Belief in Christianity is rational

In this round, i will compare the method of interpretation of Christianity with others of the major religions. Next round, i will in more detail compare the beliefs of Christianity and other religions. Judaism: Modern Judaism has strayed from the tenants of ancient Old Testament Judaism. After the destruction of the 2nd Temple, Jews began introducing their own laws and interpretations of the ancient Scriptures through the rabbis and other religious authorities. Traditional interpretations and explanations of how to follow the written Torah were compiled in the Oral Torah. Of course, any teaching coming from the rabbis of this period will probably not be the original interpretation of ancient Scripture. Even in wiki, it is noted the following: "Ancient halakot which have no connection whatever with Scripture and can not be connected with it, thus deriving their authority only from the tradition which ascribes them to Moses on Sinai. In the case of these two groups it is impossible to ascertain which elucidations and rules were really given to Moses on Sinai, and which were added later." Also, even if there are different opinions by the rabbis, they are still considered equal in authority. Customs and other practices were also attributed to Moses as well as other standards with no biblical support. An example is: "Statutes and regulations for which the scholars had no tradition or allusion in Scripture, but which they accepted as standards after deriving them from the customs and laws of the country in which they were living. These are called "Hilkot Medinah" No evidence is given to make any of these rules valid. In biblical hermenutics listed above, you are only concerned with what was originally written and the world in which the ancient Scriptures were written in. In Christianity, the belief is that if indeed the O.T prophesies of the Messiah and we find that he fulfills many things in the Scriptures through observable supernatural events such as miracles then it is only logical to believe that not only does that invalidate the teachings of the rabbis, it makes Jesus the voice of God and establishes his authority. The Old Testament validates prophets as divinely inspired by their miracles (ex. Moses performing miracles Ex. 7). For time purposes, i will only list the predictions and messianic verses made in the O.T with Jesus being the most likely candidate for them all (1). Islam: Islam is a religion which is monotheistic and holds Muhammad the prophet as the founder with the Koran as the central text. However, even the Koran derives itself from the divinity of the Torah and Jesus: Qur'an 5:46/47 and 43:63; "And in their (earlier prophets) footsteps, We sent Jesus the son of Mary, confirming the Taurat (the Jewish Torah), that had come before him: We sent him the Injeel (the Christian Gospel), therein was Guidance and Light. And confirmation of the Taurat ( the Torah), that had come before him: a Guidance and an Admonition to those who fear Allah." "Let the People of the Injeel (the Gospel), judge by what Allah had revealed therein. If any do fail to judge by what Allah had revealed, they are those who rebel." "When Jesus came with Clear Signs, he said: 'Now I have come to you with wisdom, in order to make clear to you some of the (points) on which you dispute*; therefore fear Allah and obey me**. For Allah is my God and your God***; so worship you Him****: this is a straight way." This totally disproves the claim that the Bible has been corrupted in favor of the Christians. With interpretations of the Koran, there seems to be no universal method to correctly establish an interpretation. In fact, anyone can bring their own interpretations to the Koran (2). In Christianity, this cannot be done at all. Interpretations must always be derived from the Old and New Testament with evidence to back it up. Unlike Islam which follows the revelation given by Muhammad, the Bible was written by many authors all which must validate their divine inspiration and their consistency with the Scriptures as a whole. Dating, archaeological artifacts, historical records, literary, and textual analysis are all vital to strictly finding the proper and original interpretation and eliminating any interpretations which arose later in time. Hinduism itself is not a religion, but a culture (3). There are also no set of set beliefs, leaving it open to endless possibilities of interpretation (4). Buddhism is also the same way (5) Sources: 1. http://secondcoming.freeservers.com... 2. http://www.themosqueinmorgantown.com... 3. http://hinduism.about.com... 4. http://www.bbc.co.uk... 5. http://en.wikipedia.org...