Review of the Previous

discussion
 What are the different theories we have
discussed last meeting?
• Divine Revelation
• The View of English Deist
• The Animistic Theory of E. B. Taylor
• The Ghost-Theory of Herbert Spencer
• The Totemistic Theory
• Pre-Animistic Religion: The Conception of
Mana.
• Magic and Religion
 I. Objective
• At the end of the period the students will be
able to:
• Understand the structure of Pentateuch
• Appreciate the main content of the first five
books in relation to their faith.
 Characteristics of Religion
Leading religions throughout history have
shared characteristics which includes:
(1) belief in a deity or in a power beyond the
individual.
(2) a doctrine (accepted teaching) of salvation.
(3) a code of conduct.
(4) the use of sacred stories.
(5) religious rituals (acts and ceremonies
• These essential characteristics are maintained
and passed through generation to generation by
sources – called authority.
• Important source of this is Scripture.
• Scriptures include
– the Bibles of Christians and Jews.
– the Koran of Muslims.
– Vedas of Hindus.
• Religious authority also comes from the writings
of saints and other holy persons and from
decisions by religious councils and leaders.
Unwritten customs and laws known as traditions
also form a basic part of authority.
 1. Belief in a deity
There are three main philosophical views
regarding the existence of a deity:
1) Atheists believe that no deity exists.
2) Theists believe in a deity or deities.
3) Agnostics say that the existence of a deity
cannot be proved or disproved.
Most of the major religions are theistic
• Religions that acknowledge only one true God
are monotheistic.
• Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are examples
of monotheistic religions.
• A religion that has a number of deities is
polytheistic.
• The ancient Greeks and Romans had
polytheistic religions.
– E.g. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, and
Mars was the Roman god of war
• Hinduism teaches that a world spirit called
Brahman is the supreme power.
• Hindus also serve numerous other gods and
goddesses.
• The ancient Egyptian people considered their
pharaohs to be living gods.
• Before World War II (1939-1945), the
Japanese honored their emperor as divine.
• Taoists believe in deities that look and act like
human beings.
– They also worship some deities that were once
human beings and became gods or goddesses
after death.
• The Chinese in particular have worshiped gods
of the soil and grain.
• Followers of Shinto worship kami, spirits that
live in nature.
 2. A doctrine of salvation
• Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism
teach a doctrine of salvation.
• Stress that salvation is the highest goal of the
faithful and one that all followers should try to
achieve.
• A doctrine of salvation is based on the belief
that individuals are in some danger from
which they must be saved.
• Christianity and several other major religions
teach that the danger is spiritual, is centered
in each person's soul, and pertains mainly to
life after death.
– If a person is saved, the soul enters a state of
eternal happiness, often called heaven.
– If the person is not saved, the soul may spend
eternity in a state of punishment, which is often
called hell
• In most Asian religions, the obstacles are
worldly desires and attachment to worldly
things.
• Salvation in these religions depends on
whether believers can free themselves from
the obstacles with the aid of a savior.
• Salvation in these religions depends on
whether believers can free themselves from
the obstacles with the aid of a savior.
• People must accept the savior.
• They must also accept certain teachings,
perform certain ceremonies, and abide by
certain rules of moral conduct—all of which
were inspired by the savior.
 Most religions teach that salvation
comes only once and is eternal.
• According to Buddhism and Hinduism, the soul
lives on after the death of the body and is reborn
in another body.
• This cycle of rebirths is called reincarnation.
• The doctrine of karma is closely related to
reincarnation.
• According to this doctrine, a person's actions,
thoughts, and words determine the kind of
animal or human body the soul will live in during
the next reincarnation.
• The process of reincarnation continues until,
through good deeds and moral conduct, a
person finally achieves a state of spiritual
perfection, which is salvation.
• Buddhists call this state nirvana, and Hindus
call it moksha.
 3. A code of conduct
• is a set of moral teachings and values that all
religions have in some form:
– Code or ethics on how to conduct their lives.
– It instructs them how to act toward the deity and
toward one another.
– For example, they stress some form of the golden
rule
 4. The use of sacred stories.
• For thousands of years, followers of religions
have believed in sacred stories, called myths.
• Religious leaders often used these stories to
dramatize the teachings of their faith.
• Originally, people told myths to describe how
the sacred powers directly influenced the
world.
• As the stories developed, they showed how
some feature or event in the world was
indirectly caused by the sacred powers.
• Others told how the human race or a
particular people began.
• Some of the stories tried to explain the cause
of natural occurrences
• Some of these stories are:
– Believed to be true – in single detail.
– True in the message it contain.
– Symbolic expression - value and ideas of Faith.
 Religious rituals
• Include the acts and ceremonies by which
believers appeal to and serve God, deities, or
other sacred powers.
• Some rituals are performed by individuals
alone, and others by groups of worshipers.
• Important rituals are performed according to a
schedule and are repeated regularly.
• The performance of a ritual is often called a
service.
• most common ritual is prayer.
• Most major religions have a daily schedule of
prayer. Meditation, a spiritual exercise much
like prayer, is important in Asian religions.
• Buddhist monks try to be masters of
meditation.
• Many religions have intended rituals to purify
the body.
• Hindus consider the waters of the Ganges
River in India to be sacred.
– Every year, millions of Hindus purify their bodies
by bathing in the river, especially at the holy city
of Varanasi.
– Pilgrimages are significant rituals.
• Eg. Muslims - Mecca
• . Believers also make pilgrimages to sacred
places, such as the birthplace or tomb of the
founder of their faith.
• Many rituals are scheduled at certain times of
the day, week, or year.
• Many rituals commemorate events in the
history of religions.
– For example, the Jewish festival of Passover recalls
the meal the Israelites ate just before their
departure from slavery in Egypt.
• Various Christian celebrations of Holy
Communion are related to the last meal Jesus
shared with His disciples before His death.
• Various ceremonies make sacred occasions of:
– birth
– Marriage
– and death.
• Rituals accept young people into the religion and
into religious societies.
– In Judaism, the ritual of circumcision is performed on
male infants.