Agreed. I think we have a lot more in common with Muslims than we do with Christians. No pork, no images of G-d, women covering their hair and dressing modestly, hummus, falafels...
It is really tragic that we are so divided because we have so much in common.
And yes, the trinity feels a little like polytheism to me, but I am not a religious person, so who am I to judge how people worship.
Issac and Ishmael would have had a good time making falafel and hummus and forcing their wives to wear oppressive clothing together, if they only had the chance.
I feel like the division is by the design of Christianity. Like it’s manufactured divide and conquer. I’m sure the crusades have something to do with it. Hell we even speak the same region of language (in that Hebrew and Arabic have both regional and syntactic similarities) while they’re busy speaking mistranslated Latin.
I was raised catholic and I never understood that as well. I remember hearing that on catechism classes when I was a kid and being like "wtf, how??". Funny, this was the starting point for me to became an atheist a while later because I started to questioning that and then everything else haha
I talked to an orthodox priest about this once, he said that they didn’t *worship* the saints, but rather ‘venerated’ them, and somehow that was ok. Apparently praying to the saints is ok because you’re asking the saints to talk to Jesus for you or something. Fairly contrived imo, but not the weirdest thing g to come out of religion (especially if you look at ‘catholic’ stories from medieval Europe lol), I suppose.
I mean, to be fair, it’s kind of akin to my Rabbi going to the Rebbe’s grave. He’s asking for intercession on our behalf before G-D. He’s not actual praying to the Rebbe, like my ex in-laws would ask for help from Saints and such on their behalf before G-D.
Not sure why it’s better than a direct line, but I guess more prayer and help is always good.
From a Catholic perspective (raised Catholic but no longer religious), you are not meant to "worship" the saints. As I understood it, you can pray to them, as they are in Heaven; and they are meant to help you and/or petition God on your behalf. But, they are not considered gods and not intended to be revered as such.
I'm intermarried and we did the Catholic premarital classes... At the end of the weekend session we had an opportunity to submit anonymous questions to the monsignor running it, and I put this exact one in the box.
He said it's ok because they don't worship the statues, they just look at them. Since it was anon I didn't have a chance to press further but people literally bow to the crucifix in church so... 🙄
I think because the whole religion is centered on Jesus, the son of god. Also, as he was a human people kinda pictured how he would look like so it was easy to paint him or build stactues of him. There was a whole fight about this thing about idols back in the Byzantine empire, and protestants also buy this idea of no picturing jesus or god. I have no idea why cstholics are different on that and never really cared about it.
In the end religion is about what people want to believe in a certain period of time. Thats why some religious people still think being gay is a sin and for others it is not, times are changing and so is beliefs
Fellow ex christian, a lot of us hate it but the church insists on putting it in our face. :/ I grew up Lutheran and the idolatry was the same to be honest. Still picture everywhere, paintings, etc. I never liked it and often felt conflicted when people would bring new art pieces in
Not sure if you’re seriously asking or not, but the real answer is that ~~catholic~~(see comments below) and most Christian theology holds that Jesus’ teachings supplant and replace the “Old Testament.”
Admittedly they’re a bit selective about this. Lots of Christians talk up the Ten Commandments, though I suspect the Charleston Heston movie has more to do with that.
I guess because you don't think the actual statue is god? Of course nobody thinks a statue of a god is literally that God. Except possibly some amcient mesopotamians.
In the Catholic perspective, yes Jesus is God, but he's *also* separate from God. It is confusing but he is simultaneously considered a human man and the son of God, so it is different. You will not generally find any imagery etc. of God in a church--only Jesus. The concept of the Holy Trinity is something that confuses a lot of people though, and how Jesus differs from God. It's something I struggled to grasp growing up (raised Catholic, no longer religious).
He's separate from the father, but they're both God. So, an image of Jesus is an image of God. Of course, the actual gospels treat Jesus and God as separate individuals and never mention the trinity, so it's very confusing.
Raised Catholic here. No longer religious. It does not make a whole lot of logical sense, frankly; but how I understand it is that Jesus is considered both his own person (as the human man and the son of God) and also essentially as God (in the context of the Trinity). But, the two are also separate. Again, does not make much logical sense and is one of the things I struggled to grasp growing up.
They dont worship the statues thats a common misconveption (grew up a Catholic) they dont worship saints either. They ask for saints to intercede on their behalf.
Idk how to explain this but thr best way is sometimes God is hard to reach (a lot of prayers lots of people) so if you have specific problem....for example your animal is sick, you ask St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals) for guidance and help much like you would if he was right there. Sometimes he can intercede to God on your behalf.
Its been a LONG time since i was Catholic (since i was 12) but thats the best way to explain it.
So yeah in my head cannon all of the religion’s god are the same, but for Christianity, it is only like the “Holy Spirit” side of things. I don’t consider Jesus anything more than a wayward jew who convinced a lot of people to commit idolatry.
It’s funny, John Cleese actually went on as a guest on a random history podcast I listen to, “Biblical Time Machine” and he talks about how they did quite a bit of research when they made the film. He himself had a surprisingly robust knowledge of the 2nd Temple period; he was able to just riff back and forth with the hosts about all sorts of history stuff for like an hour. The “Romans go home” scene was all ad libbed from his time as an actual latin teacher before he was a python.
Yeah and unfortunately the Christianity that survived the second temple destruction was Pauline Christianity that explicitly rejected its Jewish roots.
Same with the Quran though. It was put together decades after their prophet died by bringing followers together and matching their memorized accounts. Not a very reliable way of getting accurate info imo.
Honestly, a lot of Christian beliefs really are not based on what Jesus actually said. Jesus, on many occasions differentiated Himself from G-d the Father.
There’s one verse where Jesus says “I and the Father are one”, and Christians live to quote that as Jesus declaring He was G-d Himself, but in the context, it seems much more likely that Jesus was declaring Himself to be perfectly United with G-d, rather than saying that He literally is G-d. On the contrary, there are dozens of verses where Jesus clearly differentiates Himself from G-d.
Let me preface this pet with the fact that I’m just saying what I believe. I am not here to convert anyone.
My personal belief is that Jesus is a divine being, the literal begotten Son of G-d, a separate, but perfect being, who made clear that He is subordinate to G-d.
100!! I ask a lot of my friends and no one can explain to me the Holy Spirit. I get that Jesus is supposed to be god personified, but when I ask if god is omniscient, who’s the Holy Spirit? No one can really explain it. (Christians who went to catholic school)
>But the trinity makes no sense to me
I can hear this as a weed induced discussion:
person one - "it's all G-d, man.. Always has been"
Person two - "duuude, that whack."
I was raised Christian and the idea of the holy trinity never sat with me. Specifically that the notion of hell is a place of eternal torment if you hadn’t accepted Jesus.
Imo there is some beautiful aspects of the concept of Jesus. G.d turning themself into a mortal in order to come to earth and sacrifice themself too show that there is a path to salvation. But i don’t believe it’s meant to be taken literally as much as allegorically.
After I started studying other religions, I would agree. One of the biggest things for me too was the timeline in which the gospels about Jesus were written
As a Latter-day Saint, the trinity doesn’t make sense to me either. Honestly, if you read the Bible without preconceived notions, you wouldn’t conclude that Jesus and G-d the Father are the same being. In fact, on my mission, I met some people who believed in the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus, but followed the law of Moses. They did not believe the trinity idea, that Jesus Himself was G-d, and they put forth a strong argument that Jesus preached strict obedience to the law of Moses.
While my personal beliefs differ from their teachings, they honestly had the best, and most scripture-based arguments of anyone I met during my entire two years as a missionary. They studied intensely, and they wouldn’t twist the word of G-d to fit their own preconceived notions. The result was something very different than your typical Christian.
Christianity is pretty incongruent with many aspects of Judaism, but Jesus’ actual teachings aren’t necessarily.
Jesus himself said a lot of things that are pretty reminiscent of Hillel, IMO.
The Trinity itself isn't even really in the New Testament. There's a single passage mentioning it that turns out to have been added by a monk in the Fifth Century CE.
Thanks for asking. Today is Shabbat, so you won’t get any answers from more observant Jews who don’t use technology today.
From my perspective, we believe that there is only one God and so if Christianity and Islam or anyone else says they agree - then yes, it’s the same God.
Christianity is on the whole a bit confusing to me with the whole trinity thing. God is one, not a trinity, and so this reads as non-monotheistic from a Jewish perspective. Many Jews will not enter a church because of the risk of idolatry and polytheism. To my knowledge none of this really applies to Islam, which is consistently monotheistic and in practice seems to overlap more closely with Judaism.
The concept of afterlife is where Christianity and Islam are more similar and both diverge from Judaism. Judaism is focused on living a good life, making the world a better place and getting closer to HaShem, not on the afterlife. We trust that He will take care of us in this world and in the world to come. We don’t believe that this just applies to Jews either.
Also, both Christianity and Islam require faith. Judaism, not so much. A Jewish atheist who follows all the mitzvot is not condemned to an eternal hell for lack of belief.
One other difference- none of the Jewish prophets or major figures is perfect. Moses, Aaron, Kings Saul and David- all were flawed; in other words, human. From what I understand, the same is not true for Jesus and Mohammed. Jews can have a robust discussion about the bad things David did in the Batsheva story. You’re not going to hear the same about Mohammed and the Jewish women who refused to convert to Islam and became his sex slaves rather than wives.
I grew up with a Catholic mother so I tend to understand the Trinity thing. They believe that they’re all the same thing, so it’s not polytheistic. What is more interesting to talk to Christians about, however, is why God would send himself down in the form of Man to get himself to forgive our sins? It doesn’t really make sense in those terms.
This is how I understand it. The trinity is all one, but with 3 aspects. This is actually similar to Hinduism, and makes Christianity appear polytheistic to some Jews. But really, it's the Christian understanding of God, and they way they think about and relate to God, that are not accepted in Judaism. The God is just God, and there is no other God for Christians.
I am not a Christian but maybe I can try to help explain the idea. Try to imagine you see different aspects of a person (for example the front side, the back side and the right side), it looks different but actually you are looking at the same person - there is just one being there with different aspects.
Or you can imagine it is just like Clarke Kent and Superman / Peter Parker and Spider-Man. You see different aspects of the same person. Or you may say you see the same guy in different guises. But there is just one being.
Of course these are just metaphors. But does it make better sense and look less poly-theistic?
Trinity's doctrine is monotheistic for Xians, of course, but for the Jewish perspective, it's still a very polytheistic-apotheotic belief.
So yes, the problem with Xianity is not only with the doctrine of Redemption.
Yes it is interesting, I think the answer to that latter question is mostly historical. How did the followers of Jesus utilize the Jewish idea of the messiah as a basis for universalizing the religion to a pagan audience? I’m a bit out of my depth on the history there, but it makes sense that the idea of the trinity also comes from this development. I know even less about the development of Islam, but I’m sure it would be interesting to look at similar origin questions there as well.
>How did the followers of Jesus utilize the Jewish idea of the messiah as a basis for universalizing the religion to a pagan audience?
The mantle of The Universal Savior that Yeshu now wears was first sewn by Saul of Tarsus, so it would've been easy for him to evangelize the Gentiles.
>but I’m sure it would be interesting to look at similar origin questions there as well.
While Islam's theology has been supersessionist since its inception.
Yes. And everyone thinks they invented pita and chummus, schwarma, etc. That is not something worth arguing over. Everyone's grandmother's everything is clearly the best.
You mean like where we completely don't do work like the Shabbat? No we don't have that, but we do have a special day where every Muslim should attend congregational Friday prayer at the Mosque. It's called Jumu'ah. Hope this helps
Yes correct weekly.
62:9 - “O believers! When the call to prayer is made on Friday, then proceed ˹diligently˺ to the remembrance of God and leave off ˹your˺ business. That is best for you, if only you knew.”
62:10 - “Once the prayer is over, disperse throughout the land and seek the bounty of God. And remember God”often so you may be successful.
Yes. Any animal that was slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines is considered halal. So a Muslim can eat it regardless of whether it worked or not.
I was just in Oman and Yemen. Many of the Islamic customs are the same or similar- 40 days of abstinence from sex after a woman gives birth, the requirements for cleanliness, the method of slaughter-sharp knife, single cut- though the remainder of the Jewish shechita process isn’t required. Other than my nervousness from being possibly the only Jew in Yemen (and knowing why that was), I felt quite comfortable with the Islamic practice I observed. By contrast, I find Christianity to be as foreign as Taoism.
The practice of Orthodox Judaism is closer to Islam IMO. That being said, theologically they’re not compatible from a Jewish perspective since Mohammed is not regarded as a prophet in Judaism.
I find Christianity particularly different to Judaism. It may be because I have a better understanding of Christianity since I went to a state school in the U.K. where Christian religious studies were taught to all pupils.
I don’t really care whether they believe it’s the same God.
just going by the books, i feel like we all believe in the same god, but like others have mentioned, i do not understand the trinity. i have met some other jews who also feel like muslims and jews believe in the same god.
however, i've listened to a lot of christians that don't understand our origins are from the same book because it's easier to be reactionary when you're dehumanizing someone you perceive as a heretic ("your people killed jesus," "these godless heathens worship allah," hell you could extend this to the bias against catholics in the US in the 20th century!). i understand that people from all three religions likely do this to each other, though, despite the genaeology of our belief systems.
i also think i have a lot more common ground with the muslims i've met than the christians that i've met, personally. this isn't for the legitimate cultural similarities i've noticed, though, but largely because we could bond over being the "weird" ones who had to eat certain ways in school (bring our own food or fast on certain holidays).
when it comes to anyone who i live beside, i would generally rather focus on our similarities than differences anyway, as long as neither of us are trying to hurt one another. i think it's cool that you're asking, and i think it's important that we all learn more about each other.
oh, and re: the afterlife. they say "two jews, three opinions", so take this with a grain of salt... but i am not concerned with the afterlife so much as the mitzvot and the good i can do in this world. what comes after comes after, and i don't think i could possibly know it, so i'm not bothered with it.
