Jews do not believe in hell or that a blood sacrifice is the only way to attain forgiveness. Christianity came from Judaism so why disparity?

Question

Also, does it make sense that Jews would not recognize their own messiah? Was that even what the 12 thought he was? Doesn't scholarship indicate that none of the gospels were written by the apostles? It does kind of make sense to me though that Paul would write to whom he wrote trying to explain the conflicts between them and those in Jerusalem. Therefore there must have been some pretty big differences.
You also cannot gather from the Hebrew Bible that God is a Trinity. In a lot of ways it seems like they really are two totally different religions.

I would appreciate a Jewish and Christian response equally.

Judaism, Jew, Catholic, Christian, Protestant, Bible

Answer 1

Christianity didn't come from Judaism. It was a whole new "religion" that Jews either rejected or believed in. Christ came as the Messiah, and as people realized this they began to follow Him- they became Christians. The Jews and Christians both read the Old Testament because it is God's word to his people before Christ, and The Jewish people believe the same thing- they were God's chosen people. And then God sent His Son to the earth as the savior, and that's really when the separation began. Jews and Gentiles also became Christians when they believed that Jesus was the Son of God and the savior. But a lot of Jews remained unbelievers and continue to believe that Jesus wasn't the Son of God.

Answer 2

Yes.

They are two completely different religions.



The Christian theology and escatology has far more in common with Greek and Egyptian groups of the Roman period -- with a good amount of Zoroastrian input on the battle of good and evil - then with anything Jewish.

Pretty much the only Jewishness in Christianity is a shallow wrapper of a Greek translation of Jewish histories and sacred songs, and the allegation that the god of the Christians was incarnate as a Jewish person.



==

note - since the term "Jewish messiah" has been used a bunch of times by the other folks posting -



==================================

=== the definition of "the Messiah" ===

==================================

messiah is the Anglicisation of the Hebrew word moshiah.



Moshiah is a job title -- a very HUMAN job title.

Two actualy --

there is "Cohein ha Moshiah" (The annointed priest) - this refers to the High Priest

and there is "Melekh ha Moshiah" (The annointed king) - this refers to a properly appointed king



==



We have had many many many messiahs --



The first Cohein ha Moshiah was annointed to the job by Moses.

It was Aaron, the brother of Moses,

and we had however many of them you get in about 1500 years when the temples stood.

There is some unclarity whether the last one died in 70 CE (when the Second Temple was destroyed) or whether there was another one who served in the ruins of the Temple after Bar Kochba temporarily drove out the Romans in 132 CE.



The first King Messiah was annointed to the job by Samuel.

This was king Saul. Samuel then annointed David.

This was around 1000 BCE.

The last King Messiah in the Davidic line was Simon Bar Kochbah, who was annointed in 132 CE and killed by Rome in 135 CE.



Now, when people say "THE Messaih"

This is the idiomatic short form for

"The rightful annointed constitutional king of Israel at the time when all of the prophesies about the perfection of the world come to pass."

Most certainly NOT "son of God" except in the way that all of us human beings are "sons of God"



===



So - Before a man can be "THE messiah", he first needs to be "A messiah"

(ie: a rightfuly annointed constitutional executive of Israel)



Given that the person is A messiah,

THE messiah would be the particular king who is running Israel at the time the prophesies for the perfection of the world come to pass --



The World is at Peace

Israel is a fully independent political state

The Temple is functioning in Jerusalem

And the nations of the world acknowledge Israel as the priestly nation and bring a single yearly sacrifice to the Temple.



======

Now, to get to the Jesus of Christianity:

Even if one were to believe all of the statements of the Greek Bible (New Testament) -- Jesus does not fit the definition of messiah.



The first century Christians were quite aware of that --

this is why they very strongly and purposefuly differentiated themselves from the Jews -

to the point of asking the Emperor of Rome to make a specific declaration that they were not Jews (he made this declaration in 96 CE)



They therefore created a very different religiious language and terminology --

and called Jesus "The Christos".



