Religion is one the oldest practices in the history of society or communities of people. It is human nature to want to believe in something greater than just what you can see. Religion has been found in practically every single society that has ever existed and it will most likely never cease to exist. It is found in every corner of the earth and in every time period and with each one there are lots of similarities along with a few differences. In today’s social climate, a great deal of interest seems to be placed on the differences and not on the common threads. Buddhism and Christianity are two religions that began in completely different parts of the world and were founded for completely different reasons, but actually have a lot more in …show more content…
In order to preserve his exact teachings “Monks would memorize the words and teach them diligently to their novices”. Eventually it was decided that the best way to accurately recount Buddha’s teachings would be to record them. Thus, the religious texts came about. The first was the Tipitaka or “Three Baskets”. It is named Three Baskets because it is organized into three parts. The first is the Vinaya Pitaka or the Basket of Discipline, the second is the Sutta Pitaka or the Basket of Goods, and the third is the Abhidhamma Pitaka or the Basket of Higher Teaching. The next sacred text to appear was the Sutras or Suttas. Buddhists believe those writings to be the actual words of the Buddha himself. The validity of the texts can be questioned however, because neither were recorded immediately after Buddha’s death and they were passed down through stories hundreds of times before being officially written down. This means that the teachings have gone through hundreds of minds and changed just a little bit every time. Even after being written down the writings were still most likely accidentally manipulated many times by the monks that copied them. Despite the questionable reliability of their sacred texts Buddhists all over the world devoutly follow what they …show more content…
It is practiced by over two billion people all over the earth. Christianity actually began as an offshoot of Judaism back around 30 CE. It originated in the middle east in the Palestine area, similar to both Judaism and Islam. This has caused a lot of controversy in modern times due to debates over what holy lands belong to which religions. Christianity, as denoted by its name, stems from the teachings of Jesus the Christ or Yeshua. Christ in this case meaning Anointed One or Messiah. Jesus’ birth was of a miraculous nature as his mother was a virgin when an angel came down and told her she was carrying the Messiah according to Christian teachings. Yeshua was born in a town called Bethlehem near Jerusalem around 2000 years ago. There is very little information about Jesus as a child. It wasn’t until he was around thirty years old that the scriptures describe stories of his religious work. He travelled all throughout the middle east preaching and performing miracles in different cities for about three years. Although he only preached his message for a very short time he gained many followers and many enemies very quickly. His teachings were different than the traditional Jewish teachings and he went so far as to claim that he and God were one in the same. This caused a lot of upheaval and he was eventually arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion for his teachings. He passed away on the cross, which has become the