World Religion Report

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World Religions Report
Samantha R Wright
HUM/130
June 20, 2010
Thomas Thiessen

World Religions Report                                                                                                       2
World Religions Report

      Judaism is the religion that is practiced by the Jewish people and it is one of the oldest religions in the world. Judaism was founded around 1300 BC in Mesopotamia by Abraham and is still followed today by 14 million people and nearly 3.5 billion others follow belief systems directly influenced by Judaism including Christianity, Islam and the Bah’ai Faith (religionfacts.com). Judaism is a monotheistic religion meaning that the central religious belief is that there is only one God. Monotheism was not a common belief during the time that Judaism was founded, but according to Jewish tradition God revealed that there should only be one superior being that is worship and that he is the one to Abraham, an ancestor of the Jewish people. After rescuing the Hebrews, who later become known as Jews from slavery in Egypt God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses on top of Mount Sinai around 2000 BC. The Ten Commandments are considered the most important commandments of the Torah, which is Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, but is often referred to as the Jewish Bible (jewfaq.com). Jewish people believe that living a good and obedient life will be rewarded after death by God and that those who sin will be punished. Jewish people do not believe that the Messiah has come yet, but that God will send him at the end of time to deliver the Jews to the Promised Land. Jews unlike Christians do not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, but that he was just another prophet sent to spread the word of God. Judaism has a few beliefs that are an important part of the religion. Being Jewish is based primarily on following the traditions of Judaism, but... [continues]

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