PRESENTED BY: IVY D.

LISING
The Human and Divine
Jesus
Jesus

۞ The life of Jesus in the New Testament is primarily outlined in the four
canonical gospels, which includes his genealogy and nativity, public ministry,
passion, prophecy, resurrection and ascension.
۞ born in Bethlehem to Mary, whose husband was a carpenter named Joseph.
۞ raised in Nazareth (a town in Galilee) and became a carpenter.
 Jesus
۞ When he was 30 years old, he sought out John the
Baptist for baptism.
۞ After his baptism, Jesus began his public ministry by
retreating into the desert for 40 days, where, according
to Christian tradition, he experienced temptations from
the devil that he overcame.
۞ Upon his return from the desert, Jesus recruited disciples,
including those who became the Twelve Apostles.
۞ Jesus then took up preaching, largely through
parables—short stories with moral or religious messages.
Jesus ۞ Through his ministry, Jesus gained a reputation as a healer
of the sick and afflicted, and a performer of miracles.
۞ When he was 33 years old, the Roman authorities arrested
him. He was tried before the Roman procurator, Pontius
Pilate. Found guilty of inciting rebellion against the Roman
government, Jesus was crucified.
۞ For Christians, however, that very brief overview doesn’t
begin to cover the half of it. For them, Jesus is the face of
God. He is the Messiah, the Christ, and the Anointed One.
Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, the three-part
Godhead:
 God the Father, creator of heaven and earth.
 God the Son, who became human in the form of
Jesus Christ.
 God the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies humankind.
 Jesus
۞ Although divine, he chose to come to earth to redeem
the sins of humankind (Philippians 2:5-11), which he did
through his death and resurrection.
۞ According to Christian tradition, after he was
resurrected from the dead, Jesus ascended to heaven
to sit at the right hand of God, where he will meet all
who die to offer them a new life in the next world.
۞ According to Christian belief, the second coming of
Jesus, called in Greek the parousia, will provide the
opportunity for Jesus to finish his Messianic work and
defeat the forces of evil on earth.
muhammad
The “Seal of the Prophets”
and Father of Islam
 Muhammad
۞ The final prophet of God, according to Islam, is
Muhammad. He was born in Mecca around 570 C.E.
۞ According to legend, his mother heard a heavenly
voice when he was born, and it was said that a light
shone from her womb all the way to Syria. Despite the
picturesque image surrounding his birth, tragedy
touched Muhammad’s life early.
 His father had died shortly before his birth;
 his mother died when he was six.
 His grandfather, who cared for him after his
mother’s death died when he eight.
 Muhammad
۞ Muhammad’s uncle then took responsibility for him.
Although not wealthy, Muhammad’s uncle welcomed him
into his family.
۞ When Muhammad reached adulthood, he took a job with
a wealthy merchant, named Khadijah.
۞ Although he was more than ten years younger than her,
Muhammad impressed Khadijah.
۞ She married this hard-working and honest man. The
couple had two sons, who died young, and four
daughters, one of whom provided him with grandsons.
 Muhammad
۞ During Khadijah’s life, Muhammad did not take
another wife. Through his marriage, Muhammad
gained not only wealth and a strong political
standing in the community, but a loving wife who
was the first to believe in his prophetic abilities—
even before he himself did.
۞ As much as Muslims revere Muhammad, they
don’t consider him divine. (The earthly emanation
of God’s divinity is the Qur’an.) Nevertheless,
Muhammad was the last and the greatest of
God’s prophets. For this reason, Muslims call him
the “Seal of the Prophets.”
 The Revelation of the Qur’an

