Compare and Contrast of Judaism and Christianity

Breiana Dailey Instructor: Cory king Eng. 112 Compare and Contrast Out Line Thesis: Judaism and Christianity are two religions that play a significant role in today’s society with so much in common; yet they are in constant dispute with one another. Item #1 Judaism| Item #2 Christianity| Points of comparison | * The Torah * Beliefs * Descendants of Abraham * RitualsPassover Festival | * The Holy Bible * Beliefs * Descendants of Abraham * Rituals Palm Sunday Good Friday EasterE| * Holy Books * Religious History * Religious Rituals | Compare and Contrast Full Out Line Religious History Common Denominator Abraham God Beginning of the Religion Isaac Parentage Promise made concerning him What he believed Father of Jacob (Israel) Moses a direct descendant of Holy Books Torah Bible Jesus Parentage Promise made concerning him What he believed Direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob Father of Christian Faith Religious Rituals Judaism The Passover Christianity Palm Sunday Good Friday Easter They’re just alike Judaism and Christianity are two religions that play a significant role in today’s society. Although these religions are in constant dispute with one another, they have more in common than most people know about. Both of these religions trace the genealogy of their beliefs, and the foundation of their beliefs back to Abraham. He is their physical common denominator.

Both Judaism and Christianity tell the story of Abraham. During a time when the majority of society was worshipping many gods, Abraham believed that he had heard the voice of the one true living God; who call Abraham to worship Him and Him alone. That is why Abraham is considered by theologians and scholars in Judaism and Christianity to be the father of monotheism; thus the next common denominator between the two religions, the belief in one true and more importantly living God. According to https://www. essortment. com/all/callabraham_rssf. htm Abraham was 75 when he first heard the voice of God. According to www. jewfaq. org/origins. htm he was born in 1800 BC, if there information is correct this would roughly place the start of monotheism at about 1725 BC. God had promised Abraham that He would make him the father of many nations. However Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham so that he could have a child. Thus this is when Ishmael was born.

Sometime later, Sarah in her old age gave birth to Isaac. Through these two children would be the birth of three religions. We however are going to discuss the two that were birthed through the descendants of Isaac; Judaism and Christianity.

God made Abraham a promise concerning his son and this promise can be found in the Bible and the Torah. The promises that I will quote is that found in the bible Gen 17:21 But I will make my promise to Isaac. Sarah will give birth to him at this time next year. To sum the promises up in a few words it was that through Isaac’s seed would come the Redeemer for mankind. Now Isaac, gave birth to Jacob. Jacob’s name was later changed by God to Israel.

Gen 35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. You will no longer be called Jacob, but your name will be Israel. ” So God named Jacob Israel. He had 12 children, thus the twelve tribes of Israel. The Israelites who later become known as the Jewish Nation followed the worship methods that were taught from Isaac to Jacob (Israel) and thus to the twelve tribes. Moses fits into this line in one major way. He is a direct descendant of Isaac and he was the one chosen by God to lead the children of Israel out of bondage into the promise land, and to give the Laws to the children of Israel, this is why it is referred to as the Mosaic Laws. These were not all new Laws, but those Laws that were passed down generation from generation as well as those laws that were not known of until then. There were many laws and feast days that were to be observed by the Jewish faith. But for this discussion we are going to look at the Passover.

The Passover is a celebration of remembrance of the night before the Israelites were released from slavery in Egypt. For those of you unfamiliar with the story of the Exodus, this section has been included to outline briefly the context of the Passover. After migrating to Egypt from Canaan (Gen 46:1-7), the family of Israel grew enormously to the extent that they began to rival the numbers of native Egyptians that lived in the land (Exodus 1:7-9). Fearful that the Israelites might at some future date ally themselves with its enemies, Egypt forced them to become their slaves (1:10-11)…. When the Lord appeared to Moses after a forty years’ exile from Egypt (3:1-6), He charged him (3:10) to ‘bring forth My people… out of Egypt’ because (3:7) the Lord had ‘… heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings’ But Pharaoh wouldn’t let the children of Israel go, which was hardly surprising. As a result of that first encounter with Moses, Pharaoh increased the burden on the Israelites (5:6-14), resulting in the people turning on Moses and Aaron (5:21). God then sent on the land of Egypt plagues, though the Israelites weren’t troubled by them (8:22-23 – at least from the time of the flies onwards). Each time, Pharaoh was given opportunity to let them go, but each time he refused or recanted after having given them permission. The plagues, in order, were: 1. The Nile was turned to blood (7:14-25) 2. Frogs (8:1-15) 3. Gnats (8:16-19) 4. Flies (8:20-32) 5. A plague upon the cattle (9:1-7) 6. Boils (9:8-12) 7. Hail (9:13-35) 8. Locusts (10:1-20) 9. A darkness that was oppressive (10:21-29) 10. The Passover “and the Lord promised Moses (11:1) that ‘… fterwards [Pharaoh] will let you go’ The Lord inaugurated a new calendar by making that month the first (12:2), corresponding to our March/April. A lamb was to be taken into each household on the 10th of the month (12:3), slain on the 14th (12:6) and subsequently eaten on the 15th. The blood was to be applied to both doorposts and lintel (12:7) for the Lord was to pass through the land that night and slay all the first-born in the houses that hadn’t applied the blood (12:12-13). He ‘passed over’ those that had applied the blood and so gave meaning to the name of the festival. During the night, after the destroyer had killed the first-born, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and told them and all the Israelites to get out of the land (12:29-32). Though that wasn’t the end of the story as regards the Egyptians, nevertheless, God had delivered His people out of the bondage of slavery to take possession of a land where they would be free to serve God (3:8, 13:3-5, Deut 6:23-24). God had affected redemption by ransoming His people out of the hand of their masters, the Egyptians (6:6). Thus the beginning of the Passover Ritual. Now no matter which religious group you are addressing, the Jews or Christians you can summarize that story in exactly that way; because the story is found in the Bible and the Torah. In the Bible it can be found in the book of Genesis, in the Torah it can be found in the book called B’reshiyth (which in English means Genesis). To be honest there are a lot of books found in the Torah which are also in the Bible.

