THREE major religions have been in play for quite some time now. They are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In general people feel very strongly about their religion. This is good and bad. There is nothing wrong with believing in something bigger than ourselves. This comforts us. However, the flip side is when one believes that anyone not belonging to their faith is wrong. Major division between We the People then occurs. This is bad. Very bad.
To start with there is Judaism. Everyone is familiar with the old testament. This was the original set of books making up the Torah (old testament). This is the foundation of the other TWO great religions. Jesus basically got in a fight with the pharisees because they were more interested in governing/exploiting the affairs of We the People. Faith, being so important to people was the perfect avenue to control us. The pharisees were the popes of our day.
The jews had a long history and tradition well before Jesus arrived. Jesus literally tipped over the tables on the powers that be. Many welcomed Jesus for this reason, as he was for “We the People”. Those who supported Jesus formed their own faith, Christianity and created their own books, the new testament to add to the Torah, to make THE book - the bible.
A few hundred years later Mohamad arrives as a prophet and a THIRD Old Testament based religion is formed, the Islamic faith.
Why is this so important to us today?
Because it leaves “We the People” divided. The Jews have the original book (the Torah or old testament ). Think of it as a really good movie. Now some one else comes along, really likes the original book/movie and wants to write a sequel (the new testament). Then another group comes along, wants their own book/movie altogether, but the original book/movie was sooooo good and popular why not just tweek it a bit and the call it our own (the Koran).
This demonstrates the problem and why both the christians and the muslims and really a lot of other people of other faiths or not even religious at all are so mad at the jews. They have the original best seller book/movie.
All the rest is based on the original stories that make up the torah or old testament. This is really annoying to the rest of world, especially to christians and muslims. The truth of it is this does not even OCCUR to the Jews. They just keep following the Torah and their traditions like they have for thousands of years. They are oblivious that this would somehow bother anybody. The jews just expect each religion to follow their faith as strongly as they do and have no problem with that. They do not have a problem with the christianity or muslims, both came out of the Torah, so why should they. Do you see how this could lead to so many misunderstandings?
To make things worse, since the old testament is the foundation of the new testament, what the jews think really does matter to the Christians. This is where a major problem arises, because the jews who wrote the original book/movie do not think Jesus is the messiah. This really really bothers the christians. The christians are really mad about this and the jews will not budge on this. And to top it all off in the minds of the christians the jews killed Jesus. Such a recipe for strife one could not possibly top, except there is more thing , the muslims who were even later/last to the party than the christians can never seem to ever forget it either.
Being aware of this emotional history - all used by the organized religions -hopefully will help us not be divided but united.
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