Last night I was challenged on the topic of Judaism. For once in my life I wasn't sure what to say because my most recent blog had played into their hands. In my last post of "The Not So Old Old-Testament" I wrote about how the Old Testament displayed many qualities that we strive for today, I talked about love and passion, and sacrifice and kindness, and above all I talked about a creator. As I began to dive into this topic and call on friends for help we discovered that the main difference between Christianity and Judaism that we believe that Christ is the messiah while they do not. You see we as Christians view the the New Testament as a summary of how to live our lives, while the Jewish Community view the Old Testament as a summary of how to live their lives. But which one is right? I mean the Old Testament did come first, but the New Testament is most recent.
Lets start it off with a little Jewish background info so we are all on the same page, Traditional Judaism firmly believes that death is not the end of human existence. However, because Judaism is primarily focused on life here and now rather than on the afterlife, Judaism does not have a strong opinion about the afterlife, and so that leaves a great deal of room for personal opinion. It is possible for an Orthodox Jew to believe that the souls of the righteous dead go to a place similar to the Christian heaven, or that they are reincarnated through many lifetimes, or that they simply wait until the coming of the messiah, when they will be resurrected. Likewise, Orthodox Jews can believe that the souls of the wicked are tormented by demons of their own creation, or that wicked souls are simply destroyed at death, ceasing to exist. (this info was gathered from Jewfaq.org) The Old T (testament) is a character guide to the Jewish, it teaches wrong from right. There are so so so sooooooooo many examples of how to love you neighbor in the Old T and thats why I say AMEN to this. I think we could all learn a lesson or two from the Jewish Religion, but to me the Old T is so much more than a character guide, it is 39 books of hope, hope for a people without a solution.
In Genesis 22:17-18 God promised to bless Abraham and make his descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Through his offspring, all nations on earth would be blessed, because he obeyed God. So the promise was made, and in Joshua 21:43-45 God delivered; “So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their forefathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” God fulfills his promises big or small just as he did with the Israelites.
In Isaiah 9:6 God made another promise; For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. And just like in Genesis God made this promise to all mankind and in Matthew 1:16 God fulfilled it. "and to Jacob was born Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ."
You see God is so so so so so so so so sooooooooooo much more Holy then we are, in fact we can't even describe ourselves by using this trait since it ceases to exist in you and me. Unfortunately God is so holy that he can only be around holy people in heaven, and I know that would not include me. This creates a big problem for us because it separates us from God, but like it said in Isaiah, God sent hope to all nations. Jesus Christ is that hope, he is the bridge that connects us back to God again. I know there is a lot of debate between Christians and The Jewish, but it all boils down to one thing. Faith. Proverbs 3:5-6 states; Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. God is saying trust my word, all of it, and I will never let you fall.
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