If not for Jesus, only Jews would live under Jewish law. Is Jesus-ism responsible for putting us all under it?

Question

Were it not for Christianity, most of the world would have had no reason to ever read the Torah or the rest of the Old Testament.

The West would never have read about the condemnations of human sexuality, of heresy, or how to justify the murderous acts described in the Old Testament. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Dark Ages, all would never have occurred.

Only through the apostles' outreach to Gentiles was this horrid book brought into wider circulation. The religious rules applied only to a tiny minority until teachings about Jesus spread.

What responsibility, then, does Jesus-ism hold for the introduction of oppressive Old Testament writings into the wider world?

Answer 1

Wow is this an anti-semitic question. First of all, in the time of Jesus plenty of Romans knew about Judaism which had a number of hangers-on known as "God-fearers" who did not convert to Judaism (they did not circumcise themselves), but revered the Torah and Rabbinic Judaism. Second, the Romans revered Moses as they did other "heroes" from Hellenic myths and believed him to be one of the wisest men who had ever lived. The Roman problem with Jews was their monotheism and the fact that Jews actively sought converts to monotheism, which did not include sacrificing to the "genius" of the Emperor and the Roman state, hence the Romans engaged in intermittent persecutions Jews and Christians until the accession of Constantine (at which point they persecuted Jews and polytheists). Oh, and by the way, one of the reasons that Christians were persecuted was because Romans thought them to be atheistic, morally lax and sexually lewd.

Next the term heresy is derived from the New Testament, not the Hebrew Bible, so get your facts straight. Same goes for the Augustinian justification for religious compulsion, which undergirded the crusader theology. As for the Dark Ages, most scholars of the era agree that they were not all that dark and I am unsure of how you could connect the Old Testament to the incursion of Germanic Tribes into the Empire. True, many Germanic Kings of early Middle Ages cast themselves in the Davidic model, but this probably rendered them more moral, not less.

Finally, Judaism can claim a cultural tradition of scholarship, charity, and humanism that belies your claims.

Answer 2

Nobody follows the real laws. The Old Testament was not the cause for the Crusades and Inquisition and Dark Ages--the New Testament was. It has the words "spread the good news" and fundies and greedy power hungry people take that as a kind of shield against common sense. In the Old Testament it has nothing like that. Basically in that respect it says "live and let live."

So yes, J*sus is indirectly responsible for all those things through the actions of his "disciples."

Answer 3

You're missing the point. Jesus didn't come to preach to the Gentiles. That was Paul's job, after the Jews rejected Jesus as God's chosen Messiah and His own Son. Jesus came to fulfill the Mosaic Law and to break its death-grip on humanity.

God sent Jesus to come and be the permanent sacrificial offering for sins because the people were lost. It's only through Jesus that anyone (Jew or Gentile) can enter into Heaven and fellowship with God. He generously opened that opportunity up to more than just the Jews after they rejected His offer. If this had not been offered to everyone else, we all would have been condemned to an eternal separation from God. He was very generous in offering it to the rest of us, not just His chosen people.

Christians are, by definition, saved by grace through faith. We are free from the demands of the Mosaic Law. However, many Christians do follow some parts of it in order to please God because they love Him so much. We don't obey the Mosaic Law to gain anything from it, honest! Our obedience to God comes out of our love for Him.

Answer 4

Jesus never intended for his teachings to be applied to anyone except the members of his own tribe. He was very specific about how Jews were to be treated, as opposed to members of out-groups. You are absolutely right that those rules should have stayed within the tribe, where they were intended to stay, and they would have become as obsolete as every other primitive culture's tribes in time.

Answer 5

You certainly resort to much speculation.
Perhaps without Christianity, one of your progenitors would have been murdered by someone who was through the teachings of Scripture and a fear of God otherwise restrained from taking the life of your ancestor; in which case you would not be here at all.

Answer 6

Jesus gave us the wise maxim, "render unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's..." and this has allowed Roman or Common Law to supercede Church law in most cases, except for a few exceptions (eg blasphemy in the UK).

Answer 7

Being non-religious, I don't get involved in a lot of these discussions, but that new word " Jesusism " caught my eye. Where does it all come from, and when will it ever stop ?
I have to give an answer, so it's maybe.

Answer 8

The Torah is the literal word of God.
You sound bitter and angry about something. Why are you angry? Religion is supposed to bring light and love. You don't sound like you have much love for those who are not in your religion.

Answer 9

Jesus is the end of the law.

Romans chapter 10 (NKJV):

Israel Needs the Gospel

10Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for *Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them."* 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'"* (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, "'Who will descend into the abyss?'"* (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"* (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."* 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."*

Answer 10

How can we survive with all this lasting on our shoulders?