How do I become Jewish but still believe in Jesus?

Question

I am really interested in becoming Jewish but still believe in God.

Answer 1

Jews believe in God- only God and no others. no Jesus, no devil no holy ghost or virgins etc. We believe in god and follow God's laws as stated in the Torah.

Here is why we don't believe that Jesus was the messiah in simple terms:
1) The dead were not resurrected
2) The Jews did not beome priests to the other nations
3) There is no world peace
4) The temple is not standing
5) There is no temple service
6) There is no parah adumah or its ashes to render us tahor
7) The messiah is from the House of David. your house/tribe is inherited from your father. Your father is your BIOLOGICAL father- there is no adoption in Judaisim to another father- if God is the father of Jesus- then Jesus cannot be from the House of David as God is not frm the House of David.
8) Human sacrifice is completely forbidden in Judaism- remeber God stopping the sacrifice of Isaac? The idea of a human being sacrificed is the opposite of anything from Judaism!
9) You have to atone for yourself! An essential part of the atonement process is being repentant. Someone cannot be repentant for you- you have to do it for yourself. ONly communal sins can be forgiven communally- not individual, private sins!

And no- the messiah does NOT proclaim himself- he will be recognised by his deeds- not by his claims- in other words, through doing the above he will be recognised as the messiah. On top of that- mashiach is a HUMAN being, with HUMAN parents- the idea of an anthropomorphised God going around and impregnating young woman is completely alien to Judaism- though it fits very nicely into the pagan religions of the time which had their heroes being fathered by gods (ala Hercules and his daddy Zeus)

NOTE ON MESSIANIC JUDAISM/JEWS FOR JESUS
Both of these are deemed as nothing more than Christian sects using deceitful means to convert Jews. EVERY Jewish denomination denounces these sects as Christians and nothing more. However, by Jewish law, once a Jew, always Jew- whether born or converted. Thus once a person is Jewish they are always judged by Jewish standards, and if they revert/convert to a different religion they are still considered Jewish by Jewish law. BUT, someone practising a religion other than Judaism is considered outside of the community, may not be a member of the community, receive any community honours, be a representative for the community, be buried in a Jewish cemetary, marry a Jew or be treated as a Jew for the purposes of the laws of mourning. However, since they never stop being a Jew- they merely have to repent, return to Judaism and go to mikveh in order to once again be a full member of the community.

Answer 2

It IS possible to be Jewish and follow the Jewish religion and still believe in Jesus as the Son of God. If you are serious about this, please look up the Jews For Jesus website (see below). They will be glad to help answer any and all questions you have.

To those who say it is not possible, just remember that most of the "early church" were Jews who followed Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, there was a major debate between the Jewish believers and the "gentile" believers as to whether or not Jesus' followers should be converted to Judaism first (be circumcised, even!).

Please, don't be discouraged from following your heart in this. As long as your path of faith leads you to the Lord Jesus, whether through becoming a "messianic Jew" or Catholic, or Protestant, or whatever... when it leads to your salvation it is a GOOD thing!

Answer 3

"How do I become Jewish but still believe in Jesus? I am really interested in becoming Jewish but still believe in God."

Are you under the impression that Jews do not believe in God?

Just read the Jewish scriptures first, then find a synagogue and call them to see if they have classes about Judaism for non-Jewish people. You have to believe what they believe in order to convert to Judaism, I think.

Answer 4

The question is really has to do with how you define what a Jew is? If your parents are Jewish, does that make you a Jew. Some Jews say yes and some say no.

Take Mark S's answer for example: " I assume you actually want to know whether or not you can still believe in Jesus as the messiah and be Jewish, .....I can give you a simple answer: it is absolutely, completely, totally **impossible**. Being Jewish and believing in Jesus as the messiah are completely incompatible.

Yet, in the next breathe the argument gets twisted:

1. “"We believe that Jewishness is a birthright. It is inherited from our parents. Our people are not of one culture; we have diverse cultural expressions (Ashkenazi/Sephardi, Georgian/Russian, Ethiopian, Persian, etc.). Our people are not of one religion. While Judaism might be the traditional religion for many Jewish people, Jews are still considered Jewish even though they might be atheists or even if they embrace other beliefs.

You can believe any other belief except believing in Yeshua....but see rule number one..."Jews are still considered Jewish even though they might be atheists or even if they embrace other beliefs." and rule number two: "We believe that Jewishness is a birthright. It is inherited from our parents."

Therefore, the arguments against Jews believing in Yeshua as the Messiah are absurd. It is impossible to stay consistent in one's argument and say that "Jewishness is a birthright inherited from our parents" but "the children lose their heritage when they believe Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah" but would retain it if they became a Muslim, Buddha or Morman.

If you hold the oral law (Talmud) over the written law (Torah) then your mother determines whether you are a Jew. Of course, David's great grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite. Not knowing the mothers between Ruth and David makes the questions unanswerable. But without specificevidence to say otherwise, the Jewish thing to do today would be conclude David was not Jewish ....even though the Torah would confirm his Jewishness because back then the father determined lineage.