One who believes that Jesus was "The Christos" MUST if he is intelectualy honest also acknowledge that Jesus is NOT "The Moshiah".

Answer 3

The reason that Jews didn't "recognize" Jesus as the Messiah was that he didn't fit the description. And we don't know what the Apostles thought he was. The New Testament is not an accurate record of exactly what went on at the time. We know it was tweaked and edited to fit later Christians' preferred understanding of their faith and Jesus's identity.



The whole appeal of Christianity was its belief in an afterlife; that's one reason it attracted people. However, by the first century, Judaism did have a conception of an afterlife.



Judaism had indeed rejected the blood sacrifice of human beings much earlier. (That's what the story of Abraham and Isaac is all about). However, this was an ancient notion that appears in much myth and legend with which people would have been very familiar at the time. In the wake of the shock and trauma of Jesus's death, it would have seemed a very convenient way to give that death meaning and justification.

Answer 4

Christianity came from the Jewish Messiah 2000 years ago and not from Judaism as it is today. Christians today all don't require blood sacrifice for forgiveness. 2000 years ago blood sacrifice was common practice. The Cross shows us how much God loves us while also the cost of sin. While God could have chosen some other method to forgive us as St. Augustine says, the Cross was the best way to heal our misery. Read Isaiah 52-53. The suffering servant suffers so others can be healed.

Answer 5

Basically it is because Jesus was a Jew. People have this fraternal instinct in religion whereby they think that since the son of God was a Jew, God will be nicer to them if they get in good with the Jews.



Also early church leaders decided to put Jewish church scriptures into the Bible in order to make it more restrictive (the New Testament did not specifically forbid enough stuff nor did it impose tithing on people-something no church leader liked!). In order to keep people forever chasing an unattainable goal, Christianity adopted many of the practices of Judaism without admitting the obvious differences in belief of the real important stuff such as being saved by grace instead of works.

Answer 6

The disparity is that the Jewish Bible teaches that blood sacrifices etc are not required to obtain forgiveness from God. It is a tool to help in atonement, but not an actual means to forgiveness and certainly not a necessary means to forgiveness. the Jewish Bible teaches that forgiveness comes from repentance, seeking justice and ethics in faith etc. For example Isaiah 1 is very clear on this point.



But the New Testament teaches the opposite, that blood sacrifices are necessary to obtain forgiveness and that Jesus' sacrifice was so huge that it was a "one and done" blood sacrifice for all time for everyone who bellieves in it.



Two different faith books teaching two very different ideas. THe New Testament does retain some of the Jewish Bible teachings, but at its core took off on a very different path with some fundamental concepts that cannot truely be reconciled with the Jewish Bible.

Answer 7

The difference was with their teacher the Jews embraced the traditions of man which were the Jewish sects during the time of Christ the Pharisees, the Sadducee, the Essene. Christ didn't support any of these sects but yet He also didn't oppose them either rather He had His own disciples. Now the difference is that the Jews based their traditions upon how they understood Scripture but Christ being the Word (God) taught Scripture and understood Scripture as it was intended. So where does the concept of the Son of Man giving up His life so that others may live in God? From Christ. And where does the concept of Gehenna being eternal for the unprented sinners? From Christ. Do you know what the worm that never dies is? The unrepented sinner guilty of mortal sin, Christ taught against annihilationism a belief which was embraced by the Jews.



Mark 9:43-49



If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Answer 8

I would certainly concur that they are two different religions.



What the 12 apostles believed about Jesus, and what role they had in the writing of gospels (either as the actual writers or as sources of material) is a matter for unresolvable debate; we don't know because we weren't there. But the Christian tradition regarding Jesus as the Messiah is a very early one, because the use of Greek "Christos," directly translating "Messiah," is substantiated by first-century sources including non-Christian ones.



The Christian notions of hell (as a place of torment for punishment after death) are certainly influenced by Greco-Roman paganism. But I'm not sure these images were meant, at least by the New Testament writers, to be taken literally.



