Introduction to Philosophy

Achieve Test Prep: Philosophy

Jewish social, communal, and religious life are another core element of Jewish religious faith. These laws have been codified the Torah, which has a variety of meanings. One meaning refers to the first five books of the TaNaKh, believed to be the word of God as told to Moses. Christianity: In Christianity, the core belief is that Jesus is the son of God and the Savior whose sacrificial death and resurrection make it possible for souls to have eternal life in heaven. Christian scriptures consist of Hebrew TaNaKh, which Christians refer to as the Old Testament, and the writings of Jesus’s followers, known as the New Testament. Christianity is the largest of the world’s religions. The New Testament contains the teaching of Jesus and Jesus describes God as a loving father who will take care of those who love him and want to follow the path of righteousness. Jesus’s message was to reveal the path through his words and actions, so that all could achieve spiritual perfection and salvation in preparing for life after death. Jesus makes clear that each person’s relationship with God is intensely personal nurtured through worship, reflection, and personal prayer. During his ministry, Jesus also traveled around Palestine teaching and performing miracles such as healing the sick and disabled, casting devils out of the possessed, restoring the dead to life, walking on water, cleansing lepers, and feeding 5,000 people with just a few loaves of bread and fish. The miracles were widely interpreted as confirming his special spiritual status and possible divinity. Jesus focused his attention on the disinherited people, the poor, the outcasts, the prostitutes, and even the most despised. Jesus preached that in the next life, the favored individuals would include the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourners, and the seekers of righteousness, the pure in heart, the merciful, the peacemakers, and those who have been prosecuted for spreading the gospel. In addition to complete devotion to God, Jesus’s message was of love and devotion to others and preached that in extending ourselves to the less fortunate in society, we are symbolically worshiping God. Jesus promised a spiritual kingdom that would be fully realized only in the future. By devoting yourself to God and following the path of righteousness, you could become spiritually transformed in this life and prepare yourself for eternal life at the end of time. Islam: The world’s second largest religion is Islam, which views itself as the ultimate expression of the monotheistic tradition that began when God spoke to Abraham. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the founder of Islam is believed by Muslims to be the last of the great prophets from Abraham to Jesus and to have received uninterrupted divine word from God. Jesus is also viewed as a prophet, but Muslims believe that his message was corrupted by followers who insisted on his divinity. God revealed his messages to Muhammad and these revelations constitute the text of the Qur’an, which is the holy book of Islam. Those who choose to follow Allah (the Arabic word for “God”) are ensured an afterlife of splendid treasures in paradise. However, those who do not embrace and submit themselves to Allah will be called to account at the Last Judgment and will suffer the terrifying torments of hell. The Qur’an reveals the central patterns of worship known as the Five Pillars of Islam which is known as the outer practice of Islam. Its main purpose is to bring remembrance of God into every aspect of daily life and practical ethics into the fabric of society. The Five Pillars spell out the way of Muslim life and its purposes:

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