Why do Jewish scholars consider Christianity to be a Polytheistic Religion ?

Question

It began hundreds of years ago, when the Church changed the Bible. . .


The "New Testament": Pagan revenge

Between G-d's own miracles and the Jewish teaching of His Word, the pagan priesthoods of Egypt, Greece, and Rome were steadily losing their power over the gentile populations. They decided to fight back by creating a new religion, one that would claim to be the fulfillment of the Hebrew "Old Testament," yet would bring back the pagan lies in a new disguise.

Thus the "New Testament" was written, in Greek rather than Hebrew, and attached to the original Hebrew scriptures to try to change their meaning back toward paganism.

The "New Testament" tried to change G-d from One, as in the Hebrew scriptures, into a "trinity" as in Egyptian cults or the eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. It described Jesus as G-d in a human body, like the pagans always described Pharoah and other wicked kings. It declared G-d's Law to be a "curse" that no one can truly obey, announced that there must be a "mediator" between G-d and man, and pretended that salvation could now be achieved outside the Law.

To blind the gentile nations, the "New Testament" also warned people not to learn from the Jews, declaring that Israel no longer possessed the true, complete Word of G-d.

In the Bible, the book of Daniel warned of an evil power--a false religion--that would believe in the true "G-d of fortresses... plus a god its fathers did not know." This religion would "speak bizarre words about the Most High, wear out the holy ones (the Jews), and plan to change the festivals and the religious Law."7 The Christian Church has indeed replaced Passover with Easter (the pagan holiday of Astarte and Ishtar) and Hanukah with Christmas (the pagan winter holiday).

Since then, Christian paganism has expanded to include Christmas trees, Easter eggs, and so forth.


http://www.noahide.com/paganism.htm


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Answer 1

Because 1+1+1 does not equal 1

Also, G-d is never once referred to in the plural, always in the singular. Those who do not speak Hebrew think His name is plural. Elokim is a plural noun. But, in Hebrew, the verbs always have to match the nouns, so if the noun is plural, so must the verb be. However, whenever Elokim is used, the verb following is ALWAYS singular. So we know that Elokim is an irregular word and has a plural ending but is actually singular.

Answer 2

"The "New Testament" tried to change G-d from One, as in the Hebrew scriptures...."
I've yet to see anyone show how the Trinity contradicts Deuteronomy 6:4, which uses "ehad" ("a compound unity; one made up of others") for "one" rather than "yahed" ("unique, a single or only one"). When a man and a woman marry, which of these two words ("ehad" or "yahed") do they become according to Genesis 2:24?

"Thus the 'New Testament' was written, in Greek rather than Hebrew...."
Considering who it was written for (people who understood Greek, which included most of the Jews of the time), what a shocking discovery!

"a 'trinity' as in Egyptian cults or the eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism."
None of these even come close to the conception of the Trinity. In each of these, three "gods" were merged into one; in Christianity, they were always one God from all eternity to all eternity.

"It declared G-d's Law to be a 'curse' that no one can truly obey...."
Do know of anyone (besides Jesus) who has kept it perfectly? If not, then they're only describing reality.

"announced that there must be a 'mediator' between G-d and man"
This objection is extremely... um, laughable. Since, as you're correct in pointing out, Christians believe that Jesus IS God, then that would make the mediator between God and man in Christian belief (although I would say in reality as well)... ta-da... GOD!

"To blind the gentile nations, the 'New Testament' also warned people not to learn from the Jews...."
Book? Chapter? Verse? Or did this just come from, say, an overactive imagination?

"The Christian Church has indeed replaced Passover with Easter (the pagan holiday of Astarte and Ishtar) and Hanukah with Christmas (the pagan winter holiday)."
But this was not the Apostolic church, but occurred much (much, much, much, much) later.

Answer 3

I thought the purpose of this site was to ask questions that other people can answer, not questions that you yourself answer.

Roman Catholicism is indeed quite polytheistic. Patron saints of just about everything are prayed to. The Virgin Mary is prayed to. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all prayed to seperately, although supposedly they are all the same substance... I did anthropological and historical research on the conversion of the surviving elite of the Incan empire of Peru in the 16th Century and the strategy that many Spanish priests used was interesting

Basically they reassigned the traditional Incan dieties the identities of Catholic figures (Pachamama- The Earth Mother became Mary for example) to ease the conversion process for these high-status Incans. The best example is a 16th Century painting of the Last Supper done by a Quechua painter who had Jesus eating the most sought-after delicacy of the Incan royal family: A guinea pig.

Answer 4

So, what's your point? That Orthodox Jews do not believe in Christianity? We knew that already.

Yes, we know that the church adopted some harmless secular Greek & Roman customs into "Christian" holidays, but it is a long stretch to say that this superficial similarities are evidence that the Church somehow "changed" the Bible to incorporate pagan Roman beliefs. Where is your proof? Do you have copies of the original, unchanged New Testament?

How can you make an allegation of a "conspiracy" against all of the elders of all of the various churches scattered all around the Roman Empire, without proof? Surely, some of the churches would have refused to go along with the "conspiracy" and would have kept the original Bible the way that it was.

What makes your conspiracy theory any more credible than the nuts who say that NASA faked the moon landings? Or do you believe in that too?

