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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE MAJOR WORLD RELIGIONSFROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

by Ernest Valea

The goal of this site is to investigate whether or notthere is sufficient evidence to prove that worldreligions are complementary, according to the modelinspired by an old Indian tale - that of the blind menwho tried to describe an elephant. It is said that onceupon a time a king gathered a few men who were bornblind. They were asked to describe an elephant, buteach one was presented with only a certain part of it.To one was presented the head of the elephant, toanother the trunk, to another its ears, to another theleg, the body, the tail, tuft of the tail, etc. The one who was presented with the head said: "Theelephant is like a pot!" The one who was presented the trunk answered, "The elephant is like ahose." The one who touched only the ears thought that the elephant was a fan, the others said that itwas a pillar, a wall, a rope, a brush, etc. Then they quarreled among themselves, each thinking thathe was the only one right and the others were wrong. The obvious truth is that the elephant is aunity of many parts, a unity that they could not grasp in their ignorance.

According to the pattern suggested bythis tale, it is often said that worldreligions form a unity, and only thisunity provides the right perspective onultimate truth. A similar pluralistic trendis encouraged by the suggestion toconsider the various world religions asalternative paths to the sametranscendental finality or, using a knownillustration, many paths to the samemountain peak. Although this vision is arousing a lot of enthusiasm in many people today, it isimportant to know that it is not the only one, as Christianity and Islam each claim to be the onlyright path to God. Therefore the other option is that world religions are not pieces of the samepuzzle (parts of the same spiritual "elephant") or alternative paths to the same goal.

Theoretically, both possibilities exist. Therefore, a proper evaluation of such opposite views must bedone before we decide on a course of action. If the first is true (all religions lead us to the samefinality), and we choose the second (only one of them is right), we have not lost anything. Despiteour ignorance, we will arrive at the same happy end as the other travelers who have chosen otherspiritual paths. A less happy situation would be given by the second possibility, that a single spiritualpath is valid and we have chosen the wrong one. In this case religious pluralism misleads travelers tospiritual disaster, so they at least should be warned. A third possibility, that all spiritual paths arewrong, is denied by the nature of our spiritual quest itself, which demands a real fulfillment.Otherwise, our hunger for ultimate truth could not be justified and all religions would be nothing but

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human fantasy.

The following articles are not meant merely to generate a conflict of rational proofs for justifyingone or another alternative. No matter how complex and logical the rational proofs on behalf of oneor the other cause might be, it is possible to find counterpoints of the same nature, so that at arational level, the dispute could fill many books with no benefit to anyone. Nobody can be persuadedor converted to one or another religious perspective only through rational proofs. This may bepossible in science, but not in religion. However, rational proofs have to be considered because weare rational beings. Reason should not be rejected and experience proclaimed the only way ofknowing truth. No divorce between reason and experience should be accepted, because they arecomplementary and work together, so that neither can exclude the other. As a result, we do nothave to reject a priori the proofs of reason in our spiritual quest in order to abandon ourselves to thearms of mystical experiences, whatever their nature might be.

Rather than generating sterile debates, the information presented here should help you clarify yourown stand toward comparative religion and develop a critical ability to analyze today's spiritualmarket. Suggestions, comments and critiques are strongly encouraged, with the hope that they willimprove the content of this site. Please make them as specific and clear as possible.

The comparative analysis presented here is focused on Christianity and the major Eastern religions,especially Hinduism and Buddhism, because they play a major role in defining today's worldspirituality. This is an obvious phenomenon on the Internet too, where a lot of spiritual movementsindebted to classic Eastern doctrines and practices can be found. Some may believe that acomparative analysis of the major world religions like this may fuel religious hatred and intolerance,but this is wrong. Religious tolerance and freedom cannot be built on ignorance but rather on theunderstanding of commonalities and differences. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of teaching lovefor one's neighbor despite religious differences (see The Parable of the Good Samaritan).Unfortunately, some of his followers have done the opposite. Loving the person is possible even ifone rejects his or her religious convictions.

The Christian approach will be grounded on The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed as statement offaith, which is common to all three branches of Christianity - Roman Catholicism, EasternOrthodoxy and Protestantism. The Holy Bible (NIV ecumenical translation) is acknowledged as thefirst doctrinal authority, and second the doctrinal commentaries of the Church Fathers of the firstcenturies AD, as far as they are accepted by each of the three branches of Christianity.

The analysis will survey and compare the following defining aspects of all world religions:

1. God or the Ultimate Reality, and creation2. The human condition3. Salvation and eternal destiny4. The nature of evil5. Conclusion

Special articles refer to more specific issues that have emerged in this debate and need particularattention:

1. Reincarnation. Its meaning and consequences. Reincarnation and Christianity2. Possible difficulties in pantheism3. Possible difficulties in the dualistic Samkhya-Yoga metaphysics4. Possible difficulties in Yoga as a spiritual path towards transcendence5. Possible difficulties in the philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita6. Possible difficulties in Buddhism7. The divine incarnation in Hinduism and Christianity; Jesus Christ and other Saviors and religious

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Copyright Ernest Valea. No part of this work will be used or reproduced by any means without prior permission from the author.

founders8. Alleged Eastern equivalent sayings of Jesus Christ9. The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Buddhism and Christianity10. Revelation and knowledge in Christianity11. How can those who have never heard about Christ be saved?

The quotes used for describing each religious perspective belong to scriptures considered to befirsthand authority by its followers. Some useful links will be suggested for in-depth study andclarification. A thoroughly comparative study of Christianity and Islam has not been pursued, asthere is enough literature available online on this topic.

Since the domain of comparative religion is so vast, the present analysis is far from beingexhaustive. It had to be limited to a brief account, sacrificing many details and secondary aspects,but with the hope that global relevance will not be affected. The question is: Can such a comparativeanalysis of world religions be unbiased? Unfortunately, it cannot. Nobody can judge religious issuesindependently of his or her own religious convictions. This is why the title says "... from a Christianperspective". Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc, may see these things differently, they can even reachopposite conclusions. But this doesn't mean that such an analysis is useless. All one needs to do is tolook for more information, to try to understand the other perspectives and reach his or her ownconclusions. This is neither the first nor the last attempt to discuss the complementary and divergentthought among world religions. The discussions, arguments and debates in comparative religion didnot start recently and will certainly not stop until the end of the world, the time when Truth willreveal itself in fullness.

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