(By contrast, the Christian notion of a Resurrection is directly traceable to the Pharisees' view, which eventually won over all Judaism. Jesus is depicted in the Gospels as supporting it.)



The blood-sacrifice business appears to be partly due to the second-century Irenaeus of Lyons, a highly influential Christian writer. Certainly, the image is used in the New Testament, particularly by Paul and the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews. But Irenaeus seems to have been involved in the mechanization of salvation by taking the image literally--which, of course, screws it up. That we've got bunches of Christians running around arguing that omnipotent God was incapable of forgiving us without a blood sacrifice is probably down to Irenaeus. And sloppy thinking.



The doctrine of the Trinity was formulated only after a major split among Christians revealed that some things needed to be sorted out. All Christians pretty much agreed that

- Jesus was God Incarnate;

- the Holy Spirit was God; and

- the Father was God.

But a priest, Arius--whose primary inspiration was the perfectly valid story of Jesus' willing subordination to the Father--decided to emphasize this by making Jesus a different, and subordinate God. This, of course, would make Christianity polytheistic, and it was rejected by church leaders and scholars. (The rejection was very formal, because a new Roman Emperor, Constantine, had decided to make Christianity his favored religion, and being a typical Roman organizer, he insisted the church get its theology sorted out.)



The decision that Christianity was to remain monotheistic--that there was one God--meant that Christian scholars needed to figure out how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could all be that one God. That formulation took a while. This doctrine of the Trinity was developed long after Jews and Christians had gone their separate ways, over such issues as

- Christians allowing Gentiles to join without converting to Judaism;

- Jews picking new Messiahs to follow, with emphasis on political rebellion from Rome;

- Christians using Greek translations in preference to Hebrew scripture;

- neither side wanting the Roman Empire to blame them for the other's alleged disloyalties;

- Christians pressuring Jewish Christians to abandon observance of Jewish holidays;

and so on. They'd been drifting apart for a long time; the period in which Christianity was seen as a branch of Judaism was probably pretty short, maybe only a few decades.



The fourth-century resolution of the Arian controversy and proclamation of the doctrine of the Trinity probably ensured that Christians could no longer be seen as a branch of Judaism, but by that time the separation was probably very large in any case. One writer on that period (Richard E. Rubenstein, "When Jesus Became God") does point out--working from a Jewish perspective--that around that time, Christians also invented pogroms against both pagans and Jews, starting on the path toward the sort of intense bigotry practiced by Catholics in the Middle Ages.

Answer 9

Judaism does clearly have a concept of Judgment after death. Those who deny this are ignorant of Judaism and probably did not even grow up in it.



If you Google the term “Gehennah” (with alternate spellings) there is much information on this. This is the Jewish way of saying “hell.” True, it is not the same concept as traditional Christianity, but it is there, none the less.



Additionally, Jesus also used the word “Gehennah” (which was mis-translated into English with the modern word “hell.”) He spoke the Hebrew word :Gehennah”. And Jesus quoted the Jewish prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 66:24) when He spoke about Gehennah.



"And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind." (Isaiah 66.24)



But He also talked about it being a place where the soul is destroyed (not preserved). (Matthew 10.28) And many Christians today also believe the lost will be annihilated in hell. That is their punishment. (Matthew 10.28) Suffering (as appropriate) and then extinguished. Really, is Hitler and those like him going to get a free pass? How is that love?



Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) would have told us nothing new that was not already in the Jewish Bible.



There is a Messianic Jewish website on this. http://www.jewishnotgreek.com



Those who say we just live for today and do not worry about after death are very foolish and ignoring what the Jewish scriptures teach.



The Jewish Bible (even in the Old Testament) tells us that there will be a day of reckoning.



***“God shall judge the righteous and the wicked, For there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.” (Ecclesiastes 3:17)



*** those who oppose the Lord will be broken.

The Most High will thunder from heaven;

the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. (1 Samuel 2:10)



*** “Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side." (Joel; 3:12)



He is a just God and will punish those who deserve it.

We will all be judged for what we did with our lives.



