundreds of years. They believe when the real Messiah comes, they will have a stable country, and there will be peace around the world. In regard to Jesus, Jewish people see that he came from a poor family, and therefore, he does not qualify for the standard of Messiah.
The Tanakh records the disciplines and traditions of Jews. They believe that there will be a great fight and clouds will cover the land when the last day comes (Ezekiel 38:16). Also, it did not happen while Jesus was on earth. Also, at the time Messiah comes, there will be a reunion of Jews and restoration of Jerusalem (Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 23:8 and 30:3, and Hosea 3:4-5), traditions will be practiced (Jeremiah 33:18), and the son of David who will be born from an ordinary person will take over the world (Jeremiah 33:15).
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Jesus did not fulfill the requirement of being a Messiah, according to the Tanakh. Jews believe Jesus is not the Messiah because the prophesies were not fulfilled. First, in Isaiah 2:4, the Bible claims that when the Messiah comes, there will be peace among nations, no nation shall draw their sword against others.(Isiah 2:4). Even nowadays, absolute peace still does not exist in the world. Also, Jesus declared that he came to resolve the problems between father and son, mother and daughter (Luke 12:53). In fact, there are a lot of conflicts between Christianity and other religions, and people are still against others. For example, America is still rivals with Iran, North Korea and Cuba.
Some people believe that Jews were responsible for Jesus’ death. There were some high-ranked authorities that could have saved Jesus from cruxifixction. Also, some scholars say the identity of the crowd during cruxifixction was unknown, and no one knows if they were Jews or not (Mark 15:11). After the cruxifixction, the crowd claimed that they were responsible for the death of Jesus(Matthew 27:25). Jesus’ follower, John, declared that Jews had responsibility for Jesus’ death. (John 5:18, John 7:1, John 8:37).
Many centuries later, people blamed Jews for the cruxifixction of Jesus. In fact, cruxifixction, the form of punishment, was forbidden in Jewish tradition at the time of Jesus’ death. Jewish law was strongly against the form of cruxifixction, even though there were thousands of Jews who were crucified by the Romans. It is ironic that Jews executed someone the same way their own race was punished.
In Buddhism, Jesus has been recognized as an enlightened man, a wise teacher and a holy man. Jesus is the enlightened man, he is different from other for his sacrifice
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for others and his religious teaching. He affected others with his words. His pursue of God has been recognized by Buddhists, and it was considered the way to happiness. Jesus is a wise teacher. He teaches people to forgive others and teaches the truth of life. The Bible is also a reliable moral guide. Even though they believe Jesus is a wise teacher, but they don't believe he is the son of God. Jesus is a holy man. People showed great respect to him. People claimed he is perfect, but he is flawed in Buddhists’ eyes. He helped humanity and taught them moral laws.
In conclusion, Islam believes that Jesus is the messenger of Allah. Jews believes that Jesus did not get crucified. Also, in Buddhist’s view, Jesus does not related to God, and he is a enlightened man with great knowledge.