What do Jewish people believe in? Why is it so different from Catholics and Christians?

Answer 1

Judaism insists on a notion of monotheism, the idea that there is one God. As Judaism understands this idea, God cannot be made up of parts, even if those parts are mysteriously united. The Christian notion of trinitarianism is that God is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Such a view, even if called monotheistic because the three parts are, by divine mystery, only one God, is incompatible with the Jewish view that such a division is not possible. The Jewish revolutionary idea is that God is one. This idea allows for God's unity and uniqueness as a creative force. Thus, for Jews, God is the creator of all that we like and all that we don't. There is no evil force with an ability to create equal to God's. Judaism sees Christianity's trinitarianism as a weakening of the idea of God's oneness. Jews don't have a set group of beliefs about the nature of God; therefore, there is considerable, and approved, debate within Judaism about God. However, all mainstream Jewish groups reject the idea of God's having three parts. Indeed, many Jews see an attempt to divide God as a partial throwback, or compromise with, the pagan conception of many gods. To Jews, whatever wonderful teacher and storyteller Jesus may have been, he was just a human, not the son of God (except in the metaphorical sense in which all humans are children of God). In the Jewish view, Jesus cannot save souls; only God can. Jesus did not, in the Jewish view, rise from the dead. He also did not absorb the sins of people. For Jews, sins are removed not by Jesus' atonement but by seeking forgiveness. Jews seek forgiveness from God for sins against God and from other people (not just God) for sins against those people. Seeking forgiveness requires a sincere sense of repenting but also seeking directly to redress the wrong done to someone. Sins are partially removed through prayer which replaced animal sacrifice as a way of relieving sins. They are also removed by correcting errors against others. Jesus, for Christians, replaced Jewish law. For traditional Jews, the commandments (mitzvot) and Jewish law (halacha) are still binding. No one who is Jewish, no born Jew and no one who converts to Judaism, can believe in Jesus as the literal son of God or as the messiah. For the Jewish people, there is no God but God. Judaism does not accept the notion of original sin, the idea that people are bad from birth and cannot remove sin by themselves but need an act of grace provided by the sacrificial death of Jesus as atonement for all of humanity's sins. For Christians, there are no other forms of salvation other than through Jesus. In contrast, the Jewish view is that humans are not born naturally good or naturally bad. They have both a good and a bad inclination in them, but they have the free moral will to choose the good and this free moral will can be more powerful than the evil inclination. Indeed, Jewish ethics requires the idea that humans decide for themselves how to act. This is so because temptation, and with it the possibility of sin, allows people to choose good and thus have moral merit. The Jewish view is not that humans are helpless in the face of moral error.

Answer 2

I do believe that Catholics are part of the Christians aren't they?
I know that there are many many types of christian denominations, but the one thing that they all share is the belief in Christ.

Jews do not believe in Christ as the Messiah.
For Jews - the Messiah has to fulfill some requirements
1) He is human (not God and not the son of God)!!! and a descended from King David.
2) Will enable the return of all Jews to Israel.
3) Will make Israel light to all the nations.
4) Times of peace and brotherhood among men.

Jews believe that in every generation there is a potential for a Messiah. That's why during our history, there were times that some people were considered Messiahs in potential. But in order for them to actually be THE MESSIAH, they need to fulfill all the requirements mentioned above in there lifetime!!!

Jesus had a potential to be a Messiah but eventually he didn't fulfill the requirements (according to the Jews of course).

In short, There is a fundamental difference between Christianity and Judaism. Christianity is built on the belief that Jesus is the Messiah. and Judaism do not recognize him at all. All the other differences are derive from that.

Answer 3

well from the few that i read, most of the answers cover a lot. so i will fill in the gaps.
Not only do the Jews not believe in Jesus Chirst, but we do not believe in the Holy Ghost. We also do not believe in the Devil and hell or heaven. this is because Judism is a religion to teach us how to live a good life, not where one goes after they die. We will definetly meet Jews that believe in hell, heaven and the Devil but in the torah (1st testament) it never talks about the Devil, heaven or hell. it does talk about Satan but he is presented either as the Angel of Death or as "the devil's advict" not the devil. the Torah also talks about a perfect place but the perfect place is not heaven but the Garden of Eden. Scholors of Judaism do debate these topics, so you might find answers that contradict my answers.
Then ther are the small "details"
no pope, no ruling religious institution like the church.
saturday is the rest day, not sunday
when we pray and how is very very different
it is much more dificult to convert. we don't just let people come in. The Rabbi has to make sure the person from top to the bottom of their heart want to join, and if yr a boy, then have a nice circumcision.
We have a special ceremony to celebrate a boy or girl at age 13 to welcome them in Jewish adulthood.
We have special laws governing how and what we eat, but not many Jews follow those laws any more. this is Kashrute (i spelled it wrong, can't remeber how to spell it)
In additon to the 5 books of Moses/Torah we also have the Writings and the Prophets which we read every so often.
we have many different holidays were we do a lot of dif. things. and i am sure there are more, but i can't think of any more right now.

that is a lot I knw but compared to other religions Judaism is most like Chrisianity but one could argue that it is closer to maybe Islam or Buddahism. I hope that answered yr question but feel free to email or im me if you want to learn more or want more detail.