And since most evil people do not get caught in this life – they will most certainly face justice after death. How can God be love and not give those hurt by others (rape victims, child molest victims, holocaust victims, etc.) justice?? He would not be loving then would He?



This world is only the "interview" process. God has given all people biological life and wishes to see who will choose to follow Him & His rules.



God is a Just Judge and we try to persuade men because it is a fearful thing to stand before God guilty (and all people are guilty). So believers share out of a desire to see men saved from perfect judgment.



We all have done wrong in life.



To those who try to sit in judgment upon Jesus - run to Him and ask Him to save you from what you have coming towards you.



As the great poet Bob Dylan once sang... "There's a slow train coming..."



God (in the Torah) said it is a blood sacrifice that makes atonement. (Leviticus 17:11)



Without blood atonement - there is not forgiveness of sins according to God Himself. (For everyone must pay for their own sins - or allow a substitute...) Read Leviticus....



That is what the Messiah is all about - Jesus is my substitute. He dies in my place and God allows that. It is “good news.”



This is what I have done. Over 27 years ago I accepted the Messiah as my atonement and it was the BEST decision of my life. Not that every day is all roses (it’s not). But I have a peace that surpasses all the problems of this world. And when I die (as we all will), I know that I am ready for the next world (Olam Ha-Ba) because of what the Messiah has done for me.



**************************************…

Dr. Michael Brown (Ph.D. NY University) has given definitive answers to virtually all of arguments. (I challenge you to read it.) He uses Rabbinic (Talmudic) sources and a correct interpretation of scripture that even the ancient Rabbis agreed with! (Not that they believed in Yeshua, but Dr. Brown shows they understood certain passages as Messianic prophecies – contrary to what you hear on Yahoo Answers from people who say “This is not a Messianic passage’).



Read a great 5 VOLUME SET – ANSWERING JEWISH OBJECTIONS TO JESUS! (over 1,400+ pages of very scholarly research).



It will stop EVERY Jewish unbeliever’s misinterpretations and objections based upon the solid evidence of the Hebrew text. An amazing five volume set by Dr. Michael Brown (New York University, Ph.D., Near Eastern Languages)

Answer 10

Hello Ignorance



Sheol - Hades - Hell - Death......all mean the same thing -- The Grave



and Jews most definitely believe in the atonement of the blood sacrifice

Answer 11

Because we are gentiles Paul explained it was not necessary for us to keep their tradtions, after all it was their forefathers whom were delivered out of Egypt, not ours except by adoption into the same faith as Abraham, Paul also explains we are adopted into spiritual Israel the Olive tree, and that some branches were broken off because of unbelieve, but we are not to boast over the natural branches as we only stand by faith. And the Lord is able to graft them in again if they no longer walk in unbelief. and I mama pajamas I agree that the majority of the Jews did not reject Christ, as the pharisees who came with the roman soldiers to arrest Him, came by night as they were afraid of the people. this was why Christ was sent, He even told His disciple read His account in the garden of Gethsemane. where He speaks of "for this end did I come into the world." and it was the Jewish apostles who brought the message of salvation in Christ alone to us G-d bless

Answer 12

An oak came from an acorn, why the size disparity?



Things grow & change from that starting point.....



PS: no, it does not become something other than a tree, but it does become something other than an acorn.

Answer 13

Read the whole of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation with the help of YHVH's Spirit and you will understand. how Yehoshua Ha Moshiach fits into the plan of YHVH from the Garden onwards!!

Answer 14

The part where you say, "it seems like they really are two totally different religions" is where the crux of the matter is.



Christianity is built upon Judaism, and is an extension of the promises of those of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and usually I do not use this name, but King David, since Jesus was referred to as "Son of David."



Faith in Jesus Christ cannot be seen as a religion.

Similar to the faith of Abraham.



The manifestations of God the Son, Jesus, when he appeared to Abraham, on the way down to Sodom, and in his reassurance to Abraham of the Son of Promise.



The faith of Abraham, which was imputed to him by God for righteousness, Abraham being called God's Friend, which is a very special distinction, similar to David, being called "a man after God's own heart."