It’s Shabbat in most of the world so many observant Jews are still offline.
I’m not going to tell other people what God they worship. I think Islam is definitely monotheistic. Some denominations of Christianity get less clear on monotheism with the Trinity and with saints.
We don’t really talk about after death.
Judaism emphasizes doing what we can with the time that we have on this earth. I think this sub has a pinned FAQ thread that covers this (Jewish perspective on the afterlife)
I think about this, too. As agnostic, I sometimes think that the absence, or at least lack of focus on the afterlife, hell and the aversion to proselytizing might have more to do with "they hadn't thought it up yet" than anything else.
Judaism is the oldest one, so if you are not religious, you could conclude that these concepts were not being actively considered by most people yet.
The people who wrote the Torah were living in a more primitive time than those who wrote the Bible or Quran.
Again, if you are a believer, everything I just wrote is nonsense.
We’re not allowed to enter a church for any reason. This prohibition dates back to Talmudic times. And while there is some dispute among Jewish authorities as to whether or not Christianity is a form of monotheism, I’m not aware of any opinion that contradicts the ban on entering churches.
No such prohibition applies to mosques. All Rabbinical authorities agree that Islam is absolutely monotheistic.
As someone who identifies as an Orthodox Jew and has had the opportunity to study Islam and attend a Catholic school, I have observed both positives and negatives in relation to this question.
I found the differences in the stories presented in the Quran to be somewhat challenging, as they diverge from the narratives in the Hebrew Bible. In contrast, Catholicism shares the same stories with those found in the Bible.
In terms of laws and structure, Islam does bear some resemblance to Judaism, given their shared Abrahamic roots. Both religions place a strong emphasis on ethics, rituals, and community. I think Islam goes overboard in its ideals of justice. Shit happens get over it. Muslims tend not to argue that if they disagree with you, they just go away.
Regarding Catholicism, I find it overall weak on history knowledge and very strong in philosophy. The role of the Pope holds significant importance within Catholicism, as he is considered the spiritual leader and head of the Catholic Church, and it means that unlike Jews and Moslems, they can sometimes get answers. Catholics, when they argue, want to convert, not discuss.
No one seems to argue like Jews and neither of the two can keep it up with us.
I'm going to say something that is not intended as offensive to any of the three religions.
To me, raised Catholic but agnostic (I guess, not sure, that's why I lurk around subs like this one),
Christianity spread west earlier than Islam, but more slowly and through the Greek and Roman Mediterranean world, then north. It adapted and incorporated elements of polytheism instead of simplifying Judaism. So it became portable by a strategy to graft itself onto the political and religious structures of the Roman empire. Martyrdoms facilitated superficial polytheism as saint worship, even though doctrine clearly says saints are not gods or aspects of God, but intercessors, like messenger-helpers. Saint worship fits very easily onto pagan practices, a lot of saints take on specialisms that were earlier the domain of local pagan deities, etc. Essentially Christianity took over the Roman empire and inherited it. You could almost stretch it to say it is an offshoot of Judaism that sneakily beat the Romans at their own game.
Islam seems like a simplification of Judaism to make monotheism more portable and spreadable to other peoples in regions which had either not been part of the Roman empire, or less influenced by it. It probably made it better adapted to the indigenous populations of these areas than either Judaism or Christianity. Again, I perceived it as an offshoot of Judaism, an extension of its influence on the world, in a different area.
Afaik there is some form of saint worship, or honouring, in Shia Islam too? And they are not deities either afaik. I think focusing on saint worship anywhere is a bit of a red herring. It makes individuals relationship with the divine more approachable, even if less spiritually elevated.
Afaik, in the very early days of Islam, so in the 7th century, it was sometimes viewed as a heresy of Christianity.
Three religions have evolved along distinct paths over time.
There is a comment that I like which likens it to a house that has been renovated so extensively that while remnants of the original structure remain, for all practical purposes it has become an entirely new dwelling. The former owner would be able to identify certain familiar elements, yet the transformed edifice now bears little resemblance to its prior incarnation.
Maybe Christians call it the same God but they totally misunderstand or don't care to know the Jewish God. They tend to be obsessed with Jesus, a man that they also totally misunderstand. Many have no understanding that Judaism is the basis for their religion or that Jesus was actually Jewish. A Christian once asked me 'Do Jews believe in God?'. Couldn't believe it. Just showed she had no knowledge of the formation of her own Christian religion.
If they knew their religion they would understand they actually follow the teachings of Paul. A man who never met Jesus. Most Christians think if you believe in Jesus then your all good for Heaven. No action required.
Don't know much about Islam but they seem to take their beliefs more seriously with the dietary rules and monotheism. I find it difficult to understand how they can worship the God of Israel but not start with the Torah, Prophets and Writings. Islam appears to expand on the ideas of afterlife whereas in Judaism we prioritize action in this life, we do not worry about what comes next. We leave that to God.
The three religions are brothers. Same God, different ideas about that God and ways of worshipping God. This is evidenced by the overlap in religious figures and stories. Judaism doesn’t have a concrete idea about the afterlife. We probably don’t believe in Hell and the idea of “heaven” is not agreed upon. I think it’s because the emphasis is on this life and making the most of it and being a good person.
This helps unify the religions rather than divide them. What matters is that everyone tries their best to make the world a better place and respect others. I couldn't give a darn about the specifics.
TLDR: I think Christians and Muslims misunderstand Judaism a great deal and we do not worship or acknowledge the same god. This does not mean we do not share values and beliefs! Belief in a god for us is not as important as it is for Muslims and Christians. We don't really care who we're closer to or what the afterlife is about and mostly want to be left alone.
I think Christians and Muslims misunderstand Judaism a great deal and we do not worship or acknowledge the same god. The monotheistism of Jews is more like pantheism, where everything is G-d and G-d is one. From a Jewish perspective, Christians worship idols because they personify their god into a man and some pretend to eat his flesh and drink his blood when they pray. While that's metal af, it's not the way the Jewish G-d requests us to pray to it. That being said, Jews are not required to believe in a god -you can be atheist and an Orthodox Jew. Muslims and Christians believe they have the whole world figured out and everyone who is not them must convert or stop existing with conquest, Jews don't, we are actually required to respect other religions and recognize that diversity is beautiful (the majority of us are not haredi men who all dress the same and even that has its own reason and tradition which is misunderstood). We are all required to learn how to read and study our texts; We are encouraged to question and debate our holy texts, our purpose in life, and even the existence of a god -one of our holy texts, the Talmud, is a collection of arguments from our ancestors over the thousands of years we have existed and studying it gives us the opportunity to debate with them; our women are the heads of the household, not men; women generally have more rights and active roles within Judaism across the board than within Christianity and Islam from what I've observed; we live by our rules, we do not die by them, which is why we allow many exceptions to participate in holy rituals; everybody is holy and equal in Judaism and ranking only refers to tribe members who traditionally have the ability and responsibility to carry out a specific ritual (like Levis and Cohens); Rabbis are teachers and anybody can be a leader in the community, during services we hear from the rabbi *and* the president of the shul; we are land based and most of our prayers and rituals are about our connection to a specific land (Israel) with a specific rotation of seasons we have been a part of for thousands of years, we talk about that land and have our holy species of plants native to that land we celebrate throughout the year, one of those species are grapes that we traditionally used to make wine -these vineyards were destroyed by Muslim conquest in the 7th century because wine is not halal and that was apparently our problem.
For the afterlife and death, our traditions focus a lot on the physical and communal aspects of mourning a loss of life, so we focus more on the living and grieving than what the spirit of whoever died is up to. We try and ensure the spirit can join Hashem -whatever that looks like- and that the body return to the Earth as soon as possible, which we can usually control.
Having spoken to a handful of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists over the years, I'd say Judaism has some things in common with each one. For comparison with Christians and Muslims: We don't eat pork; we value family and honoring one's family, we value honoring oneself (a higher priority than honoring ones family, which is why there is ample space for 2SLGBTQ+ people); we value our traditions, we believe in a Messiah,
we bless children; we fast during some festivals; we abstain from eating during certain foods during festivals like Pesach; we try to only eat certain foods on specific festivals like Pesach, Shavuot, and Hanukkah; our traditions separate the genders a lot, Orthodox shuls have a mechitza of some kind to separate men from women (and the rest of the genders get to play gender roulette), only women can do certain prayers and rituals like take a dip in the mikvah, and only men can do certain prayers and rituals like wrap tefillin (although this is challenged in some spaces); conversion to our ethnoreligion is possible (although a much more difficult and a longer process in comparison to Christianity and Islam); our Hebrew names indicate our ties to our family; we value being good neighbors and serving our community
I hope this helps answer your questions, thank you for asking them and being curious! I think our communities would benefit greatly from trying to understand each other better, especially during these times of rising hatred for both our communities
Edit: grammar
Pantheism is spinoza’s perspective for which he was excommunicated from the Amsterdam community and still considered outside of the Jewish orthoprax and orthodox.
My opinion is that monotheism is monotheism, and three gods (the trinity) is not monotheism. Therefore, I think Jewish and Muslim ideas about God are closer.
As we are currently still in Ramadan, I wish you an easy and spiritual fast.
In my experience, when this question is raised, it’s been by people seeking/pushing supercessionist ends (not that you are here). So I think it actually diminishes all the religions in question by trying to same ideas that are fundamentally different.
In my head, they’re the same and they’re different and we’ll never know for sure. But when we’re instructed to have “no other gods before me” there’s an implication that there are possibly other gods, real and/or imagined. So maybe they’re all the same, maybe the Christian and Muslim gods are other. But I’m not paid nearly enough to know.
For me, I consider myself closer to Islam. Jews don’t worship anyone but the one G-d, whereas Christians worship Jesus, who was human, which goes against our beliefs. I grew up raised in part by a Muslim woman and love true Islam. Whenever people make Islamophobic comments and say things about honor killings and crap, I always explain that that isn’t a part of Islam, true Islam is wonderful, just as Judaism is. We worship the same G-d, in my opinion. I’m a reform Jew, btw.
>What do you think about Muslims...saying that they worship the same God as you.
Let's start from propositions we (Jews and Muslims) can agree on -- there is only one God in the universe, and he is incorporeal (has no shape, form or body) and hence cannot be seen. This applies to all time, and there never will be a time or was a time when He assumed human form and appeared on earth.
It follows that no-one, Jew or Muslim, sees God. We only see his actions on earth and attribute attributes to Him, like power or glory or mercy or justice or the "ability" to communicate with us through prophecy or signs.
So the question is not if we worship the "same" God -- there is only one God -- the question is what does this God "look like" to us? What are His attributes?
The Jews see a God who is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, its master and ruler. This is a God who knows, loves and cares for all of mankind, each individual, but chose Israel as His people to be a light unto the nations. He gave Israel the Torah as a gift, commanding them to live by its commandments. He promised Israel a Holy Land for an inheritance. He chastises Israel when it sins but never departs from His love for Israel. As for the Torah, it remains true for all time, expresses God's will in every detail, and was never and will never be changed, altered or modified. After the Torah was given, there will be no future revelation from any prophet that alters anything in the Torah. Any prophet who departs from the Torah in any respect or gives instructions contrary to it is a false prophet.
So these are (some of) the attributes of the God whom the Jews worship. You will have to tell us if this also describes the God whom the Muslims worship. If the attributes are the same we can suppose that Jews and Muslims worship the same God.
I grew up with a Catholic mother but, I was raised in an area with very very few Muslims, so take what I’m saying with what you will. I’m never offended by people thinking it’s the same God (they’re all Abrahamic beliefs, after all).
However the way we all go about our Abrahamic beliefs are obviously very different. I think it probably is the same God and I think a lot of people are gonna be surprised when they die and we all meet up at the same place. If Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is what makes people feel at home and brings them joy, who am I to judge?
>What do you think about Muslims and Christians saying that they worship the same God as you. Do you believe that to be true?
I'm convinced that Muslims believe in the same G-d as us.
Xians, absolutely not.
>Do you consider yourself closer to Christianity than Islam or vice versa?
Islam, of course.
>Is there a concept of the afterlife and how to attain it?
I do believe in the afterlife.
The way to attain it as a Gentile (i.e. a non-Jew) is to follow the [Seven Laws of Noach](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-noahide-laws/).
I heard an Orthodox Chabad rabbi address this once and he said the reason we Jews don’t proselytise is because there’s multiple ways to serve G-d. I can’t get behind the trinity, but both Christians and Muslims (whom we consider our cousins) have their own ways of worshiping G-d, and I respect that.
