A Crisis of Identity

209137 Resource 169992 170084 170084 1216233126536 1216239658665 Controlled What Religion Was Jesus Christ?

Ancient stone creates opportunity for reflection

The discovery and publication of an unprovenanced Hebrew document, purportedly from the 1st century BCE and written on stone, has generated some interesting comments about the origins of Christianity and its relationship to Judaism. I'll write more on this in future but in the interim, I'd like to draw attention to one writer in particular. James Carroll, writing in the <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/07/14/on_the_third_day_an_epiphany_of_sorts/">Boston Globe</a>, concludes his article on the 'Gabriel Revelation' with the following comment:<blockquote dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">That Christianity defined itself as the polar opposite of Judaism was an accident of history, with lethal consequences. The two religions are and will remain distinct, but it is urgently important that Christians, especially, correct the mistake that saw Jesus in radical opposition to his own people. He remained a devoted Jew to the end, and his first followers understood him, after his death, in fully Jewish terms. If Christians had continued to do so, the tradition of anti-Judaism, which spawned anti-Semitism, would not have developed.</blockquote>James has summed up the situation appropriately, although we should always appreciate that anti-Semitism predates the time of Jesus Christ.HT to Jim Davila at <a title="Paleo Judaica" href="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">PaleoJudaica</a>. 9 application/xml false early christianity Gabriel James Carroll Jesus Christ Judaism resurrection three days A Crisis of Identity In the first four centuries of the Christian era, the face of Christianity slowly changed as the church sought to create for itself an identity separate from its Jewish roots. The implications of this metamorphosis are profound. http://www.vision.org/visionmedia/article.aspx?id=677 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; Avant Browser; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 pnathan 216.175.109.104 false true false false true 188838 false false true false false false true 210500 Resource 188838 173239 173239 1217934833072 1217934833072 Controlled And then, what religion was Moses?

The connections between the Jewish and the Christian religions may be close, but...

And, what religion was Seth?  How about Noah? King David (did he not predate "Judaism")? Were the priesthood under Aaron Jewish?My point here is to raise the question whether or not the faith that our patriarchs and the prophets were called into was a "religion" at all?  It appears the common denomenator among them (and now we are including the apostles) was a calling to have a close relationship with God - and according to His terms.Perhaps Judaism and Christianity simply provide the environment in which a relationship with God may grow.The Church of God, either in the "wilderness" of the O.T., or as developed spiritually in the N.T. is not just another religion - but a way of life based upon a drawing closer to God - obeying His commands - and accepting Him (His Son) as our Savior.Religions are simply organized ways for people to validate their personal beliefs of what is good and what is evil. It is the willful choosing the "tree of knowledge and evil" and feasting on it in mass.I submit the possibility that Jesus was NOT "Jewish", because He apparently rejected the Talmud but held fast to the Torah. 10 application/xml true Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 24.210.169.245 false true false false true 169992 blog blogsite/FirstFollowers/web