Are Christians just Jews with different beliefs?

[Noamx]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

 

[d taylor]

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No i am a christian believer and i am not Jewish.

 

[Trusting in Him]

What is the basis for thinking this? I'm not really sure what is the reasoning behind this!

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Perhaps some, like Adventists and JWs.

 

[Brad D.]

Noamx, I would suggest if you have a Bible to read through the entire New Testament book of Hebrews and as you do I would also suggest you simply come to the Lord just as you are and humble yourself and pray a prayer something like this, " Heavenly Father I truly desire to know who you are in full, open my eyes precious Lord to the revealing of yourself through the history of the Jews, to the coming of the Messiah, to Christ in us the hope of Glory" I really think you will find it all in there in Hebrews.

Everything begins to be taken off the temporal, to the Spiritual. The main difference being that as Christians Christ now dwells in us, Judaism rejects that. And that is quite a difference.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

Welcome to CF! Christianity is the fulfillment of Ancient Temple Judaism. The Torah is the written prophetic words given by the Prophets and passed on from generation to generation until the Messiah fulfilled the Old Covenant. Believing regenerated Jews as well as believing non-Jews are now one Body in the Kingdom of God, the New Covenant. The Father now makes His Home in the beliver rather through His Holy Spirit rather than a temple made by human hands. Hope this helps!
Blessings.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

I think it was pope Pius XI who said “Spiritually we are Semites”.

 

[St. Helens]

Welcome to CF, Nomex.

A good forum for your questions is Exploring Christianity.

 

[Jonaitis]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

Welcome!

In the beginning, Christians were comprised solely by Jews, and were called a sect by other Jews (Acts 24:14), but after Christianity began to be increasingly popular among people of other nations to the point where most of the Church comprised of non-Jews who knew very little about Jewish culture and custom, Christianity lost much of its Jewish identity and connection to the Jewish people, and were no longer considered part of them. This distance continued to increase when most Christians could not read or speak Hebrew or Aramaic, only Greek and Latin, and so, many Church fathers encouraged their lack of any association with them, going so far as to accuse them of distorting the Hebrew scriptures (which they favored the Septuagint).

Paul the apostle explained the Christian faith as the true tradition of the fathers, and many people were intrigued in the beginning. He may have intended to keep that connection the way Martin Luther tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church. However, Pauline teachings discouraged many customs at the heart of Judaism, which did not settle well with the Jewry as a whole. Many saw him as an apostate who abandoned his Jewish identity, and he often defended his Jewish background in his some of his epistles.

 

[Sketcher]

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

The first Christians were Jews. Then the Holy Spirit revealed that Gentiles could become Christians without becoming Jews first. Jew and Gentile alike may become Christians. It is sinful to pressure Gentile Christians to become Jewish Christians.

As you may be aware, there are many rules Jews have, which are not held to be for Gentiles, even though there is one God over both Jew and Gentile. For the most part, Gentile Christians don't follow those. Jewish Christians may follow more of them, but won't follow all of them because Jesus Christ, the Messiah, has come, and that has many implications for Jewish practice. All Christians look forward to the day when Jesus will return in power.

 

[dqhall]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

The nation of Israel does not recognize Christianity as a Jewish sect.

 

[Michie]

Welcome.

 

[Trusting in Him]

Many Christian were never Jewish in the first place, but now we are made acceptable to God through His Son. Is that not awesome! Should that not also humble us and give us no reason to boast that we should think ourselves better than His chosen race. We are only able to be saved, because we have been grafted into the same root and not because we ever deserved anything from Him. Praise His name!

 

[Lukaris]

There is a book by Jewish author Daniel Boyarin that supports the idea that Christianity is a valid sect of Judaism. He believes the Gospels are Jewish and that even the Trinity is validly Jewish and yet Boyarin is not a Christian/Messianic Jew.


I do not agree with Daniel Boyarin that Christianity is a sect of Judaism but I respect that he is good willed, interesting & not divisive in his viewpoints. I have & read his book: The Jewish Gospels, a few years back but my memory is a little fuzzy.


Daniel Boyarin on Why the Gospels Are Jewish

 

[High Fidelity]

Christianity and Judaism are very, very different.

Islam is far closer to Judaism than Christianity is.

 

[Soyeong]

Sorry to have to create a thread here again, this is the only section I was able to create a new thread at, the other forums require "christian" designation, until a moderator changes that for me, I create here. You can move my threads to the right place later if its a problem.

Well basically, my question is are Christians just Jews with different beliefs? To me it seems that way. I live in Israel and, I'm not really a Jew, but the Family I come from has jewish background. But since Christianity came after Judaism, not before, and Christians are originally Jews who have simply believed Jesus was the Messiah, why arent they called Jews?

Christians still have the same Old testament which Jews follow and believe in, they still believe in heaven/hell, still believe in various Jewish related traditions and behaviors and so on. So I dont understand why arent Christians considered Jews. Christianity itself is originally Judaism except they accepted Jesus as the Messiah. So how did a new religion was created like that? It doesnt look very sensible.

Personally, I think Jews and Christians are almost the same thing. I even heard somewhere Jew+Jesus = Christian. Is that true?

Hope you all can please explain things, thanks.

Hello and welcome!

I am a Jew. Jesus did not come to start his own religion, but rather he came as the Jewish Messiah in fulfillment of Jewish prophecy. He practiced Judaism by setting a perfect example of how to practice Judaism and walk in sinless obedience to the Torah, and as his followers we are told to follow his example (1 Peter 2:21-22) and that those who are in Messiah are obligated to to walk in the same way he walked (1 John 2:6). In Acts 21:20, they were rejoicing that tens of thousands of Jews were coming to faith in Messiah who were all zealous for doing good works in obedience to the Torah, which was in accordance with believing the Gospel (Matthew 4:17-23) and in what he accomplished through the cross (Titus 2:14), so Jews who were coming to faith in him were ceasing to obey the Torah or converting to a different religion, but as you said, Christianity itself was originally a sect of Judaism composed of Jews who were followers of Messiah. In Acts 24:14, Paul confessed that according to the Way, which they call a sect, he worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets.