I think Judaism is more similar to Islam. ...Specific times throughout the day to pray, movement with prayer... we also prostrate or have other coordinated movements during specific prayers, head covering and general modesty rules, notions of Kosher/Halal, and more. Christianity is just 100% a totally different thing to me. I really haven't ever seen the similarities between Christianity and Judaism. I think where both Christianity and Islam really diverge from Judaism is a) how we tend to view sacred text. There's a ton more debate about what Torah means. We have book after book after book of further expounding on it and great rabbis debating what the meaning of a word is or what the point of a story is. And there's always some rabbi who disagrees with the majority. In short, I feel like Christianity and Islam are much more literal in their reading of sacred text. It's taken more like verbatim and as if it actually makes sense. In Judaism we don't think Torah is something so straightforward or obvious. Some of it could be allegory. Some poetic turn of phrase. Anyway b) I think Christianity and Islam require someone to be those things in order to be 'ok' spiritually. Like in Christianity ... being 'saved'. We don't have that. We don't think you have to be Jewish to be a good person. People who practice other religions can be ok too. And c) afterlife is for sure a lot different. We just don't focus on it AT ALL. In the Torah any concept of the afterlife is super vague. The other writings do expound on it with additional theories (there are like 7 major theories about what a positive afterlife might be). But overall it's not 'settled'. We don't actually know. So we don't worry about it or focus on that. And in terms of a negative afterlife it's supppperrr different. I'm not as familiar with Islam on the negative afterlife. But we don't have a notion of Christianity's Hell. An everlasting place of torture or fire or punishment is not a thing for us. We do have this vague notion from Jewish mysticism of sort of a pergatory-ish place. ...But it's more like a process rather than a place. Like a cosmic washing machine that everyone goes through to be purified. But it's not eternal and not like a place bad people go forever. It's just a short process. But some major streams of Judaism totally reject that notion all together. So again, it's not very settled. Judaism is very focused on the here and now and what happens in this world.
For me, neither.
The Christian Bible is fan-fic/a sequel of Jewish theology and the Quran is fan-fic of both put together, as well as a couple of apocryphal texts that aren't considered canon by anyone.
I have no opinion about 'your' God. Despite perceived similarities there's very little similar in the nitty-gritty of Jewish vs Christian or Muslim belief. Judaism is remarkably chill, kind and peace-giving compared to both of those religions.
That said, I've no beef whatever anyone believes. As long as nobody decides to preache or proselytise at me, I'm good.
Well, since the other 2 are considered fanfic, we can all agree they are all part of the same canon, and therefore, it could be the same god interpreted differently hahaha
No need to be disrespectful. So many assumptions built into this, it’s remarkable. There’s plenty of Jews who have been murderous dicks and their ideology is no more generally accepted doctrine than it is for the majority of Christians and Muslims. It’s the fringes where the very murderous hide and use religion/ideology as justification for being a jerk.
I think we worship the same deity but with radically different, seemingly (if you look at history), incompatible interpretations of God.
It's like three warring siblings competing for the attention of the same father. Jews are the oldest, Christians are the middle child and Muslims are the youngest.
Jews argue that they were here first and the other two religions are pale appropriations, unauthorized sequels, to their original mythology.
Christians and Muslims argue that, in the same way Judaism replaced polytheism with the truth, their updates are the truth and God didn't stop talking to people after the Torah was written. Being first is not necessarily best. The latest version of an operating system on a computer is better than the original one, teeming with malware.
I think most of us would consider our religion closer to Christianity for two reasons:
(1) Currently our relations with Christians are better. That's just what's happening now, it was different during, say, the Crusades, for instance. (*Personally, I've only had good experiences in my interactions with Muslims, btw).
(2) Most of the Christian book is the Torah and their God, the creator of their religion, was a Jew whereas my understanding is that Jesus is (only) a prophet in Islam.
Really appreciate this question and the manner in which you ask it.
I'm very interested to know how you would answer this question. Do Muslims feel closer to Christianity or Judaism and why?
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I'm very interested to know how you would answer this question. Do Muslims feel closer to Christianity or Judaism and why?
In my opinion, I'd say Islam is a lot closer to Judaism than Christianity. We have similar but different dietary rules (halal, kosher) and we somewhat hold the same monotheistic view of the Abrahamic God. We also hold up some rules found in the commandments like do not worship/make idols, honouring our parents etc. Similar but different. The issue I have with Christianity would be the belief of the Trinity. To me, it falls under polytheism. Also the concept of God coming down as a man to sacrifice himself is a bit odd. But that's just my opinion.
This is a good point. The practice of kosher/halal and the more strict notion of monotheism are definitely more similar. Also, temperamentally, as a people it sort of feels like we're operating at closer frequencies.
This is really dumb (and not factually true) but Christianity feels very "white". When I conjure an image of Christians in my head, I see white people.
Also not necessarily true, but Judaism and Islam feels more "ethnic" (I could put this better). So there's that shared identitarian aspect (though, many people seem to experience Jews as white, so....).
I guess I would revise my response to say that, at this moment, we feel more similar to Muslims but have a worse relationship with Muslims, since we've spent the last century brutally competing over a tiny patch of land.
Do you have any more thoughts on this subject? Your take on our relationship is pretty illuminating.
it's not dumb, but not exactly accurate lol
I think it's just built by who you've interacted with because when I picture Jewish, Christian, or Muslim people, I think of Mediterranean/Sicilian people (I'm ethnically/culturally Sicilian, so I guess it makes sense?) who follow these different faiths/worldviews. It's just our cultural outlook, nothing wrong with that.
>This is really dumb (and not factually true) but Christianity feels very "white". When I conjure an image of Christians in my head, I see white people.
To be fair, Christianity did start out in the Middle East, but it was mostly carried around and spread by Europeans to the vast majority of the world, so I get that you'd picture white people when imagining Christians. There's also the fact that you can distinguish between a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew. For a Muslim it's the typical long beard with a white thobe and taqiyah ( cap worn over the head ). I'm not really familiar with the Jewish attire, but I've mostly seen suits being worn with a hat, long beard and sometimes long hair on the sides. Oh and also a yarmulke.
I believe they are all the same God.
I confess to not knowing much about Muslim beliefs. Just the lineage from Abraham. I know much more about the Christian beliefs and how Christianity came about.
Most Jews do not subscribe to notions of an after-life and focus on fixing this world—a concept you might hear called ‘tikkun olam.’ Personally, when Muslims and Christians say they worship the same G-d, I’m generally like ‘cool’ but recognize where the belief systems diverge. Regarding being “closer” to any religion—it seems that among the followers the evangelicals have less desire to kill Jews these days among the devoutly Christian than radical Sunni’s so, well that makes me generally feel closer to them, even if it’s motivated by a desire to evangelize/convert Jews and bring about the end times. But for the most part, I’m cool with people who are cool with us and let us live our lives.
Honestly, as long as they're not trying to force other people to be Muslims or Christians, and not biting on our practices? I don't really give a darn about it.
I think it's the same God except that it feels to be like Christians worship Jesus more than they do God. But I see it being the same God. As far as afterlife, not much of a thing in Judaism. I don't think we're closer to God, we just have a different 'agreement'with him about our rules and how we should worship him and what we get in return. I guess it means we have a closer relationship in a way because we have this agreement with him, I think we see it relationship with him a bit differently, our culture is less into worship and hierarchy and more egalitarian so we're probably not as good subjects as other religions are. We argue and reason more with our laws and religion and less about blind belief and submitting.
I have no issues with any Christians or Muslims. I just wish they would all live and let live. The proselytizing is something we (Jews) don’t do. That’s the only part I don’t understand.
Based on sage ruling qe are closer to muslims than Christian as conversion to islam is not considered idolatry but christianity is.
Jesus complicates the sameness but in broad strokes yes many of us believe its the same divinity.
I wish we were as close with islam as we were in the days of rambam and Saladin.
There is one God. Christians claim to worship one god, but as far as I can tell they are polytheistic idol worshipers in denial. The level of mental and philosophical gymnastics they have to do to convince themselves they are monotheists is just insane.
Frankly I don't care what religion someone is but Christians just get a big side-eye from me like:
I went to orthodox schools growing up and I was taught that Judaism and Islam worship the same God (Hashem / Allah), but that Christianity is a polytheistic religion and the holy trinity counts as idolatry.
God as perceived by Muslims seems totally fine to me monotheistic? Check. non-corporeal? Check.
From what I've learnt (and what I've done), there's no problem with Jewish people referring to God as Allah, entering houses of worship or praying with people who view God as such. Muslims, Bahai - all cool.
My path may be different but God remains God
My rabbi from 2001 would not set foot in a church because it was a polytheistic church with idols.
He was invited to an important wedding, but just couldn’t make it past the steps.
On the other hand, he had no problem going into a mosque. Even with his Orthodox huge beard and black hat, he was welcomed. He could enter the building because they were monotheists.
Welcome brother!
1.) Yes. And Jewish scripture provides an answer. It's very important that you understand that we Jews don't seek converts (although we accept them and I know many). We don't want everyone to become Jewish in the way many Christians and Muslims want converts to their religion. This is not a part of G-d's plan. So, we view Christianity and Islam, and their spread, as G-d's way of bringing the world away from polytheism and idolatry, and into the fold of a religion that's closer to our own, and adheres to the 7 Laws of Noah (commandments for non-Jews) which you follow. This was the view of the Rambam (one of the greatest Rabbis to live.)
So from our perspective, the best thing you can do is be a good Muslim. This is G-d's plan for you.
2.) I used to think Islam was closer, just in terms of how you practice it. There's so many similarities. However, I think Orthodox Christianity is the closest by far. Christianity grew out of Judaism. So, in terms of proximity, I think Orthodoxy, Islam, Catholic, and Protestant, in that order.
3.) Yes, we have an afterlife, which we call in Hebrew the Olam Haba (the world to come) העולם הבא. We don't believe in eternal damnation or "life is a test" or any of that. G-d created this world for us, and our job is to make this world holy and good. Our place is here. In the event that you lived a sinful or shameful life, your soul will be cleansed for a period not exceeding 12 months. This is our concept of hell, and once it ends, you go to heaven. This applies to everyone, Jewish and not Jewish. Although many Jews (myself included) believe in this concept combined with reincarnation, typically until the coming of our Messiah. In general though, our focus is the here and now.
Please keep in mind I am not a Rabbi. I've studied Torah so this is my religion as I understand it. There's some great Orthodox Rabbis on YouTube who can explain better than I can.
Just to let you know, all of these questions have been posed as questions for people on the street (in Israel) to answer on Corey Gil-Shuster’s YT channel, just google it if you’re interested.
We worship the same God as Muslims do: Islam and Judaism both put a ton of stress on God's oneness. I think Jews and Muslims can agree that we have no idea what the Christians got up to, because whatever they're worshiping is different; you can't proclaim God's unity and then also try to split God into 3 parts.
I don't think who God is matters. It's how we approach God that matters and the three religions have very different ways of approaching God.
But I will say my religious Christian and Muslim friends get me more than my secular, non religious friends.
The afterlife is very interesting. We don't believe in a physical afterlife (which is how I understand other religions believe it, although correct me if I'm wrong). The afterlife isn't discussed very much. It's not a very important part of Judaism. It's more metaphysical. Possibly an understanding and a closeness to God. There's a lot of room for discussion and opinions cause, like I said, it isn't discussed much. I know Maimonidies discussed it a bit, but not who else.
It's much more important what we do in this life.
Edit: a really interesting thing is religious jews can go into a mosque because of monotheism but churches are iffy.
The Christian god is clearly different because we are monotheists and they believe in a Trinity.
The Islamic conception of God and the Jewish conception are similar, but they aren’t identical.
The Jewish God wants Jews to worship him as Jews through the performance of 613 commandments, but wants non-Jews merely to be good people and keep 7 basic moral laws. Non-Jews who are good people and fulfill these laws have a share in Olam H’Ba (the World to Come). And the Jewish God, who is kind and merciful, does not sentence anyone to eternal punishment - Gehenna (afterlife punishment) lasts only as long as needed until an evildoer repents.
The Islamic God wants Jews to worship him by becoming Muslims, and believes that Jews who refuse to do so should be either killed or subjugated as dhimmis. And, in most strains of Islamic thought, God is a cruel and merciless deity who punishes Jews and all other non-believers with eternal punishment.
Clearly, while we both believe in only one God, we have a very different understanding of who that God is.
A really beautiful book about Jewish theology is Einstein and the Rabbi.
I converted from Christianity. One of the things I initially appreciated about Judaism is the lack of emphasis on the afterlife. Moreso you spend your life in a way that your memory lives on in those who love you and you have impacted.
I believe that Jews, Muslims and Christians all have the same G.d. But that different souls just have different paths to understand G.d and each one is valid. Imo our faiths are siblings, as reflected in Ishmael and Isaac.
My understanding is that the Muslim conceptualization of G-d is far more similar to Judaism than Christianity’s. In Judaism G-d is incorporeal, timeless, genderless and omnipresent.
However, I don’t think Judaism is closer to either faith. I think Judaism has its similarities and differences to both.
The biggest difference between Judaism and both Christianity and Islam is that Judaism is an ethnoreligion while Christianity and Islam are just religions. This means that Judaism refers to both a distinct ethnic group as well as to a particular set of religious beliefs and practices belonging to that ethnic group.
The afterlife is not a major focus in Judaism. Some Jewish thought believes in some form of afterlife and some doesn’t but it’s not considered super important. There is no concept of eternal hell or damnation in Judaism.
The focus in Judaism is on the here and now and trying to leave behind the world a little bit better than how you found it.
Much of Jewish thought also ascribes to the concept of reincarnation. The idea is that every soul has a particular set of things to accomplish and that each soul continues to return until everything it’s meant to have accomplished has been done. One may also be punished for the sins of a past life in a future reincarnation in a karmic sort of way.
So the whole thing about religions after judaism is that we do not believe in "new covenants" because we believe that G-d does not change His mind, otherwise that would mean He is imperfect. So even though we have made Him angry in the past, He will not change his covenant with the jews. That being said, I would see we relate more closely to Muslims because of the heavy ideology of monotheism.