In Moses' day, being Jewish was about following God. And you know Moses gave us the Torah and it is very specific about the need for sacrifices in a Temple to cover the sins of the nation and the individual. Lack of faith was the reason the Jews wondered in the desert for 40 years. It was not about birthright.

After the destruction of the Temple, the murder of most of the men and rape of many of the women, the Torah was dethroned as the primary scripture. Yet the Jews maintain their lineage remains "pure."

Today we have Israel in Israel for 59 years with no Temple and no desire for a Temple. Yet after the first exile, Israel felt "lead by G-d" to rebuilt the Temple according to the prophet's instruction.

Again and again we see Judaism doing completely opposite things and claiming both are Jewish.

Just because one Jew says, "I am a Jew" and therefore I am able to speak on behalf of all Jews is just arrogant. And to suggest that Dr. Laura and Barbara Streisand hold similar views is just as ridiculous.

Before you attempt to convert.... and yes you can convert even though "Jewishness is a birthright" which, if true, would make conversion impossible….

....ask the Rabbi if he speaks to G-d as Moses, Elijah, or another prophet and depends on G-d’s answer to before acting. Keep asking until you get someone who will at least claim to have a personal relationship with the God of Abraham....you know, the God who made Jews Jews but whom James says no longer worships....only the birthright G-d created.

As the Jewish scripture’s testify, God leads His people. That is as true today as in the day of Moses. If God isn’t leading the people you are asking, then even though they claim to be Christian, Jewish, Muslim or whatever, they aren’t G-d’s people. G-d is more than capible of speaking with you whom He made from scratch. Follow Him.

Answer 5

What is it about Judaism that interests you? The beliefs of a Jewish person is that there is simply God... so Jesus wasn't a messiah. Not sure how that would work...

Answer 6

Jews for Jesus is not qualified to convert people. You must undergo conversion through an Orthodox, Conservative or Reform temple with a Rabbi presiding. No Rabbi would accept you as a convert if you say you still want to believe in Jesus.

Answer 7

I assume you actually want to know whether or not you can still believe in Jesus as the messiah and be Jewish, since almost all Jews believe in G-d. I'm Jewish and I can give you a simple answer: it is absolutely, completely, totally **impossible**. Being Jewish and believing in Jesus as the messiah are completely incompatible. The so-called "Messianic Jews" are not Jewish--they are the **only** ones who call themselves Jewish. Here are a few quotes to help validate this:

This is taken from the reference section of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_for_Jesus

1. “"We believe that Jewishness is a birthright. It is inherited from our parents. Our people are not of one culture; we have diverse cultural expressions (Ashkenazi/Sephardi, Georgian/Russian, Ethiopian, Persian, etc.). Our people are not of one religion. While Judaism might be the traditional religion for many Jewish people, Jews are still considered Jewish even though they might be atheists or even if they embrace other beliefs. Those who say that Jews who believe in Jesus are errant Jews or misguided Jews are entitled to their opinions. But they are not entitled to negate our Jewishness. We are Jews by birth and that cannot change."
2. "There is virtual unanimity across all denominations [of Judaism] that Jews for Jesus are not Jewish." (Kaplan, Dana Evan. The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism, Cambridge University Press, Aug 15, 2005, pp. 139-140).
3. "For most American Jews, it is acceptable to blend some degree of foreign spiritual elements with Judaism. The one exception is Christianity, which is perceived to be incompatible with any form of Jewishness. Jews for Jesus and other Messianic Jewish groups are thus seen as antithetical to Judaism and are completely rejected by the majority of Jews". (Kaplan, Dana Evan. The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism, Cambridge University Press, Aug 15, 2005, p. 9).
4. Jewish groups:
o "To make the record clear, Jews for Jesus is a Christian missionary organization – period." Jews for Jesus: Jewish or Christian? You Decide, Jews for Judaism website, retrieved September 11, 2006.
o "Messianic Jewish organizations, such as Jews for Jesus, often refer to their faith as fulfilled Judaism, in that they believe Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies. Although Messianic Judaism claims to be Jewish, and many adherents observe Jewish holidays, most Jews regard Messianic Judaism as deceptive at best, fraudulent at worst. They charge that Messianic Judaism is actually Christianity presenting itself as Judaism." (Balmer, Randall. Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism, Baylor University Press, Nov 2004, p. 448).

Answer 8

What do you mean? If your Chinese, you can not change into Jewish.

If you are Christian, you'll be denying Jesus as your savior.
Jewish people, as far as I know, still hoping Messiah will come and rule them as a king.
Christians knew that Jesus came and will come again as Judge.
So there is a different there.

Answer 9

To be a Jew, you have to have Jewish blood in you! To be Jewish in your beliefs, you accept only the first five books of the Bible and reject Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah and Savior of the world. (St. John 3:16) There are lots of Jews who have become Christians. check out www.3abn.org

Answer 10

You can become a Messianic Jew. (one that believes that Jesus was the messiah but still follows Jewish traditions). Or at least that is my understanding.