Comparing the deities in Hinduism and
Christianity in the early years
Note*
When
writing this essay though it will have changed from that as I will have
included more it made me feel in certain parts that I was writing something
like the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It has some of the ideas and I am used to
writing history and not philosophy. I could have included a Babbelfish
somewhere, but I know this blog would be awful regardless. I wasn’t sure what
to call the Christian God like with Yahweh or just God. I stuck with God
instead. This blog would seem not to be
covering the foundation period, but generally covering the periods.
Religions around the world are vastly different and
people will always have differing interpretations to their religion. The
foundation periods or early period for the deities from the two religions of
Christianity and Hinduism were very different from each other. Religion used
the worship of deities or the lack there of to explain the world around them
and how the world came into being. Religion as a whole has the function to
either bring people together or divide them into different categories. Religion
nearly always has belief in one define being usually referred to as a God or
The God. When looking at the deities within different religions there are
several areas that may come under the interpretation of a deity. There has been
the view of differences between that of the historical accounts of Jesus, his
actions while alive and that of how he could be seen after the resurrection.
Gods are interpreted differently along with their polar opposites being those
of Satan or Hindu demons. The afterlife and the human soul both have different
interpretations between the actions of the Gods or the one true God depending on
the interpretation and how they are viewed around the world. Many Gods within
Hinduism are based on nature and have explanations on how the world works such
as weather events.
The Gods in religions are seen as both finite and
infinite. They are there to explain myths so that the senseless world people
live are made sense of and the stories empower people with the belief. Religion
is the gathering of different beliefs into one that includes festivals, rituals
and specialised people who tell stories for people to follow. Christianity is
supposed to have been designed for people to easily understand the beliefs. In
Christianity the religion is all about those of faith and belief especially
when there is a huge difference between that and Judaism where there are
different views towards Jesus. Judaism does not view the man as a Messiah at
all. To put simple God’s revelations are placed into the here and now and their
relevance is explained to people for their understanding. Within Hinduism there are many gods that are
worshipped from the main ones like Siva or Shiva, but within the community
there could be a pantheon unlike what is shown within Christianity. God according
to people is meant to be transcendent and wholly independent from anything else
in the universe. The world and people who live there are considered to be
entirely dependent on this being. In Hinduism humans are part of some game that
is played by their God. Everything within that life is ruled by that God down
to the smallest detail.
Jesus could be viewed as two different deities and
these will be placed in two different parts. The first deity of Jesus would be
that of the man who performed deeds within the community where he resided.
There have been many different views towards how the man himself lived
especially from his birth. The birth could be viewed as being by divine will
and act as his mother Mary had become pregnant as though it was a miracle.
There was no possible way she could have become pregnant other than by divine
means. The acts Jesus would later perform as an adult could be viewed as those
of deities. There are similarities within the life of Jesus that could be
explained within Hinduism. The life, death and rebirth aspect of his life could
be considered to be that of the circle of life with that of the human soul. In
Christianity, Jesus is considered to be that of the messiah who brings the
message of Christianity to the people. He has many different roles that set him
apart within his teachings. The miracles that Jesus performed for the people
are well known today with the events of feeding a large group of people and
that of walking on water as examples. The miracles teach people about their
connection with the kingdom of God.
The second part to the deity of Jesus is his rebirth
otherwise known as his resurrection, but has other interpretations too. There
is the running thought where Jesus and his resurrection could be that of his
baptism that is another way of rebirth. This would place the rebirth or
resurrection into a whole new context. The resurrection does not make Jesus on
a higher plane as that of God. Jesus is actually on a lower level that that
of the one God himself who is the creator. There is an argument
about the resurrection as God himself taking on the appearance as a human and
perform the acts that Jesus would perform. The resurrection of Jesus after
several days takes on the meaning of being divine and a new incarnation. This
means the rebirth is that of someone’s life or destiny is being fulfilled.
Jesus is known to have inner divinity as that is well known that anything else
in his life. What is considered to be that of mystical is considered in regards
to that of Jesus is that to mean he could be classed as a deity. His story
grows bigger with the telling after each person he crosses path with. Hinduism
does have another view for the resurrection and that would be mentioned when
considering the soul as deities themselves.
The God deity between Hinduism and Christianity are
vastly different between the people who worship them and how they are explored
by the people. The Christian God is usually described in mescaline terms as
being the father, son and spirit. The three terms also come under another name
known as the Trinity. The Trinity does bring up issues whether God is actually
female in some way or form even though he is considered to be male. The belief
in God being one, but also three is unique from Judaism and Islam. God is seen as
being one being and is divine. The God of the Jews has thought to have been superseded
by the God of Christ. The Christ God has been considered to be a completely new
God that has been created. This would mean there are two Gods within similar
religions. If God is uncaring and cold towards humanity, then why did he create
the world is some of the questions that have been asked towards the action of
the Christian God. Many would have
unanswerable questions towards the action of any deity that is worshipped.
