Old Testament, Torah & Jesus Christ?

Question

The first five books of the Old Testaments are known as the Torah in Judaism whereas the Old Testament as a whole is sacred to Christians.
What exactly are the differences in interpretation?
I mean, can someone explain to me how are two religions which believe in the same book so different that one attaches divinity to Jesus and the other sees him as a good Jew (while the followers of this Jew are Christians)?
Just want to resolve my ambiguities while understanding the two religions; I like to look for similarities across religions and try to understand the differences.
Thank you for your patience.

Answer 1

Josephus, a Jewish historian, mentioned Jesus in his writings toward the end of the first century C.E., roughly 60 years after Jesus' death.
As a non-Christian, Josephus would have no reason to accept the historical reality of Jesus unless there was some sound basis for it.
In one of his works, Josephus discusses disturbances that were caused by the Jews during the time Pontius Pilate was governor of the region of Judea (26-36 C.E,) The disturbance centered around a man named Jesuss and his followers, Josephus identifies Jesus as "a wise man....a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of men who received the truth with pleasure," and he notes that Jesus was later condemned by Pilate to crucifixion. While this mention of Jesu does not suggest that Josephus himself accepted Jesus or the claim made about Jesus by his followers, it does seem clear that Josephus recognized Jesus to be a historical person who had a profound impact on the people he encountered.

Read also about Tacitus, a Roman historian.....Pliny the Younger another Roman source and Suetonius a Roman historian and lawyer.
All these writers prove the historical existence of Jesus......rather than biblical sources.

Answer 2

The first five books of the bible are not the Torah. They are called the Pentateuch.
The Torah is what Christians call the Old Testament.
Jews and Christians believe in the Old Testament as being the word of God.
Where Jews and Christians differ is in their belief in Christ. Jews believe the messiah is YET to come. The first Christians were, therefore Jews who believed Jesus was the Christ.

Answer 3

I am not sure whether I have the answer. I am putting forth another question or maybe something to reflect on. This debate has always driven me crazy, when the ideological basis of Christianity is based on the Torah - then contradicted because of the coming of Jesus - argued because of his persecution by the Jews -- established by the Christians as the ultimate religion - countries founded on its premise --- wars condoned because Jesus was a Jew and the Jews are the chosen people.
Its a contradiction in itself. Then the Muslims base their ideologies on the Torah as well but call it the Koran - wage war on the violations of scripture - although scripture - is what the Jews say they follow -------------
Hello, are the lights on but no one is home?
Its all the same. I am Native American Indian.And many of our spiritual beliefs are similar but with different words and interpretations. It explains why the Natives were so easily converted into Christianity. Sadly, the natives have become prey to this metaphysical movement - they participate, get exploited, and push it to show their worth and wisdom in spirituality. But in reality few remember, very few, the traditions in shamanism and its practice. The elders are now worse then Pharisees, judging and condemning anyone that challenges it and worse still the white man has actively participated persecuting whole communities with their arrogance. I wish people would just stop. Their isn't any right way or wrong way. Life is about your perception of it and what makes you happy.

Answer 4

"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me." - John 5:46

The sad truth is Christians and Jews alike don't believe and live by the Torah or any other part of the Scriptures. As Messiah said, you don't believe me because you don't believe Moses's teaching either.

Jews don't truly follow the Torah, in part because they can't. The temple has been destroyed and the levitical system of sacrifice and atonement no longer exists; that is, without acknowledging Messiah (the High Priest), they cannot keep the Torah. Christians don't want to follow the law and therefore dismiss the Torah as being "for the Jews" so they don't have to submit to it.

Here's some food for thought: if Messiah was teaching before the gospels, epistles, etc. were written, what was the Word from which he was teaching? Surely it was the law.

Answer 5

The prophets of the Old Testament foretold of vthe coming of the Messiah some 800to 900 before the coming of Jesus. In Isaiah 53 there is a graphic prophesy of the coming of Jesus & his life , death & resurrection. The Jews of the day refused to recognise him as the Messiah because they were waiting for A KING to come , not a humble carpenter ...guess what ! They are still waiting ! As I understand it the whole of the O ld Testament is sacred to the Jews also..they just refuse to accept Jesus .

Answer 6

A problem with your question is that you seem to give unwarranted signficance to the Judaic-Christian Bible as if it is somehow special or unique. The fact is that humanity has dozens of holy books. There is no good reason to single out just one of them and pretend that only this one is somehow the word of a god. The Bible now accepted by Christians as "the" Christian Bible was not even agreed upon until the Council of Nicaea, more than 300 years after the lives of Jesus and the Apostles. So in fact Christianity did quite well without the Bible for a long time. Worshipping the Bible (while not following the man) is a sin of Protestant fundies in today's America and is bibliolatry.

Answer 7

First of all, the entire "Old Testiment" is sacred to Jews.

The main difference in the interpretation is that Jews believe that Jews are still and always will be bound to all the laws in the Torah by covenant. Christians believe that there has been a new covenant brought about by Jesus that supercedes the old one, and that makes believers bound by a different law.

Answer 8

In the times of Jesus it was taught in the Jewish temple that Israel was the suffering Messiah. They thought that there was going to be 2 messiahs. The Nation of Israel was the first(the suffering Messiah) and then the end times Messiah.
Actually there is only one Messiah, and he is Jesus. But, he will come twice. The first time as the suffering Messiah, and the second time at the end times. This is what Christians believe. This is the reason why Jesus's Deciples didn't understand a lot that he was saying. They thought that it was the end times and wondered why he had to die. They thought that the Jewish Nation was the suffing messiah, because that is what was taught.

Answer 9

Jesus did not accomplish what Israel's prophets said the Messiah was commissioned to do: He did not deliver the covenant people from their Gentile enemies, reassemble those scattered in the Diaspora, restore the Davidic kingdom, or establish universal peace (cf Isa.9:6-7; 11:7-12:16, etc.) Instead of freeing Jews from oppressors and thereby fulfilling God's ancient promises - for land, nationhood, kingship, and blessing - Jesus died a "shameful" death (Deut 21:24), defeated by the very political powers the Messiah was prophesied to overcome. Indeed, the Hebrew prophets did not foresee that Israel's savior would be executed as a common criminal by Gentiles (John 7:12,27,31,40-44), making Jesus' crucifixion a "stumbling block" to scripturally literate Jews (1 Cor. 1:23).[

Answer 10

The basic difference between Jews and Christians is that Jews are 'still' looking for the Messiah, and Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah.