The Ontario Consultants (2008) Web site, Messianic Jews believe in the Messiah, the trinity, salvation and sin; which differs greatly from traditional Jews that believe the Messiah has yet to come. Messianic Judaism followers believe in the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the virgin birth of Yeshua, his sinless life, his resurrection, his future Second Coming, and his salvation, which makes them Christians not Jews. The History of Messianic Judaism goes back as far as the First Century CE (Ontario Consultants, 2008). In the First Century, there were numerous sects of Judaism; Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Boethusians, Essenes, and the list could go on and on. The First Christians were called Nazarenes, which were Jews that listened to the message that Yeshua of Nazareth was teaching and began to follow his word.
Were the Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes and Pharisees Jewish? Didn’t they originate from the mindset of another individual? Didn’t they build their faith and believes on the interpretation of that one person who decided to practice a different way of Judaism than the others? Many are of the opinion that Jesus wanted to destroy the law and implement his own. Since his apprenticeships partially cancel the Jewish laws, he is not considered being Jewish by many Jews.
Judaism is a religion based of Jewish people, the chosen ones. Judaism is based many different principales and ethics that come from the Hebrew Bible. But Judaism is not as simple as it seems. There are multiple branches of Judaism which include; ultra-orthodox, orthadox, conservative, reform, reconstructionist, humanistic, and Flexidox. All these branches have many similarities and differences.
When talking about the roots of the Christian Zionist movement, Anderson places a great emphasis on the Bible. He says that the territory of Palestine (now Israel) is thought (by Jews and many Christians) to be a “promised land”. According to the Bible, Jews inhabited the land a long time ago, and God in a certain way “granted” that land to them; somehow, as time passed, many other peoples, including the Palestinians, were occupying the territory. Anderson even provides paragraphs from the Genesis, in which God promises the land to Abraham and his descendents. Biblical critics argue that the story, told in the Bible, should not be taken literally.
Christianity and Judaism’s similarities and differences are made up of important factors such as the set of religions’ modern day practices, beliefs based off of their early origins, and their political roles and place of power in the ancient world. Christianity and Judaism both share many, little social factors that clearly distinguish their differences and similarities. A social factor that shows differences between the two religions would be their form of worship services. They vary, for example Christians attend churches on Sundays, were the mass is led by a priest who reads prayers from the Holy Bible. As for the Jews, their holy days are from Friday p.m. - Saturday p.m. were they attend a worship service at a synagogue, which is led by Rabbis as opposed to the Christian’s priest.
The Crescent Moon of Islam, the Cross or Fish of Christianity, the Swastika in Hinduism: these symbols have been used for years to distinguish one religion from another and make each one their own. Each symbol in every religion has a story behind it. The history of that religion and why believers chose that icon as their religious symbol are interpreted and then re-interpreted. However, with so many religions and cults in the world, it can be difficult to isolate one symbol with one religion. The Star of David, often associated with Judaism, falls into this conundrum.
The prophet Abrahams was considered the first Jew to establish an agreement with God. The Ancient monotheistic religion believes that Judaism is an ethical way of life. Armed with their fundamental text known as the Hebrew Bible( The Toran), the Jews concentrated on living a moral life. The Jewish people believe that God cannot be made up of three parts because that would constitute as several Gods. The Jewish people do not believe in any prophets after their prophets, and that would include Jesus and Mohammad.
While the orthodox group upheld that Jesus Christ and the Father are of the same nature, Arians argued that Christ was created and so could not be of the same nature with the Father. Theological controversies have plagued Christianity since its inception. The burning issue during Paul’s period was how the Jewish Christians and Gentile converts could relate. This issue became so serious that the first Christian council was held in Jerusalem to settle it. Subsequently, the nail biting debates over Gnostics and their
Jewish rituals and customs would be abandoned and Christianity would become a ‘religion’ in its own right. This was a radical change and it was incidents like Stephen’s speech which made it possible. In his speech, Stephen mentions four important periods of Israel’s history. The Sanhedrin would have been as familiar with it as Stephen was, but he drew lessons from it which they had never learned or noticed before. Stephen emphasises that long before God had chosen a special place he had chosen special people, Abraham and his descendants.
The ideas of Anti-Semitism have been prevalent throughout history; it was not simply throughout the Holocaust that those of the Jewish religion have been targeted by other groups in society. Though, the Holocaust is most notably the largest attempt at exterminating those who were Jewish. Generally any sort of prejudice against any group has been engrained into a person’s way of thinking since a young age, and often stems back very far into their family’s social structure. However, the reasons vary as to why someone may discriminate against a people. And, as with any sort of discrimination, the roots of the dislike stem from other misconception.