Theresa Bethlehemto the Virgin Mary. While growing

Theresa Bethlehemto the Virgin Mary. While growing

Theresa Broussard Western International UniversityHum127 Religions of the WorldTimothy AlbertFebruary 4, 2007Tracing the historical lives of Jesus Christ and Mohammed are liketraveling down two opposite paths. Both had their own important role intheir religion. Whether it is through peace or violence both wanted theirmessages to be heard.

The higher power in Christianity is Jesus Christ, which means”Savior”. (Unknown, 2006).Jesus Christ was born around 4 B.C. in Bethlehemto the Virgin Mary. While growing up he worked as a carpenter like his step-father in Nazerath. Jesus was fluent in many different languages includingHebrew, Aramaic, and possibly Greek.

(Unknown, 2006).Jesus Christ received his callings directly from God. (Slick, 2006).He heard from God when he traveled into the desert to be tempted. This waswhen Jesus Christ began to preach with boldness and power (Slick, 2006).Along with boldness Jesus Christ also had the power to take life. Howeverhe never used the power.

No person ever died in the presence of JesusChrist (Slick, 2006). Instead of taking life he restored life. He was oftencalled the “giver of life” (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).

This power of restoring life helped Jesus Christ to spread themessages of peace. (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).Jesus Christ was not aviolent person. Instead he conquered enemies with the Spirit of the Word ofGod (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).This lead to some of Jesus Christ’sdisciples too be killed for their faith.Prior Jesus Christ’s first coming there were more than three hundredscriptures written. Although Jesus never wrote any books himself many ofhis messages were.

He commissioned all of his followers to write and preachall of his messages. These followers did exactly that. This is one reasonthere are so many different denominations in the Christian faith (Zeller,Van Nattan, 2001).There are many different versions of his messages. Theoriginal was written in Hebrew then translated.

Jesus Christ’s death had a huge impact on the Christian religion. Oneoverwhelming impact was the huge crowds that would form when Jesus Christwas around (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2006)These huge crowdsaccording to the British Broadcasting Company the authorities feared JesusChrist gathering huge crowds was a leading factor to his crucifixion(British Broadcasting Corporation, 2006).Many Christian disciples of Jesus Christ are (deeply grieved at allthe past atrocities carried out by the people who were “Christian” by name(Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001). The Christian religion states that Jesus Christstated “Believe and Live!” This statement sums it up best for Christianity.To believe in the Savior will allow you to live a peaceful life. If allbelieved the same then all would be peaceful and peace loving (Zeller, VanNattan, 2001).

This is according to (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).who statesthat Christians being peaceful is due too the strict following of theteaching of Jesus Christ.The life of Mohammed, the Islamic higher power, was filled withviolence. Mohammed, which means “Praised One”, was born around 570 AD inMecca.

(Unknown, 2006).Mohammed was raised by his mother, a nurse, hisuncle and his grandfather. He worked as a Shepard later he became acamel/caravan leader (Unknown, 2006). He was married to over twenty womenincluding one girl who was only nine years old. (Unknown, 2006).Mohammed also known as “Allah” received the messages of God through anangel.

The angels name was Gabriel. According to Slick, (Slick, 2006),Mohammed had the power to take life and did so. In fact he used it often,never using his power to restore (Slick, 2006). Many people die in hispresence. Most of the time Mohamed was the one who killed those (Slick,2006). This violence lead him to be a prophet of war (Zeller, Van Nattan,2001). Mohammed’s disciples killed for their Islamic faith (Zeller, VanNattan, 2001).

This was because Mohammed practiced force by conqueringenemies with swords (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).While fighting in manycrusades according to (Unknown, 2006) some say Mohammed wrote the Qur’an.While other people say that listeners of Mohammed’s messages wrote themdown (Unknown, 2006).The impact of Mohammed’s death on the religion of Islam was hugeaccording to Mac Dowell, when Mohammed died he had no will written(MacDowell, 2006). This meant there were no instructions of who wouldreplace him. With no leadership in Islam major eruptions and confrontationsbroke out among Islambelievers.

This was due o the disagreement of whether Caliph or “Ali”(Mohammed’s son-in-law) should hold the Islamic leadership (Mac Dowell,2006) this struggle along with many others produced the main body of Islam.This main body is known as the Sunnis, (the follower of the prophet’s way.)(British Broadcasting Corporation, 2006).According to Zeller and Van Nattan, (Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001) thedisciples of Mohammed follow his “Convert or Die” attitude. This is onereason that leaving the Islam nation is so difficult. In most Islamicnations the action trying to leave Islam would be answered with death(Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001).

These disciples of Mohammed are just as violent,cold and heartless as Mohammed himself. These disciples responded to theSeptember 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States by cheering.(Zeller, Van Nattan, 2001). The followers poured into the Islamic streetscheering and yelling in happiness. These people were happy about theactions of their fellow believers.Jesus Christ’s belief of “Believe and Live” is very different fromMohammed and his beliefs of “Convert or Die”.

