The Image of God in Leading Religions of the World Essay

The Image of God in Leading Religions of the World - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Ð µhe leading religions of the world include the names of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The followers of the above-mentioned ways of life have an explicit belief in the presence of God while some of them tend to build a connection with a Divine Entity by offering prayers and others seek him in the natural beauty of the world. Moreover, those people who do not consider themselves as religious consult with God only when they need him or his help in any worldly matter. But importantly every human being has an implicit or expressed belief in the God. Importantly there are no significant differences in the image of God in three leading religions of the world. Judaism is the oldest religion of the world as it propagated from the nation of Moses after that Jesus developed Christianity and finally Islam came into the world through the teachings and guidance of Mohammad. Judaism believes that humans are created in the image of the God and therefore they are representatives of their creator on Earth. The Jewish community holds on to the belief that every human is an agent of God regardless of his or her race, religion and ethnicity. Christianity, on the other hand, conceptualized the power of God to be divided into three distinct parts. The first portion resides with God himself whereas the other two are with Jesus and his mother. In this way, Christianity believes in three-dimensional divine super-powers. Finally, Islam conforms to Jewish theological foundations by admitting that there is only one God. Islamic teachings also identify man as the true representative of the God Himself. This paper suggests that there is no feasible difference in the views of God among leading religions of the world because all of them consider man as the real representative of God. Still the lack of tolerance and mutual understanding is currently undermining all the similarities of theological frameworks. Modern research suggests that t hose people who have a firm belief in the presence of God and his role in their lives are spending contented life as compared to those who do not believe in supernatural at all. Nevertheless it is also important to note that Christianity is a little bit different in conceptualizing the God because it recognizes Jesus as the son of God and therefore entire humanity becomes a race that emanated from the divine entity. Islam and Judaism are having quite a different view of God from previously stated one as they consider him as omnipotent (Hill and Pargament pp. 65). The concept of God in Christian belief differs because what Jesus did by welcoming the hanging on the cross cannot be done by an ordinary human being and therefore he was identified as a God in Christian literature. The concept of God is as ancient as the humanity itself. Nevertheless the presence of a Divine Entity is repeatedly reinforced by Prophets and Saints throughout the history of mankind. The notion that God exists while he posses the power of punishing and rewarding humans for their misdeeds and deeds respectively is supported by scholars of all leading religions. The religions impacted ev ery aspect of human life ranging from social practices to sexual relationships. Thus humans identified their creator with the help and reference of the Prophets in all ages (Ellison and Levin pp.714). The concept of God helped humanity in attainment of spiritual and intellectual growth by ordering them to think about the surroundings in which they are living whereas in Quran Allah openly commanded the whole of the mankind to devote its struggles towards attainment of knowledge and enlightenment (Fish pp.35). All of the leading religions are emphasizing on the role of God in the journey of spiritual development of humanity at large. In the light of above argument it can be established that God himself wants humans to continue the journey of enlightenment (Hill and Hall pp. 14).