There is so much evidence of the two tied faiths of Abraham and David and that in Jesus Christ, placed by Gentiles, and Jews who are Messianic, that all one has to do is look for the similarities, and allow God to bring revelation through the Holy Spirit, who did raise Jesus Christ from the dead, after his Crucifixion on the Cross of Calvary as the Finished Work, that was started from the Garden of Eden, blood sacrifice, without which there is no remission of sin.



Only in the case of Jesus Christ, the continual sacrifice was curtailed, "It is Finished", and Jesus Christ would not die for the sins of the world a second time.



As far as the Trinity goes, the laws of "in the mouth of two or two witnesses shall a thing be established," is not only applied for use on earth.



John 18V37:"Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear WITNESS unto the truth. Every one that IS of the truth heareth my voice."



ISAIAH 55V3ff:"Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear , and your soul shall live, and I will make an Everlasting Covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.



V4:"Behold, I have given him for a WITNESS to the people, a leader and commander to the people.



V5:"Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou Knowest Not, and nations that Knew Not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hat glorified thee.



v6:"Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, Call ye upon him while he is near:"



The eyes of the Jews are blinded, (no faith in Jesus Christ as God the Son and Redeemer/Saviour) without which, the Gentiles prophecy of Isaiah could not be fulfilled.



1John 5V6:"This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.

And it is the Spirit that beareth WITNESS, because the Spirit is truth.



V7:"For there are three that bear RECORD in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (Spirit); and these three are one.



V8:"And there are three that bear WITNESS in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three Agree in one.



V9:"If we receive the WITNESS of men, the WITNESS of God is GREATER: for this is the WITNESS of God which he hat testified of his Son.



V10:"He that believeth on the Son of God hath the WITNESS in himself; he that believeth not God hat made him a liar; because he believeth NOT the RECORD that God gave of his Son.



V11:"And this is the RECORD, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.



V12:"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath NOT the Son of God hath not life."



Having given just a few biblical quotes to support this, I would say to anyone, especially to any Jewish person, Abraham did not have the Torah and all the OT was written by Holy men of God, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God.



Since a false prophet could not stand up against God's Holy Spirit, if one is truly a believer, in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it would make no sense, that people who put faith in Jesus Christ/the Triune Godhead, why has not anyone been struck down, for blaspheming God of Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, name and Holy Word.



Christians are fully aware of the Sovereignty of God and His Holiness, Righteousness and Power.



If we put faith in Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and this was against God, God would not stand for blasphemy or saying what he did not say, or laying a claim, to something or someone, that God Himself did not appoint.



Christians do have the fear of the Lord, and do know that lying on God and the Holy Spirit, is unacceptable to God, who has all the Power.



Not because people do not understand the Holy Trinity, or Jesus, means that this is a lie or God did not work in these tenets of Christian faith and doctrine.



This is a simple solution, just ask God through Jesus Christ, to reveal Himself, as in the times past, and we have verification from the Holy Spirit, of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.



Faith in God and Jesus supercedes any doubts in Paul, who God appointed, but also was a man of God, before coming to faith in Jesus Christ.



People also need to remember, that Record Keeping in Heaven is impeccable, and at the day of Judgment, the Books of Record will be opened.



God is not going to rely on silly mankind, or their biases, to bring back to memory, all the deeds done in the flesh while on earth, Satan's record too, and what the punishments are going to be, or rewards.



The bible says "Let God be True, and All men be liars."



The Records of Angels, saints, men, women, demons, kings, queens, princes, president, will all be Overseered through the Witness of the Most Holy Trinity.



"In the mouth of two or three Witnesses shall a thing be established."



Records are records, witnesses are witnesses, and God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, work together, in the Unity of their One Purpose, or Sovereignty.



Whether people believe or not, is irrelevant to the Truth of God's word, both OT and NT



Paul's credentials as a Pharisee is impeccable, so his transformation should be an example.