The writings that they have in common are: TORAH BIBLE TORAH (The Law): Bereishith (In the beginning… ) (Genesis) * Shemoth (The names… ) (Exodus) * Vayiqra (And He called… ) (Leviticus) * Bamidbar (In the wilderness… ) (Numbers) * Devarim (The words… ) (Deuteronomy) NEVI’IM (The Prophets): Yehoshua (Joshua) * Shoftim (Judges) * Shmuel (I &II Samuel) * Melakhim (I & II Kings) * Yeshayah (Isaiah) * Yirmyah (Jeremiah) * Yechezqel (Ezekiel) * The Twelve (treated as one book) Hoshea (Hosea) * Yoel (Joel) * Amos Same Name * Ovadyah (Obadiah) * Yonah (Jonah) * Mikhah (Micah) * Nachum * Chavaqquq (Habbakkuk) * Tzefanyah (Zephaniah) * Chaggai * Zekharyah (Zechariah) * Malakhi KETHUVIM (The Writings): Tehillim (Psalms) * Mishlei (Proverbs) * Iyov (Job) * Shir Ha-Shirim (Song of Songs) * Ruth Same Name * Eikhah (Lamentations) * Qoheleth (the author’s name) (Ecclesiastes) * Esther Same Name * Daniel Same Name * Ezra ; Nechemyah (treated as one book) (Two books) (Nehemiah and Ezra) * Divrei Ha-Yamim (The words of the days) (Chronicles) Now how do Jesus Christ and Christianity fit into all of this? Jesus is believed to be “the seed of promise” that was to come through the descendants of Abraham, the awaited Messiah. For that was the initial promise that through Abraham’s seed a Savior, Messiah would come. Everyone of Jewish decent was looking for the Messiah. Followers of Christ believe that Jesus is the Messiah. That he is God manifested in the flesh to save mankind.

Christians believe that because that is what Christ believed and taught. Jesus was born of Mary who is believed to have been a virgin.

Christians believe that Mary was impregnated by God. Christians believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. (John 1:14) “and the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us”……… That Jesus Christ came to redeem man back to God; He is the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” Jesus was Jewish he was born of the tribe of Benjamin, and a direct descendant to King David through both his mother Mary’s bloodline and his earthly father Joseph. He was brought up in and under the Jewish faith and bloodline. He knew all of the laws of Moses. He personalized those laws and lived them to the point of fulfilling the laws. Jesus himself taught “I did not come to change the law, but to fulfill it”. (Mathew 5:17) So what laws did Jesus come to fulfill. If you recall at the beginning I stated that we would look at the Passover. Jesus taught that he came to take away the sins of the world. There is a law that was believed to be taught to him by God. That for the remission of sins there must be the shedding of blood. For death to pass over the Israelites on the original “Pass over” evening an innocent lamb had to be killed and the blood of it wiped on the door post and lintel.

When Adam was put out of the Garden of Eden, God covered him with animal skin, which means an innocent animal died. Once a year the High Priest had to go into the Holy of Holies to make the atonement offering for sins, they had to kill a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the altar. And for mankind as a whole to be reconciled back unto God, Jesus had to sacrifice his life. So let’s examine again what was required of the Israelites at the original evening of the Passover. A lamb was to be taken into each household on the 10th of the month (12:3), slain on the 14th (12:6) and subsequently eaten on the 15th. The blood was to be applied to both doorposts and lintel (12:7) for the Lord was to pass through the land that night and slay all the first-born in the houses that hadn’t applied the blood (12:12-13). He ‘passed over’ those that had applied the blood. Now on the 10th day the Lambs that were going to be sacrificed were to be led into town before all of the Children of Israel. On the 10th day Jesus entered Jerusalem Christian call this his triumphant entry. Because Jesus, just like the Lamb for the Passover sacrifice was led into the city before the Israelites by the disciples. The Israelites waved palms at him and throw palms before him on the ground and worshipped him.

Now the Passover lamb was to be held from the 10th. to the 14th day. During this time the lamb was being examined by the people to determine if it was free from all spots and blemishes. And as for Jesus what was going on with him from the 10th to the 14th. the Bible tells us that he was being questioned and examined and setup. On the 14th. day the lamb that was found not to have a spot or a blemish was announced to be pure and it was slain so that its blood could be applied to the doorpost and lintels. On the 14th day Pontius Pilot declared to the crowd “I find no fault with this man. ” In other words he is pure. Jesus was then led to the Calvary where he was slain so that the blood can be applied to our lives so that death will pass us over.

Christian celebrate that as “Good Friday” and Christians believe that Jesus rose from the dead and that one day he will raise each of them. For almost every Jewish Feast day that you have Christians believe that Jesus is and was the fulfillment of it. They still believe in those days just as the Jewish faith does. So when you really think of it to say that you are Christian, a follower of Christ; then you are also saying that you are Jewish for he was. Think about it.

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