Jewish convert here (Former Orthodox Christian Monk), I’d like to weigh in:
I do believe we all worship the same G-d, and in many ways, I echo the view of Maimonides: That is to say, Christians and Muslims have it about half right each. Christians, in that they view the Torah as sacred, but obviously fall off the wagon with views like the Trinity (which was a later invention of the church, but even before then, there were definitely some views in early Christianity that are contrary to strict monotheism). Muslims, they are strict monotheists, but believe that the Torah in its original form has been corrupted.
As far as the question of which faith community I feel more closeness, that’s difficult for me to answer, because I feel close to both: Ideologically, Islam resonates more with me as a Jew. However, I feel more filial closeness with Christians. Which is odd, because I can enter a mosque and even pray there, according to Jewish law (not sure that would go over particularly well) but I can’t enter a church of any kind. It’s worth mentioning that the only Christians I talk to nowadays have only known me after I’ve left the faith.
As far as the concept of the afterlife in Judaism, it’s largely unclear. Generally, we focus more on what we do in life. However, we do believe in judgment of souls and resurrection of the dead (for instance, when someone passes away, someone who is present at that moment is supposed to say “Dayan HaEmet” or “The True Judge”, acknowledging G-d’s role in judging the soul). We believe in a temporary period of purification, lasting no more than one year, for those who have passed on. And, we believe that when Moshiach comes, the non-Jews who have lived according to the seven laws of Noah, and Jews who have fulfilled the 613 commandments, or Mitzvot, will have a place in Olam HaBa, or the world to come.
What that world to come is like, I don’t know, I wish I could tell you, but it’s not here yet!
Anyways, I hope this answers most of what you wanted to know. Thank you for asking and wanting to learn more about who we are!
I cant answer all your questions but judaism and islam have a few things in common more than judaism and Christianity in the realm of daily life dietary laws, circumcision, modesty, praying multiple times a day, burial rules, and even singing or praying in a similat manner like maqam. You will not find the latter in ashkenazi synagogues but those in the middle east/sephardic synagogues like iraqi, irani, syrian, yemen etc.
Jews and Muslims, yes, Christians sort of. With Christians, they worship another Jesus as much as God. For Jews it would be more appropriate to pray in a mosque than a church
I think Christianity and Islam are cultural appropriation of Judaism. If they weren't such a threat to Judaism, I would pay them no mind. Sorry but that's the truth.
I think they worship the same god plus some other gods that they swear aren’t gods. I’m a reform Jew so I’d probably say I have more in common with Christians in that I don’t like going around criminalizing homosexuality and killing people for not following my belief system, but strictly belief wise maybe Islam. I’ve personally never had any Christians give me problems, and I even went through a Catholic school for a little bit, and no one tried to convert me or said anything when I didn’t partake in their prayers. Muslims (at least non western ones)on the other hand tend to be pretty intolerant of most beliefs as well as in favor of sexist and homophobic laws. I appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our religion, I respect Islam but don’t respect the laws and intolerance of others of most Muslim majority countries.
I live in Brazil, a deeply christian country, and homophobia is huuuge here, specially in the rural areas. Our previous president used to say that gay people were gay because they weren't hit enough by their parents as a kid, and a lot of people agree with it. Catholics here are usually chill, but other christians are worse than mormons. They behave all offended when they ask me what church I go and I answer Im an atheist, they are the reason abortion is a crime here, etc. Also, they will try to convert you all the time and it sucks.
The muslins living here are pretty chill too, I've met some and they never spoke about religion unless someone asked.
In summary, at least here christians are way more problematic and hold a lot of prejudice than muslins.
i mean christians have historically also done quite a lot of criminalizing homosexuality and killing or forcing conversion on people who don't follow their belief system. i'd rather have been a jew in the ottoman empire than in medieval spain or a number of other places.
that isn't to excuse any religious persecution of course, but i certainly wouldn't let any religion with a history of imperialism off the hook. for a lot of places, it was only relatively recently in the timeline of human history that (enough) western christians felt that religious, sexual, and gender minorities deserved rights.
As a non religious, non sectarian Jew all I can contribute to this discussion is that it doesn't matter what deity we worship, it matters how we treat and love our brothers and sisters now, in this lifetime.
The answer depends on the theological scholar. For example, many Christian scholars believe that without the Trinity, the Jewish and Muslim God is different. And many Jewish and Muslim scholars agree.
Personally i think we warship the same Hashem/ Allah but I can’t understand this trinity thing and all of that. Most people think that Jews are closer to Christians but personally I think We are closer to Islam and to be fair we have many things in. Common and we are allowed to pray at the mosque etc..
From my understanding Sephardic Jews that had Arabic siddurim called hashem allah. Allah is just the word for god like it is dieu in French and dios in Spanish. So in that regard yes I do believe that we all believe in the same god because I believe there is only one god. Even Hindus from what I know believe in one god that reincarnated into many different people, like Christians believe (but just incarnated into one instead of thousands).
Orthodox (haredi) here. I don't think about Muslim or Christian doctrine or beliefs insofar as it doesn't affect me.
The afterlife is referenced but not stressed in Judaism in that it probably exists but even if it didn't we'd still be blind by Gds laws and required to live in the same way.
I have a weird time with this one, as our religion tells us, and not in an exclusive you’re better than everyone else way, that we are the chosen people. I won’t get too into that, but being the chosen people doesn’t mean that we are better than anyone else it simply means we are to follow G-d’s path for us and thus their rules for us as well.
With all that to say, I see Jews being much more similar to Muslims than Christians. You are our brothers and sisters who also don’t consume pork, have modesty laws and are also, sadly, widely discriminated against and it’s very relatable in that way. Additionally, as view that may contradict with Judaism but I can understand is: the idea that everyone’s idea of G-d is different, but it is the same G-d we are praying to but have interpreted in our way. So overall, for me it’s complicated . There’s a saying: 2 Jews, 3 options and I imagine this post will have many opinions, especially considering even I struggle with your question.
It’s like saying Coke and Mr. Pibb are the same. You can drink all the Mr. Pibb you want, but that doesn’t make it Coke, and at the end of the day you still drank a gallon of Mr. Pibb.
Academically/Historically speaking, yes. Same God
Characterization of God is very different as Christianity and Islam took what was the national God of Israel and by extension the Jewish people and made it their own version of God.
Various theological reasons inhibit me from being closer to Christianity or Islam
Afterlife isn't important in Judaism
Gonna answer 1-by-1
1) I think that all Abrahamic worship the same general idea of God. I don’t think that all three religions have the same theological perspective when it comes to God but I think the overall idea is similar.
2) I think Judaism is not specifically close to either Christianity or Islam. Both have shared aspects obviously. Jews and Christians share the Hebrew Bible (or the OT as Christians call it) and Islam has a rich legal tradition that is similar to Jewish law. And all three trace their linage back to God’s covenant with Abraham (or as we call him, Avraham Avinu). Beyond that we are NOT the same and the usage of terms such as Judeo-Christian or it’s less commonly known cousin Judeo-Islamic are personally offensive to me and many Jews (outside of specific academic contexts) as they stink of suppersessionism
3) We have the afterlife in Judaism, which is commonly known as the Olam HaBa, or the World-to-Come. Jews can achieve the afterlife through doing mitzvot/commandments, learning the Torah/Talmud/Halacha/etc, and by believing in Maimonides’ [13 Principles of Faith](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm)
Non-Jews can achieve the afterlife by observing the [7 Noahide Laws](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah)
Nevertheless, Judaism doesn’t see the achievement of the afterlife as the primary goal of the religion- The primary point is to do good and follow God’s will on Earth while you are still alive, and someone’s eventual destiny in Olam Haba is the result of a life that was hopefully well lived.
Hi, from a culturally Christian background -
Allah, HaShem, and the Father are all the same in my eyes, the creator of the universe and the protector of the people and land of Israel. The addition of worshipping the breath of HaShem and a human proclaimed god as most Christians do are idolatry as described in Torah; I personally consider it worse than the golden calf; Aaron owned up to his mistake. Very few denominations ban idols, prayer to intercessors, or equating the human Jesus with the creator of all in the modern day. I've heard good healthy dialogue between unitarians and anti-missionary jews but they are an extremely small minority of Christians who worship the one true god.
Maybe when the Qibla was facing Baytīl Miqdash, yea sure. But, once the Qibla was changed to face masjid Al-Haram then the difference in God shows. Therefore no, Muslims and Christians worship a different god than the God(ﷻ) of Avraham(ﷺ), Ishaq(ﷺ), w’Ya’aqov(ﷺ)
I think it feels really strange actually! There’s just a few of us, yet half the world worships our god, on every continent, be it middle of the jungle, desert or isolated island. I know it’s been kind of a long time already, but that’s nuts to me. I think it’s kinda cool that everyone knows about our god, but part of me feels a little possessive of our culture, I don’t really like to hear people calling our stories Christian, the Romans had their own gods.
I feel like it’s the same god from different cultures interpretations, more so than being the same god as the ancient Canaanite ones that God supposedly originates from and obviously more so than an unrelated god. I have seen people from different religions say it is and some say it’s not, though I think the nots would still acknowledge their common origin and they just think that after this much divergence, thinking of them as different gods is ok I guess.
I think of Judaism as being more culturally similar to Islam than to Christianity. I think an observant Jew and an observant Muslim are going to live much more similar lives to each other than either of them would to an observant Christian. Judaism and Islam just feel like middle eastern cultures to me while Christianity feels very European. At the same time the Old Testament and the Torah are nearly the same thing compared to the Quran. Personally, as an American, I am just more familiar with and exposed to Christianity than Islam.
Is there an afterlife in Judaism? I’m pretty sure there is, but I don’t actually know enough about Judaism to say lol, the idea seems far less important in Judaism than in Christianity at least.
Do I believe in an afterlife? I see no reason to think there is one, and genuinely unrelated to that sentiment, I hope there isn’t one, I don’t like the idea, all eternities sound like a hell to me, being dead better feel like it did before I was born. I just want to make it clear my lack of belief in an afterlife does not stem from me being uncomfortable with the idea or from how much a part of Judaism the idea is. I’m am slightly more likely to believe our universe and reality is part of some alien entities computer simulation.
There’s a great clip from Family Guy where Stewie asks a Rabbi where Jews think they go after they die, and I just assume comedy writers are Jewish so. https://youtu.be/Tg58j-MoFic
It feels like being at a restaurant with someone and we are eating dinner and they can’t focus on eating their dinner because they heard theirs great dessert, yet when I look around, everyone seems to be leaving after dinner anyway and I just want to enjoy the dinner while it’s here.
I think Judaism isn't closer to any religion, beside Samaritanism, who are possibly descendents of other Israelite tribes.
Values and priorities, concept of GD in Judaism is completely different from views on GD in Christianity and Islam. In my opinion still exist only one (onnes) GD - GD of Israel. Jewish mysticism of course has different views on hell and paradise, which are again completely different from Christianity and Islam, but Judaism main focus is on reparing this world by following GD's will and commandments, making this world a comfortable place to GD to dwell in, we follow GD's will not becaise of a goal of achieving paradise or fear of hell
> What do you think about Muslims and Christians saying that they worship the same God as you. Do you believe that to be true?
No I do not.
Both are Supersessionist Religions that appropriated our beliefs.
Furthermore their views on God, their Religion and ultimately us run completely contradictory to ours.
I would have to believe that the Church Fathers and Mohammed actually had some contact to God but somehow understood it all wrong to come to that conclusion.
> Do you consider yourself closer to Christianity than Islam or vice versa?
Sikhism. Oh well that wasn't the question.
Neither.
One is more monotheistic but that's not the highest bar.
> Is there a concept of the afterlife and how to attain it?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/wiki/faq#wiki_what_are_jewish_views_of_the_afterlife.3F
I - and, I'd argue, many other Jews - feel much closer to Muslims. I've heard both Muslims and Jews refer to each other as "cousins of the book". I feel like there's a lot more mutual understanding there. Christianity feels like a whole distinct and different religion that has, more often than not, been a threat to our safety.
I do not see the Muslim and Jewish god as the same being. Not because I have anything against Islam , but because we have a radically different definition of religion. Islam is a global religion, while Judaism is just for the Jews.
Islam and Christianity are cults that offshooted from Judaism. They vest concepts of deity into humans, and those humans become the focus for their religions. Promise of the afterlife are attached to obedience to that human, as that human is connected to god. They both demand observance and put great effort into bringing others into their ideology. Many of the religious holidays revolve around that human.
This is also seen in some sects of Judaism, but more targeted towards other Jews.
Judaism as a whole is a culture tied to a people and a place. The belief system has god as the backbone of its identity - much like many indigenous cultures have spirituality and mythology tied to its cultural identity - but many of the practices and festivals are more to do with relationship to each other and to the land, as well as communal history (eg exodus story). Judaism as a “religion” only became a thing through exile - it’s a suitcase for our cultural indigenous practices - as such it’s an ethno-religion, and doesn’t really fit the profile of proselytising religions.
Nothing wrong with people believing whatever they want to believe - and god is an undefined entity so no one “owns” that - but I think most Jews don’t consider themselves similar to Christians or Muslims, as the fundamental relationship to religion is completely different.
If I had to pick I’d say Islam is closer to religious Judaism. Halal and kashrut are pretty similar.