Answer 15

Christianity is a replacement theology that redefines the nature of God and the nature and function of the Davidic messiah into something that is antithetical to the very nature of the covenant of Torah between God and the Jewish people.

How many times does this need to be discussed in Yahoo Answers? Seriously. Every day someone asks a form of this at least once since Yahoo Answers began.

Here is just one of the many ways I've answered this:

Christianity is a replacement theology that redefines the nature of God and the nature and function of the Davidic messiah into something that is antithetical to the very nature of the covenant of Torah between God and the Jewish people.

According to God's rules in the Torah, God declared that no man becomes a god and God does not become a man. Believing Jews believe God who commands not to bear false witness did not lie about the very nature of the Creator when making the covenant with Israel at Sinai. God also outlined specific criteria for the Davidic messiah in the Torah. Christianity became a tool of the Roman Empire fairly early on in its spread. The New Testament doctrine, written in Koine Greek after the Destruction of the Second Temple, makes a habit throughout to remove blame from the Romans and fault the Jews for massacres of Jews and even displace accountability for the crucifixion of Jesus from the Romans onto a Sanhedrin "trial" that was written by someone who obviously knew nothing about the Sanhedrin. Pilate was even removed from his office for his cruelty, and someone deemed cruel by a people who set lions upon slaves for entertainment yet somehow in the NT he is afraid of the people he's been murdering and crucifying to *appease* them? This is no different than today's Holocaust deniers.

The Romans overthrew Jews because Jews rebelled and would not assimilate out of existence. The Torah was unique in that Jewish rulers were not above God's laws, and other peoples, their rulers were gods and created the laws. This IMHO is one reason why the Jews as a nation people STILL survive!

Once the New Testament notion of *messiah* changed from Tanakh’s prophecy of a king who would break the yolk of political and religious persecution for all and rule Israel with humility mercy and justice, to bring peace and universal knowledge of God and changed that into a sacrificed savior deity and a kingdom focusing on the afterlife to meld the Hellenized and Romanized concepts, Christians became an extension of Rome.

Jesus was the only failed messiah hopeful who was ever turned into an object of worship in such egregious violation of Torah.

Religion and politics were inseparable in the ancient world; kings usually represented incarnate manifestations of their gods on earth. Polytheistic believers across the ancient Levant were accustomed to their political leaders telling them what gods were to be venerated during their rule and which deity their ruler was representative of in human form. Adding a new deity or giving a new name to an ancient deity whose belief was already established was how the conquering peoples assimilated their conquered. Tanakh recorded that any time such a practice of a Jewish king telling the Jews that they were to worship a foreign deity, the entire Jewish people suffered and did so at the very hands of the people whose deity they had left God to serve. That lesson is told right in our Jewish Bible in several dramatic narratives, the same one the Christians have as an adaptation of their Old Testament, yet they rarely see this in the story because their New Testament does not focus on the contextual meaning of the narrative, but imposes redefined meanings to turn Torah topsy turvy.

Hellenized Jews already apostate to Judaism after four centuries of their occupation and Roman citizens of Judea and the Galilee, desired to entice other Jews to worship as the Greeks that they believed superior in philosophy and knowledge. Jews had laws forbidding these concepts outright so they created texts that tried syncretism, their efforts to claim, see this is what it was supposed to have been all along. However, the reality remains that those beliefs of incarnate savior deities and human sacrifice are identical to the beliefs and practices that the Torah explicitly forbids. Tammuz/Adonis (melded in Roman occupied lands along with and became Mithras worship) were incarnate sacrificed savior deities who had followers of apostate Jews in the North (Galilee) and areas of Paul's travels. Tammuz and the Romanized version of the Zoroastrian Mithras were both born of virgins (a concept having nothing to do with the Davidic Messiah or Tanakh) and their death was said to have brought their people reconciliation to their *sinful natures*. Being born with a burden of sin is a belief of the pagan peoples surrounding Judea and the Galilee, and contradicts the Torah notion that humans are born without sin and have propensities for both good and evil and may master our evil inclination (from Genesis) Tammuz was said to die and be reborn each spring. Tammuz worship had become widespread even before the destruction of the First Temple, and had so many apostate Jews as followers, it was condemned in Tanakh in the book of Ezekiel. Sir James Frazier's book, The Golden Bough, is useful to learning about the widespread concept of Savior Kings that was not only found in the Middle East but in Europe and helped to aid the rapid spread of Christianity. Noted Oxford scholar and award winning Historian Richard Fletcher's “The Barbarian Conversion: From Paganism to Christianity” also helps one to understand the development of many beliefs and rituals found in modern Christianity. His book is an excellent resource to learn about the spread of Christianity and is written by a Christian. The Christian concept of hell can be found in Plato's "Republic" in the myth of Er and in Gorgias referring to Tartarus



