Religions of the World

• Christianity


  Centres on Jesus as the Son of God, who was born without sin through Mary
• Christian beliefs


  • Belief in the descent of the Holy Spirit
  • Belief in the forgiveness of sins in a confession for the Catholics
  • Belief in judgment and life everlasting
• Main points of Christianity

  • Belief in God the Father
  • Belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God
  • Belief in the Holy Spirit
• Jesus' life


  1. Descended into hell

  2. Resurrected

  3. Ascended into heaven
• Catholics' beliefs


  • Belief in the holiness of the Catholic Church
  • Belief in the communion with Saints at the end of time
• Jesus


  Believed to be the Son of God and the second Person of the Holy Trinity
• Through Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection


  God offered humans salvation and eternal life
• Christ's second coming


  The Day of Judgement and salvation of the faithful
• Yeshua


  Joshua
• Isa


  Jesus
• Mary, Jesus' mother


  Commonly referred to as the Virgin Mary, in accordance with the belief that she conceived Jesus miraculously through the Holy Spirit without her husband's involvement
• Jesus' siblings


  • James
  • Joseph/Judas/Jude
  • Simon
  • Unnamed sisters
• The Catholic faith emphasized that even non-kin individuals in their village are called brothers
• Yahweh


  The principal name in the Old Testament by which God reveals himself and is the most sacred, distinctive and incommunicable name of God
• Christian practices


  • Baptism
  • Eucharist (Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper)
  • Prayer (including the Lord's Prayer)
  • Confession
  • Confirmation
  • Burial rites
  • Marriage rites
  • Religious education of children
• Catholics' practice of the Rosary


  A powerful manner to attain devotion to God and Mary
• Non-Catholics do not practice praying the rosary because Mary is a human being only and Jesus is God's messenger or prophet becoming man to save the world from damnation
• The Pope


  Considered as the current day Peter, Jesus' apostle, whose name called the Rock upon which the Church of God is being built
• The Mass of the Catholics

  1. Entrance where believers raise their hearts in longing for God

  2. Gospel reading where God comes down and speaks to the congregation

  3. Offering where the believers offer themselves and their fruits of work to God

  4. Communion and the giving of Peace to all believers
• The going up of the spirits of believers and the coming down of God to His congregation is the magic of the word Mass
• Tithes


  The portion of their incomes that Christians give to the church they belong, used for many projects and endeavours of the church
• The Christian thought dominates among many countries in the world, but many countries opted to take separation of the Church and the State in running the affairs of the communities
• What the State considers legal may not sound moral to the believers, for example, same-sex marriage and abortion
• Most of the Christian Catholics and non-Catholics consider Christianity as an organizational affiliation and not as a way of life
• A number of corrupt politicians (convicted or perceived) are members of the Christian churches but who are able to separate strictly their church teachings from what they actually do at work
• Individuals involved in drug trade are not Buddhists, nor Taoists but Christians
• Religions cover teachings that guide individuals to a purer, clean, moral and unadulterated life in order to make the soul worthy of the gifts and benefits of the afterlife, but many are yet in the process of evolution fighting evil in thoughts, words and deeds
• Some learned lessons faster depending on their evolution and intelligence while others learned lessons in a million lifetimes as the Buddhists would believe
• It is up for the individual to choose quickly the sanctified life in order to merge oneself with God or to choose to wait for eternity before they find peace with God
• Tao


  The origin of all things, the Universe
• Tao


  • Reality contains its opposite forces all the time called Yin and Yang, two relative aspects of the same thing
  • Yin is the subtle energy, calm and soothing
  • Yang is the stronger energy, active and vibrant
• Yin


  • Dark
  • Feminine
  • North
  • Water
  • Earth
  • Cold
  • Old
  • Even numbers
  • Soft
  • Poor
  • Moon
• Yang


  • Masculine
  • White light
  • Active
  • Fire
  • South
  • Young
  • Odd numbers
  • Mountains
  • Rich
  • Hard
• Yin


  Anything providing spirits
• Yang


  Anything providing form
• Lao Tzu: '"Tao (The Way) that can be spoken of is not the Constant Tao" The name that can be named is not a Constant Name. Nameless, is the origin of Heaven and Earth; The named is the Mother of all things. Thus, the constant void enables one to observe the true essence. The constant being enables one to see the outward manifestations. These two come paired from the same origin. But when the essence is manifested, It has a different name. This same origin is called "The Profound Mystery." As profound the mystery as It can be, It is the "Gate to the essence of all life."'
• Nameless and Named


  Two simultaneously existing realities - the Nameless and the Named, the Void and the outward manifestations, the Spirit and the Form
• If one fails to see the essence of things, then one's life becomes useless and hopeless. This brings many individuals opt to commit suicide because their existence is no longer valuable to them.
• Lao Tzu: '"As soon as beauty is known by the world as beautiful, it becomes ugly. As soon as virtue is being known as something good, it becomes evil. Therefore, being and non-being give birth to each other. Difficult and easy accomplish each other. Long and short form each other. High and low, distinguish each other. Sound and tone harmonize each other. Before and after follow each other as a sequence. Realizing this, the saint performs effortlessly according to the natural Way without personal desire, and practices the wordless teaching thru one's deeds. The saint inspires the vitality of all lives, without holding back. He nurtures all beings with no wish to take possession of. He devotes all his energy but has no intention to hold on to the merit. When success is achieved, he seeks no recognition. Because he does not claim for the credit, hence shall not lose it."'
• Success is just the up part of failure and failure has to end in success. If people think of failure as the end of the loop then success would not be experienced.