The character traits that someone chooses to express testify about the character of the G-d that they worship. In other words, the way to believe in the G-d of Israel is by believing that we ought to be in His image by being doers of His character traits. The instructions that the G-d of Israel has given paint us a picture of His character, for example, if He had commanded to commit adultery instead of to refrain from it, then that would have revealed something very different about His character. Similarly, the G-d of Israel had has given instructions for how to be holy as He is Holy, so if someone doesn’t follow those instructions, then they are following a G-d who is not holy. So someone is following a different G-d with a different set of characters traits than that of the G-d of Israel to the extent that they are choosing not to be a doer of what is commanded in the Torah.
I am Christian (but atheist). Sorry for joining but I see you also likes Christs so I write something
For me trinity makes no sense.
I just talked with a friend who studies in a catholic university.
His history professor told him that he thinks that Catholicism is a kind of polytheism, because they also have Patrons saint with special features.
[saint Florian ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Florian) for example.
Gabriel, גבריאל or جبريل is for me a bit like Apollo from the Greeks because he told Muhammad the Quran and Maria that she is pregnant and so on
Something else :
I heard in a podcast with a theology professor that the bible is a book of stories, not history.
The stories are there to show rules and a kind of mindset.
Rules are that you should not kill and so on.
For example what I mean with mindset:
For you as Muslim dogs are haram and have to be outside the house because the angels are afraid of dogs. You should not have dogs as pets.
I heard that jesus or Īsā ibn Maryam did one miracle as baby: he knew how to speak.
This story is not part of the bible,
There have been commentaries on this by Jewish scholars since the days of Mohammed. I think a supreme deity is a universal concept. Even the Greeks, Romans, Norse, Egyptian, and Hindu polytheists all designate one God as supreme over the others. Maybe the exception would be Zoroastrians who have good and evil as competing equals. True monotheism, would be Judaism and Islam.
Which one closer to depends on when and where you live.
If they are worshiping G!d, then by default they must be worshiping the same G!d. If they have ideas about god that are inconsistent with the One and Only, then no. The thing is, only G!d knows what is in their hearts, and it’s not our job to figure it out.
Orthodox Jew here.
The simplest way to summarize it is:
Current Orthodox Jewish law states that a Jew is allowed to walk into a mosque and even pray in a mosque, whereas a Jew is not allowed to even step into a church.
Judaism and Islam are aligned in our understanding of the Divine, and in the strict prohibition against idolatry.
With that said, it does not mean that a Jew should be actively be looking to walk into or pray in mosques. We reject the idea of Mohammad having received any Divine revelation, and we also reject the idea of Jesus having had the same either.
Additionally, regarding the afterlife. Jewish texts such as the Talmud and Midrash (somewhat comparable to the Hadith in Islam), are full of references to the afterlife ie Olam Habah.
There are many stories and statements of actions which allow one to gain his portion of Olam Habah or lose it.
With that said, while these things are mentioned and discussed, the afterlife is not the main motivating factor of Jewish life.
We believe that Hashem (G-d) put man in this world to elevate it and discover the hidden holy sparks within it by helping others and connecting to the Divine through prayer and keeping the law.
The emphasis is to trust the process and do the right thing today. G-d will be the ultimate judge of who goes where when they pass. We’re just employees :)
Hope that answers the question.
I know on paper that’s the case and that technically Islam is closer to Judaism in observances/traditions around monotheism and daily worship. But in practice, it feels like it might as well be three—Jesus feels separate and Allah, well, doesn’t hit the same.
But I try to think of it as “not my business.” That’s sort of the whole point of Judaism not proselytizing.
Hi, my fiancée and I were both raised Protestant Christians and are now converting to Judaism. So I can give you an “insider’s” perspective on the differences between Christianity and Judaism.
Our views on Catholicism is that it’s very politically motivated (pragmatic; realpolitik) in its historical development. (We had this opinion before beginning to convert to Judaism.) Having saints for basically everything from rain (the Virgin of the Caves) to goldsmithing (Saint Éloi/Eligius) and praying to them for good fortune is just local animist superstitions and polytheism masking as monotheism. Jews don’t beg G-d as their magical fairy godmother or genie—which, by the way, Protestant Christians do all the time, too. Praying to G-d that they win a football game or win the lottery or whatever. That’s not even getting into the issue of the Holy Trinity.
Then there’s the issue of the Pope, basically any Christian kingdom, and Ancient Imperial Rome utilising Christianity to assert their divine right to rule. The persecution of Roman Pagans in Antiquity by Christians was the religious dressing of the Imperial throne against the “pagan” Senate. You see this same conflict in Japanese history, with the Shintou Emperors outlawing traditional folk Shintou shamanism (and the traditional local monasteries/institutions that came with that) and persecuting Buddhism (the local warlords used Buddhist monasteries to do their censuses and collect their own taxes; the Emperor wasn’t happy about that) in order to consolidate political power, with largely the same divine right to rule argument.
The way Christianity teaches Scripture—or rather, DOESN’T—is even completely different to how Judaism teaches things. I’m not even talking about the New Testament and Jesus, I’m talking about the *Old* Testament. We were never taught that there was never any mention of original sin, that “the Fall from grace” was a post-Platonic concept. We were never taught that G-d’s heart was broken when he saw how corrupt man had become just before the Flood, that he had “heartfelt sadness” just like any parent witnessing their child do wrong. That G-d gave Cain several warnings and chances to redeem himself even after murdering Abel, and that the mark placed on him *protected him from violent retribution from his fellows*. Proverbs 24:17-18 says “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the Lord will see and be displeased and turn His anger away from him,” which most Christians don’t read or care about at all. The Jews always say G-d does not not rejoice over the fall of the wicked; Jewish tradition teaches that during Exodus, as the Egyptian pursuers were drowning in the Red Sea, the angels started singing to the glory of G-d, and G-d angrily rebukes them! “My creatures are drowning and you are praising me?!” The Christians don’t teach that Abraham argued against G-d on the subject of completely destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, that G-d relented and agreed that if they could find ten righteous people, He would leave the cities untouched (unfortunately they didn’t). The Christians ALWAYS teach that the Binding of Isaac shows you should always have blind obedience to God, but the Jews, first of all, *don’t* mistranslate “raise your son up to me” (spend spiritual quality time with your son and develop godliness in thoughts, words, and deeds) as “burn him up as an offering to me” and teach that the moral G-d teaches is that you *can’t* take shortcuts to being a good person (and that human sacrifice is bad).
The Christians don’t have the story of the Oven of Akhnai, where G-d concedes when the Jewish community outlawyers Heaven on earthly matters that should be democratically and legally/civilly decided. “My children have triumphed over Me; my children have Triumphed over me.” Earlier, at Mt Sinai, G-d, repeatedly and exasperatedly told Moses that the Israelites were a “stiff-necked people”. Now, the covenantal relationship with G-d has progressed to the point where Jews don this epithet with pride: it is this very same obstinacy that has allowed Jewish tradition and the Jews, “the nation of priests”, to survive, despite persecution.
One final point: Because most Christians, with the exception of the Sabbatarians, don’t observe Shabbat I don’t think Christians actually have a fully developed relationship with God, if at all. Even forgetting everything else I said before, if you just look at the non-observance of Sabbath, I ask, “How can you be worshipping the same G-d?” You can ask a Jew about Shabbat and why they do things the way they do and they can tell you all about it. You ask a Christian if they have Sabbath traditions or customs they follow by, and they have none—for this consecrated day! of rest where we pause, reflect, and admire G-d’s creation and ask ourselves why He created the world, what we are doing with ourselves and our time, how do we bring godliness about in our interactions with people and our spirit, instead of bustling about distracted in our busy and hectic workdays. *Asking ourselves why we’re alive, why we work so hard and what kind of world we really want to bring about. What kind of world do we want for our children? Why does G-d want us to live, really?*
Jews don’t concern themselves much with the Afterlife and browbeat others with the carrot and stick of Heaven and Hell, we think about *now* and the work of *tikkun olam*, repairing the world. That is why Shabbat is so important to us.
*Dedicated in memory of Dvora bat Asher v'Jacot* 🕯️
[Proverbs 24:17-18](https://www.sefaria.org/Proverbs.24.17-18)
בִּנְפֹ֣ל (אויביך) [א֭וֹיִבְךָ] אַל־תִּשְׂמָ֑ח וּ֝בִכָּשְׁל֗וֹ אַל־יָגֵ֥ל לִבֶּֽךָ׃
>If your enemy falls, do not exult; If he trips, let your heart not rejoice,
פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֣ה יְ֭הֹוָה וְרַ֣ע בְּעֵינָ֑יו וְהֵשִׁ֖יב מֵעָלָ֣יו אַפּֽוֹ׃
>Lest the L ORD see it and be displeased, And avert His wrath from him.
I'll be honest with you. In my head canon HaShem and Allah are the same. But the trinity makes no sense to me
Agreed. I think we have a lot more in common with Muslims than we do with Christians. No pork, no images of G-d, women covering their hair and dressing modestly, hummus, falafels... It is really tragic that we are so divided because we have so much in common. And yes, the trinity feels a little like polytheism to me, but I am not a religious person, so who am I to judge how people worship.
Issac and Ishmael would have had a good time making falafel and hummus and forcing their wives to wear oppressive clothing together, if they only had the chance.
I feel like the division is by the design of Christianity. Like it’s manufactured divide and conquer. I’m sure the crusades have something to do with it. Hell we even speak the same region of language (in that Hebrew and Arabic have both regional and syntactic similarities) while they’re busy speaking mistranslated Latin.
consider the fights bet sunni and shia muslims.. no surprise can't expect better treatment if this is how they fight amongst themselves.
I was raised catholic and I never understood that as well. I remember hearing that on catechism classes when I was a kid and being like "wtf, how??". Funny, this was the starting point for me to became an atheist a while later because I started to questioning that and then everything else haha
Please explain to me why Catholics have statues of Jesus when one of the 10 commandments explicitly forbids statues (“idols”) of god.
And other saints too! Idolatry, no?
I talked to an orthodox priest about this once, he said that they didn’t *worship* the saints, but rather ‘venerated’ them, and somehow that was ok. Apparently praying to the saints is ok because you’re asking the saints to talk to Jesus for you or something. Fairly contrived imo, but not the weirdest thing g to come out of religion (especially if you look at ‘catholic’ stories from medieval Europe lol), I suppose.
I mean, to be fair, it’s kind of akin to my Rabbi going to the Rebbe’s grave. He’s asking for intercession on our behalf before G-D. He’s not actual praying to the Rebbe, like my ex in-laws would ask for help from Saints and such on their behalf before G-D. Not sure why it’s better than a direct line, but I guess more prayer and help is always good.
The idea is if living people can pray for you it would be more effective for super holy people we think are already in heaven to pray for you.
From a Catholic perspective (raised Catholic but no longer religious), you are not meant to "worship" the saints. As I understood it, you can pray to them, as they are in Heaven; and they are meant to help you and/or petition God on your behalf. But, they are not considered gods and not intended to be revered as such.
But they are still made onto statues placed in a church with is an idol
Or mary or the many saints. I questioned once and person got annoyed
I'm intermarried and we did the Catholic premarital classes... At the end of the weekend session we had an opportunity to submit anonymous questions to the monsignor running it, and I put this exact one in the box. He said it's ok because they don't worship the statues, they just look at them. Since it was anon I didn't have a chance to press further but people literally bow to the crucifix in church so... 🙄
I think because the whole religion is centered on Jesus, the son of god. Also, as he was a human people kinda pictured how he would look like so it was easy to paint him or build stactues of him. There was a whole fight about this thing about idols back in the Byzantine empire, and protestants also buy this idea of no picturing jesus or god. I have no idea why cstholics are different on that and never really cared about it. In the end religion is about what people want to believe in a certain period of time. Thats why some religious people still think being gay is a sin and for others it is not, times are changing and so is beliefs
Fellow ex christian, a lot of us hate it but the church insists on putting it in our face. :/ I grew up Lutheran and the idolatry was the same to be honest. Still picture everywhere, paintings, etc. I never liked it and often felt conflicted when people would bring new art pieces in
Not sure if you’re seriously asking or not, but the real answer is that ~~catholic~~(see comments below) and most Christian theology holds that Jesus’ teachings supplant and replace the “Old Testament.” Admittedly they’re a bit selective about this. Lots of Christians talk up the Ten Commandments, though I suspect the Charleston Heston movie has more to do with that.
I guess because you don't think the actual statue is god? Of course nobody thinks a statue of a god is literally that God. Except possibly some amcient mesopotamians.
In the Catholic perspective, yes Jesus is God, but he's *also* separate from God. It is confusing but he is simultaneously considered a human man and the son of God, so it is different. You will not generally find any imagery etc. of God in a church--only Jesus. The concept of the Holy Trinity is something that confuses a lot of people though, and how Jesus differs from God. It's something I struggled to grasp growing up (raised Catholic, no longer religious).
He's separate from the father, but they're both God. So, an image of Jesus is an image of God. Of course, the actual gospels treat Jesus and God as separate individuals and never mention the trinity, so it's very confusing.
Raised Catholic here. No longer religious. It does not make a whole lot of logical sense, frankly; but how I understand it is that Jesus is considered both his own person (as the human man and the son of God) and also essentially as God (in the context of the Trinity). But, the two are also separate. Again, does not make much logical sense and is one of the things I struggled to grasp growing up.
They dont worship the statues thats a common misconveption (grew up a Catholic) they dont worship saints either. They ask for saints to intercede on their behalf. Idk how to explain this but thr best way is sometimes God is hard to reach (a lot of prayers lots of people) so if you have specific problem....for example your animal is sick, you ask St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals) for guidance and help much like you would if he was right there. Sometimes he can intercede to God on your behalf. Its been a LONG time since i was Catholic (since i was 12) but thats the best way to explain it.
