Essays on Religion

... entered the state of consecration appropriate to entering the sacred precincts of Mecca for the purpose of pilgrimage. After becoming a muhrim, fingernails and hair cannot be cut, perfume and cologne are not allowed to be worn and sexual activities are not allowed to be performed. Those are just some minute processes of many, which enable a person to achieve purification during the pilgrimage. On the first day of the pilgrimage, thousands of Muslims join each other by walking in a circles (circumambulating) around the Ka'ba seven times. The Ka'ba also is known as "The House of Allah", and is very symbolic in the Islamic religion. The Ka'ba is the axis mundi of ...

... name derives from the mantra Hare Krishna("O Lord Krishna") chanted by members of the group. Devotees of the Hindu god Krishna, the members are divided into two classes: brahmacatin ("students"), who live in temples and vow to abstain from sex, meat, intoxicants, and gabling, and grihasta, or lay members who marry and have families. They are proselytizers who actively seek converts. In the mid-1980s the Hare Krishna movement had more than 200 centers in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. In the United States it was troubled by internal disputes that reportedly led to several killings, and was accused by critics of other illegal activi ...

... conception of a higher order than human beings, and yet somehow resembling them. As it may seem, humans have a metaphysical (speculative) need for a Supreme Being. God, as we call him. He is the eternal and infinite Spirit, Creator of the Universe, and the ultimate power. We present him with human characteristics in all concepts of God, which has led me to believe that it is not God who created man in His image, but man who creates God in his. Religion is one such need based on myth and spiritualism. People are taught about their religion at a young age, and when they grow up they attempt to account for things using the notion of their religion as the basis f ...

... the internet. A recorded conversation between a member of the Divine Light Mission, Fire-Shade, and an 18-year old boy, Jay 18, was obtained off of the site, IRC Teen Chat. Jay18: I am a really great poet, but all of the kids in my class are pretty warped about it. I basically hide it from them because I don't need that hassle. Fire-Shade: My family has a great respect for the artist inside us all. I know you live in Michigan, and our family could always use new operatives all over the world. You have to understand what our family is about, it is about always fitting in and never hiding the truth to be liked or cool. Are you interested? Jay18: Well maybe ...

... Ghost,...the Father will send in my name" (John 5:43; 14:26). Thus by baptizing in the name of , we honor the Godhead. "For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). Luke 24:45-47 records that just before His ascension, opened the disciples' understanding. It was necessary that their understanding be opened, and many today need this same operation in order to understand the Scriptures. Then said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." The disciples had their understanding opened so that they could grasp the vast importance of the death, burial, and resurrection of ...

... witnessed this would certainly have offered their own explanations in keeping with their own cultural and religious beliefs. Surely a society existing at the time would have documented this miraculous event. Yet nowhere have such works been found. In the instance of the resurrection of the saints, Matthew is the only person to mention this occurence in the Bible. Surely other first-century Christians would have used this as further proof of Jesus' divinty. It would fall to reason that Paul and the gospels would have mentioned it. This is not, however, the case. Nowhere else in the Bible is this mentioned or even hinted at. These events are then, at best, highly ...

... confession day his mother sent Nora go with Jackie. Nora ordered Jackie to tell all of his sins, including how he was mean to the grandmother who lived with them. Ozzie seemed troubled to Rabbi Binder in "Conversion of the Jews". In reality Jackie wasn't bad at all, he was just a boy who wanted answers to his questions. And that was proved when Ozzie asked a question in class and Rabbi Binder went crazy and hit Ozzie because he thought Ozzie was trying to be a wise guy. So Ozzie tried to prove a point to Rabbi Binder and his fellow classmates by running to the roof and making believe he was going to jump. With Ozzie being on the roof it gave Rabbi Binder a b ...

... probably didn't happen as Mark describes. This brings us to Mark's writing style. Mark seems to tack-on sentences to Jesus' teachings to make themmore "Christian." This really changes the meaning more than any other tactic! Who knows what Mark may have edited-out to accomplish what he wanted to impress upon his readers? In this, he tries to interpret the meaning of Jesus' actions ... and does this in a misleadingway! For example: Mark 2:19, Jesus regarding Fasting. Jesus makes a strong statement against importance to fasting, but Mark (in 2:20) tags on: "But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast ...

... laid out. My family is Christian, my father was raised as a Catholic and my mother was raised as Baptist. My family doesn’t go to church every week, but when we do go we go to a Baptist church. We have also attended Lutheran and Protestant churches with friends. I feel that I have a close relationship with God even though I do not attend church on a regular basis. I was really never told by my parents that everything in life happens for a reason, nor was I told that what happens in life happens because of blind fate, they have always told me to make the best of my life and to go as far as I possibly can in life. So reasonably, I have always believed that I de ...

... "The Lord will judge his people." Hebrews 10:30). Both of these religions share almost the same framework, but they also differ in many ways. The word Islam means "surrender" or "submission," submission to the will of Allah, the one God. Muslims are those who have submitted themselves. The basic creed of Islam is brief: There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah. Islam teaches that there is one God, the creator and sustainer of the universe. This God, Allah, is compassionate and just. Because He is compassionate, He calls all people to believe in Him and worship Him. Because He is also just, on the Last Day He will judge every person accor ...