So there was a period of time in between the resurrection of Jesus and the inclusion of Gentiles in Acts 10 that is estimated to be around 7-15 years during which Christianity was composed of Torah observant Jews. In Acts 15, it was essentially ruled that Gentiles can become followers of Christ without becoming Jews. However, there is some question in regard to what exactly it means to be a Jew? Is it a nation? People can still be Jews while being citizens of other nations or in exile. Is it a language? Jews speak many different languages. Is it a genealogy? People who aren't Jews can become Jews. Is it a belief in God? There are atheists who still identify as Jews, and the Israelites remained Jews even during the times that they worshiped other gods. Perhaps it is the largest dysfunctional family, but people can still follow what Christ taught while not becoming a Jew.

In any case, to some extent modern Christianity has become cut off from the Jewish roots of its faith so much so that there are Christians who see it as being its own religion and who would disagree that it is a sect of Judaism. I've spoken with someone who went to seminary who said that if they had been told that Jesus was Jewish, then it would have changed everything. In spite of Jeremiah 31:33 saying that the New Covenant involves God putting the Torah in our minds and writing it on our hearts, Christians commonly believe that the New Covenant has its own set of laws, which is essentially the Ten Commandments, the to love God and our neighbor as our selves, everything that was repeated in the New Covenant plus universal moral laws that were in the OT. So laws that are in regard to sacrifices, keeping God's holy days, or things like refraining from eating unclean animals are largely not followed by modern Christians.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Christianity and Judaism are very, very different.

Islam is far closer to Judaism than Christianity is.

I think Islam is quite a bit different than Judaism. I’ve lived among Muslims and I find no real comparison with Jews. They are monotheists but that’s it.

As to similarities and differences of Christians and Jews it depends on what kind of Jews and what kind of Christians. I think Orthodox Jews and Catholics have a lot in common. More even than Catholics and liberal Protestants. This is not just my opinion, but something I was clued into by an Orthodox rabbi.

 

[High Fidelity]

I think Islam is quite a bit different than Judaism. I’ve lived among Muslims and I find no real comparison with Jews. They are monotheists but that’s it.

As to similarities and differences of Christians and Jews it depends on what kind of Jews and what kind of Christians. I think Orthodox Jews and Catholics have a lot in common. More even than Catholics and liberal Protestants. This is not just my opinion, but something I was clued into by an Orthodox rabbi.

Dietary requirements. Daily prayer requirements. Own legal systems. Similar burial practice and requirements. Both faiths’ holy books are in the original language etc.

Much more in common than Christianity.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Dietary requirements.

I will give you that Halal and Kosher are almost the same.

Daily prayer requirements.

Nope. Muslim prayer requirements are mechanical.

Own legal systems.

As different as Catholic canon law is from Baptist polity.

Similar burial practice and requirements.

Orthodox Jewish practice is almost identical to Catholic practice.

Both faiths’ holy books are in the original language etc.

Only Islam insists on Arabic for their texts.

Much more in common than Christianity.

I could agree maybe that some forms of Christianity have almost nothing to do with the religion of the Israelites. And to them it might look like Islam and Judaism are closer than their form of Christianity to Judaism.

 

[Trusting in Him]

I am one of those who still studies and values the teaching of the old testament in addition to the new testament. Studing the old testament is now not always so important to some modern day Christians, so not everyone considers it as relevent as it once was. Speaking from my own personal prespective, I also often derive some benefit from reading Jewish thinking and commentries on certain of the old testament scriptures.

This does not make me part of the Jewish religion, as I clearly know what I am and I am a serious and fully commited Christian, but there are parts of Jewish teaching which have significantly influenced my own Christian understanding in what I believe are good ways. As many will already know there are passages in the old testament, which the Jews consider as forbidden pasages and these are forbidden because the speak of the coming of the Messiah.

When Jesus came as the Messiah, He did not fit the ideas and teaching of the ruling Jews of His day and so they rejected Him. The problem partly appears to be talmodic judasim and the talmod originated from the time of the jewish exile in Babilon. In many jewish religion bodies, it seems that the talmod takes presidence of the scriptures, but before the coming of the talmod the teachings of Jesus probably would have been much more easily accepted.

We often read where Jesus quoted poritions of scripture, when rebuking the ruling jews of His day where the Jews would have clearly understood a underlying message which while it would have been clearly understood by them, it could not have been used by them against Jesus, because He was correctly quoting scripture. There is a method of debating between jewish theologians were the question and debate one another and Jesus was doing just this and He was a lot better at this than they were.

Understanding the old testament scriptures and their context with regard to the new testament scriptures is something which I find often enriches how I read and understand the new testament scriptures. The authors of the various books of the new testament, were almost all jews, although Luke was greek.

There are a lot of hebrew idioms in the books of the new testament, which are not always easy to understand in engish translations, because we don't necessarily recognise them for what they are. I am not personally fluent in greek and hebrew, but I have books which enable me to look up the hebraisms in many passages in both testaments.

I think that it is very helpful for each of us to get our heads around the scriptures which we are reading, whch enables us to understand which the different bible authors were seeking to convey! I think that the epistles of Paul are particularly fully of the these hebraisms, which are often used as part of His demonstration of His reasoning, which He was seeking to convey to his readership.