All Questions
36 questions
67
votes
12
answers
46k
views
Why does Judaism celebrate Sabbath on Saturday and most Christians celebrate Sabbath on Sunday?
When did most Christians (possibly excluding exceptions such as Seventh Day Adventists) and Jews start celebrating Sabbath on different days of the week and why?
- 10.7k
18
votes
5
answers
9k
views
At what point did Judaism and Christianity diverge?
At what point did Judaism and Christianity diverge? Christianity and Judaism share the Old Testament (The Hebrew Bible), so it should be safe to assume they are the same people at least during the Old ...
- 553
51
votes
8
answers
120k
views
Was baptism practiced before Christ?
A simple word search for "baptism" in the Old Testament turns up no matches. However by the time John the Baptist shows up on the scene and starts dunking people and calling it "for forgiveness of ...
- 37.5k
12
votes
10
answers
6k
views
Do Christians believe that Jews must still follow the Mosaic law?
Deuteronomy 13:1-4 states:
All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a ...
user6496
19
votes
4
answers
19k
views
Why do most Christians not follow the Talmud?
If I'm not misunderstanding anything, Jews usually follow the Tanakh (more or less the Old Testament) and the Talmud, but definitely not the New Testament, whereas Christians follow the Old and New ...
user250
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are there or have there been any Christian traditions that follow Kosher food laws?
Kosher food laws are part of Judaism, from which Christianity grew.
But what Christian denominations or traditions follow, or historically have observed Kosher food laws?
- 822
23
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Is there evidence that Isaiah 53 was viewed as a Messianic prophecy within Judaism, or is it an exclusively Christian interpretation?
The modern Jewish interpretation of the so-called suffering servant song of Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is that it is a prophecy referring to the nation of Israel, not the Messiah. As such, it is sometimes ...
- 7,773
10
votes
2
answers
1k
views
What is the basis for the belief that Christianity and Islam worship different gods?
Another question entitled "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?" requested the basis for the belief that Christians and Muslims do worship the same god.
In this question, I am requesting ...
- 3,916
10
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Does the Christian Old Testament have the exact same list of books as the Jewish Bible?
Does the Christian Old Testament include exactly the same books that are in the Jewish Bible (called the Tanakh in Judaism)? Are there any differences between the Christian Old Testament and the ...
- 519
9
votes
2
answers
6k
views
What evidence is there that the Jews thought leprosy was due to sin?
Some Jews seemed to think that lepersy was a punishment for sin,
rather than a sin itself.
This is most probably going to sound like a stupid question either because there is a specific verse or ...
- 718
8
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How does the Protestant OT canon differ from the Jewish scriptures? [duplicate]
Is the OT canon currently accepted by Protestants the same as the Jewish scriptures? If not, where and how do they differ?
- 37.5k
7
votes
4
answers
10k
views
Did Jesus wear tefillin?
Tefillin1 are boxes containing Torah verses, worn by Jews on the head and the upper arm, in accordance with instructions in Exodus 13:9, 13:16, and Deuteronomy 6:8, 11:18. There is a great deal of ...
- 21.1k
2
votes
1
answer
473
views
Where did the term "Jew" come from? [closed]
At what point did the Israelites start being called Jews and more importantly, why? Answers can cite biblical and extra-biblical sources.
- 9,447
-2
votes
6
answers
23k
views
Did Jesus himself assert the fact that he belonged to some religion like Judaism?
It is assumed that Jesus was a Jew. I am not asking whether Jesus was a Jew or not (as we all know that Jesus was born in a "Jewish" household), but does Jesus explicitly call himself a Jew? Rather ...
- 941
13
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Were the Jews expecting God Incarnate?
Christians believe Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. (Isaiah 7:14)
Furthermore Christians believe that the only Son of God is Our Lord Jesus Christ. (Apostles Creed)
And since Christ = Messiah and ...
- 34.2k
10
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Were Jews in Jesus' day binitarian?
Is it true that Jews during Jesus' lifetime were binitarian, that is believing that God was one being in two persons similar to how Christians have historically believed and taught that God is ...
- 357
8
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Why did Christianity not follow Philo of Alexandria's definition of logos?
Philo of Alexandria (20 BC – 50 AD), a Hellenized Jew, used the term Logos to mean an intermediary divine being, or demiurge. Philo followed the Platonic distinction between imperfect matter and ...
- 385
8
votes
3
answers
6k
views
Who could have watched the veil of the temple tear when Jesus died?
A professor today made the claim that the following claim is spurious:
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Mark 15:38 (NRSV)
His rationale is that no-one but the ...
- 1,891
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
When were the early Christians no longer considered a sect of Judaism?
In Acts 28:22 the group of early Christians is referred to as a sect. Presumably as a sect of the existing Jewish religion.
