Why does Christianity seem like a completely different religion than Judaism?

Question

..if Jesus came to strenghen the law and not abolish it?

Also, if Jesus was a better man than Moses, why did he make follow the Commandments given to Moses and not create his own?

edit: the 'make follow' bit is a typo :D

RobertK: youre skillfully ignoring my question. Jesus was ofcourse not there when Moses was around, that would completely undermine the need to send Moses!

IMO if Jesus was around from the beginning, I would very logically question the mentality of sending so many messengers after Adam, instead of sending Jesus Christ.

Answer 1

Because he was deified by Paul, who started a new religion.

Jesus himself was only a reformist Jew.

Answer 2

Because the Jews had distanced themselves from the original revealed Israelite religion. They had added much to the law of their own making that didn't come from God.

Many biblical scholars today have come to the conclusion that Judaism has changed dramatically since Old Testament times. Just before, and then after the Babylonian Captivity, Jewish priests and scholars undertook a major revision of their religion. This is often called Josiah's reform or the Deuteronomistic Reform. Much of this was in reaction to the destruction that was taking place in Judah at that time at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians. The Jews figured that God must be allowing this because the Jews were doing something wrong. They tried to cut out all idolatry and evil practices, but also greatly reformed the religious beliefs themselves. Ideas like God ruling over a Heavenly Council made up of his many Sons; the idea that Yahweh was one of the Sons of God and that it was he that would come to earth to suffer and make atonement as the Messiah; the concept that God had a female counterpart or wife; much of what went on in the First Temple was removed. Interesting enough, all these ideas would reappear in Christianity centuries later.

My point is--you cannot compare Christianity to the Judaism of today, or even the Judaism of Christ's time. Jesus Christ came to restore the Judaism of ancient times. The ancient religion of the Israelites is the same religion that Jesus Christ taught.

Answer 3

Because it IS. Jesus came to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin and establish a New Covenant, which abolished and did away with the Old Covenant, so they tell me. But they are indeed two totally different and separate religions, even if Christianity did sort of evolve out of Judaism. Some think that Jesus was simply a reformer, like Martin Luther, who really had no desire or intention to start a new religion and break away from the old, but if that is the case, then he failed miserably in his efforts. Paul is said to be the true founder of Christianity, just as J.F. Rutherford is the true founder of Jehovah's Witnesses (a religion often attributed, wrongly, to Charles T. Russell.)

Answer 4

Judasim is very similar to the Islamic faith actually. In Judaism as well as Islam, what one eats, wears, or in business matters come from their religious beliefs. Furthermore, even when it comes to marriage they don't want marriage outside of their faith. Although, in Islam women can be beaten by their husbands if they act against their husband wishes. Women really are second class citizens (this applies moreso in the Middle East). There are many other comparisons between the two. On the other hand, Christ was not accepted by Jewish High Priest as the Messiah. And was crucified because of their false accusations of blasphemy.What many people don't know is that Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all part of the Abrahamic Religions. They are three bothers with the same father (Abraham.)

Answer 5

It is a completely different religion. Christianity has abandoned Judaism completely- and borrows a few concepts while creating its new theology. The idea of a personified God, of a deific father is straight out of the pagan religions of the Greek and Romans (think of Hercules and the other heroes who were all descended from a God)- and is completely foreigh, and abhorrent, to Judaism. it is also made clear in devarim (the last of the five Books of Moses- called Deuteronomy in english) that the law given on Sinai is ETERNAL. It makes it very clear that if someone comes, performs miracles, signs and wonders- but wants to change even a single letter of the Torah (the five books of Moses)- it is merely a test- and one we pass by ignoring the person and keeping to the law given by God to Moses.

Answer 6

It seems like a completely different religion because it IS a completely different religion. Jews do not believe that Jesus was the son of God or that he was resurrected. Those are a couple of really important details in Christianity.

Answer 7

He didn't come to strengthen the law. He came to redeem mankind through his grace, and to pour out his mercy on repentant sinners.

The law was never capable of saving anyone. It was simply a convenient measure of the sinfullness of humanity, that pointed to the fact that we truly needed a redeemer, if we ever hoped to attain heaven.

The passage you cite is one of the most misunderstood in all the scriptures.

Jesus was the only one who ever perfectly fulfilled the law, because he was capable of operating in this world as a true man, but without ever committing a sin.

Once Jesus fulfilled the law, primarily to confirm the truth of God's system of perfect justice, he set it aside, and replaced it with the grace and mercy of his new covenant.

Go back and re-read the famous "jot or tittle" passage with new eyes, and you'll understand that Jesus said that he didn't come to destroy the law but to fulfill it ... and until/unless HE fulfilled it perfectly ... every jot and tittle of it would still be in effect until the end of time.

