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|← The Word of God||Guide in Life →|
Different people in the world identify themselves with different religions. There is quite a number of religions such as Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. This essay gives an insight of the differences between two religions: Hinduism and Judaism.
The two religions differ in terms of their roots. Hinduism roots are traced to the Indus civilization. Its followers are usually Hindus. Hinduism has no founder of the religion. Judaism dates back to the ancient Israelites and its believers are known as Jews. Its major founder was Moses who received the Ten Commandments given to him by God. In addition, it is believed to be the faith of Abraham too.
Jews are monotheistic. They believe in one creator, God, to whom they owe the creation of the Universe. The Jews, hence, cannot create preference as there is only one ultimate power. They worshipped in the temple. Hindus, on the other hand, are polytheistic. They have a set of gods and goddesses, but there is one who is the greatest among all of them.
Judaism is the Abrahamic religion and it bases its belief on the Bible and particularly on the scripture of Torah. Jews believe that they are God‘s chosen people and He guides them on how they should live. He does not speak to them literary, rather through the scripture. Hinduism, however, believes in totality of life, Brahman. They believe that one must go through a cycle: birth, life and death and, thereafter, karma determines in what form one will be reborn. Thus, Hinduism is based on believes that are not inspired by their gods in a previous writing (Flood).
Hindus strongly believe that birth is a continuous process or it is rather eternal. According to their faith, they are born more than once in their lives. After death, there is reincarnation. Someone’s behavior while alive determines if karma will rule in your favor or against upon your death; to be born at a high level or low level. The high level implies one is reborn as a person while the lower level implies that one is reborn as an animal.
Jewish beliefs differ greatly from Hindus. They claim to be born in the image and likeness of God. In addition, they believe that if they die, it is the end of life on the earth. However, they also believe in life after death but in a different place from the earth and also in a form that is not bodily. They can also choose to live a sinful life or a righteous one, since it does not matter where they go after leaving the world.
Essence of Life
The human life is viewed as a process or cycle, saSmsara. One dies and is reborn in a high level in case of good behavior before death occurred, thus ensuring continued existence. The objective of Hinduism is to ensure one lives a fulfilled life. This means that life is not regarded with so much value because losing it means acquiring another one. With Judaism, however, the ultimate goal is to live in God’s righteous path while serving Him and the rest of the people in the world. Life is of great value among Jews, since losing it implies the end of your living in the world (Forta).
In the Hindu religion, death implies rebirth of a new being from which one can be delivered by realizing obtaining a connection with the reality. Death among the Hindus is not viewed as bad as it is among the Jews. The Jews would term death as “a thief who takes what is closest to the heart”. This is because in Judaism death implies the complete termination of bodily life and start a new life elsewhere in the nature of a soul.
This among the Hindus would refer to what happens after acquiring life again through rebirth. It takes time before being delivered from dark to getting into real life. According to the Hinduism faith, the period which is connected with Brahman is the afterlife.
Jews, on the other hand, have several beliefs concerning afterlife. According to them, afterlife means the form one will be in eventually when you are over the bodily nature. Jews strongly believe that there is bodily resurrection after all. They also have a strong belief that there is life to come which is not necessarily heaven or hell.