Answer 4

Jewish people believe there is one god as do Catholics and Christians. The main difference however is that Jewish people do not believe their messiah or savior has arrived. Christians and Catholics believe that Jesus is their savior or messiah and that he died for their sins. Jewish people are still waiting for their messiah. Instead they have a holy time of year, their day of atonement in which they ask god to forgive their sins. Additionally, Jewish people pray only to god. They do not pray to saints or put others equal to god.

Answer 5

I am a former Baptist who now observes all Hebrew feast days as well as Hanukkah. In my opinion, the main difference between the Jews and Christians and Catholics is the Jews are monotheistic. They believe in one god, Yahweh. Christians and Catholics are polytheistic in that they believe in 3 gods-the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. All 3 are gods or different aspects of one God-whichever your take. This is commonly referred to as the Holy Trinity. Catholics and Christians also observe pagan celebrations of old, but they put a decidedly Christian spin on them-but they are the same old pagan customs of old-Saturnalia and Easter or Eostre which was the celebration of the Spring Equinox. Christians may claim to have put a godly spin on these pagan celebrations but many include the pagan customs such as bunnies and baskets, eggs, etc. Christians also try to distance themselves from Judaism, although they claim to worship and love a god who came in human form as a Jewish rabbi. It is peculiar, indeed and quite hypocritical and sometimes evil when you look at the Christian roots of anti-semitism.
Another distinct difference is Christians put much emphasis on the New Testament of the bible and Jews study from the Torah-as did the Christian "god" who some like myself believe was fully man, the promised messiah-whom the Jews have rejected because Christianity, under the influence of Constantine and the Holy Roman Empire, made that messiah divine or godlike.
In short, and IMO, the Jews fulfilled the prophesy that they would reject messiah and not trust Yahweh to fulfill his promise and for that they are in error. The Christians or Gentiles have disobeyed Yahweh by embracing paganism and idolatry and breaking the first commandment-to have no other gods beside Yahweh. The Gentiles in essence caused the Jews to reject messiah-although none would ever dare to admit that.
Yashuah, or Jesus (the Greek name ascribed to him) would have observed Hewbrew feast days as well as the festival of lights, read and taught from the Torah and worshipped ONLY one God and would never agree to be worshipped as though he were a god-in fact it goes against all he would have believed with great passion, as a knowledgeable Jewish theologian. He fulfilled the promise of the Torah and for that he was rejected by his own people and recreated in spirit and in form by the Christians. The really sad fact is evil men have persecuted his people in HIS name, as well. The ultimate slap in the face to his Father, Yahweh.

Answer 6

Catholics ARE Christians.

Answer 7

Christians are people who believe Jesus was the son of God, born of immaculate conception to the virgin Mary, who died on the cross, crucifixion, to save us from our sins, and was resurrected after death to sit beside God, His Father. Christians believe in the Holy Trinity or the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (or spirit, the resurrected version of Jesus, and that through belief in Jesus, as described, comes salvation. Another major Christian belief is Heaven and Hell.

Catholics and Protestants are Christians. Christianity arose as a modification of Judaism. Jesus is/was Jewish and presented, according to The Bible, the crucifixion/resurrection path to forgiveness. In general, Catholics and Protestants, tend to focus on different aspects of Jesus; e.g., Catholics tend to focus on the crucifixion, pain and suffering, whereas Protestants tend to focus on the resurrection, or forgiveness and salvation.

Jews, the ancestors of Christians, did not, and do not accept Jesus as the son of God, born of immaculate conception to the virgin Mary, etc. The old testament of the Christian bible is essentially the teachings of Judaism involving creation/genesis, 10 commandments, etc. The new testament is the Christian addition to the old testament, which presents a more forgiving version of God. Jews are still waiting the 'reall" messiah to come to earth. Jews believe in Heaven, but do not believe in Hell.

Mostly, Jews and Christians have the same fundamental values and beliefs and part ways on the subject of Jesus as the messiah. Jews and Christians and Muslims believe in the same God; a uniting factor that is unfortunately clouded over by racism and religious intolerance.