The Romans were murdering Jews by the thousands during the time when Christian dogma was being written by apostate Jews and Romans. Rome twice rewarded the early Christians after both first and second Jewish revolts for not allying to the Jews and in the case of the Second Jewish revolt that began with a massacre of Jews at the Temple after their treasury was raided for refusal to donate their tithes for the purpose of the pagan Roman temples,the early Christians even allied themselves TO the Romans..and after the destruction of the Second Temple were not expelled with the Jews. They were exempted from the punitive Jewish tax imposed by Rome upon Jews as well when the early Christians along with others ( apostate Hellenized Jews) had petitioned Emperor Nerva to recognize that they were not Jews and did not live a Jewish life.

Jews believe in God and God's words in the Tanakh and do NOT believe God lied in the Tanakh to us. To accept the New Testament replacement theology and its views about Judaism that are completely foreign to it..one would have to believe God lied about the nature of God and the nature of humanity and our relationship to God. They are antithetical religions at their core and irreconcilable in those differences.

According to God in the Tanakh, Jesus failed to fulfill any of the messianic prophecies; he was never anointed as a King of Israel or ruled Israel, and the world was certainly not perfected in his time to b ring about universal brotherhood and knowledge of God. In addition, he was not preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah (Malachi 4:5). Finally, he was disqualified from ever being a messianic candidate due to his lack of the necessary family background.



The Jewish people never rejected Jesus. He just never measured up to the description that God gave to the Jewish people, of who the messiah would be. The world and this very question are objective evidence we are not living in a post messianic age.

http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org and the book Judaism and Christianity; a Contrast by Rabbi Stuart Federow will explain to you the irreconcilable differences at the very core of the two religions.

Jews of different movements may butt heads over how best to live/honor the Torah in a modern world,about customs and practice or application of Torah but Jews do not disagree over what the Hebrew Bible says is out obligation, the purpose of our covenant in the world and Jews don't disagree that the nature of our Creator is an incorporeal ONE in our affirmation of faith we give as all Israel gave in declaring the Shema, first uttered upon the Divine encounter between God and ALL Israel at Sinai.

Judaism remains monotheistic in dedication of faith to serve YHVH we trust did not lie to us in establishing the covenant that remains eternal. Judaism also remains the original messianic religion and its messianic promise remains unaltered and the New Testament remains impotent to change that or anything about Torah.

The New Testament demonizes believing Jews for refusing to abandon the covenant to take on a "new" and altered covenant whose purpose was to assimilate the Jews out of existence as a distinct people who looked to a future king who would break the yolk of persecution first for Israel and then for all the world and usher in universal brotherhood, peace and universal knowledge and worship of one God.



http://mamaspajamaparty.blogspot.com/2010/03/dispelling-longstanding-bloody-lie.html

http://mamaspajamaparty.blogspot.com/2009/04/idolatry-human-sacrifice-and.html

http://mamaspajamaparty.blogspot.com/2013/01/do-christians-know-that-jewish-people.html

edit to add another essay that addresses a claim in an answer re: Paul

http://mamaspajamaparty.blogspot.com/2009/10/real-pharisees.html

regarding the Xian hell and other misconceptions brought up in some answers :

http://mamaspajamaparty.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-hebrew-bible-analysis-of-christian.html