Europe and America are the relationships between man and god
(1) Historical origin Not only in Europe and America, but religion is the core of the culture in most parts of the world. There are three major religions in the world: Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Christianity originated from Judaism in the Middle East, and gradually spread throughout Europe, and with the colonization of Europe, it spread to the Americas, Australia and Africa. There were some missionaries from Europe who came to China to preach, but they were very unsuccessful. Islam is split from Christianity. Because of the simple teachings at the beginning and low requirements for believers, it was widely spread in the Middle East and expanded from the Middle East to Africa, Southern Europe, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and other regions. One of the biggest common ground between Christianity and Islam is monotheism. We translate the God of Christianity as God and the God of Islam as God, which actually means the same thing. The main difference between the two is that Christianity is based on the New Testament of the Bible; Islam is based on the Old Testament of the Bible, and the Quran is derived separately. The prophet Moses who led the Jews out of Egypt in the Bible became the prophet Muhammad in the Qur'an.
The biggest difference between Christianity and Islam today is that Christianity is based on the New Testament of the Bible, and Islam is based on the Old Testament of the Bible. (2) God created man A fundamental starting point of Christianity and Islam is that everything in the world, including humans, is created by God. But God only gave human souls. Everything else, including animals, has no souls. They only serve humans.
Since man was created by God, man is not qualified to use the "bad" hands created by God to make or draw the image of God. Therefore, we have heard the names of "God" and "Allah" countless times, but we have never seen their image. This is one of the basic logic. The second logic is that since man was created by the god "God" or "Allah", if man does not believe in his creator but in other gods, such as believing in Buddha, believing in Tianmu, worshiping fire, etc., that is The greatest disrespect to one's creator-"God" or "Allah". Therefore, whether it is the early beliefs of Christianity or the most basic doctrines of Islam, that is, the fundamentalists we are talking about today, there is no tolerance for infidels who do not believe in the "God" or "Allah" they believe in. . The god "God" or "Allah" created you, but you do not believe in "God" or "Allah", but have other beliefs. This kind of pagan is a traitor to "God" or "Allah," and it is natural that the sin deserves ten thousand deaths, and of course it should be killed. Believe in other gods and build statues of other gods. Of course, such statues must be destroyed. Therefore, we see that under the rule of the Taliban, the Bamiyan Buddha must be erased. It is this extreme exclusivity that has led to continuous religious wars in western Eurasia for thousands of years.
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(3) Human nature is bad Because Adam and Eve ate the poisonous forbidden fruit, the people afterwards became very bad. All people have become greedy, have no integrity, profit-only, bully the weak, sinister and cunning, and disrespect God. In order to punish the "hateful" human beings in the world, God once dropped a fire from the sky and caused a flood, hoping to wipe out the human beings he created, leaving only a few people who believe in God. The offspring of these people have developed more, and people who do not believe in God will continue to appear, exposing people's own evil nature. (4) How to be a good person Human nature is so bad, isn't this world completely finished?
No, Christianity and Islam show us a clear path: Believe in God or Allah unconditionally, and do what God or Allah wants, and you can become a good person!
In order to make people "good people", Christianity has established churches in various places. After children are born, they have to go to church for baptism. From the point of sensibility, parents must take them to church every week to listen to the pastor's preaching.
Islam requires believers to pray five times a day. There are mosques in various places, and imams explain the Quran to the believers. Therefore, in the eyes of believers in Christianity and Islam, whether or not they believe in religion is the most basic criterion for judging a person's quality. Therefore, we have seen that, like Bush, Trump, Biden, etc., successive U.S. presidents have repeatedly proclaimed that they firmly believe in God during the election campaign or after taking office as president. The purpose is to tell the American people that they are good people. (5) Deterrence Whether it is Christianity or Islam, God and Allah are present everywhere and everywhere. Therefore, everyone is under the eyes of God or Allah at all times, and there is no place to hide. If a person does something that violates the doctrine, he will definitely be punished by God or Allah, and he will definitely go to hell after death.
