Once upon a time

 

Subject:“Once upon a time”.

The fact that Christianity and Christians who follow the faith seem less and less to believe in those parts of the New Testament, which talk of the miracles which Jesus is reported as having performed, even his 'rising from the dead' is held as a metaphor, whilst, at the same time, he is held in high regard as a teacher of moral values.

The Old Testament is full of allegory and deals much more in the mysticism of God and his creative aspect here on Earth, of mankind being created for a purpose and not just an evolutionary oddity. Being more mystical it can be more enduring since it's claims are built wholly on faith and not rational measurement. The God of the Old Testament is more fire and brimstone than the Heavenly Father the New Testament talks about and the sense of a son of God coming down to save us is missing. The Torah is parable writ large it has no need for history or carbon dating it is 'the word of God' whilst the Christian bible is the word of a man come down to earth explaining that he is the son of god. He is also flesh and blood and lived and died, his claims, not withstanding, are more sociological and deal with us as a species who need guidance.
The Muslim faith like the Christian faith is focused on a man who lived, Mohamed who whilst never claiming to be the son of god claimed to have a connection to god and as his followers attest, speaks for god. His guidance, through the words which god spoke to him is the basis of much Muslim analysis and conjecture as to what god meant but Mohamed's position as the conduit places him on a platform which believers fervently defend as being the one true revelation of god's will. 
Hindustrace their  their own faith back much further in a complex mix of gods who reflect the temperament of mankind in all its forms and in so doing have crafted a web or a structure which covers all forms of human nature, with the Hindu interpretation firmly embedded in a nations devotion. 
The lore of ancient China and the societies which existed in Japan lent greater force to the behaviour of men and women in the society and therefore a culture grew around this kernel of acceptable behaviour and was the hierarchy under which people were graded. The public willingness to be graded and identified in this way was the strength of Confusion continuity and identifies these extremely old centers of civilised human behaviour.  
Buddhismis a philosophical understanding of the frailty of human experience which attempts  to bolster us with the rigour of study and debate. It opens up the question of who we are and why we exist in a sort of Platonic endeavour to delve into the intricacies of our mind and what our mind tells us about ourselves. It places no reward other than better self awareness and through that self knowledge, a better understanding of ourselves and the people around us.