by David Roberson

Created on: July 10, 2007   Last Updated: July 11, 2007

The thing that all religions have in common is the emergence of individuals who have been committed to answering the difficult questions that we face in life. In indigenous cultures, individuals predisposed to this kind of wisdom have always been encouraged and cultivated as part of the tribe, in which the needs of the community were met by those who were capable of fulfilling those needs. The wise men of the tribe made it their duty to gather, enhance and pass on the wisdom from one generation to the next. There being no answers that could not be questioned, there were no final answers. Unfortunately, people wanted final answers, and so they turned to "higher authorities" to get them.

The search for God had begun, and spiritual belief evolved into religion. Religions without personal founders were born of collected traditions and wisdom reaching back to a community's earliest ancestors. They were established under different circumstances, in different cultures, and among people with different languages. Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism (and to a lesser degree, Confucianism) can be put into a class apart from Hinduism and indigenous religions, by virtue of having a singular and notable founder. This gives them many significant similarities which can be found even in the circumstances in their founders' life experiences.

How are Christianity and Islam different from Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, or ancient, indigenous beliefs? Now there's a big question! There's actually an art to answering a question like this. On one level, newer religions differ from older religions by virtue of emerging in the shadow of older beliefs. The differences in religion spring from differences in the world in the time and place each religion was founded. They are cosmetic, rather than cosmic, differences.

The human mind can only encompass ideas for which it has concepts and words to relate to with. This is true whether God is in the picture or not. Any divine inspiration a human might be given is limited by the language he or she attempted to communicate (or even think about) it in. A revelation from God, or any being, is only meaningful if the person it is revealed to is capable of understanding it. A revelation transmitted through a person is only valid if he or she is capable of communicating it accurately to someone else (and if no one else tampers with the message!).

Certain basic concepts have to be in common use before a new idea can be introduced

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