This kind of deterrence makes believers believe that not only should they not do bad things, but they should not even have the idea of doing bad things. If you have done something bad and do not want to go to hell after death, you must go to the church to confess to God's servant pastor in order to obtain God's forgiveness. After understanding this religious characteristic of Western culture, we can understand how much courage it took Nietzsche and later Hegel and some famous scientists to say "God is dead". (6) The concept of equality for all is easy to popularize Since people are created by God, everyone should be equal. If we read the Bible carefully, we will know that after the prophet Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Israelites wanted to have their own king, and God was initially opposed to it. The reason is that it is enough for a prophet to convey the will of God to the people, and there is no need for another king to come out. The Israelis themselves must have a king. Only after God compromised did they begin to have stories such as King David. Then according to the attitude of these kings to God, the rise and fall of the nation of Israel were determined. Therefore, in Christianity, people are equal, and the authority of the king is limited and often harmful. It is precisely this logic that theocracy has always been higher than the royal power in the West. Fortunately, although religion occupies an extremely important position in Europe, European countries have established municipal governments one after another, unlike the Middle Eastern countries that still have a political and religious structure. After such a historical evolution, after the subsequent religious reforms and the industrial revolution, all people in the West are equal, and the democratic system that has evolved from this has become inevitable.
. Confucianism is the relationship between people (1) The history of China is the history of urban customs In China's five thousand years of civilization history, religion has never occupied a dominant position. Regarding the origin of people, there are legends in China that Nüwa created human beings, but Nüwa died shortly after creating human beings, so naturally she would no longer take care of human affairs. Moreover, in Chinese legends, Nuwa only created human beings, and the world was created by Pangu. These ancient Chinese gods are not immortal and do not participate in human affairs. The so-called monarch power is just to find an excuse for the rationality of one's own rule. Therefore, God is only a supplement to spiritual life in the entire history of Chinese civilization. China has always been a civic society since ancient times. (2) The formation of China's humanistic system Chinese society before the Spring and Autumn Period was a period of development of agricultural civilization. During this period of time, a consistent ideological system was not formed, but people's thoughts and behaviors were regulated by sacrifices to heaven, ancestors, and etiquette. Spring and Autumn is a period of great development of Chinese ideology. Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism represented by Confucius, Laozi, and Mozi have formed a relatively complete philosophical system, represented by Guiguzi, formed a vertical and horizontal technique, and represented by Sunzi, established a complete system of warfare. There is also the legalist system represented by Han Feizi.
After Qin unified China, a centralized control system was established. Qin's ruling based on the legalist system (note that this is not a concept at all with today's rule of law) died after a short period of two generations, which proved that the legalist system had huge defects. In the early Han Dynasty, people's livelihood was declining due to years of warfare. The emperors who followed Liu Bang followed the old yellow way of ruling by doing nothing, which played a very good role in recuperating and restoring. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty entered a period of prosperity. Dong Zhongshu believed that Confucianism was the most suitable culture for the ruling system at that time.
Islam requires believers to pray five times a day. There are mosques in various places, and imams explain the Quran to the believers. Therefore, in the eyes of believers in Christianity and Islam, whether or not they believe in religion is the most basic criterion for judging a person's quality. Therefore, we have seen that, like Bush, Trump, Biden, etc., successive U.S. presidents have repeatedly proclaimed that they firmly believe in God during the election campaign or after taking office as president. The purpose is to tell the American people that they are good people. (5) Deterrence Whether it is Christianity or Islam, God and Allah are present everywhere and everywhere. Therefore, everyone is under the eyes of God or Allah at all times, and there is no place to hide. If a person does something that violates the doctrine, he will definitely be punished by God or Allah, and he will definitely go to hell after death.
