Essay And Bibliography - Kingdom Of God - Christian - Assessment Answer

Essay And Bibliography Assignment

Case Scenario

Assignment Task

Introduction

The Christian world view suggests that for an individual to be Christian it is very necessary to believe in Christ. It is also important for them to believe that Christ is the son of God. The worldview of Christian is based on the fact that everyone goes to heaven after dying. The Jainism world vie suggests that a human being is responsible for his/her destiny. It is based on the Karma of human beings that what will happen with them. Jainism also suggests that one can reach a perfect state with the help of their thoughts and positive actions. Jainism suggests that to get liberated one must not have any kind of karma. They believe in getting free from the trap of karma. On the other hand Christians believe that man always has sinful nature and there is no possibility that he can be perfect and this is the reason why Christ died for the sins he committed. They also believe that anyone can go to heaven even after committing any amount of sins.

Thus, the major point of difference in Christian and Jain Worldview is that of death and sin. Christian literature argues that perfection is not at all possible for any human being and that committing sin is the human nature. On the other hand Jain literature argues that a human being shall be perfect to get salvation. If a human being is not perfect and he is doing karma (sin) then there is no chance of getting liberated from the world. This is why Jain theory also suggests that people who get trapped in karma wander even after their death and they do not get salvation. This is not so in Christian worldview, They believe in total salvation.

There is a major similarity in the worldview of Christian and Jain about the universe. The Christians believe in non-violence and so do the Jain. Both the religions believe that a human being shall not harm another human being. This doctrine is based on the thought that all the souls are part of the universe if a soul harms another soul then indirectly it is harming itself. This is something that is common in both the religions and their worldviews. Besides the differences in their origin, they have same belief about the universe. Christian has originated from Jerusalem while Jain has originated from India. Even after this they have something in common.

As far as spiritual practices of Jain religion and Christian religion is considered, there are huge differences in their practices. Both the religions have nothing in common when this factor is considered. The major spiritual practices of Christianity include prayers, acts of mercy, fasting, monasticism, celibacy, chanting, mortification, lectio Divina, mortification of flesh, meditation, etc. Christians believe that every individual has to perform these practices to get in touch with the God. For them it is a full time and regular activity and they undertake it to induce spiritual experiences and to cultivate their spiritual development. They believe that spiritual practices help an individual to walk on the right path. It also helps them to stick to the traditions and believe in the God. Thus, Christians suggest that spiritual practices are a way to get connected with the God. It helps them to achieve the goals in their lives and achieve salvation or liberation. On the other hand the spiritual; practices that are adopted by Jain are going to temple early in the morning without eating anything, fasting, leaving behind clothes, footwear, meditation, honour to the tirthankara , showing respect towards spiritual teachers, repentance for the things that are committed wring by someone, control of the body , renunciation of various pleasures , foods and activities for a specified time and doing various routine activities are the part of spiritual practices in Jain. It can be easily seen that spiritual practices in Jain are very complicated and it involves physical activities as well. On the other hand in Christians they only devote their souls in spiritual practices this is why there is no provision of leaving clothes, footwear, etc in Christian religion. The basis of spiritual practices in Jainism is that by doing this one can get salvation and if an individual does not perform these practices then he is not able to get rid of his karma.

In Christian religion spiritual practices are considered to be the guide in achieving the goals of life and remaining on the right path, whereas in Jainism it is considered to be necessary to get rid of karma. Jainism suggests that not following these practices lead an individual to get trapped in karmas and if karmas are there then there will be no salvation. Thus, spiritual activities are necessary. Christians go to the Church and they simply sit and pray there. They also perform meditation, mercy, etc. but they do not offer any kind of incense stick, flowers, grains, fruits, sweets, etc. to the God. In Jainism they offer all kind of incense stick, flowers, grains, fruits, sweets, etc. to the God. Without all these things the spiritual practices of Jainism is incomplete. The spiritual practices in Jainism are time bound and there is time for every ritual in fact there is a particular time to go to the temple, but in Christian there is nothing such.

The Jainism suggests that an individual shall have clean body, clean clothes and he shall be in hygienic condition to perform spiritual practices but in Christian they do not believe in all these they simple suggests that soul shall be clean. This is the basis why women are not allowed to enter into Jain temple during menstruation cycle while they are allowed in church to perform spiritual practices. Jainism suggests that women get unhygienic during menstrual cycle and this is why they shall not be allowed to perform spiritual activities at that particular time. Jainism also stress on the fact that if someone is to perform idol worship then it is compulsory to take a bath and after that only one can perform. On the other hand Christians do not have anything like idol worship. Christians do not believe in worshipping idols as they think that God can’t be there in a stone. So for them an idol of stone is just stone but for Jainism an idol of stone is God. Jainism also made it compulsory to perform a number of rituals in front of idol of God and these can’t be performed at home or any other place. In Jainism there are 24 teerthanker (deity) and all of them are worshipped by people. In this way there are a number of differences in the spiritual practices of Christians and Jain.

As far as the evolution of universe is concerned both the religions have different views about it. The Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2 of Bible talk about the creation of the heavens, plants, animals and human beings. There are a number of theories in these two chapters of Genesis. These chapters argue that God is responsible for the creation of this entire universe. They were against the view that it is right to worship the sun, the moon and other planets. They just believed that God is responsible for the creation of the world and this is why he shall be worshipped. The most significant passage that talks about the creation of the universe is Colossians 1:15-16. Christian’s also believe that the God is tri-unity of persons. Every person of trinity was involved in the creation of the universe. Christians suggest that God wanted someone who can love him and this is why he created universe and he created everything out of his freedom and Christians also believe that creation of universe is the gift of God to everyone. In contrast to that the views of Jain on the creation of universe are totally opposite to that of Christian view. The universe is considered as “loka” in Jainism and they do not believe in the fact that the God has created this universe. Jainism considered that the universe is an uncreated entity and it is in existence since infinite time. They also suggest that it does not have any beginning and at the same time there is no end to it. In Jain literature the shape of universe is also defined and the shape is like that of a man who is standing with legs apart and with the hand on waist. According to the Jain philosophy the universe is broad at the top and narrow at middle and again it is broad at bottom. While Jain believe that the universe is not created by anyone they also believe that it is made up of six elements (dravya) these elements are Jiva (living beings ), Ajiva (non-living beings), Pudgala (matter), Dharma-dravya ( Principle of motion), Adharma – dravya (principle of rest), akasa (space) and kala (time) . These are the six elements with which the universe is made. Thus the Jain philosophy also suggests that the world works on the universal natural laws. Thus, the Christians believe that the God has created universe and the Jain think that no one has created it.

The Christians believe that the world is one and there are no parts in it and they also argue that one can’t measure the world. On the other hand the Jain view on this topic is quite different. They believe that the universe is divided into three parts that are Urdva loka, Madhya loka and Adho loka. In this the Urdhva loka is the realm of heavens or Gods. The Madhya loka is realm of plants, animal s and human beings and the Adho loka is the realm of infernal regions and hellish beings. Jain philosophy also believes that the universe is measureable and one can measure it using Rajju. Rajju is the unit to measure the universe. In Christian literature they do not believe that the universe can be measured.

In this manner there are various points of differences in the worldview of Christian and worldview of Jain. There have been a number of debates over the worldviews in entire universe among all the religions but these debates have not been solved so far. All the religions have different beliefs towards the world and their practices are also different.