The question is when were the early Christians no longer considered a sect ...
user13992
7
votes
4
answers
489
views
What reason is there to believe that 1st C Jews thought that being the Son of God = God?
One poster ask me the above question. Does anyone have a scriptural answer? I have one and will post it soon.
- 1
6
votes
3
answers
16k
views
Is Abraham in heaven? [duplicate]
If Jesus brought everlasting life and Abraham died before the coming of Jesus (and in fact before Judaism), would we therefore expect to see Abraham in heaven? What passages in the bible direct us to ...
user1054
5
votes
1
answer
383
views
How do Christians argue about Jewish objections against Jesus being the Messiah
Traditional / Orthodox Jews argue that Jesus was not the Messiah, because we don't live in a Messianic Age. In the Messianic Age
All Jews would be living in Israel (Isa. 11:12, 27:12-13);
Israel ...
- 273
4
votes
2
answers
568
views
In light of grace, How does a Christian consider the devotedness of Muslims and Jews?
This question is somewhat triggered by this question. I felt a plethora of emotions when I thought about the right way to approach answering it, and I felt it would be better to express these ...
- 657
4
votes
2
answers
178
views
How do Christian theologians view and/or use Jewish commentators? [closed]
I've been wondering about the status of Jewish commentators on the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Rashi, Ibn Ezra, etc.) and other post-Biblical Jewish authors (e.g. Josephus) in Christianity. Are there prominent ...
user6496
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is the Roman Catholic understanding of forgiveness different from the Protestant understanding?
Recently I read Simon Wiesenthal's book, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, and I was challenged to flesh out my understanding of forgiveness. There were aspects which I ...
3
votes
6
answers
6k
views
Did the Jews use icons and images to help them worship as Catholics or Orthodox worshippers do?
I understand that some worshippers use icons to 'lift up their minds from earthly things to the heavenly things'? I am not interested about those using them as stage-props for a play (in comparison), ...
- 34.2k
3
votes
2
answers
426
views
Is the doctrine of the Trinity the primary difference between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism? [closed]
Judaism got its root in 1st millennium BC; Islam originated in 7th century AD; Christianity took birth in the 1st century AD. Did doctrinal differences regarding the Trinity necessitate the creation ...
3
votes
1
answer
139
views
Have any Wesleyan theologians compared Outler's Quadrilateral to PaRDeS?
In 1964, Methodist theologian Albert C. Outler outlined the Wesleyan Quadrilateral in his introduction to John Wesley's anthology of works.
This establishes a hermeneutic framework in which truth, ...
- 2,636
2
votes
1
answer
442
views
Is the practice of seeking the intercession of Rachel admonished in the New Testament?
Some modern Jews claim that seeking the prayers and intercession of Rachel is an ancient tradition.
See https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rachel-bible
More than a hundred years after the exile of ...
- 504
2
votes
5
answers
2k
views
How did the Christian movement distinguish itself from Judaism?
Can anyone explain to me how Christianity distanced itself from Judaism and set itself apart?
- 31
2
votes
2
answers
559
views
What was the reason why the Jews specifically used the substitute Adonay/Kyrios for the Tetragrammaton?
God has one name. ‘’I am Yhwh and that is my name’’ (אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה ה֣וּא שְׁמִ֑י Isaiah 42:8).
In the Hebrew Pentateuch the name of God was the Tetragrammaton (the four letter) ‘Yhwh’.
The Jews ...
- 6,541
1
vote
4
answers
1k
views
Did any in the Early Church require a kosher diet?
In the Early Church, we see statements suggesting that the dietary laws of clean/unclean meats from Old Testament passages such as Leviticus 11 are no longer binding. For example:
As for their [the ...
- 411
0
votes
2
answers
616
views
Converting to Judaism or Islam vs Trinitarian or Uniterian [closed]
If a Christian "converts" to Judaism or Islam (or any of the Abrahamic religions), is he still considered saved as a Christian? What if he/she converted from Trinitarian to Uniterian? This is a ...
user1054
-1
votes
4
answers
157
views
Where in the New Testament is God described as a Yahweh?
God is described as Yahweh passim in the Old Testament, but where in the New Testament is God described as a Yahweh?
- 101
-2
votes
4
answers
490
views
Is Christianity an ethnic religion?
It's well-known that in the Bible God mentioned all about Israel and its people like Judaism. Judaism and Christianity believe in the same Bibles also. So Judaism is an ethnic religion according to ...
-5
votes
3
answers
96
views
Is the Bible anti-Semitic? [closed]
It seems the Bible is anti-Semitic or how else do you explain these Bible passages?
God himself wanted to kill all Jews but Moses stopped him:
(Ex 32:9-11) 9 And the LORD said to Moses, I have seen ...
- 98