This kind of deterrence makes believers believe that not only should they not do bad things, but they should not even have the idea of doing bad things. If you have done something bad and do not want to go to hell after death, you must go to the church to confess to God's servant pastor in order to obtain God's forgiveness. After understanding this religious characteristic of Western culture, we can understand how much courage it took Nietzsche and later Hegel and some famous scientists to say "God is dead". (6) The concept of equality for all is easy to popularize Since people are created by God, everyone should be equal. If we read the Bible carefully, we will know that after the prophet Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, the Israelites wanted to have their own king, and God was initially opposed to it. The reason is that it is enough for a prophet to convey the will of God to the people, and there is no need for another king to come out. The Israelis themselves must have a king. Only after God compromised did they begin to have stories such as King David. Then according to the attitude of these kings to God, the rise and fall of the nation of Israel were determined. Therefore, in Christianity, people are equal, and the authority of the king is limited and often harmful. It is precisely this logic that theocracy has always been higher than the royal power in the West. Fortunately, although religion occupies an extremely important position in Europe, European countries have established municipal governments one after another, unlike the Middle Eastern countries that still have a political and religious structure. After such a historical evolution, after the subsequent religious reforms and the industrial revolution, all people in the West are equal, and the democratic system that has evolved from this has become inevitable.
. Confucianism is the relationship between people (1) The history of China is the history of urban customs In China's five thousand years of civilization history, religion has never occupied a dominant position. Regarding the origin of people, there are legends in China that Nüwa created human beings, but Nüwa died shortly after creating human beings, so naturally she would no longer take care of human affairs. Moreover, in Chinese legends, Nuwa only created human beings, and the world was created by Pangu. These ancient Chinese gods are not immortal and do not participate in human affairs. The so-called monarch power is just to find an excuse for the rationality of one's own rule. Therefore, God is only a supplement to spiritual life in the entire history of Chinese civilization. China has always been a civic society since ancient times. (2) The formation of China's humanistic system Chinese society before the Spring and Autumn Period was a period of development of agricultural civilization. During this period of time, a consistent ideological system was not formed, but people's thoughts and behaviors were regulated by sacrifices to heaven, ancestors, and etiquette. Spring and Autumn is a period of great development of Chinese ideology. Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism represented by Confucius, Laozi, and Mozi have formed a relatively complete philosophical system, represented by Guiguzi, formed a vertical and horizontal technique, and represented by Sunzi, established a complete system of warfare. There is also the legalist system represented by Han Feizi.
After Qin unified China, a centralized control system was established. Qin's ruling based on the legalist system (note that this is not a concept at all with today's rule of law) died after a short period of two generations, which proved that the legalist system had huge defects. In the early Han Dynasty, people's livelihood was declining due to years of warfare. The emperors who followed Liu Bang followed the old yellow way of ruling by doing nothing, which played a very good role in recuperating and restoring. By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty entered a period of prosperity. Dong Zhongshu believed that Confucianism was the most suitable culture for the ruling system at that time.
As a result, Confucianism has become the core of Chinese culture since 2000.
(3) Confucianism is the relationship between people
Confucianism has the following core ideas:
1) The benevolent loves others
Benevolence is the most important core idea of Confucianism. Benevolence is considered to be the most fundamental attribute of human beings. From this, the "San Zi Jing" in the "Three Characters" has evolved from the beginning of "human nature is good".
Confucianism believes that people should be kind to others.
To be kind to others, the word "righteousness" and the word "faith" must be emphasized between people.
Righteousness has not only moral principles, but also responsibilities between people.
It is the most important ideological foundation of Sinochem Civilization, and it also embodies today's universal values.
2) Orderly
Confucian culture attaches great importance to respect for the elderly, and the core is filial piety, loyalty, and loyalty.
It regulates the relationship between the emperor and the minister, father and son, and brothers.
In order to achieve superiority and inferiority and order, it is necessary for the ministers to obey the emperor, the lower to the upper, and the young to the elder to be absolutely obedient. Committing chaos is a big rebellion.
Orderly respect and inferiority have a huge effect on the stability of society.
Under this system, the term "truth" does not exist, and right or wrong is entirely determined by the deity and the elder.
Orderly respect and inferiority naturally lead to the formation of an unequal pyramid structure in the entire society.
With respect and inferiority, how can equality be achieved?
This also determines the culture of China's winners and losers.
