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Similarities and Differences between Judaism and Christianity

Christianity vs Judaism

Although these two religions are very different in terms of culture, rituals and traditions, Christianity and Judaism share a fair amount of similarities. This is because Christianity derived from Judaism. Jesus and together with other of his disciples are all Jews and follow Jewish customs. Often it was believed that Jesus would read the Hebrew Bible. Despite emerging from Judaism, Christianity grew and eventually regarded itself as something completely different from a Jewish sect. Due to this, differences and similarities were made in between the two religions.

Similarities

Christianity and Judaism share the same beliefs about God, the concept of sins, and the sacred texts. Christians and Jews follow a religion that is monotheistic, which means a religion that worships one God. They believe that there’s only one creator, almighty and merciful. Furthermore, the two religions believe that God gave them free will because humans are able to perform acts that show righteousness and goodness but also acts that are against God and their religious teachings. For example, both religions have their own commandments that they follow. Disobeying the commandments is one way to sin. Not only that, it can also range to little things like hating each other or a child stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. Therefore, Christians and Jews ask for forgiveness to the merciful God by confessing and praying to Him/Her directly.

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Books of the Old Testament

Although Christians and Jews have different religious books (the Bible for Christians and the Torah for the Jews), because Christianity derived from Judaism, they have the same books as that the Bible has in the Old Testament. These books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In fact, because they have the same books, both share 3 specific Prophets- Noah, Abraham and Moses. In the book of Genesis, Noah in the Bible warned people of the error of their sinful ways. God informed Noah that He/She will send a disastrous flood to eradicate humankind for their wrong doings and told Noah to create an Ark that will shelter all the female and male animal specimens. Furthermore in the book of Genesis, Abraham was the one that brought up the idea of monotheism. He taught people to worship one God and abandoned idolatry. While for Moses, he appeared in the Book of Exodus to free the Hebrew people from slavery and to give out the commandments. Since, Christianity emerged from Judaism, similarities like their beliefs about God, the concept of sins and the sacred texts can be identified between the two religions.

Differences

Christianity is a very popular religion, having an estimation of 2.4 billion followers- Christians. While Judaism has about 17.3 million followers called, Jews. These religions have quite a lot of differences because Christianity did not become a Jewish sect, but its own religion. The two religions specifically have contrasting beliefs about the Holy Trinity, the concept of icons, life after death and human nature. Christians worship one God like the Jews, but they also believe in the Holy Trinity- to which the Jews reject.

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The Holy Trinity

Christians created the idea of the Holy Trinity because it easily explains the concept of monotheism in consideration of the events that happened and teachings in the Bible. According to Keith Ward, Religion and Creation, 1996, “The idea of the Trinity does not supersede monotheism; it interprets it, in the light of a specific set of revelatory events and experiences”. This means that the Holy Trinity does not replace monotheism but only explains it in a way Christians can clearly understand based on the events about God that happened in the Bible. Therefore, Christians believe in the Father (God), the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, Jews reject the idea of the Holy Trinity because they believe it is destroying the idea of being a monotheistic religion. For Jews, Jesus is viewed as a fellow Jew and a respected scholar. They don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the Messiah, unlike the Christians. Moreover, Jews perceive the Holy Spirit as a distinct divine power given to the prophets, instead of considering it as the truly divine like the Christians.

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An image of Jesus Christ

In Christianity, they have many perceived images of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There are various paintings and sculptures of different religious figures displayed in their place of worship, the Church. By creating their own images and versions of God, Christian believe they are able to pray easily because they can visualize God, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, however, they reject the idea of creating images of God and Abraham because they believe it is supporting the idea of idolatry. Therefore, in their place of worship, the Synagogue has no sculptures, paintings or any type of art that represents religious figures.

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An image of Adam and Eve

Next is their belief about the original sin. An original sin in Christianity was caused by the rebellion of Adam and Eve of eating the forbidden fruit. They were tempted by a serpent  and due to this, men became aware of the right and wrong of the world. God, then banished them from the Garden of Edith as a punishment for disobeying Him/Her. From then on, every child born as a catholic is believed to have the original sin. In order to get rid of this, the child must go through the Sacrament of Baptism to cleanse away the original sin. On the other hand, Jews do not believe in the original sin. They believe that an individual enters the world with pure and untainted soul.

In brief, after becoming its own religion, Christianity developed numerous differences to Judaism, specifically about their beliefs of the Holy Trinity, the concept of icons and the original sin.  

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