Doctrine+&+Tradition

Doctrine

Doctrine is defined as a collection of teachings that are specific to a certain religion. The teachings explain who their god is and what they expect from human beings. The teachings are regarded as sacred and are the basic moral guidelines for members of the church.

The most common example is the Christian Bible. Christians believe this to be the literal word of their god. Some denominations of Christianity take the entire bible  literally, word for word, while others may interpret it differently. The bible is composed of the New and Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Jewish Torah. While the New Testament is the story of the life of Jesus Christ, a man that Christians believe to be their savior. The New Testament also contains books telling how to be a good Christian. At the very end it contains the book Revelations, which tells of the rapture. The rapture is an apocalyptic event in which Christians believe that their god will descend upon the earth and all the good Christians will be taken up to heaven. All those left will endure a series of apocalyptic events including giant scorpions, an antichrist, famine and plague, and people left will be sent to hell( a place of eternal punishment) when it is all over. Another example would be the Jewish Torah. The Torah gives a story of creation, and basically a history of the Jews. At the end it contains books of different prophets prophesying of their savior’s birth. The main thing that discerns Jews from Christians is the fact that Jews do not believe in Jesus as their messiah or savior. Other than that they have similar moral beliefs.

A final example would be the Qur’an, the Islamic book of Muslim faith. It is believed to be the literal word of god brought down by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mohammed. Muslims basically believe that Christians had corrupted the message. They believe in Jesus, but as a prophet, not their savior. They believe in free will but also in predestination, that god already knows who is going to hell and who is going to heaven.

Tradition

Tradition and religion have been mixed together so much, the two words have almost become synonymous. Tradition is basically an inherited or established, custom or pattern, of though, belief, or behavior. There are many prime examples of tradition in religion. There are examples in religion of those who follow the old traditions, and examples of those who deviate from the old tradition and began new ones.

In Judaism, a boy reaches “manhood” when he turns thirteen. The customary celebration for this event is called the bar mitzvah. There is usually some sort of a party, and the boy sings a song in Hebrew. Another Jewish tradition is called the Passover. A week-long event in which they only have unleavened bread, in remembrance of their ancestors bondage in Egypt. There are many other traditions in Judaism like the holiday Hanukkah, the reading of the Torah at synagogue, the special hat men wear called the yamachka, even the prayer is traditional in Judaism. There are also many new traditions in Judaism, like the bat mitzvah, which is a bar mitzvah for girls, and even having a female rabbi. Some Jews may stay true to the tradition of being kosher, which means having no pork. The last tradition is for a Jewish boy to have a circumcision. Jews also regard Saturday as the holy day of rest, or the Sabbath.  Islam also had many traditional aspects. A Muslim must pray five times facing Mecca. Muslims also participate in Ramadan, a month of prayer and fasting. Muslims are also encouraged to make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their lifetime. The Qur’an is still written in the beautiful calligraphy of the Islamic people. Even the architecture of a mosque is traditional and still stays the same. Muslims usually do not deviate or make any new traditions.

And of course, there are traditional aspects of Christianity. Christians have a plentiful amount of traditions. Many denominations take part in an event called communion, an eating of a bread and drinking of wine, to symbolically represent the blood and flesh of their savior from the last supper. With certain denominations they believe their salvation comes from being baptized in the name of Jesus, and receiving the gift of the “holy ghost”. Catholics also have a tradition in which the baby is baptized a short while after birth. The tradition of the reading of the bible in Latin is also in Catholicism.Christians also

have a tradition of having church on Sunday, which they regard as their Sabbath. There are also traditional beliefs in all these religions. All three believe that God created the earth. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is their savior and messiah. Jews believe they are promised a messiah but Jesus was not him. Jews also believe they are promised the land of Israel. The Muslims believe that the Christians and Jews have corrupted the message.

The belief of a union of a man and woman being the only right way is very controversial amongst religious and secular people. Most believe God intended for it to only be man and woman, but there are some that bring a strong argument that homosexuality is supported by and perfectly okay in religion. Something else that may be traditional may be deserted, such as a man from a predominantly Christian family converting to Islam. The idea of tradition and whether or not it is important in religion is very controversial.

Works Cited

Wolfe, Alan. //The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith //. New York: Free, 2003. Print.