If you can completely destroy the previous dynasty, you are fulfilling the destiny and you can call the emperor the honor; if you fail, you are the guilty bandit, and you should destroy the nine tribes.
This has also led to the fact that Chinese culture is neither black nor white, and lacks tolerance for different viewpoints.
3) Restraining oneself and returning to rituals
"Rite" occupies an extremely important position in Confucius' thinking.
Li is an external form that determines dignity and inferiority. It is a code of conduct and thus becomes a code of ethics.
Confucius believed that the world was peaceful due to Zhou rituals, and the chaos in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was entirely caused by "rituals collapsed and happy."
Confucius regarded Zhou as an ideal society hundreds of years ago, and today's society is completely incomparable with hundreds of years ago.
In order to restore Zhou's ideal society, we need "wisdom" and self-denial.
The so-called self-denial is to control one's desires.
Only through learning to acquire "wisdom", practice, and self-examination can we achieve self-denial.
When Confucianism became the mainstream of Chinese civilization, it became a subconscious that deeply influenced the thinking of Chinese people, making us unwilling to believe in today's progress. Instead, we like to look backwards and are always willing to find answers from the ancients.
For example, today many people naturally think that the palace secret formula is more effective than the newly developed skin cream; Zhouyi is more intelligent than today's scholars; the oldest "Huangdi Neijing" represents the highest achievement of Chinese medicine.
The culture of self-denial also allows the Chinese to form a restrained character.
4) The Golden Mean
The Doctrine of the Mean comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean", not proposed by Confucius, but it has also become one of the important components of Confucianism.
Its core idea is not to go to extremes when doing things, and it should conform to the overall concept of most people.
The doctrine of the mean has played an important role in maintaining social stability.
From another perspective, it also greatly suppresses the creation of innovative ideas.
(4) Buddhism and Confucianism have many similarities
In Buddhism, there is no distinction between man and god, or Buddha.
Buddhism believes that people are unborn Buddhas, and people who have become enlightened by Buddhas.
Therefore, man and Buddha naturally have no relationship between absolute rule and being ruled. The benevolence required by Buddhism is completely interlinked with the benevolence of Confucianism; the self-cultivation of Buddhism is interlinked with the self-denial of Confucianism. Since the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, which is popular in China, is to universalize all living beings, it is not repellent to any culture and is compatible with Confucianism. As far as Buddhism is concerned, after you believe in the Buddha, you choose not to believe in it again. It just ends when you don’t have the predestined relationship with the Buddha. At this point, there is a fundamental difference between Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. (5) Deterrence 1) Clan system Although China's imperial power has supreme authority, for ordinary people, the emperor is far away from the mountain. In addition to taxation and labor, imperial power generally does not control the daily lives of the people. In China's feudal society, there is a saying that the imperial power does not go to the county, and the management of the grassroots depends on the family-style folk patriarchal system. Each family will formulate family rules based on Confucianism, and the elders in the family will be the executors.
