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PRABUDDH JEEVAN
saviour to save them from original sin. They believe they are God's chosen people and that the Messiah will arrive in the future, gather them into Israel, there will be a general resurrection of the dead, and the Jerusalem Temple destroyed in 70 CE will be rebuilt. 1. Judaism is not a mere system of philosophical doctirne. Judaism is a classical example of a revealed religion in which God himself has given the entire body of religion to His 'chosen people'. It is an example of the fact that God speaks to man giving him the clues to the road he must follow for redemption.
2. It is strictly monotheistic religion, believing in one and only one God. God has a personality, of course, not in the ordinary human sense. He is a Person in the sense that he has got consciousness and will and he listens to and answers to the people's prayer etc.
3. Besides having metaphysical attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresense etc., God is preeminently imbued with such moral qualities as justice, mercy, kindness, love, holiness etc.
4. With its God being pre-emninently imbued with moral qualities, Judaism is primarily an ethical religion giving out moral rules of conduct and a way of life of justice, mercy, humility, modesty etc. God, of course requires man to serve and to pray him, but the least of service that man is required to do is in the form of the observance of the Torah (the Law) and the commandments given to people by God. 5. The world is created by God out of nothing (ex nihilo) and is dependent upon him, but then it is real. The world is not to be treated as a place of scorn and lamentation; rather it is to be taken as a working ground for righteousness, justice etc. In the form of his existence on earth, man has got an opportunity to lead a life of righteousness and serve the purpose of God.
6. Judaism believes in many prophets of God of whom Moses is treated as the most favoured messenger of God.
7. Judaism believes in angles and spirits, both good and bad. Satan is taken to be the chief evil spirit, the Devil, who contributes to the spread of evil in the world. However Satan is not taken as beyond God's control. Certainly the evil is only a rebel out of God's angels, but his dominion cannot last long. He can be cast out by holy men amongst the Jews. 8. Judaism believes in the immoratality of soul and consequently in a life after death. Although the idea
DECEMBER 2014
about the life after death does not seem to be very clear in Judaism, its chief ingredients may be taken as the resurrection of the dead, and assisgnment of heaven or hell to them in accordance with their earthly deeds. Most probably this belief was borrowed by the Jews from Zoroastrinism.
9.
In spite of its emphasis on the primary value of moral conduct of man, Judaism abounds in ceremonies, religious festival, ritualistic ways of prayer and worship etc.
10. Although Judaism is very much an ethical religion and a way of life, it lays much stress on service and prayer as well. It is said that the purpose of the creation of man is the service of God. And this service essentially consists in praying God with inner heart without any outside thought or preoccupation. God hears our prayers and answers to them.
11. A Jew is obliged to pray three times a day -- in the morning, in the noon and in the evening. In spite of these there were also their congregational prayers, which were done in their synagogues in the form of hearing the study of passages from the Torah, especially on the Sabbath day and on fectivals. 12. Among the festivals and ceremonies of the Jews
the observance of Sabbath, Passover (the commemoration of the exodus from Egypt), the New Moon and Harvest festivals are important. 13. Like the Dasturs in Parsiism and Brahmins in Hin
duism, there are the Levites who have to serve as priests of Yahweh for His people. Hence priesthood is hereditary.
The Sacred Scriptures of the Jews
The Sacred text of Judaism is the Old Testament of the Bible, which is also called the Torah. The Old Testament of the existinng Bible is really the sacred book of the Jews, in which God has revealed his ways to his chosen people.
CHRISTIANITY
Christianity has its origin in the teachings of Jesus Christ who was reportedly born of Virgin Mother Mary. Christians do claim that their religion has come directly out of the revelation and insights of Jesus. However it cannot be disputed that Christianity owes much for its origin to Judaism. Jesus himself was a Jew and it is doubtful whether he ever thought of founding a new religion. While he was preaching his own religious ideas, he was only trying to cleanse Judaism of the superstitious ideas, mere ritualism and ceremonialism. Jesus wanted to play the role of the reformer, but his