The
deities within Hinduism are vastly different to that of the Christian God. The
Hindu Gods are represented in many forms as they are symbols that point towards
something that is beyond our comprehension. Each form are represented by the
various views and worshipped for a lifetime. The Vedic Gods are taken from
nature and explains how the world was created and the actions of the multiple
Gods. The numbers towards the Gods in Hinduism does change upon each asking
until the number is one. There are other religions that have similar views in
regards to their Gods. The Gods usually come in three main forms. These are the
Creator (Brahma), Preserver (Vishnu) and Destroyer (Shiva). The gods are meant
to stand above the world as finite beings. Their
roles are different to what they are meant to do as their roles as deities are
important either as creator, protector or destroyer of the world. Their images
are different depending on who interprets the image. Shiva and Vishnu are classic Gods of Hinduism
and are the primary deities. They are portrayed differently within the
Vedas.
Another
major difference between Christianity and Hinduism is the worship of the female
deities. In Christianity there is the lack of female deities while in Hinduism
there are quite a few that are considered for worship. Some of the Gods could
be considered to be sexless and having both parts of the two genders while the
female form in Christianity has been hidden. The male and female parts of the figure that
is Siva are one and not separated. This represents the totality of nature. Siva
could change his form to that of animals found in nature. Many of the
Hindu Gods can be worshipped as the mother figure like Kali who has been
described as being of a divine nature. Female Gods are often seen as playing
two roles. The first roles are usually that of bringing life and the other is
to bring death in the form of disease to mankind. The female Gods can also be
wild demon slaying virgins or the wife of a God. Many of the Vedic Gods in Hinduism have
female counterparts as companions though the male Gods are usually more
prominent. Some are seen as being of neither sex too. Kali and Siva are two
Gods that are closely related to that of death and destruction. They are
usually seen as being both male and female.
The
opposite side of the coin exists in both Hinduism and Christianity and that is
the presence of evil including demons and evil gods themselves. Demons appear throughout Christianity and are
seen as erratic behaviours within people. These are seen as people being
possessed by either demons or Satan himself. Hordes of demons that are together
are known as Legion. Satan can take the form of either human or that of a
supernatural being. He is considered to be that of God’s opposite similar to that
of the ying yang in other beliefs. The presence of the devil is meant to
represent the Original Sin and that of evil. The use of the name of Jesus is
supposed to cast the demons out of people’s bodies and gives you the power to
control the unseen. Jesus is supposed to have cast out demons from a person and
placed them into pigs. Demons in Hinduism are vastly different to that of
Christianity. The local or community Gods that are meat eaters are not
considered to be demons, but ‘fallen Vegetarians’. The deities are usually
categorised by what they consume, which is either meat or are vegetarians. The
meat eating Gods require bloody sacrifices and are considered to be different
from the ones that are vegetarians. The sacrifices are performed outside of
temples usually with blood mixed into rice offerings.
Within
both Hinduism and Christianity the soul of a person has great consideration and
is something that is of value. The soul itself can be eternal so this could
mean that it would have to be classed as a deity in itself. The soul is
different when put together with Christian beliefs and those of Hinduism. In Hinduism the soul belongs to one of the
Gods so the actions of man could be that of a God and linked with Siva. The
soul is supposed to be loved by the God and is handled in the pursuit. God is
the father of the soul so all belongs to him. The human souls known as
Jiva come into being mysteriously possibly by that of God’s power. The soul is
meant to pass through different bodies as time goes on into a bigger vessel.
This is known as reincarnation, which is an endless passage through life, rebirth
and death. The soul eventually migrates into a human body where it gains
experience. The human soul within
Christianity is something that could either lead to salvation or damnation when
someone dies. Another way this could be seen is as a positive and negative.
There is the thought that one would be either staying for eternity in heaven or
hell. The soul might not be fit for either eternal life or even eternal
torment so would be going from life to life. The soul is meant to travel from
life to life and the worlds in a way continuous existence without stopping in
between. There are other religions that do cover the resurrection into other beings
quite heavily and their actions are towards other people and animals are held into
account.
Hinduism
and Christianity are vastly different when comparing the deities between both
religions. Every religion is different and all have their way of explaining
things in life and how the world operates. One would have to have a fair idea
what they would compare their God with and what they interpret as a deity in
their religion. Some have multiple Gods and others have just one main God that
they worship. The biggest differences between the two religions were that of
the female deities. Hinduism worships the female deities and some are just
companions to their respective Gods while Christianity worships one main deity
although Jesus himself could be considered a deity. Jesus in Christianity has
two different forms. That of the man before his resurrection and what occurred
after the resurrection. Within all religions there is a presence of evil that
can linger in many different forms. These can range from strange behaviours in
people and caste out by invoking various words or even beings that have fallen
from grace and began consuming bloody sacrifices. The afterlife and peoples
soul could be held by the Gods themselves like they are playing an eternal game
of tug a war to see what happens when every event that occurs within the human
existence. The comparing of deities from different religions can provide stark
differences between the two and an understanding on what happens within the
religion when comparing the lives of the deities. Humanity is explained by the
use of deities and their actions that could be held in account.
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