The clan system handed down from generation to generation makes people feel awe of their ancestors, and violations of the clan rules will be punished immediately. In addition, because the individual's abnormal behavior is not accepted by the ethnic group, each individual will suppress his desires and be as consistent as possible with other people in the ethnic group. 2) The restraint of the inherent goodness of sex The Confucian concept of being good at nature has been deeply rooted in the Chinese nation after more than two thousand years of inheritance. Everyone thinks that being a good person is a matter of course, and being a bad person is a big deal. If a person wants to do bad things, it must be tempted or forced by the outside world, and it must be against one's heart. This makes everyone instinctively resist doing bad things from the bottom of their hearts. 3) Karma The widespread spread of Buddhism in China has made the concept of karma deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. People generally believe that doing bad things will definitely lead to bad results for themselves. According to the Buddhist view of reincarnation, even if you escape this life, you will go to hell after death, be tortured, or be punished in the next life. (1) The tolerance of Chinese culture As mentioned in the previous article, there is a conceptual extreme of success and failure in Chinese culture, but Chinese civilization is also extremely tolerant at the same time. This inclusiveness is determined by the national unity and broad regionality. In addition to the unification of characters and the extensive exchanges brought about by the modern transportation network, the Han people in China today will see that there are huge differences in the languages and customs of the east, west, north and south. This difference is no less than the difference between European nations. China has been a centralized and highly unified country for more than two thousand years, starting with the same text and the same writing in Qin Shihuang's book. The Chinese civilization spans thousands of miles from east to west, north and south, and there are huge differences in customs and dialects in various regions. The difference in population density is not very large, and there is no generation gap in social development. It is completely impossible for a group with common customs, language and habits to control All the others rushed to extinction. It can only tolerate the customs and dialect characteristics of the people in each region. People in various regions have experienced peaceful coexistence and mutual exchanges for more than two thousand years. Naturally, the entire Chinese nation has formed a huge tolerance mentality for the living habits and dialects of people in different regions. There is no religious exclusivity in Europe and the Middle East in the history of vulgar countries. . Commonness Whether it is Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, or Islam, nuclear content is to persuade people to be good. Christianity uses the New Testament of the Bible as its main preaching content. The New Testament of the Bible only tells Jesus' various stories about saving people and doing good deeds through his apostles over and over again. Even the final death is also my own willingness, for the purpose of pursuing the people, which is similar to the Buddhist story of feeding a tiger with the body. The purpose is to let people do more good deeds and become good people. Most of the pages in the Islamic holy song "The Koran" teaches that believers should do good deeds and help each other, and it is clearly stated that the rich should donate one-tenth of their wealth to the poor. Buddhism requires not only to be kind to people, but also not to kill. In Confucianism, the benevolent loves others also requires that a person should be good by nature.
Therefore, man and Buddha naturally have no relationship between absolute rule and being ruled. The benevolence required by Buddhism is completely interlinked with the benevolence of Confucianism; the self-cultivation of Buddhism is interlinked with the self-denial of Confucianism. Since the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, which is popular in China, is to universalize all living beings, it is not repellent to any culture and is compatible with Confucianism. As far as Buddhism is concerned, after you believe in the Buddha, you choose not to believe in it again. It just ends when you don’t have the predestined relationship with the Buddha. At this point, there is a fundamental difference between Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. (5) Deterrence 1) Clan system Although China's imperial power has supreme authority, for ordinary people, the emperor is far away from the mountain. In addition to taxation and labor, imperial power generally does not control the daily lives of the people. In China's feudal society, there is a saying that the imperial power does not go to the county, and the management of the grassroots depends on the family-style folk patriarchal system. Each family will formulate family rules based on Confucianism, and the elders in the family will be the executors.
The clan system handed down from generation to generation makes people feel awe of their ancestors, and violations of the clan rules will be punished immediately. In addition, because the individual's abnormal behavior is not accepted by the ethnic group, each individual will suppress his desires and be as consistent as possible with other people in the ethnic group. 2) The restraint of the inherent goodness of sex The Confucian concept of being good at nature has been deeply rooted in the Chinese nation after more than two thousand years of inheritance. Everyone thinks that being a good person is a matter of course, and being a bad person is a big deal. If a person wants to do bad things, it must be tempted or forced by the outside world, and it must be against one's heart. This makes everyone instinctively resist doing bad things from the bottom of their hearts. 