Are the important teachings in judaism the same as Christianity?

Answer 1

There are two major differences between Judaiam and Christianity, and with that, one bad misconception. The differences first....

1. In addition to the OT or Hebrew Bible, Jews also accept the Talmud (a collection of rabbinic decisions and interpretations written between 200-500CE) as "scripture." Christians do not.

2. Christians believe that Yehoshua (Jesus) is the Messiah, most Jews do not.

The misconception is that most Christians believe that Jews do not believe in Messiah, when in fact, they believe it with every fiber of their being. The difference is, Jews look for the coming of Yehoshua, Christians believe he came and seek his second coming. However, it is the same being/person both are speaking about.

Regarding the important teachings, many are exactly the same. While most Christians do not keep the Sabbath, they do live according to the rest of the 10 commands. Both believe that the two "great commands" are to love God and neighbor. Both serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Both seek the coming kingdom, both see a time of trouble coming upon the world before the kingdom is in place.

Jewish Answer

Since Christianity is based on the rejection of Judaism, they aren't the same. The Jewish Bible is called the Tanach and is made up of three section: Torah (Teachings), Nevi'im (Prophets), K'tuvim (Writings). The Christian Old Testament is based on the Tanach but was altered to support the teachings of Christianity.

The word messiah is the anglicised version of the Hebrew 'moshiach'. Moshiach literally means anointed and was a title given to any person who was properly anointed with oil as part of their initiation to their service of HaShem (The Creator). Historically, we had many valid moshiachim (pl): kings, priests, prophets, judges. There is a prophecy of a future moshiach, however, there is nothing supernatural about him, he'll be a religious Jew who will lead the country of Israel. The idea of the moshiach is a relatively minor subject in Judaism.

In Judaism, the greatest mitzvah (commandment) is that of 'tzdakkah'. The word tzdakkah literally translates as 'justice', however, in modern use it is most commonly used to refer to charity.

Judaism does not accept the following Christian beliefs and concepts:

- The trinity

- Original sin

- The Christian concept of sin

- The devil

- Heaven and hell

- The idea of eternal damnation

- The Christian concept of messiah

- The virgin birth

- That G-d can be man or son of man

- The need to pray to G-d through intermediaries

- The Christian concept of salvation and grace

These are some examples of Christian concepts/teachings that are not accepted by Judaism, it is not a complete list.