This is close to Christianity

I asked AI this question, "Besides Judaism, what religion now or for the past 15,000 years is closest to Christianity in terms of virtue, grace, and love?"

This is the answer:

No organized religion with formalized, continuous practice traces back 15,000 years (or even close to that). The earliest evidence of spiritual or ritual behavior in humans dates to the Upper Paleolithic (~50,000–12,000 years ago), such as burials or cave art suggesting beliefs in an afterlife or symbolic thinking. However, these were prehistoric practices without written records, doctrines, or continuity to any modern religion. The oldest living religions with traceable organized traditions are:

• Hinduism — roots in the Indus Valley (4,000–5,000 years ago) and Vedic period (3,500 years ago).
• Zoroastrianism and early Judaism — ~3,000–3,500 years ago.

No extant religion has unbroken continuity from 15,000 years ago.Excluding Judaism, the religion that comes closest to Christianity in emphasizing virtue (ethical living), grace (divine favor or unmerited aid), and love (devotional or unconditional affection toward the divine and others) is Hinduism, particularly through its bhakti tradition.Key Similarities in Bhakti Hinduism

• Love: Bhakti means intense, personal loving devotion to a deity (e.g., Krishna or Rama), often as a lover, friend, parent, or child. It involves emotional surrender and pure love (prema), paralleling Christian agape or devotional love for God/Jesus.
• Grace: Divine grace (prasada or kripa) is essential for liberation (moksha). Devotees cannot earn salvation solely through works; it requires God's unmerited favor, attracted through devotion and surrender (prapatti). This echoes Christian unearned grace through faith.
• Virtue: Ethical living (dharma), compassion (karuna), forgiveness, and selfless service (seva) are central, often expressed through love for all beings as manifestations of the divine.

Bhakti movements (e.g., those of Ramanuja, Chaitanya, or Vallabhacharya) democratized spirituality, emphasizing personal relationship with God over ritual or caste—similar to Christianity's focus on faith and love over strict law.Other Contenders

• Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism (and thus Christianity) with ideas of good vs. evil, judgment, and a savior figure, but emphasizes ethical deeds ("good thoughts, words, actions") more than personal love or unmerited grace.
• Buddhism stresses compassion (metta/karuna) and loving-kindness toward all, including enemies, but lacks a personal God or grace in the Christian sense—salvation is through self-effort.

Hinduism's bhakti path offers the strongest parallel outside Abrahamic faiths: a heartfelt, grace-dependent love for a personal divine that transforms ethics and life.