Judaism and Christianity
Why talk about religion? Religion is important and plays a major role in everyone’s life and is sometimes the basis of an individual’s moral values. My last job put me under the influence of an older Jewish gentleman and we became fast friends. We would often take lunch together and I would usually question, out of pure curiosity, some of his mannerisms that I found interesting. Through him I was introduced to what are known as the Jewish articles of faith. They seem to be a sort of basis to the religion or key attributes that all Jews share. These principals have some similarities to the concepts I was taught and that they are not as different as we believe. The majority of my Christian upbringing comprised mostly of reciting the books of the Bible by memory, learning to give a proper devotion, and how to pray. Through continuous reading and studying of the Bible we also learned of Jesus and how only through him we can receive the grace of GOD the Almighty and the gift of eternal life. Judaism does not include this. Jews believe in GOD as a unitary being unlike the Christian view of GOD being composed of three separate, but in all essence the same being: GOD the Father, GOD the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Most everyone I know believes in this doctrine and I think it is the most accepted doctrine circulating in the Christian community. Throughout history there have been meeting to determine what should be and should not be in the Bible. This brings up another aspect of Judaism that I liked: that they have no written creeds or dogmas. There is also no central authoritarian figure within the Jewish community although there are well respected rabbis and established groups. Although there are concepts that others have come up with that Jews accept, not all of them are converted into law. One such person is Mosheh ben Maimon. His study of the Torah led him to determine that all Jews followed certain notions in their practice without declaring them outright as proof of their faith; these notions are known as the Jewish Articles of Faith. Some Jewish congregations have made it custom to recite them after their morning prayer. These Principles of Faith are as follows: God is unitary, God is a spirit, His existence, His eternity, Only he should be worshipped, revelation can only be received through prophets, Moses being chief among them, God’s Law was given on Mt. Sinai, God knowledge of man’s future actions, the immutability of the Torah, retribution, the coming of the messiah, resurrection. As you can see most of these concepts are things that go along with the practice not a prerequisite to follow Judaism. All in all I believe these principals are not that different from the beliefs that I have, In my opinion they are not great enough to completely separate the religions. Based on my