Although the two are sodifferent they share many similarities. Both had many struggles andsituations to overcome. They each chose different solutions. Thesesolutions had a huge impact on how the followers of these religionsinteract with others today. I am including a chart from a Christian’s pointof view which shows some strong differences between Jesus and Mohammed itis as follows:||Jesus|Muhammad||Death|Jesus died and rose from |Muhammad died and stayed dead.|||the dead (Holy Bible)|||Fighting |Jesus never fought (Holy |Muhammad fought many many times|||Bible) |||Hearing |When Jesus heard from God |When Muhammad heard from God ||from God |he went to the desert to |(through an angel) he cowered, was |||be tempted and began his |uncertain, and wanted to commit|||ministry with boldness,|suicide (Quran 74:1-5) |||(Mark 1:14-15) (Holy||||Bible). |||Identity |Jesus claimed to be God|Muhammad claimed to be a man.

|||(John 8:24; 8:58) (Holy||||Bible) as well as a man. ||||Jesus claimed to be ||||the way, the truth, and||||the life (John 14:6) (Holy||||Bible) |||Instructi|From God the Father (John |From an angel||ons|5:19) (Holy Bible) |||Received | |||Killing |Jesus never killed anyone |Muhammad killed many||Life|Jesus had the power to|Muhammad had the power to take it, |||take life, but never did. |but he never restores it.|||He restored it. (Holy||||Bible) ||||No one every died in|Many people died in Muhammad’s|||Jesus’ presence|presence — he killed them.

||Marriage |Jesus never married |Muhammad had over 20 wives and even||| |married a nine-year-old girl.||Ministry |Jesus received his calling|Muhammad received it from an angel |||from God directly (Matt. |(Gabriel) |||3:17). (Holy Bible)|Muhammad received his words in the |||Jesus received his |darkness of a cavel|||commission in the daylight||||(Holy Bible) |||Ministry |Jesus taught for 3 1/2|Muhammad taught for more than 20||Length|years (Holy Bible) |years||Miracles |Jesus performed many|Muhammad’s only alleged miracle was|||miracles including healing|the Quran. |||people, calming a storm||||with a command, and ||||raising people from the||||dead.

(Holy Bible) |||Prophecy |Jesus fulfilled biblical |Muhammad did not fulfill any |||prophecy about being the |biblical prophecy except the ones |||Messiah (Holy Bible)|about false teachers (Matt. 24:24).||| |(Holy Bible)||Sacrifice|Jesus voluntarily laid his|Muhammad saved his own life many|||life down for others (Holy|times and had others killed. |||Bible) |||Sin|Jesus never sinned (1 Pet.|Muhammad was a sinner (Quran 40:55;|||2:22) (Holy Bible) |48:1-2)||Slaves|Jesus owned no slaves|Muhammad owned slaves. |||(Holy Bible) |||Virgin|Jesus was virgin born|Muhammad was not virgin born.||Birth|(Holy Bible) |||Voice of |Jesus received and heard |Muhammad did not receive or hear||God|the direct voice of God|the direct voice of God.

It was an|||(Mark 1:10-11) (Holy|angel instead. (Qu’ran)|||Bible) |||Women|Jesus spoke well of women |Muhammad said women were 1/2 as|||(Holy Bible) |smart as men (Hadith 3:826; 2:541),||| |that the majority in hell will be ||| |women (Had. 1:28,301; 2:161; ||| |7:124), and that women could be||| |mortgaged (Qu’ran)|as you can see there is no comparison, Muhammed is clearly inferior toJesus. ReferencesBritish Broadcasting Corporation. (2006).

Jesus’ life. In Religion andEthics-Christianity. Retrieved November 14, 2006, from http://www.bbc.

co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/history/jesus_1.shtmlMac Dowell, J. (2006). ISLAM. In GLOBAL MEDIA OUTREACH. Retrieved November15,2006, fromhttp://www.

greatcom.org/resources/areadydefense/ch29/default.htmSlick, M. J. (2006). A Comparison between Jesus and Muhammad. In CHRISTIANAPOLOGETICS AND RESEARCH MINISTRY.

Retrieved November 15, 2006, fromhttp://www.carm.org/islam/Jesus_Muhammad.htmUnknown (2006).

Jesus or Muhammad? Who is greater prophet? Let us ReasonMinistries.Retrieved November 15, 2006, fromhttp://www.letusreason.org/Islam8%20.htmZeller, G., & Van Nattan, S. (2001).

Appendix Twenty One. In A Comparisonbetween Muhammad and Jesus Christ. Retrieved November 14, 2006, fromhttp://www.balaams-ass.com/alhaj/compare.htm