Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are known as the monotheistic, Abrahamic religions. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims and followers of Judaism are known as Jews. All three faiths use different texts; the Muslims use the Quran, the Christians have the Holy Bible and the Jews rely on a modified version of the Christian Old Testament. Quranists use the Quran, while other Muslims may accept certain supplementary texts as the truth.
The three faiths have a lot more in common than many people realize. All have their foundation in the same family, the family of Abraham. This is the story of Abraham as it is written in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is meant to be used as a source of information. It is not an evangelistic tool.
God created the Earth as a home for Man. He created Man as a source of companionship. Eternity can get boring and lonely if you don't have anyone to talk to. The purpose of humanity is to love, praise and worship the Lord. Adam and Eve were to be the mother and father of all humanity. God gave them the run of the garden of Eden and dominion over the animals. Their one and only restriction was to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
Satan, or Lucifer, as he was known before he was thrown out of Heaven, had been one of God's three senior archangels. He was insanely jealous of Man and had a burning hatred for Adam and Eve. He came across Eve in the Garden of Eden one day, and managed to talk her into eating the fruit off the forbidden tree and to share it with Adam.
God was furious. He had given them everything. All He had asked in return was one little thing, not to eat the fruit, and they went and did it anyway. They were thrown out of heaven. Centuries later, the descendants of Adam and Eve had discovered lower levels of sin and spent their lives doing their own thing rather than obeying God's principles. God despaired of his creation, and sent a flood to destroy the whole sorry lot. The only ones spared were Noah and his family.
Of all of Noah's descendants, God noticed that a man named Abram was a righteous man who really loved Him and lived his life the way God had desired for everybody. He loved Abraham so much, that he promised him and his wife, Sarah, that their descendants would number as many as the stars. As they grew older without having any children, Sarah became impatient, and sent her maid, Hagar, to go to Abraham and start a family. Hagar had a boy named Ishmael, and the strange family lived harmoniously.
Then Sarah had a son of her own by Abraham. They called him Isaac. By now, Ishmael was a young teenager. She had no use for him and had him and his mother cast out of their home. God sent an angel to tell Hagar not to worry, that Ishmael would go on to become the father of a great nation. This was the Arab nation.
So there it is, the story of Abraham. That is why Judaism, Islam and Christianity are called the Abrahamic religions, because they all have their roots in this one man's family. While there are some major fundamental differences, there is more to unite them than there is to divide them.
The three faiths have a lot more in common than many people realize. All have their foundation in the same family, the family of Abraham. This is the story of Abraham as it is written in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is meant to be used as a source of information. It is not an evangelistic tool.
God created the Earth as a home for Man. He created Man as a source of companionship. Eternity can get boring and lonely if you don't have anyone to talk to. The purpose of humanity is to love, praise and worship the Lord. Adam and Eve were to be the mother and father of all humanity. God gave them the run of the garden of Eden and dominion over the animals. Their one and only restriction was to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge.
Satan, or Lucifer, as he was known before he was thrown out of Heaven, had been one of God's three senior archangels. He was insanely jealous of Man and had a burning hatred for Adam and Eve. He came across Eve in the Garden of Eden one day, and managed to talk her into eating the fruit off the forbidden tree and to share it with Adam.
God was furious. He had given them everything. All He had asked in return was one little thing, not to eat the fruit, and they went and did it anyway. They were thrown out of heaven. Centuries later, the descendants of Adam and Eve had discovered lower levels of sin and spent their lives doing their own thing rather than obeying God's principles. God despaired of his creation, and sent a flood to destroy the whole sorry lot. The only ones spared were Noah and his family.
Of all of Noah's descendants, God noticed that a man named Abram was a righteous man who really loved Him and lived his life the way God had desired for everybody. He loved Abraham so much, that he promised him and his wife, Sarah, that their descendants would number as many as the stars. As they grew older without having any children, Sarah became impatient, and sent her maid, Hagar, to go to Abraham and start a family. Hagar had a boy named Ishmael, and the strange family lived harmoniously.
Then Sarah had a son of her own by Abraham. They called him Isaac. By now, Ishmael was a young teenager. She had no use for him and had him and his mother cast out of their home. God sent an angel to tell Hagar not to worry, that Ishmael would go on to become the father of a great nation. This was the Arab nation.
So there it is, the story of Abraham. That is why Judaism, Islam and Christianity are called the Abrahamic religions, because they all have their roots in this one man's family. While there are some major fundamental differences, there is more to unite them than there is to divide them.
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