۞ Although not the first of his people to believe in a single God, Muhammad was the one who
came to believe that Allah’s powers were far greater and more magnificent than anyone
up to that point could imagine.
۞ It was during one of his spiritual retreats, when he was about 40 years old, that the angel
Gabriel appeared to Muhammad.
۞ Through Gabriel, God began the recitation, the Qur’an, of his laws and will.
۞ Muhammad, often in a trancelike state, would repeat God’s exact words as they came to
him, committing them to memory and later having them transcribed.
۞ These revelations continued over the next 23 years.
 Life in Mecca
۞ Muhammad, anointed by God and with God’s own words to proclaim,
began to preach the message of Allah to the people of Mecca. His
message wasn’t well received for a couple of reasons:
 He preached of one god to an audience that largely believed in
many gods and goddesses.
 Their city was in chaos because of tribal rivalries, and the members of
the delegation needed someone not associated with any particular
faction within the city tribes to restore order and lead the city.
۞ After receiving a sign of from God that he should go, Muhammad left
Mecca for Medina in 622. This journey, called the Hijrah, marks the
beginning of the Islamic calendar.
siddhartha
gautama
The Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama
۞ The term Buddha is not a name but a title.
۞ It means “enlightened one,” and according to Buddhist theology, there are innumerable
Buddhas.
۞ The Buddha to which people now refer, the one who existed in the world in which we
exist, is the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama.
۞ According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha had many lives before he was born as
Gautama. It was in this life that he finally experienced the ultimate enlightenment and the
ultimate release—parinirvana —an end to the cycle of being reborn. It refers to nirvana-
after-death, which occurs upon the death of someone who has attained nirvana during his
or her lifetime.
Siddhartha Gautama
۞ When Siddhartha Gautama came into the
world, an astrologer told his wealthy father
that his newborn son would become either a
monarch or a monk.
۞ His father, fearing the loss of his son to
religion, surrounded Gautama with
possessions, relationships, and luxurious living
conditions.
۞ When he was 16, Siddhartha married and
had a child. He lived, unquestioning, in
extravagance and luxury until he reached the
age of 29, when he decided to leave the
confines of the family estate.
 Siddhartha Gautama
۞ Beyond the walls of the palace, He encountered an
old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk.
→ Seeing the first three people made him question the
true nature of existence;
→ seeing the monk made him question how one could
have inner tranquility amid such misery
۞ Realizing that his own life had been sheltered and
that the world was actually filled with pain and
sorrow, Gautama went looking for answers.
۞ This revelation led him to pursue the path of
asceticism and a life of self-denial, which he thought
would lead him to peace.
 Seeing The Light
۞ In his early attempts at living austerely, Gautama just became frustrated.
۞ Despite fasting, meditating, and denying all pleasures and comforts, he just became unhappier.
۞ While denying himself, he met a young maiden who asked him if he was hungry. He asked her if
she could appease his hunger. Not realizing that he was looking for spiritual fulfillment, she
offered him food to eat under a large tree (which was the Bohdi tree, the tree of wisdom).
۞ Sitting under the tree, Gautama came to realize what he was looking for: an awakening in his soul
and an illumination in his spirit.
۞ This spiritual moment led him to understand that life’s meaning was not found in deprivation but in
balance. He didn’t have to be spiritually ascetic to be aware and fulfilled. He began to
understand his own calling and started to preach a doctrine of inclusion and the Middle Path for
45 years.
 Living and Teaching the Middle Path

۞ The Middle Path, more a concept than a doctrine, describes a journey in which human beings
attempt to lead a life with no extremes, or the middle way.
۞ Gautama practiced yoga and taught the Four Noble Truths:
 Truth One: Existence is always tainted by sorrow and dissatisfaction.
 Truth Two: The cause of sorrow and dissatisfaction is human desire & attachment to people
& things.
 Truth Three: Human beings can achieve freedom or release in nirvana.
 Truth Four: The Noble Eightfold Path is the way to find release:

Right understanding Right speech Right livelihood Right mindfulness

Right thought Right conduct Right effort Right concentration
 Living and Teaching the Middle Path

۞ Gautama encouraged his disciples, whether rich or poor, male or female, ignorant or learned, to
abstain from killing any living thing and to seek time for meditation. He also performed miracles
and eventually died of an illness in the city of Shravasti.
۞ For Gautama, the goal of life was to discover the cause of sorrow and the way to escape it. If we
can eradicate the desire for sensual enjoyment, all sorrows and pains will end. The soul will enjoy
nirvana, and the cycle of rebirths will be completed.
۞ Gautama encouraged his followers to be aware, to seek meaning and balance, and to recognize
that certain human problems will not be changed. The world, according to Gautama, will always
be fraught with problems. While many in the West would seek to resolve the problems of the
world, Gautama encouraged his followers to meditate on them. The real transformation for
Gautama came not in the elimination of the problem but in the transformation of the disciple.
Thank you &
GodBless!