Answer 5

We consider Christianity to be pagan because of the concept of the trinity.
The Jewish idea of God is that God is One and Indivisible. We cannot divide God up into separate parts, where each part of God is UnEqual to each of the other parts, but somehow they are one and the same. The Hebrew Scriptures describes God as an absolute One, but the Christian's New Testament describes the Christian idea of God as divisible into three parts called a trinity. In the Christian's New Testament, Jesus at one point claims to have different knowledge than other parts of the Christian Trinity. For example, Matthew 24:36 or Mark 13:32. In another verse, Jesus does not have the same power as other parts of the Christian Trinity, for example, Luke 23:34. And in Matthew 26:42, Jesus's will is not the same as the will of the Father. Indeed, Jesus often contrasted himself with the Father, for example, in John 14:28, or Luke 18:19. Furthermore, Jesus supposedly said that the punishment for blaspheming against one part of the Trinity is not the same punishment for blaspheming against another part of the Trinity. In the Hebrew Scriptures, however, God is One, as we read in Deuteronomy 6:4, as well as in Isaiah 44:6, where God tells us, "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the first," it means that God has no father. When Isaiah tells us that God said, "I am the last," it means that God has no literal son. And when Isaiah tells us that God said, "Besides me there is no God," it means that God does not share being God with any other god, or demi-god, or semi-god, or persons, and there is no trinity.

Answer 6

truthfully the considered the Trinity as taught by utilising the Apostles (not as taught by utilising at present's church) became into around in Judaism long formerly Yeshua (Jesus). that's modern-day in Kabbalistic writing that are supposedly handed down type the situations of Moses. The Gospel of John in packed with Kabbalistic term, such because of the fact the interest of God which corresponds to the 2d of the ten sefirot on the tree. (There are ten. the 1st 3 correspond to the father, the interest, and the Spirit. the rest describe particular aspects of the Almighty's being) in the Shema (an historic Jewish prayer based on the text fabric of Deut 6:4) The almighty is refered to as Echod (one). this theory is one in all unity, not trouble-free singleness. Echod is what 2 persons are to become whilst they become "one flesh" with the aid of marraige. They become a complicated unity, not a single physique. subsequently in the character of the Almighty. a complicated unity

Answer 7

One problem with this theory is that the trinity and the story of redemption appear all throughout the Old Testament. Consider for example, the use of the plural majesties in the creation account. "Let us create man in our image." The appropriate translation is the plural "us" and "our." "Hear, O Israel, the LORD your God is one." The Hebrew word for "one" is "unified," "united," not "singular."

Another problem with this theory is that those who followed Jesus were shaking in their sandals when he died, but only days later were willing to die to tell others that Jesus was alive. Most early followers died horrible deaths that could have been avoided by denouncing their faith. This is historically documented and not some invention by religious men.

Yes, the early church sought to take over the pagan festivals, giving them new meaning and focus. This was intentional because many believers had these celebrations ingrained in their way of life. Shifting the focus to a new direction made good sense. Hanukkah doesn't really belong in your list because Christianity did not seek to replace it with Christmas. December 25th was chosen because it was the date of a pagan festival. Early Christians actually observed both traditions.

Answer 8

Probably because of things like: the trinity, Jesus in human form, saints as a kind of demi-god.

but I'm not Jewish so i can't say for sure.

Answer 9

1) I could go into complex detail that shows you from the Tanakh that God is One deity, yet He expresses Himself in three Forms; and, to top it all off, my answer would not insult your intelligence. However, I get the distinct impression you're not interested in the answer, you simply want to rant against Christianity. So I leave you with this: meditate upon the Hebrew word "Echad" and its uses in the Tanakh. Look up each and every usage of this word and see whether "echad" describes a singular object or person, or a unity of several.

In response to LadySuri's response, my teacher (a Messianic Jew who speaks, reads and writes Biblical Hebrew) has written:

"A second evidence for plurality of the Godhead in the Old Testament is where plural verbs are used with Elohim. Normally, when Elohim is used of the one true God, the verb used with it is singular. This goes contrary to normal Hebrew grammar because, in Hebrew grammar, the verb must agree with the noun both in gender and number. Normally, one would expect that with the plural noun Elohim, a plural verb form would be used. This is true when the word is used of false gods. Most of the time, whenever the word Elohim is used of the true God, the verb used with it is in the singular form to indicate that there is only one true God. But there are exceptions, and these again open the door for a discussion on the plurality in the Godhead. For example, Genesis 20:13a reads: …and it came to pass, when God caused me to wander… The Hebrew word that is translated caused me to wander is plural. Literally it reads, "And it came to pass, when they [in reference to God] caused me to wander." Another example is Genesis 35:7: And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him,… Here again, revealed unto him in Hebrew is a plural form which literally reads, "for there God revealed themselves." A third example is II Samuel 7:23: …God went to redeem… Again, the Hebrew word for went is plural, and literally reads, "[For] God they went to redeem." The fourth example is Psalm 58:11b (Hebrew Text 58:12): …there is a God that judges in the earth. The term that judges is a plural verb in Hebrew and it literally reads, "there is a God they judge."

2) Not only have you blatently misquoted Daniel, but you misunderstand his prophecies. Daniel speaks about ONE MAN doing these things; he has at his disposal a huge army that follows HIM. Also, Jesus commanded Christians to be pacificists.

Answer 10

Christianity *might* be polytheistic if you count the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost as three deities.