Answer 8

jewish ppl believe in the Old Testament which they call the torah it should kno i have a jewish cousin but catholics and christians believe in both the New and Old testament but mostly the new Testament saying that if they don't read the New testament which they do kno but don't believe in and again saying that they don't belive in the comming of the savior (Jesus Christ). Thats mostly but i kno Jewish ppl but to add from that they also have traditons like men or boys wear vests sort of things under their cloths that come under their cloths where u can see it and the and as u kno there are those tiny hats that they call yamaca (i hope a spelled that right).

Answer 9

First of all Jews, Christians and Muslims DO NOT believe in the same god. The Jews believe in Yahweh-one god, the creator, the Almighty. Christians believe in a Trinity or Triune God, which harkens of pagan gods and is 3 distinct gods rolled in to one. Arabs believe in Allah, whose false prophet Muhammed gives him away as a false god. The inherent vengefullness and anger that eminates from Islam also is a dead give away for Allah being a false god.

Secondly, spedusour, the early Hebrew followers of Yahshuah (or Yeshuah) believed he was messiah. Being Jewish has nothing to do with blood. The early remnants of true Jews believed Yahshuah was the messiah-the Jews did not universally and immediately reject him. The process of rejecting him came about when he was determined by the early Christians to be a god or divine or godlike and may pagan attributes were assigned him after his death. During this process, after the Nicene Creed was established-those early Jews, those early bretheren of messiah were KILLED for their belief that he was fully man and not half man half god.

Answer 10

Judaism is a more this-world based belief system.
Christianity is more the-next-world based.

Judaism believes in the radical Oneness of God.

Judaism believes that the messianic age will come when the prophecies concerning the Messiah are fulfilled, and not before such as time.

Answer 11

I am Jewish.

We believe in one Creator, one complete and singular G-d. We believe that the Torah, which the Christians know as the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodous, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), is our family history and the outline of G-d's Law. The remainder of what the Christians call the "Old" Testament for us is our family history, and a guide toward prayer and good choices (the Haftorah).

We also have Oral traditions, outlined in a set of writings called the Mishnah and the Talmud, that expand on the Torah and Haftorah. These create a more detailed outline of what centuries of Rabbis have interpreted for meanings for Torah Law, etc. Orthodox Jews follow these detailed interpretations, "the letter of the Law," in their observance of our faith.

Reform Jews focus on internal reflection and the "spirit of the Law" in their observance.

The Jewish concept of "Messiah" is one who brings the Jewish people into freedom and independence during periods of oppression. Moses, for example. A non-Jew can be a messiah (Cyrus, the Persian, for example, who freed the Jews from Babylonian servitude). In addition there is the concept of the ultimate Messiah, a "child of David," who will bring true and real, long-term physical peace and prosperity to the Jewish people as an independent and free nation, and to the world (which is why Jews do not accept the idea that Jesus could be messiah).

Christianity started when Greeks in servitude to Rome heard about an Essene rabbi (Pharisees taught that Temple worship was secondary to the prayer in your heart and good works; Essenes were more stringent in this than Pharisees; Sadducees taught that only through Temple sacrifice could one find true forgiveness). This rabbi both defied Roman pagan authority over thought, while encouraging compliance with physical authority of secular military might ("render unto Ceaser..."). He was eventually crucified as a high-risk leader of a potential rebellion; until he attacked the Temple money-changers he was considered relatively harmless. Once he had used physical violence to make his point, the Romans took notice and eliminated a potential threat... the Temple leadership at the time were Roman appointees.

Most of those Jews who initially followed this rabbi stopped after the first century, because he did NOT return to create a free and unified Israel. The Christians became almost exclusively Greeks and Romans, although they were often referred to as a Jewish sect by pagan Greeks and Romans of that time period who didn't know any better.

This rabbi's teachings were melded with Greco-Roman and Gallic dying-god-brings-redemption and fertility/renewal beliefs, and at first became a servants' faith to ease their souls under the deep suffering of slavery. Jewish scripture was revised and taken out of context to support the claim that this rabbi, Jesus, was Divine, therefore the Christian use of that scripture as the "Old Testament."

As Roman control over the empire became shakier in the 4th/5th centuries C.E., Constantine adopted Christianity as the state faith to encourage passive compliance by the population. Incorporation of additional rituals and celebrations from cultures absorbed by Rome, to convince those groups to convert to the state religion by allowing the continuance of their ancient rituals (e.g. the Christmas tree, Easter egg hunts, etc.).

The words "Jesus," "Christ," and many other words used in Christianity are actually Greek words. Also, in Hebrew and Aramaic, there is no "J" sound. Jesus's name is actually Yeshua, in English, Joshua.

Whether Christian or Jew, in the end, it's what brings you as an individual into a closer, positive relationship with G-d.