hutch (02/08/83)
Aron, I respect your wish not to be insulted by the common designation of some of the Hebrew Holy writings as the "Old Testament" but . . . The terms "Jewish Bible" and "Christian Bible" are just as offensive to me and to many other Christians. As for why, a bit of history, which some kind person may correct me on the details if they wish. I don't have my references here at work, so I may not be accurate. In the very early days of the Christian church, it was a sect of Judaism, much like Pharisaism and Sadduccism. The majority of the church members (until about 40 AD, ALL church members) were practicing Jews. They went to Temple services, and were unusual only in that they believed, with better evidence than many similar sects, that the Messiah had come and that He was Jeshua the son of the carpenter, from Nazareth. This belief was so politically unpopular that the Council of Rabbis decided to add a curse on the heads of the Nazarenes, to the required litany of the services. THIS WAS JEWS CURSING OTHER JEWS AS HERETICS. Do not assume that I am making any kind of anti-semitic assertion. Needless to say, due to this curse, the Nazarenes (Christians) had to leave the temple or call a curse on their own heads as heretics. The New Testament was written by Jews, albeit Christian Jews. Gentiles, like myself, who become Christians, are of the opinion that the writings we call the Old Testament are JUST AS HOLY as the New Testament, that they are extremely relevant because we are, in a sense, the "adopted" children of Abraham. Christ said the "I do not come to abolish the Law, but to complete it." The Covenant was held to still apply to all Jews who became Christians, except for the Sacrifices, which were superseded by a more perfect Sacrifice. Dietary laws were not applied to the Gentiles who became Christians, since they were not Jews. The laws given to Noah WERE applied, and I am unsure what they were since they are not given in great detail, but I believe they include not eating meat with blood. Anyway, the term "Christian Bible" applies to BOTH the New and Old testaments. The term "Jewish Bible" can reasonably be applied to the all the Hebrew Holy Writings, the Torah, the Talmud, and whatever others might be collected in one volume. It would be better, if someone could oblige, to detail the Jewish Holy Writings, with their usual names. That way, we could speak with proper respect when speaking specifically of Jewish scriptures as opposed to specifically Christian ones (including the Hebrew writings that are a part of Christian Scripture). Steve Hutchison ... decvax!tektronix!tekmdp!dadla!hutch