In what ways is Judaism different from Christianity?

Question

just wondering

Answer 1

In many ways :)

Christians believe Jesus was the messiah.
As Jews we view him just as an ordinary Jewish man, a Rabbi, or teacher, and he plays no part in our theology.

Christians believe that Jesus was G-d made flesh.
We don't believe that G-d ever takes on a human form or a corporeal presence

Christians believe that an innocent person can sacrifice himself and take on the sins of others
We have never believed this; we believe that every person must atone for their own sins directly.

Christians believe that the New Testament etc is the 'completion' of Judaism.
We reject this utterly: Judaism needs no 'completion' as it involves an eternal covenant with G-d, the proof of which is that we are still around, despite the world's best efforts to get rid of us!

Christianity has a concept of hell.
We don't; Judaism concentrates on living a moral life in the here and now.

Christianity says that only those who embrace Jesus can be 'saved' and can reach heaven.
We say that all righteous people, whatever their religion, will have a place in heaven.

I could go on and on, but hope this brief answer helps a bit :)

EDIT

If I may correct some previous answers:

Jews don't think Jesus was a prophet; he does not feature at all in our religion.

Also, we did not kill Jesus, that was the Romans, who were the only people ever to practise crucifixion. The NT was written for a largely Roman audience and thus the blame for his death was shifted from the Romans onto the Jews. The Jews had no quarrel with Jesus, while the Romans crucified many Jews, sometimes up to 100 in one day.

Jesus was a practising Jew; he died a Jew, he never renounced his faith. Those who developed Christianity after his death, such as Paul, never actually met Jesus.

TO CLARIFY

'messianic jews' are not Jewish. They are Christans. Everything they believe and preach goes AGAINST Judaism. Jewish law defines who is Jewish; Christians cannot simply label themselves 'messianic jews' and then distort the main message and ethos of the Jewish faith.

Answer 2

The all-important difference between Christianity and Judaism is the Person of Jesus Christ. Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of a coming Messiah / Savior (Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; Micah 5:2). Judaism often recognizes Jesus as a good teacher, and perhaps even a prophet of God. Judaism does not believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Taking it a step further, Christianity teaches that Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1,14; Hebrews 1:8). Christianity teaches that God became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ so He could lay down His life to pay the price for our sins (Romans 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Judaism strongly denies that Jesus was God or that such a sacrifice was necessary.

Answer 3

Jews don't belive Jesus was the Messiah for starters, which I think most of us got that down already. Other then that, the Jews worship on the Sabbath where Christians observe Sunday. Also there is the 613 laws that Sunday Christians don't follow, since Christians say the law was done away with. Or as one person stated

Jesus - who gave the new commandment: Love God, and love your neighbor as yourself. The old (Judaic) law is no more.

Love God and your neighbor as yourself isn't new, it's found in the Old Testament books of Lev 19:18, Deut 6:5. To say the law was Judaic is false. The Law was given by God to the people of Israel which included more then the tribe of Judah. The law that Christ seems to put down is the oral law which is far different then the written law.

The 7 annual Holy days are a none factor for most Christians as well. And lets not forget the Heaven Hell thing. If your good you go to Heaven if your bad you go to Hell. Judaism doesn't teach that ether.

Anyways I hope at lest some of this helps.

Shalom

Answer 4

Jesus is a Jewish man and Christianity arose initially as a sect in Judaism.
Both faiths are now quite diverse with many sects, groups and denominations, Christianity especially. This makes it difficult to answer your question, but here are some thoughts.
If it is possible to generalise at all, I think Judaism is more practical, inward-looking, family and lifestyle orientated than Christianity is. Christianity (where it really exists) tends to be more internal and spiritual with less emphasis on external issues, (e.g. food, clothing etc). Christianity nevertheless has strong community values outside the family and is more outward-looking and open than Judaism is.
Theologically, Judaism and Christianity disagree on many things. Judaism is centred around the books of Moses and to a lesser extent the prophets. Christians worship Jesus as God and venerate the gospels and the writings of Paul as well as the Old Testament.

Answer 5

there's a variety of of ignorant solutions, ignore about them. you may tell that are ignorant. besides, the significant massive difference between Islam and the different 2 religions is that Islam accepts all prophets of the former and New Testimate, Jesus turned right into a guy, and has the very similar tale because the Jesus interior the hot testimate, except that he's not God, he's guy with God's message, and previously he changed into captured to be cruxified and tortured, some different person (i imagine Judas) changed into made to look precisely like Jesus, and Jesus changed into taken as a lot as heaven by ability of God, the position he remains until eventually the day of judgement. the different significant massive difference is that Islam has thoughts and rules for extraordinarily virtually each and every component of existence. it may look extremely strict, notwithstanding it really is often significant themes of existence. replacing is amazingly straightforward. At worst, you're saying a like in arabic that translates to "there is not any God yet God, and Muhammad is his prophet". i imagine you may in basic terms start up calling your self Muslim. i do not imagine there is extremely a procedure. once you've any questions, i'd be satisfied to respond to. i'm majoring in Islamic historic past, and plan on interpreting the Quran.

Answer 6

Christians believe in 3 gods, Jews believe in 1.

Christians believe Satan is a fallen angel, Jews believe Satan is an angel and the prosecutor on judgement day.

Christians believe in original sin, Jews believe we are only responsible for our own sins.

Christians believe in Hell, Jews don't.

Answer 7

Jewish people mainly follow the Old Testament of the Bible, also called the "Torah" by the Jews, and they do not believe that Jesus was the son of God, but merely a prophet.

Basically, Christianity and Judaism is exactly the same up until the New Testament.

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

Answer 8

The central difference is that Judaism doesn't accept the divinity of Jesus or his status as the Messiah.

Answer 9

Judaism (except Messianic Judaism) doesn't believe the Messiah has come yet, Christians do.

Answer 10

The main difference is Christianity is centered around Jesus Christ. Christians believe Jesus is God....Jews do not. Jews believe in religious rituals, ceremonies and keeping of strict laws and ordinances as means of justification. Christians believe in faith alone as means of justification because Jesus paid the penalty of sin when He died on the cross so no sacrifice or religious ceremony is required.