Re: How it all got started
Reasonable people see that all three religions have more in comon than they have differences. It is the extremists that find their God is better than the other guy's god. The always find passages in scripture to justify their beliefs.<br /><br />Very simply put: All three Mid eastern religions worship the God of Abraham. <br /><br />Christians in the Middle East call God "Allah". If you were to use cognative language structure (similar words in different languages), You would notice that Elloi, Yeweh, Allah COULD all be variations of the same word.<br /><br />According to the Bible, Abraham, thinking his wife, Sarah, was incapable of bearing a child, impregnated his servant Hagar, who gave birth to Ishmail, Ishmail went on to found Islam.<br /><br />Sarah was later capable of bearing a child, and Gave birth to Issac (Israel), and then Banished Hagar and Ishmail into the wilderness,<br /><br />Muslims believe that it was Ishmail who was to sacraficed by Abraham, to be spared at the last minute, Jews and Christians believe Issac was the one that was to be sacrificed and spared.<br /><br />At this point there, and for thousand of years after, there really was no "Jewish" religion. There were many tribes that followed the God of Abraham, 12 of which developed into the Nation of Israel. There were other groups that followed Abrahamic law, but werer not included with the 12 tribes.<br /><br />There is no way you can discuss this on a message board without losing context and depth. I find history, politics, and religion and how they all are inter-related a facinating subject.<br /><br />For the record, I am a believer in God and Christ, raised Catholic, but I don't follow any organized dogma. As I said before, its not about buildings, artifacts and rituals. Its about the search for something bigger than we all can understand.