3) Karma The widespread spread of Buddhism in China has made the concept of karma deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. People generally believe that doing bad things will definitely lead to bad results for themselves. According to the Buddhist view of reincarnation, even if you escape this life, you will go to hell after death, be tortured, or be punished in the next life. (1) The tolerance of Chinese culture As mentioned in the previous article, there is a conceptual extreme of success and failure in Chinese culture, but Chinese civilization is also extremely tolerant at the same time. This inclusiveness is determined by the national unity and broad regionality. In addition to the unification of characters and the extensive exchanges brought about by the modern transportation network, the Han people in China today will see that there are huge differences in the languages and customs of the east, west, north and south. This difference is no less than the difference between European nations. China has been a centralized and highly unified country for more than two thousand years, starting with the same text and the same writing in Qin Shihuang's book. The Chinese civilization spans thousands of miles from east to west, north and south, and there are huge differences in customs and dialects in various regions. The difference in population density is not very large, and there is no generation gap in social development. It is completely impossible for a group with common customs, language and habits to control All the others rushed to extinction. It can only tolerate the customs and dialect characteristics of the people in each region. People in various regions have experienced peaceful coexistence and mutual exchanges for more than two thousand years. Naturally, the entire Chinese nation has formed a huge tolerance mentality for the living habits and dialects of people in different regions. There is no religious exclusivity in Europe and the Middle East in the history of vulgar countries. . Commonness Whether it is Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, or Islam, nuclear content is to persuade people to be good. Christianity uses the New Testament of the Bible as its main preaching content. The New Testament of the Bible only tells Jesus' various stories about saving people and doing good deeds through his apostles over and over again. Even the final death is also my own willingness, for the purpose of pursuing the people, which is similar to the Buddhist story of feeding a tiger with the body. The purpose is to let people do more good deeds and become good people. Most of the pages in the Islamic holy song "The Koran" teaches that believers should do good deeds and help each other, and it is clearly stated that the rich should donate one-tenth of their wealth to the poor. Buddhism requires not only to be kind to people, but also not to kill. In Confucianism, the benevolent loves others also requires that a person should be good by nature.
It's just that there are differences in the methods of implementation.
. Compatibility of Civilizations
In 1996, the famous American political scientist Samuel Huntington's representative work "The Clash of Civilizations and the Reconstruction of the World Order" was published and published, and the Chinese version was released in China in 2013.
His views have been sought after by many people, and most of the 10 predictions he made more than 20 years ago have been realized.
But I do not fully agree with his views.
There are two reasons:
(1) The Internet has changed the world
When Huntington's work was completed, the Internet had not yet developed, and the exchanges between civilizations were far less profound than they are today.
The Internet provides a window for people from all walks of life in every civilization in the world to understand the civilizations of other regions, which has expanded the exchange of civilizations by countless times compared to 20 years ago.
When there is communication, there will be understanding, when there is understanding, there will be comparison, and when there is comparison, there will be reflection.
Such exchanges and reflections will promote the integration of different civilizations and reduce hostility.
The wide range of information dissemination caused by the Internet also enables decision makers in various countries to obtain more extensive, more complete, and timely information in a timely manner, reducing blindness and impulsivity in decision-making.
This helps eliminate unnecessary conflicts.
(2) The future of civilization should be peace rather than war
Although the history of human civilization has always been accompanied by wars. During the Second World War, the mutual killing of humans reached a peak, and the atomic bomb could kill more than one billion people at one time, but people also fully realized that modern warfare will affect the entire mankind. A series of international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and the World Monetary Fund have been established to prevent the outbreak of large-scale wars.
In the three-quarters of a century after World War II, there has been no large-scale war in the world. In such a long period of peace that is rare for mankind, the economy has developed explosively, and people in most parts of the world have got rid of hunger and poverty. , A considerable part of the people lead a prosperous life.
Human civilization has also developed to an unprecedented height. More than 100 countries in the world have abolished the death penalty, and countries that have not abolished the death penalty are also more cautious in applying the death penalty.
Human rights organizations, animal protection organizations, and environmental protection organizations are unprecedentedly active.
Worldwide, respect for life is generally raised to an unprecedented level.
Heretical values are no longer regarded as crimes.
This will cause people to think logically:
The abolition of the death penalty allows the most heinous criminals to keep their lives. Because of the different views between countries, thousands of innocent soldiers with wives and children are allowed to fight each other on the battlefield. It is completely logically unreasonable.
In fact, although local wars have continued over the past 70 years, it has become increasingly difficult for major powers to start a war.
The world has generally believed that it is crazy to start a war easily, and even the leaders of small countries have not dared to speak at will.
The military power of major powers today is more about deterrence than for direct war.
The future must be more to resolve state-to-state disputes through diplomatic and economic means, rather than through cruel wars that will tarnish life.