Later in scripture, Jesus explains to his apostles that he did, in fact, fulfill all the was written in the law, the pslams, and the prophets, in order to free mankind from the curse of the law.

St. Paul expains it in even more detail.

So today, we operate under God's grace and mercy, mediated by Jesus and the new covenant church ... of which he remains the head ... and that is a huge improvement over the legalism that was the hallmark of the old covenant.

In fact, it's such a big improvement, that come Judgment Day, there will be no valid excuse for anyone's failure to personally accept it, in Jesus' holy name.

Answer 8

Good question, Calmness...Let us explore Christ's mission.

It is described in Isaiah 42:21: "He will magnify the law, and make it honourable."

Jesus was the author of the Law, and he was the atypical sacrificial lamb that pointed to His great sacrifice for your sins.

And sin is defined as trangressing the Law, the one that says thou shalt not steal, commit adultry, etc.

So Jesus said: Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. i did not com to destroy, but to fulfill (make complete--Matthew 5:17) .

Then Jesus says it would be easier for heaven and earth to be destroyed for one portion of God's law change (verse 18).

This morning when I awoke, the world and atmosphere was still here, so that means God's law has not changed.

Jesus never told anyone to sin--he just corrected the Pharisees traditions that were wrong interpretations of Sin. Jesus was the Sacrifice that offers pardon for the repentant, and when he showed someone for their need of Him, then he's say: "sin no more." To the domestic housekeeper gathering water at the well, when she finally asked for that Living Water, Jesus brought the conversation back to reality: "Where is you husband?" Yes, there was a sin problem that needed to be delt with.

For the man at the well, paralized for most of his life, After Jesus healed him, He said: "sin no more unless something worse happens to you." You see, without God's sustaining grace, Satan can afflict with disease and disaster--ask Job.

There is more on how one is saved and God's plan to redeem this fallen planet. Select: http://abiblecode.tripod.com

Blessings and AGAPE, One-Way

Answer 9

Judaism is entirely for the Jews. If anyone wants to follow Judaism, he is really great to go all the trouble. Jesus came and has this beautiful plan to make a reformed Judaism that is suitable for everybody including the Jews. Jesus takes the place of Judaism and when we believe in Him, he keeps for us all the requirements the Jews practiced under the Judaism faith and in extension what he thinks we should believe as written in the Bible under the New Testament. See, believe in Jesus and you have everything required under the faith of hope.

Answer 10

I am a Christian who lived in a Chabad Jewish community a few years ago and who has struggled and researched this question ever since. Here’s a short synopses of what I’ve learned so far:

First, you’re correct--the law is and was and ever will be until Heaven and Earth pass away, and we will all be judged by it. Believe what you read in the Bible rather than what you hear. In the passage you mention and elsewhere God is very clear. But be prepared to be excommunicated from any established fellowship of believers. This is a straight and narrow way. People will hate you for finding and following it.

Second, the Christians in Acts kept the feasts and the law. Paul made a special trip to the temple to take a vow to prove that men were “slanderously” reporting that he was telling people to break the law of Moses. That slander continues to this day.

Third, my research so far has indicated that the early church was Jewish--they went to synagogue (until they were later thrown out), they listened to the weekly parsha, they had to adhere to abstain from fornication, idolatry, things strangled, and from blood (Acts 15:20-21) [these were normal requirements for any gentile who wanted to hang around with a Jewish community]; and they had only the Old Testament, which was alone “able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus […] and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Fourth, Christianity was forced to expunge anything Jewish about it in order to become a legitimate religion. It become anti-Semitic. It did appropriate pagan customs and beliefs. Rather unkindly, the Bible refers to this as whoredom.

Fifth, this severed Christianity from the Old Testament (and nearly 80% of the New Testament, which is Old Testament), and most importantly, from its savior, Jesus Christ, an Orthodox Jew.

Sixth, none of this relieves us of our responsibility to follow Christ (who followed the law, disregarding the Mishnah always, but never breaking the Torah) for our sanctification, not our salvation (consider, Israel was redeemed from Egypt by the Passover sacrifice; it received the law after that). We are told that if we love Him, we are to keep his commandments. Yes, love fulfills the law, but that’s another way of saying love would never break the law (or subvert it, as in the “woman caught in adultery” incident, which was about entrapment--of both Christ and the woman).

Seventh, “Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position” (II Peter 3:15-17). Lawlessness means exactly what it says in the Old and New Testaments. Keep that in mind.

Do keep searching. There are spectacular sites online. My current favorite is
here http://www.messianicisrael.com/Newsroom/torah.html . Like everything, try the spirits as you find things.
May the God of peace keep your mind and heart in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Answer 11

Jesus fulfilled the Law. Romans and Hebrews explains it better than any of us could. Jesus life represented all that was in the Law and Feasts. It may appear to be different but it really isn't too much different. It does mean a big difference for us as far as our access to God, especially for us Gentiles.