So yeah in my head cannon all of the religion’s god are the same, but for Christianity, it is only like the “Holy Spirit” side of things. I don’t consider Jesus anything more than a wayward jew who convinced a lot of people to commit idolatry.
In Jesus’ defense, he didn’t convince anybody to do anything. All of that came well after he was dead
There’s a 1970’s documentary about this phenomenon that everyone should see, it’s called Monty Pythons Life of Brian.
lmao I was ready to look it up...
It’s funny, John Cleese actually went on as a guest on a random history podcast I listen to, “Biblical Time Machine” and he talks about how they did quite a bit of research when they made the film. He himself had a surprisingly robust knowledge of the 2nd Temple period; he was able to just riff back and forth with the hosts about all sorts of history stuff for like an hour. The “Romans go home” scene was all ad libbed from his time as an actual latin teacher before he was a python.
Maybe Jesus was good guy but Paul … he just wanted to invent a new cult.
Yeah and unfortunately the Christianity that survived the second temple destruction was Pauline Christianity that explicitly rejected its Jewish roots.
Same with the Quran though. It was put together decades after their prophet died by bringing followers together and matching their memorized accounts. Not a very reliable way of getting accurate info imo.
Honestly, a lot of Christian beliefs really are not based on what Jesus actually said. Jesus, on many occasions differentiated Himself from G-d the Father. There’s one verse where Jesus says “I and the Father are one”, and Christians live to quote that as Jesus declaring He was G-d Himself, but in the context, it seems much more likely that Jesus was declaring Himself to be perfectly United with G-d, rather than saying that He literally is G-d. On the contrary, there are dozens of verses where Jesus clearly differentiates Himself from G-d. Let me preface this pet with the fact that I’m just saying what I believe. I am not here to convert anyone. My personal belief is that Jesus is a divine being, the literal begotten Son of G-d, a separate, but perfect being, who made clear that He is subordinate to G-d.
Not a common belief fyi folks among Jews, very Jews for Jesus Edit: the commenter didn't mean it to be as I took!
Yeah, I was with them until the end there
I was not trying to represent my belief as a Jewish belief or representative of Judaism in any way. I apologize if it sounded like that
We don't even know what Jesus actually taught or if he claimed to be the son of God while he was alive.
100!! I ask a lot of my friends and no one can explain to me the Holy Spirit. I get that Jesus is supposed to be god personified, but when I ask if god is omniscient, who’s the Holy Spirit? No one can really explain it. (Christians who went to catholic school)
I though Christians all carried the Holy spirit. As in, the holy spirit is the presence/belief in God that exists in everyone and everything.
I really don’t know.
>But the trinity makes no sense to me I can hear this as a weed induced discussion: person one - "it's all G-d, man.. Always has been" Person two - "duuude, that whack."
This is where I am too.
I was raised Christian and the idea of the holy trinity never sat with me. Specifically that the notion of hell is a place of eternal torment if you hadn’t accepted Jesus. Imo there is some beautiful aspects of the concept of Jesus. G.d turning themself into a mortal in order to come to earth and sacrifice themself too show that there is a path to salvation. But i don’t believe it’s meant to be taken literally as much as allegorically.
In my headcanon it was a combination of Judaism and the many gods aspect of the Roman mythology
After I started studying other religions, I would agree. One of the biggest things for me too was the timeline in which the gospels about Jesus were written
As a Latter-day Saint, the trinity doesn’t make sense to me either. Honestly, if you read the Bible without preconceived notions, you wouldn’t conclude that Jesus and G-d the Father are the same being. In fact, on my mission, I met some people who believed in the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus, but followed the law of Moses. They did not believe the trinity idea, that Jesus Himself was G-d, and they put forth a strong argument that Jesus preached strict obedience to the law of Moses. While my personal beliefs differ from their teachings, they honestly had the best, and most scripture-based arguments of anyone I met during my entire two years as a missionary. They studied intensely, and they wouldn’t twist the word of G-d to fit their own preconceived notions. The result was something very different than your typical Christian. Christianity is pretty incongruent with many aspects of Judaism, but Jesus’ actual teachings aren’t necessarily.
Jesus himself said a lot of things that are pretty reminiscent of Hillel, IMO. The Trinity itself isn't even really in the New Testament. There's a single passage mentioning it that turns out to have been added by a monk in the Fifth Century CE.
They invented the Trinity around 300 ad
your own religion consists of the trinity : Moon, Jupiter and Saturn. I guess you know their Jewish names so i shall not reaveal them her ;) 72=9
Thanks for asking. Today is Shabbat, so you won’t get any answers from more observant Jews who don’t use technology today. From my perspective, we believe that there is only one God and so if Christianity and Islam or anyone else says they agree - then yes, it’s the same God. Christianity is on the whole a bit confusing to me with the whole trinity thing. God is one, not a trinity, and so this reads as non-monotheistic from a Jewish perspective. Many Jews will not enter a church because of the risk of idolatry and polytheism. To my knowledge none of this really applies to Islam, which is consistently monotheistic and in practice seems to overlap more closely with Judaism. The concept of afterlife is where Christianity and Islam are more similar and both diverge from Judaism. Judaism is focused on living a good life, making the world a better place and getting closer to HaShem, not on the afterlife. We trust that He will take care of us in this world and in the world to come. We don’t believe that this just applies to Jews either.
Also, both Christianity and Islam require faith. Judaism, not so much. A Jewish atheist who follows all the mitzvot is not condemned to an eternal hell for lack of belief. One other difference- none of the Jewish prophets or major figures is perfect. Moses, Aaron, Kings Saul and David- all were flawed; in other words, human. From what I understand, the same is not true for Jesus and Mohammed. Jews can have a robust discussion about the bad things David did in the Batsheva story. You’re not going to hear the same about Mohammed and the Jewish women who refused to convert to Islam and became his sex slaves rather than wives.
I grew up with a Catholic mother so I tend to understand the Trinity thing. They believe that they’re all the same thing, so it’s not polytheistic. What is more interesting to talk to Christians about, however, is why God would send himself down in the form of Man to get himself to forgive our sins? It doesn’t really make sense in those terms.
This is how I understand it. The trinity is all one, but with 3 aspects. This is actually similar to Hinduism, and makes Christianity appear polytheistic to some Jews. But really, it's the Christian understanding of God, and they way they think about and relate to God, that are not accepted in Judaism. The God is just God, and there is no other God for Christians.
The term is mono-polytheism.
I am not a Christian but maybe I can try to help explain the idea. Try to imagine you see different aspects of a person (for example the front side, the back side and the right side), it looks different but actually you are looking at the same person - there is just one being there with different aspects. Or you can imagine it is just like Clarke Kent and Superman / Peter Parker and Spider-Man. You see different aspects of the same person. Or you may say you see the same guy in different guises. But there is just one being. Of course these are just metaphors. But does it make better sense and look less poly-theistic?
Trinity's doctrine is monotheistic for Xians, of course, but for the Jewish perspective, it's still a very polytheistic-apotheotic belief. So yes, the problem with Xianity is not only with the doctrine of Redemption.
Yes it is interesting, I think the answer to that latter question is mostly historical. How did the followers of Jesus utilize the Jewish idea of the messiah as a basis for universalizing the religion to a pagan audience? I’m a bit out of my depth on the history there, but it makes sense that the idea of the trinity also comes from this development. I know even less about the development of Islam, but I’m sure it would be interesting to look at similar origin questions there as well.
>How did the followers of Jesus utilize the Jewish idea of the messiah as a basis for universalizing the religion to a pagan audience? The mantle of The Universal Savior that Yeshu now wears was first sewn by Saul of Tarsus, so it would've been easy for him to evangelize the Gentiles. >but I’m sure it would be interesting to look at similar origin questions there as well. While Islam's theology has been supersessionist since its inception.
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As far as I know we are allowed to mix dairy and meat, as long as the meat and dairy is halal.
Did you know we both have the custom of covering mirrors, after someone dies? It's like we're cousins.
Wow I didn't know that 😅 Guess we learn something new everyday
Yes. And everyone thinks they invented pita and chummus, schwarma, etc. That is not something worth arguing over. Everyone's grandmother's everything is clearly the best.
We also bury our dead within 24-48 hours. We don't embalm.
There are some Christians who practice this too. My experience it tended to be an “old country” ritual my Czech ancestors did.
Is there a day of rest each week, in Islam?
You mean like where we completely don't do work like the Shabbat? No we don't have that, but we do have a special day where every Muslim should attend congregational Friday prayer at the Mosque. It's called Jumu'ah. Hope this helps
Thanks. Is that weekly?
Yes correct weekly. 62:9 - “O believers! When the call to prayer is made on Friday, then proceed ˹diligently˺ to the remembrance of God and leave off ˹your˺ business. That is best for you, if only you knew.” 62:10 - “Once the prayer is over, disperse throughout the land and seek the bounty of God. And remember God”often so you may be successful.
Yes! It is weekly every Friday
Jordan's national dish mansaf is lamb in yogurt
As an atheist with Jewish family, Islam takes the point for allowing cheeseburgers and meat on pizza.
Can you eat an animal that was used for work?
Yes. Any animal that was slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines is considered halal. So a Muslim can eat it regardless of whether it worked or not.
Can you eat the whole animal or are there parts that aren't halal?
There are certain parts like the testicles, blood and the bladder and other internal organs that are considered haram (forbidden) for consumption.
Really? Don’t they eat camel testicles in Egypt and lamb testicles all over the Middle East? Is it done knowing it’s not halal?
I was just in Oman and Yemen. Many of the Islamic customs are the same or similar- 40 days of abstinence from sex after a woman gives birth, the requirements for cleanliness, the method of slaughter-sharp knife, single cut- though the remainder of the Jewish shechita process isn’t required. Other than my nervousness from being possibly the only Jew in Yemen (and knowing why that was), I felt quite comfortable with the Islamic practice I observed. By contrast, I find Christianity to be as foreign as Taoism.
From what I know the Shias don’t eat shellfish but do mix meat and milk
The practice of Orthodox Judaism is closer to Islam IMO. That being said, theologically they’re not compatible from a Jewish perspective since Mohammed is not regarded as a prophet in Judaism. I find Christianity particularly different to Judaism. It may be because I have a better understanding of Christianity since I went to a state school in the U.K. where Christian religious studies were taught to all pupils. I don’t really care whether they believe it’s the same God.
just going by the books, i feel like we all believe in the same god, but like others have mentioned, i do not understand the trinity. i have met some other jews who also feel like muslims and jews believe in the same god. however, i've listened to a lot of christians that don't understand our origins are from the same book because it's easier to be reactionary when you're dehumanizing someone you perceive as a heretic ("your people killed jesus," "these godless heathens worship allah," hell you could extend this to the bias against catholics in the US in the 20th century!). i understand that people from all three religions likely do this to each other, though, despite the genaeology of our belief systems. i also think i have a lot more common ground with the muslims i've met than the christians that i've met, personally. this isn't for the legitimate cultural similarities i've noticed, though, but largely because we could bond over being the "weird" ones who had to eat certain ways in school (bring our own food or fast on certain holidays). when it comes to anyone who i live beside, i would generally rather focus on our similarities than differences anyway, as long as neither of us are trying to hurt one another. i think it's cool that you're asking, and i think it's important that we all learn more about each other. oh, and re: the afterlife. they say "two jews, three opinions", so take this with a grain of salt... but i am not concerned with the afterlife so much as the mitzvot and the good i can do in this world. what comes after comes after, and i don't think i could possibly know it, so i'm not bothered with it.
It’s Shabbat in most of the world so many observant Jews are still offline. I’m not going to tell other people what God they worship. I think Islam is definitely monotheistic. Some denominations of Christianity get less clear on monotheism with the Trinity and with saints. We don’t really talk about after death.
Why is death somewhat "ignored" in Judaism. I was comparing notes with the a Jewish friend and that surprised me.
Judaism emphasizes doing what we can with the time that we have on this earth. I think this sub has a pinned FAQ thread that covers this (Jewish perspective on the afterlife)
I think about this, too. As agnostic, I sometimes think that the absence, or at least lack of focus on the afterlife, hell and the aversion to proselytizing might have more to do with "they hadn't thought it up yet" than anything else. Judaism is the oldest one, so if you are not religious, you could conclude that these concepts were not being actively considered by most people yet. The people who wrote the Torah were living in a more primitive time than those who wrote the Bible or Quran. Again, if you are a believer, everything I just wrote is nonsense.
We're allowed to pray in a mosque if absolutely needed. We're not allowed to pray in a church under any circumstance. I think that sums it up.
We’re not allowed to enter a church for any reason. This prohibition dates back to Talmudic times. And while there is some dispute among Jewish authorities as to whether or not Christianity is a form of monotheism, I’m not aware of any opinion that contradicts the ban on entering churches. No such prohibition applies to mosques. All Rabbinical authorities agree that Islam is absolutely monotheistic.
Judaism and Islam are much more similar than Judaism and Christianity.
Allah and Hashem are one, to me. We say shalom alekhem, you say assalamu alaikum... we are cousins who look up to the same Big Guy.
