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Immortal Technique?
Indeed. A line from the song 4th Branch I believe.
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Major theological differences exist between the two... To people who are deeply spiritual these are MAJOR issues.
I would say these are moreso issues for people who are deeply
religious and perhaps more fixated on scripture and religious interpretation than what I consider a deeply "spiritual" relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Although there are many scriptural differences, an overwhelming amount of the religious teachings are the same.
Furthermore, all of the Abrahamic religions, as well as other religions, believe in a single, unifying God-force or oneness of spirit, although each may have a different wording to describe it. If all of these religions believe this,
and it happens to be true, then isn't each collective religious image or "version" of the one God actually the same?
The frightening alternative is that there is one favored religion or race that has correctly identified the "true" God, and all of the others are imposters. This would be useful for justifying genocides, but also imply the "true" God is a trickster-God of sorts, fooling the suckers that fell for the inferior imposter gods. A natural selection framework also fits well in this context, effecting the survival of the fittest religion.
But why is it difficult for some to accept that other cultures and peoples would annoint other, different messiah(s) based on their collective needs and beliefs? It seems that since there is so much common ground within the teaching and ideals of these religions that they would be better suited to confront evil united, than divided.
"Master," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us."
"And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." (Luke 9:49-50)
Many religions incorporate a fleshly human who is fully imbued with this spirit force, or actually is the same as it (trinity-in-one), referring to him as the Messiah. Christ means "annointed", and Christians have annointed Jesus as their Messiah. Muslims have annointed Mohammed as their own, and the Jews are still waiting on theirs. Similarly, Buddhists have annointed Buddha, and New Age religious believe any human has the potential to be annointed and become imbued with this supreme spiritual force. The latter has been called Christ-Consciousness by theosophists and Oprah, or cosmic consciousness by astrologers, science fiction geeks, and others.
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The entire Koran is Mohammed's quote. Jesus is mentioned in only an ancilary way.
Couldn't you also say this about the Bible, since the trinity-as-one phenomenon allows a certain substitution between Father/Jesus/Holy Spirit? Similarly, "The entire Bible is Logos' (or God the Father's) quote." who was manifest in the flesh as Jesus.
One difference is that while Christians elevate Jesus to the status of "one true god" through the trinity, Muslims do not and attribute the status of "one true god" only to Allah, considering Mohammed a prophet, messenger, and messiah but not the one true god.
Regardless, what I am trying to comprehend is how these theological differences are so much more frequently pitted against one another to justify inquisitions or holy wars, rather than overlooked in order to find common ground.
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In the end, no one. Both lose loved ones and possession. This conflict hurts trade as much as it does people.
I agree. To me, it seems that both the jihadists and the "religious right" are stuck in the same trap. They are both used as "useful idiots" for the global power elite, who stand to gain enormous profits by financing either or both sides of the wars, happily lending them both the money and propaganda to kill each other.
