[net.religion.jewish] Differences between Christianity and Judaism

fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann) (09/28/85)

In article <540@decwrl.UUCP> liss@gramps.DEC (Frederick R. Liss DTN 237-3649)
writes:
>
>	I am engaged in a discussion about Jews For Jesus over our 
>        corporate network. My position is:
>		1) To accept Jesus as the Messiah is contrary to 
>	                Jewish	belief.
>		2) At their "services" JFJs quote from a nonexistent book 
>                	of the Torah.
>		3) Most JFJs change their names to Jewish sounding names. 
>	                In reality, they never were Jewish to begin with.
>	I would appreciate any information that you could pass along to 
>        help me support my point. Please reply directly by e-mail to the 
>        address below.		Thanks in advance, Fred

After reading a few books on comparative religion and Jewish theology,
I have a few ideas on this subject.  I invite learned rabbinical scholars
to correct my misconceptions.  As I see it, the main differences between
Judaism and Christianity are:

1)  Disagreement over the nature of the messiah.
	Christians believe that the Messiah is a part of G*d and should
	be worshipped as such.

	Jews believe that the messiah is merely a servant of G*d and is
	not to be worshipped.

2)  Disagreement over the need to obey the entire Mosaic Law after the arrival
    of the messiah.
	Christians believe that the Messiah's arrival "fulfills" parts
	of the law, and that those parts need no longer be followed.

	Jews believe that after the messiah completes his work, everybody
	will live by the entire Law of Moses.  Until then, only Jews are
	required to obey the entire Mosaic Law, although G*d expect gentiles
	to obey the admonitions given to Noah and his ancestors, these
	people being ancestor not only to the Jews, but to all of mankind.

3)  Who the messiah will be.
	Christians believe that the Messiah will be Jesus on a return visit.

	Jews hold no official opinion on who the messiah will turn out to be,
	nor whether or not it will be his first or nth visit.  Most Jews do
	not expect the messiah to turn out to be Jesus in his second life
	on earth, but if it does turn out that way, that would be fine.
	Assuming Jewish beliefs on the nature of the messiah, the question
	of WHO the messiah turns out to be is strictly academic, and of no
	immediate consequence.

4)  The status of the four Gospels.
	Christians have canonized these books as part of their Bible.
	Other gospels (e.g. the Gnostic gospels) have been rejected.

	Jews believe all of these books contain too many errors to be
	relied upon.

		Frank Silbermann