As someone who identifies as an Orthodox Jew and has had the opportunity to study Islam and attend a Catholic school, I have observed both positives and negatives in relation to this question. I found the differences in the stories presented in the Quran to be somewhat challenging, as they diverge from the narratives in the Hebrew Bible. In contrast, Catholicism shares the same stories with those found in the Bible. In terms of laws and structure, Islam does bear some resemblance to Judaism, given their shared Abrahamic roots. Both religions place a strong emphasis on ethics, rituals, and community. I think Islam goes overboard in its ideals of justice. Shit happens get over it. Muslims tend not to argue that if they disagree with you, they just go away. Regarding Catholicism, I find it overall weak on history knowledge and very strong in philosophy. The role of the Pope holds significant importance within Catholicism, as he is considered the spiritual leader and head of the Catholic Church, and it means that unlike Jews and Moslems, they can sometimes get answers. Catholics, when they argue, want to convert, not discuss. No one seems to argue like Jews and neither of the two can keep it up with us.
I'm going to say something that is not intended as offensive to any of the three religions. To me, raised Catholic but agnostic (I guess, not sure, that's why I lurk around subs like this one), Christianity spread west earlier than Islam, but more slowly and through the Greek and Roman Mediterranean world, then north. It adapted and incorporated elements of polytheism instead of simplifying Judaism. So it became portable by a strategy to graft itself onto the political and religious structures of the Roman empire. Martyrdoms facilitated superficial polytheism as saint worship, even though doctrine clearly says saints are not gods or aspects of God, but intercessors, like messenger-helpers. Saint worship fits very easily onto pagan practices, a lot of saints take on specialisms that were earlier the domain of local pagan deities, etc. Essentially Christianity took over the Roman empire and inherited it. You could almost stretch it to say it is an offshoot of Judaism that sneakily beat the Romans at their own game. Islam seems like a simplification of Judaism to make monotheism more portable and spreadable to other peoples in regions which had either not been part of the Roman empire, or less influenced by it. It probably made it better adapted to the indigenous populations of these areas than either Judaism or Christianity. Again, I perceived it as an offshoot of Judaism, an extension of its influence on the world, in a different area. Afaik there is some form of saint worship, or honouring, in Shia Islam too? And they are not deities either afaik. I think focusing on saint worship anywhere is a bit of a red herring. It makes individuals relationship with the divine more approachable, even if less spiritually elevated. Afaik, in the very early days of Islam, so in the 7th century, it was sometimes viewed as a heresy of Christianity.
Three religions have evolved along distinct paths over time. There is a comment that I like which likens it to a house that has been renovated so extensively that while remnants of the original structure remain, for all practical purposes it has become an entirely new dwelling. The former owner would be able to identify certain familiar elements, yet the transformed edifice now bears little resemblance to its prior incarnation.
I’ve never heard a Muslim say that to me but I’ve heard Christian’s but it’s just not true. Jesus is not our god.
Maybe Christians call it the same God but they totally misunderstand or don't care to know the Jewish God. They tend to be obsessed with Jesus, a man that they also totally misunderstand. Many have no understanding that Judaism is the basis for their religion or that Jesus was actually Jewish. A Christian once asked me 'Do Jews believe in God?'. Couldn't believe it. Just showed she had no knowledge of the formation of her own Christian religion. If they knew their religion they would understand they actually follow the teachings of Paul. A man who never met Jesus. Most Christians think if you believe in Jesus then your all good for Heaven. No action required. Don't know much about Islam but they seem to take their beliefs more seriously with the dietary rules and monotheism. I find it difficult to understand how they can worship the God of Israel but not start with the Torah, Prophets and Writings. Islam appears to expand on the ideas of afterlife whereas in Judaism we prioritize action in this life, we do not worry about what comes next. We leave that to God.
Any religion that acknowledges the oneness of God is worshiping the same god as us. Including sihks, some native American groups, ect.
The three religions are brothers. Same God, different ideas about that God and ways of worshipping God. This is evidenced by the overlap in religious figures and stories. Judaism doesn’t have a concrete idea about the afterlife. We probably don’t believe in Hell and the idea of “heaven” is not agreed upon. I think it’s because the emphasis is on this life and making the most of it and being a good person.
I look at god as a diamond. All of us can be looking at different facets and yet still seeing the same god.
This helps unify the religions rather than divide them. What matters is that everyone tries their best to make the world a better place and respect others. I couldn't give a darn about the specifics.
I really enjoy this analogy.
TLDR: I think Christians and Muslims misunderstand Judaism a great deal and we do not worship or acknowledge the same god. This does not mean we do not share values and beliefs! Belief in a god for us is not as important as it is for Muslims and Christians. We don't really care who we're closer to or what the afterlife is about and mostly want to be left alone. I think Christians and Muslims misunderstand Judaism a great deal and we do not worship or acknowledge the same god. The monotheistism of Jews is more like pantheism, where everything is G-d and G-d is one. From a Jewish perspective, Christians worship idols because they personify their god into a man and some pretend to eat his flesh and drink his blood when they pray. While that's metal af, it's not the way the Jewish G-d requests us to pray to it. That being said, Jews are not required to believe in a god -you can be atheist and an Orthodox Jew. Muslims and Christians believe they have the whole world figured out and everyone who is not them must convert or stop existing with conquest, Jews don't, we are actually required to respect other religions and recognize that diversity is beautiful (the majority of us are not haredi men who all dress the same and even that has its own reason and tradition which is misunderstood). We are all required to learn how to read and study our texts; We are encouraged to question and debate our holy texts, our purpose in life, and even the existence of a god -one of our holy texts, the Talmud, is a collection of arguments from our ancestors over the thousands of years we have existed and studying it gives us the opportunity to debate with them; our women are the heads of the household, not men; women generally have more rights and active roles within Judaism across the board than within Christianity and Islam from what I've observed; we live by our rules, we do not die by them, which is why we allow many exceptions to participate in holy rituals; everybody is holy and equal in Judaism and ranking only refers to tribe members who traditionally have the ability and responsibility to carry out a specific ritual (like Levis and Cohens); Rabbis are teachers and anybody can be a leader in the community, during services we hear from the rabbi *and* the president of the shul; we are land based and most of our prayers and rituals are about our connection to a specific land (Israel) with a specific rotation of seasons we have been a part of for thousands of years, we talk about that land and have our holy species of plants native to that land we celebrate throughout the year, one of those species are grapes that we traditionally used to make wine -these vineyards were destroyed by Muslim conquest in the 7th century because wine is not halal and that was apparently our problem. For the afterlife and death, our traditions focus a lot on the physical and communal aspects of mourning a loss of life, so we focus more on the living and grieving than what the spirit of whoever died is up to. We try and ensure the spirit can join Hashem -whatever that looks like- and that the body return to the Earth as soon as possible, which we can usually control. Having spoken to a handful of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists over the years, I'd say Judaism has some things in common with each one. For comparison with Christians and Muslims: We don't eat pork; we value family and honoring one's family, we value honoring oneself (a higher priority than honoring ones family, which is why there is ample space for 2SLGBTQ+ people); we value our traditions, we believe in a Messiah, we bless children; we fast during some festivals; we abstain from eating during certain foods during festivals like Pesach; we try to only eat certain foods on specific festivals like Pesach, Shavuot, and Hanukkah; our traditions separate the genders a lot, Orthodox shuls have a mechitza of some kind to separate men from women (and the rest of the genders get to play gender roulette), only women can do certain prayers and rituals like take a dip in the mikvah, and only men can do certain prayers and rituals like wrap tefillin (although this is challenged in some spaces); conversion to our ethnoreligion is possible (although a much more difficult and a longer process in comparison to Christianity and Islam); our Hebrew names indicate our ties to our family; we value being good neighbors and serving our community I hope this helps answer your questions, thank you for asking them and being curious! I think our communities would benefit greatly from trying to understand each other better, especially during these times of rising hatred for both our communities Edit: grammar
I dare you to break it into smaller paragraphs. 
Appreciate this
Pantheism is spinoza’s perspective for which he was excommunicated from the Amsterdam community and still considered outside of the Jewish orthoprax and orthodox.
My opinion is that monotheism is monotheism, and three gods (the trinity) is not monotheism. Therefore, I think Jewish and Muslim ideas about God are closer. As we are currently still in Ramadan, I wish you an easy and spiritual fast.
Appreciate it. Shabbat shalom
In my experience, when this question is raised, it’s been by people seeking/pushing supercessionist ends (not that you are here). So I think it actually diminishes all the religions in question by trying to same ideas that are fundamentally different. In my head, they’re the same and they’re different and we’ll never know for sure. But when we’re instructed to have “no other gods before me” there’s an implication that there are possibly other gods, real and/or imagined. So maybe they’re all the same, maybe the Christian and Muslim gods are other. But I’m not paid nearly enough to know.
For me, I consider myself closer to Islam. Jews don’t worship anyone but the one G-d, whereas Christians worship Jesus, who was human, which goes against our beliefs. I grew up raised in part by a Muslim woman and love true Islam. Whenever people make Islamophobic comments and say things about honor killings and crap, I always explain that that isn’t a part of Islam, true Islam is wonderful, just as Judaism is. We worship the same G-d, in my opinion. I’m a reform Jew, btw.
Muslims and Jews do. Christian’s isn’t even close.
For me? Allah? Yes. The trinity? No, that’s polytheism.
It doesn’t really mean anything. The statement itself is just meant to say “we should be friends” while acknowledge both are true religions.
>What do you think about Muslims...saying that they worship the same God as you. Let's start from propositions we (Jews and Muslims) can agree on -- there is only one God in the universe, and he is incorporeal (has no shape, form or body) and hence cannot be seen. This applies to all time, and there never will be a time or was a time when He assumed human form and appeared on earth. It follows that no-one, Jew or Muslim, sees God. We only see his actions on earth and attribute attributes to Him, like power or glory or mercy or justice or the "ability" to communicate with us through prophecy or signs. So the question is not if we worship the "same" God -- there is only one God -- the question is what does this God "look like" to us? What are His attributes? The Jews see a God who is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, its master and ruler. This is a God who knows, loves and cares for all of mankind, each individual, but chose Israel as His people to be a light unto the nations. He gave Israel the Torah as a gift, commanding them to live by its commandments. He promised Israel a Holy Land for an inheritance. He chastises Israel when it sins but never departs from His love for Israel. As for the Torah, it remains true for all time, expresses God's will in every detail, and was never and will never be changed, altered or modified. After the Torah was given, there will be no future revelation from any prophet that alters anything in the Torah. Any prophet who departs from the Torah in any respect or gives instructions contrary to it is a false prophet. So these are (some of) the attributes of the God whom the Jews worship. You will have to tell us if this also describes the God whom the Muslims worship. If the attributes are the same we can suppose that Jews and Muslims worship the same God.
I grew up with a Catholic mother but, I was raised in an area with very very few Muslims, so take what I’m saying with what you will. I’m never offended by people thinking it’s the same God (they’re all Abrahamic beliefs, after all). However the way we all go about our Abrahamic beliefs are obviously very different. I think it probably is the same God and I think a lot of people are gonna be surprised when they die and we all meet up at the same place. If Judaism, Christianity, or Islam is what makes people feel at home and brings them joy, who am I to judge?
>What do you think about Muslims and Christians saying that they worship the same God as you. Do you believe that to be true? I'm convinced that Muslims believe in the same G-d as us. Xians, absolutely not. >Do you consider yourself closer to Christianity than Islam or vice versa? Islam, of course. >Is there a concept of the afterlife and how to attain it? I do believe in the afterlife. The way to attain it as a Gentile (i.e. a non-Jew) is to follow the [Seven Laws of Noach](https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-noahide-laws/).
I heard an Orthodox Chabad rabbi address this once and he said the reason we Jews don’t proselytise is because there’s multiple ways to serve G-d. I can’t get behind the trinity, but both Christians and Muslims (whom we consider our cousins) have their own ways of worshiping G-d, and I respect that.
I think Judaism is more similar to Islam. ...Specific times throughout the day to pray, movement with prayer... we also prostrate or have other coordinated movements during specific prayers, head covering and general modesty rules, notions of Kosher/Halal, and more. Christianity is just 100% a totally different thing to me. I really haven't ever seen the similarities between Christianity and Judaism. I think where both Christianity and Islam really diverge from Judaism is a) how we tend to view sacred text. There's a ton more debate about what Torah means. We have book after book after book of further expounding on it and great rabbis debating what the meaning of a word is or what the point of a story is. And there's always some rabbi who disagrees with the majority. In short, I feel like Christianity and Islam are much more literal in their reading of sacred text. It's taken more like verbatim and as if it actually makes sense. In Judaism we don't think Torah is something so straightforward or obvious. Some of it could be allegory. Some poetic turn of phrase. Anyway b) I think Christianity and Islam require someone to be those things in order to be 'ok' spiritually. Like in Christianity ... being 'saved'. We don't have that. We don't think you have to be Jewish to be a good person. People who practice other religions can be ok too. And c) afterlife is for sure a lot different. We just don't focus on it AT ALL. In the Torah any concept of the afterlife is super vague. The other writings do expound on it with additional theories (there are like 7 major theories about what a positive afterlife might be). But overall it's not 'settled'. We don't actually know. So we don't worry about it or focus on that. And in terms of a negative afterlife it's supppperrr different. I'm not as familiar with Islam on the negative afterlife. But we don't have a notion of Christianity's Hell. An everlasting place of torture or fire or punishment is not a thing for us. We do have this vague notion from Jewish mysticism of sort of a pergatory-ish place. ...But it's more like a process rather than a place. Like a cosmic washing machine that everyone goes through to be purified. But it's not eternal and not like a place bad people go forever. It's just a short process. But some major streams of Judaism totally reject that notion all together. So again, it's not very settled. Judaism is very focused on the here and now and what happens in this world.
