If Jesus was a Jew?

Question

Im not sure how to ask this question but ill give it a go.

If Jesus was a Jew, Then why are Catholics the most prominent and well known religion? Why is the Head of the Church, the Catholic HQ in the Vatican City?

Why would Judaisim not be considered to be the religion to follow if Jesus was a Jew?


I think you should get the jist of what Im trying to ask.
Thanks.

Answer 1

You ask a really great question and I hope I can do it justice by answering it. I am going to give you the short (easy) version as I understand it.

Yes, Jesus was born a Jew. In Christianity, Jesus came as the son of God. Many Jewish people did not accept him as the messiah. If you would study the Old Testament in its original text - there is some evidence that Jesus was not the Jewish messiah and to believe in him is to be considered a heretic which Jesus was considered to be. Compare this to how Christians feel about Muhammad being a prophet in the Christian religion or how some people feel about the Latter Day Saints (Mormons).

Early followers of Jesus are called Christians (after Christ). Many early Christians were Jews who had converted as well as gentiles (non-Jewish people).

The study of religion is a very interesting subject. Think about taking a class in a local school or an on-line college. I did & I think it has made me a more tolerant person.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Hi, Mick! If you want firsthand answers you have to start some research on religions of the world. If you read the Bible you can get some insight. I can summarize but due to your lack of biblical knowledge you might not fully comprehend.
Yes, Jesus, the Christ, was born into a Jewish family and was raised as such. When he began his earthly ministry, he preached many things that opposed the Mosaic law and Jewish Holy Scriptures. He was proclaimed to be the Messiah by his followers; Jews considered it heresy and rejected Him.
Now, If Jews of that time would have accepted Jesus as the Son of God, then there would have been no Catholicism nor Vatican City and, as you posed it, Judaism would have been what Catholicism is today and Jerusalem would have been the headquarters.
Vatican City is the headquarters of Catholicism because it is believed that there was a great number of Christians concentrated in that area, and, furthermore, that Peter (the Apostle) who is considered to have been the first pope is buried underneath of the Basilica shrine.
History cannot be changed. What do change are the interpretations of historic events. Jews will give you theirs and Catholic will too. Historians have their points of view as well.

Answer 3

In the early church all Christians were Jews, only they also followed Jesus, then St Paul decided it should be a religion also for non-Jews. It slowly became very popular in the Roman Empire to teh point that Constantine decided it was better to join them than beat them. The Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem met with disappointment after the failure of the riots against the Romans were brutally surpressed and Jews were forced from their homeland and the Temple destroyed. With the original Jewish roots of Christianity dispersed and the power of the new church in the hands of the rulers of the Roman empire, the religion was forced as a state religion on the whole empire with the home and therefore also the power of the church centered in Rome. Once Christianity was so clearly a religion under teh control of their oppressor Rome, and had added Roman style mythology such as virgin birth - this following became anathema to Jews and the parallel movement of rabinnical Judaism took hold amongst them.

Answer 4

jesus claims the jews/ we did not claim him

according to jewish law he blasphemed god by claiming to be the messiah, which btw, in jewish belief is more of a political figure (a dr. king type with a happier ending) not a prophet. many reform jews consider the messainic age as more of a high ideal to shoot for than an actual prophecy anyway. he also broke the law when he claimed that you had to go through him to get to god. there is documentation that he was a rabbi, i see it as no different than the documentation we have that david keresh was a preacher. jesus taught that the temples in his time were corrupt (possibly true) and further separated himself from judaism by saying that laws were not part of the "new" covenant and he was the only way to god. no real jew would ever sign on to that last part. no jesus lover would ever be able to say he was not the messiah.

hope that made sense.

i want to be clear on something else i saw in some of the other answers here. there is no such thing as a messianic jew. it's an oxymoron. there is no such thing as a jew for jesus. that is just a term that some fanatic xtians use as a trick to get jews to convert. these people sneak into my synagogue sometimes. they put on the kippahs and sit quietly for a couple weeks. then one day they show upand start preaching about jesus and how they have seen his miracles and we can to if we will come to the "heaven or hell" play at the evangel temple assembly of god!

