Jesus in Germany.

Jesus, the founder of Christianity. In Germany Jesus is very popular and religion is very much connected to this man.

In Germany Jesus is very popular. Jesus in Germany is most famous. Germans think well about other prophets but in Germany Jesus has a special place. The main religion in Germany is Christianity. And the smaller christian fractions are not all to common in Germany. So Germany is in most parts either protestant or catholic, which are two of the really big factions of Christianity. So you can say Germany is very much mainstream Christianity. Of course in Germany people feel the need to come to terms with religion and use the time to develope themselves and hope also to develop religion to be better. So in terms of defining the proper way of Christianity or the ways of Jesus Germany is very liberal luckily. Some people operate with the term Universe Spirituality as if religion was to old and spirituality would be the new thing while actually religion is spirituality, we can not go so hard for words. A basic idea of Germans is for example that you can come to God without going to church. And other world religions are to the German also an efford to come to the true God. Jesus has a multitude of name forms in the modern world. In Arabian countries Jesus is called Isa for example. Christianity from its word means something like “Isaism”. What most Germans would call God, in Islam they call Allah. In Buddhism God is called Ishvara and in Hinduism they say Brahma. But religion or good spirituality is about the higher things. And we can not yet understand the higher things. So we should not go for names so much. Nirvana is just another name for heaven. And the descriptions of nirvana in Buddhism are not generally better then those of heaven in Christianity. Both are partly right and partly very wrong. This is much how German people think in terms of religion. But they have been raised into the believe of Jesus, and Germans do have a hard time to completely level all prophets of all religions. So in Germany we really have the highest respect for Buddha and Muhammad, but Jesus in Germany will alway be the person of which we think that he could have been more holy than those other two. This is just a question of believing your parents. It is a form of religious patriotism, that comes from the believe that Christianity is our home religion. And of course Germans are rightfully proud of the liberal attitude that we have in religion. So Islam is sometimes in Germany thought of as a conservative religion that is behind its times. So a conversion to Islam could make people think at first: Hey why do you join such an old fashioned religion, where women are forced to wear special cloth and stuff. But of course the majority of the Germans is well aware that those are only the prejudices of the first moment, whereas Islam is of course among the respected world religions. And so in the end the majority of Germans is well convinced that the stories that we hear about Islam are much exaggerated and that Islam is in its core a proper religion. But as I said, to a German, feeling the great liberal movement in religion you won’t find to much understanding if you convert from Christianity to Islam. Because people think of Christianity to be basicly good and since they are shure that God does not judge people because of their religion they just will not think that it should be necessary to go and change to another religion if you actually are only changing the name of your believe. So Germans will not much understand people converting away from Christianity, and also will not to much understand people converting from another world religion to Christianity. It is just not necessary for the true God or Allah or Ishvara. So it is a big respect towards the big world religions that German christians believe that another Religions will also be sufficient to come to God.

So the worldwide effords to come to God or Allah or Ishvara are not at all thought of as being stupid by the overwhelming majority of Germans. In Germany people have learned this already very much. We understand mostly here that religion is a thing of the whole world, religion is a universal thing of humanity. And with the many connections, like that most religions have a word for God and most have a big prophet and most are trying to describe a way to perfection and most have a word for wrong practice, with all this we see here that our religions are not so different. In Christianity doing things that God does not like is called sin, in Islam such behaviour is called haram, so despite the name for it basicly this term describes the same idea.

Krishna with his blue color. In Hinduism you nearly can not think religion without this man. Very much the Jesus of Hinduism, even though in this form he is just a fiction.

To the usual german Jesus is well liked and as I said in being something like Germanys home religion Jesus might stay being of higher regard in Germany then the other prophets of the other religions. But Germans also like Krishna, Muhammad or Kung Fu Tse. We respect these people. Germany is a very much christian country, and even though most people do not go to church we really much respect the religious heritage we have. And this is connected to Jesus in Germany. Thats why Jesus in Germany is of high regard. If you ask somebody from Germany what he thinks about Jesus you will in most cases get the answer: Jesus was a great man. Many people do not go to church, but really many say that they basically believe in God. And so people feel in a way obliged to be true in themselves even if their local church is not developing fast enough. Luckily in Germany absolutely most people are in the bigger churches as I said, which have much developed towards a new and better way of proper spiritual living. We are not to much bound on stupid ideas like you have to go to church to come to heaven, or you have to read the bible to reach heaven. Germans well believe that God or Allah stands above the things we know and so they believe that God is the God of all religions and all times, and that means that in Germany people well believe that not only a Buddhist can well come to heaven or nirvana, but also that basicly heaven and nirvana must be the same thing. German people, like many others today, do not believe to much in destinctions in this field, and german people have developed a sense for the fact that all bigger religious groups are more or less trying to describe the same thing. Which is just not easy to describe. Thats why in Germany people are very tolerant towards other bigger religions. The tolerance ends where people in small churches teach wrong medieval stuff like only this church will make you come to God, or only this ritual will make you come to heaven. And the tolerance ends if a religion does not preach love and proper acting. And the tolerance ends most defiitly with sects like evil wishing “religions”, groups that force their people, or strive solely or for a bad cause for money and power. Thats where German tolerance towards religious groups ends for a good reason. From time to time Islam seems like a medieval religion that is behind its times in fair equal treatment of the sexes, but Germans are much aware of the fact that this is a usual prejudice and that Muslims must get the same impression about Christianity from time to time. If you compare church service to Islamic church service than you will find both to be nearly the same. It is very interesting to see and also a bit surprising, that islamic mosque service seems like a christian church service in another country and vice versa. So if you ask yourself what the other side does in their churches, the answer is that it is basicly very much the same everywhere in the bigger religions. Singing for God, Praying to God for the usual things, thanking God. This describes a mass in a christian church as much as it describes what happens in a mosque.

And there is one big aspect of christianity and Jesus that really makes this religion so much loved. And it is the love Jesus speaks of as being the only proper way to God. All bigger religions speak of love and christian church puts some things on the same level as being loving, but Jesus Christ made this the center of his teachings. Be love was what he continously said and this seems to be the main aspect of proper religion, so there is indeed an advantage to Christiantity compared to the other world religions. All speak of love as being the best thing to live by but in Christs teachings this is the main aspect.

Jesus is also called the Good Shepherd. Not because he was a shepherd. But because he once said a good Shepherd will look for all his sheep and if one gets lost he will not leave it alone just because there are many left. And he will go and try to find it. Modern science comes to the belief that Jesus was a roofer in his normal Job. another name for Jesus is Messiah, Lamb of God or Lord. Lord because christian religion believes that he was not only send by the Lord, but that he is actually a part of God. Messiah means “”the chosen one” or “the one rubbed with oil”. Because in Jesus times it was the custom to rub princes with an expensive and precious oil. And so “the one rubbed with oil” just translates as: “the prince”.

Buddha one could say he is like the Jesus of Buddhism. Teaching similar things but with a different focus.

So people love Jesus in Germany and maybe they like him more then the other prophets. As I said it is a feeling of: This is our home religion. To a German Jesus is just the figure he or she has been raised with. You like get a connection to these things and that is a good thing. Jesus became an image for christians of what one can achieve and Buddha for example did not become this image for Germans, while you can be shure that he became this image for people raised in Buddhism. Thats why Jesus in Germany is very well liked, but we also respect and like all the other holy people of the other religions. Religion in Germany is just mostly connected to Jesus. We have a free and open way of dealing with religion.

K’ung Fu-tse. Also spawned a religious or moral movement that is prominent today.

You won’t be attacked if you do not go to church, because people think that being nice and caring is the way to God and not necessarily going to church. But if you should convert to Islam or Buddhism Germans might think that this is not necessary, because God or Allah does not look for stuff like what religion you are in. So Germans will on the one hand not understand why one should convert while we have developed such a friendly and liberal christian religion, but on the other hand Germans would also not ask a Buddhist for example to convert to Christianity, they would think that he or she can well come to God from their original religion. Therefore Buddhist meditation for example is well respected in Germany. Not many do it, but if you would do it people would not think that you have turned away from Jesus or religion.