Answer 5

Jesus was born and died a Jew.
Moreover he tried to put forward the ideas of his extremist Jewish cult, the Issittes, and change the way of the mainstream Judaism, especially the materialistic activities of Jews that were more influenced by Greek and Roman culture, but his cult's suggestion of returning to the idealistic simple life was rejected.
but through his life he acted only inside the Jewish cultural sphere.
His disciples, who, after his Crucifixion, dispersed among the Jewish communities of Egypt, Asia minor (Turkey today) and other places, started converting Jews to the teaching Of Jesus, but they had little success there, since Jews believed in a single God for centuries before this new Jewish cult appeared.
But the Non Jews of the Mediterranean of that time, who were pagans, all of them, were discovered to be more more ready to embrace the Monotheistic faith, especially the Christian version, that allowed easy conversion, while the older Jewish Faith actually discouraged mass conversion. so 3 main Christian centers emerged - the eastern Roman (today's Orthodox Christians) who were the first to become the formal state religion, 300 years A.D. the Egyptian, and the western roman (today's Catholics)

Answer 6

Jesus was Hebrew and also a Jew but as for Catholics and their belief you have to go back in time to the Roman empire where many of the people were worshiping a little silver female goddess named dianna and at the same time christianity was coming into it's own. The Roman emperor Constatine saw that he was loosing his grip on the people and he had to come up with a way to bring it all together so he come up with a new religion that would bring them all together where it had a twist on both groups. So he saw that he had to have a female in it so this is where Mary come's in with christianity so the world ended up with a new pagan religion. Jesus never said you have to go through my earthly mom Mary to get to my heavenly father but this is how the Catholic relegion works and its all wrong but GOD will use many diffrent religions and people to get his point across but there still is only one true way and that is through Jesus Christ the only begotten son of the living GOD and the only one to ever raise anyone from the dead on this earth in our past and soon to be in our future. Man was created for GOD and woman was created for man and GOD is not a woman now or ever but Mary was to be blessed by GOD because he knew Josphef and Mary would bring Jesus up holding to triditional Hebrew beliefs and ways. The Bible, read and let the Holy Ghost lead you into understanding and be sure to try the spirits because don't forget that satan was a angel of light and his job is to destroy us now!

Answer 7

The time of Jesus is one of the most documented and researched periods in history. Jesus was clearly Jewish. He and His Disciples were the founders of the Christian Faith and they started the church which became the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

Also, The Roman Catholic church is in Rome because that is where Peter the first Pope, appointed by Jesus Himself, in the Bible, established the church.

Rome was the Ruling City in that part of the world at that time.

Answer 8

One of the things Jesus did was point out how the Jews (Pharisees) had gone astray from the Law. He established a new covenant with spiritual Israel, which included "gentiles". Now anyone, not just jews, who obey the commandments of God are acceptable to him and can receive salvation.
As for the Catholic church being the most prominent- if you look into history, the Catholic church is political. They killed people who didn't agree with it. Besides, the bible says that the road to everlasting life is cramped and narrow and FEW are those finding it (Matthew 7:14). If FEW are those who find it while many are the ones going on the spacious road to destruction (Matthew 7:13), then I wouldn't look to the most prominent church for the truth!

Answer 9

No, humanity as a rule because the which means is lost through 'laying blame' on a particular race or sect. to boot... if it grow to be "basically the Jews" who killed Jesus, does no longer it stand to reason that Jesus would then be the savior for "Jews in trouble-free terms"?? very last time I checked, Jews do not trust that.

Answer 10

The whole of christianity is based on a lie.

Its initial purpose back in the 1st century AD was to try and undermine the Roman Empire.

That is the reason why christianity has its headquarters in Rome. Its a symbol of how it finally defeated the Romans.

Jesus never claimed to be the messiah. He saw his own role as being just a man trying to make the world a better place. The political/religious movement of christianity was actually devised by 'Saint' Paul much later who created the cult of the divine Jesus and upgraded baseless myths such as the resurrection to the status of proven facts.

In short christianity is just a lie. There are so many flaws in its claims that it is unbelievable that anyone with a brain cell could still take it seriously.

Try reading Richard Dawkin's excellent book The God Delusion. It was the third highest selling book in the world last year and for good reason.

It absolutely blows away all the garbage which religious bigots have been preaching to the simple minded for centuries!