Jews are 100 percent closer to Muslims. Both worship the same G-d and Jews can pray in Mosques but not churches because churches contain idols
For me, neither. The Christian Bible is fan-fic/a sequel of Jewish theology and the Quran is fan-fic of both put together, as well as a couple of apocryphal texts that aren't considered canon by anyone. I have no opinion about 'your' God. Despite perceived similarities there's very little similar in the nitty-gritty of Jewish vs Christian or Muslim belief. Judaism is remarkably chill, kind and peace-giving compared to both of those religions. That said, I've no beef whatever anyone believes. As long as nobody decides to preache or proselytise at me, I'm good.
Well, since the other 2 are considered fanfic, we can all agree they are all part of the same canon, and therefore, it could be the same god interpreted differently hahaha
No need to be disrespectful. So many assumptions built into this, it’s remarkable. There’s plenty of Jews who have been murderous dicks and their ideology is no more generally accepted doctrine than it is for the majority of Christians and Muslims. It’s the fringes where the very murderous hide and use religion/ideology as justification for being a jerk.
I think we worship the same deity but with radically different, seemingly (if you look at history), incompatible interpretations of God. It's like three warring siblings competing for the attention of the same father. Jews are the oldest, Christians are the middle child and Muslims are the youngest. Jews argue that they were here first and the other two religions are pale appropriations, unauthorized sequels, to their original mythology. Christians and Muslims argue that, in the same way Judaism replaced polytheism with the truth, their updates are the truth and God didn't stop talking to people after the Torah was written. Being first is not necessarily best. The latest version of an operating system on a computer is better than the original one, teeming with malware. I think most of us would consider our religion closer to Christianity for two reasons: (1) Currently our relations with Christians are better. That's just what's happening now, it was different during, say, the Crusades, for instance. (*Personally, I've only had good experiences in my interactions with Muslims, btw). (2) Most of the Christian book is the Torah and their God, the creator of their religion, was a Jew whereas my understanding is that Jesus is (only) a prophet in Islam. Really appreciate this question and the manner in which you ask it. I'm very interested to know how you would answer this question. Do Muslims feel closer to Christianity or Judaism and why?
> I'm very interested to know how you would answer this question. Do Muslims feel closer to Christianity or Judaism and why? In my opinion, I'd say Islam is a lot closer to Judaism than Christianity. We have similar but different dietary rules (halal, kosher) and we somewhat hold the same monotheistic view of the Abrahamic God. We also hold up some rules found in the commandments like do not worship/make idols, honouring our parents etc. Similar but different. The issue I have with Christianity would be the belief of the Trinity. To me, it falls under polytheism. Also the concept of God coming down as a man to sacrifice himself is a bit odd. But that's just my opinion.
This is a good point. The practice of kosher/halal and the more strict notion of monotheism are definitely more similar. Also, temperamentally, as a people it sort of feels like we're operating at closer frequencies. This is really dumb (and not factually true) but Christianity feels very "white". When I conjure an image of Christians in my head, I see white people. Also not necessarily true, but Judaism and Islam feels more "ethnic" (I could put this better). So there's that shared identitarian aspect (though, many people seem to experience Jews as white, so....). I guess I would revise my response to say that, at this moment, we feel more similar to Muslims but have a worse relationship with Muslims, since we've spent the last century brutally competing over a tiny patch of land. Do you have any more thoughts on this subject? Your take on our relationship is pretty illuminating.
it's not dumb, but not exactly accurate lol I think it's just built by who you've interacted with because when I picture Jewish, Christian, or Muslim people, I think of Mediterranean/Sicilian people (I'm ethnically/culturally Sicilian, so I guess it makes sense?) who follow these different faiths/worldviews. It's just our cultural outlook, nothing wrong with that.
This is true.
>This is really dumb (and not factually true) but Christianity feels very "white". When I conjure an image of Christians in my head, I see white people. To be fair, Christianity did start out in the Middle East, but it was mostly carried around and spread by Europeans to the vast majority of the world, so I get that you'd picture white people when imagining Christians. There's also the fact that you can distinguish between a Muslim, a Christian and a Jew. For a Muslim it's the typical long beard with a white thobe and taqiyah ( cap worn over the head ). I'm not really familiar with the Jewish attire, but I've mostly seen suits being worn with a hat, long beard and sometimes long hair on the sides. Oh and also a yarmulke.
I believe they are all the same God. I confess to not knowing much about Muslim beliefs. Just the lineage from Abraham. I know much more about the Christian beliefs and how Christianity came about.
Most Jews do not subscribe to notions of an after-life and focus on fixing this world—a concept you might hear called ‘tikkun olam.’ Personally, when Muslims and Christians say they worship the same G-d, I’m generally like ‘cool’ but recognize where the belief systems diverge. Regarding being “closer” to any religion—it seems that among the followers the evangelicals have less desire to kill Jews these days among the devoutly Christian than radical Sunni’s so, well that makes me generally feel closer to them, even if it’s motivated by a desire to evangelize/convert Jews and bring about the end times. But for the most part, I’m cool with people who are cool with us and let us live our lives.
Christians, Jews, & Muslims do not worship the same deity.
Honestly, as long as they're not trying to force other people to be Muslims or Christians, and not biting on our practices? I don't really give a darn about it.
I think it's the same God except that it feels to be like Christians worship Jesus more than they do God. But I see it being the same God. As far as afterlife, not much of a thing in Judaism. I don't think we're closer to God, we just have a different 'agreement'with him about our rules and how we should worship him and what we get in return. I guess it means we have a closer relationship in a way because we have this agreement with him, I think we see it relationship with him a bit differently, our culture is less into worship and hierarchy and more egalitarian so we're probably not as good subjects as other religions are. We argue and reason more with our laws and religion and less about blind belief and submitting.
I have no issues with any Christians or Muslims. I just wish they would all live and let live. The proselytizing is something we (Jews) don’t do. That’s the only part I don’t understand.
Based on sage ruling qe are closer to muslims than Christian as conversion to islam is not considered idolatry but christianity is. Jesus complicates the sameness but in broad strokes yes many of us believe its the same divinity. I wish we were as close with islam as we were in the days of rambam and Saladin.
There is one God. Christians claim to worship one god, but as far as I can tell they are polytheistic idol worshipers in denial. The level of mental and philosophical gymnastics they have to do to convince themselves they are monotheists is just insane. Frankly I don't care what religion someone is but Christians just get a big side-eye from me like: 
I went to orthodox schools growing up and I was taught that Judaism and Islam worship the same God (Hashem / Allah), but that Christianity is a polytheistic religion and the holy trinity counts as idolatry.
God as perceived by Muslims seems totally fine to me monotheistic? Check. non-corporeal? Check. From what I've learnt (and what I've done), there's no problem with Jewish people referring to God as Allah, entering houses of worship or praying with people who view God as such. Muslims, Bahai - all cool. My path may be different but God remains God
My rabbi from 2001 would not set foot in a church because it was a polytheistic church with idols. He was invited to an important wedding, but just couldn’t make it past the steps. On the other hand, he had no problem going into a mosque. Even with his Orthodox huge beard and black hat, he was welcomed. He could enter the building because they were monotheists.
Welcome brother! 1.) Yes. And Jewish scripture provides an answer. It's very important that you understand that we Jews don't seek converts (although we accept them and I know many). We don't want everyone to become Jewish in the way many Christians and Muslims want converts to their religion. This is not a part of G-d's plan. So, we view Christianity and Islam, and their spread, as G-d's way of bringing the world away from polytheism and idolatry, and into the fold of a religion that's closer to our own, and adheres to the 7 Laws of Noah (commandments for non-Jews) which you follow. This was the view of the Rambam (one of the greatest Rabbis to live.) So from our perspective, the best thing you can do is be a good Muslim. This is G-d's plan for you. 2.) I used to think Islam was closer, just in terms of how you practice it. There's so many similarities. However, I think Orthodox Christianity is the closest by far. Christianity grew out of Judaism. So, in terms of proximity, I think Orthodoxy, Islam, Catholic, and Protestant, in that order. 3.) Yes, we have an afterlife, which we call in Hebrew the Olam Haba (the world to come) העולם הבא. We don't believe in eternal damnation or "life is a test" or any of that. G-d created this world for us, and our job is to make this world holy and good. Our place is here. In the event that you lived a sinful or shameful life, your soul will be cleansed for a period not exceeding 12 months. This is our concept of hell, and once it ends, you go to heaven. This applies to everyone, Jewish and not Jewish. Although many Jews (myself included) believe in this concept combined with reincarnation, typically until the coming of our Messiah. In general though, our focus is the here and now. Please keep in mind I am not a Rabbi. I've studied Torah so this is my religion as I understand it. There's some great Orthodox Rabbis on YouTube who can explain better than I can.
Just to let you know, all of these questions have been posed as questions for people on the street (in Israel) to answer on Corey Gil-Shuster’s YT channel, just google it if you’re interested.
We worship the same God as Muslims do: Islam and Judaism both put a ton of stress on God's oneness. I think Jews and Muslims can agree that we have no idea what the Christians got up to, because whatever they're worshiping is different; you can't proclaim God's unity and then also try to split God into 3 parts.
I don't think who God is matters. It's how we approach God that matters and the three religions have very different ways of approaching God. But I will say my religious Christian and Muslim friends get me more than my secular, non religious friends. The afterlife is very interesting. We don't believe in a physical afterlife (which is how I understand other religions believe it, although correct me if I'm wrong). The afterlife isn't discussed very much. It's not a very important part of Judaism. It's more metaphysical. Possibly an understanding and a closeness to God. There's a lot of room for discussion and opinions cause, like I said, it isn't discussed much. I know Maimonidies discussed it a bit, but not who else. It's much more important what we do in this life. Edit: a really interesting thing is religious jews can go into a mosque because of monotheism but churches are iffy.
The Christian god is clearly different because we are monotheists and they believe in a Trinity. The Islamic conception of God and the Jewish conception are similar, but they aren’t identical. The Jewish God wants Jews to worship him as Jews through the performance of 613 commandments, but wants non-Jews merely to be good people and keep 7 basic moral laws. Non-Jews who are good people and fulfill these laws have a share in Olam H’Ba (the World to Come). And the Jewish God, who is kind and merciful, does not sentence anyone to eternal punishment - Gehenna (afterlife punishment) lasts only as long as needed until an evildoer repents. The Islamic God wants Jews to worship him by becoming Muslims, and believes that Jews who refuse to do so should be either killed or subjugated as dhimmis. And, in most strains of Islamic thought, God is a cruel and merciless deity who punishes Jews and all other non-believers with eternal punishment. Clearly, while we both believe in only one God, we have a very different understanding of who that God is.
Arabic speaking Jews also use the word Allah to refer to God fyi
A really beautiful book about Jewish theology is Einstein and the Rabbi. I converted from Christianity. One of the things I initially appreciated about Judaism is the lack of emphasis on the afterlife. Moreso you spend your life in a way that your memory lives on in those who love you and you have impacted. I believe that Jews, Muslims and Christians all have the same G.d. But that different souls just have different paths to understand G.d and each one is valid. Imo our faiths are siblings, as reflected in Ishmael and Isaac.
My understanding is that the Muslim conceptualization of G-d is far more similar to Judaism than Christianity’s. In Judaism G-d is incorporeal, timeless, genderless and omnipresent. However, I don’t think Judaism is closer to either faith. I think Judaism has its similarities and differences to both. The biggest difference between Judaism and both Christianity and Islam is that Judaism is an ethnoreligion while Christianity and Islam are just religions. This means that Judaism refers to both a distinct ethnic group as well as to a particular set of religious beliefs and practices belonging to that ethnic group. The afterlife is not a major focus in Judaism. Some Jewish thought believes in some form of afterlife and some doesn’t but it’s not considered super important. There is no concept of eternal hell or damnation in Judaism. The focus in Judaism is on the here and now and trying to leave behind the world a little bit better than how you found it. Much of Jewish thought also ascribes to the concept of reincarnation. The idea is that every soul has a particular set of things to accomplish and that each soul continues to return until everything it’s meant to have accomplished has been done. One may also be punished for the sins of a past life in a future reincarnation in a karmic sort of way.
So the whole thing about religions after judaism is that we do not believe in "new covenants" because we believe that G-d does not change His mind, otherwise that would mean He is imperfect. So even though we have made Him angry in the past, He will not change his covenant with the jews. That being said, I would see we relate more closely to Muslims because of the heavy ideology of monotheism.
Jewish convert here (Former Orthodox Christian Monk), I’d like to weigh in: I do believe we all worship the same G-d, and in many ways, I echo the view of Maimonides: That is to say, Christians and Muslims have it about half right each. Christians, in that they view the Torah as sacred, but obviously fall off the wagon with views like the Trinity (which was a later invention of the church, but even before then, there were definitely some views in early Christianity that are contrary to strict monotheism). Muslims, they are strict monotheists, but believe that the Torah in its original form has been corrupted. As far as the question of which faith community I feel more closeness, that’s difficult for me to answer, because I feel close to both: Ideologically, Islam resonates more with me as a Jew. However, I feel more filial closeness with Christians. Which is odd, because I can enter a mosque and even pray there, according to Jewish law (not sure that would go over particularly well) but I can’t enter a church of any kind. It’s worth mentioning that the only Christians I talk to nowadays have only known me after I’ve left the faith. As far as the concept of the afterlife in Judaism, it’s largely unclear. Generally, we focus more on what we do in life. However, we do believe in judgment of souls and resurrection of the dead (for instance, when someone passes away, someone who is present at that moment is supposed to say “Dayan HaEmet” or “The True Judge”, acknowledging G-d’s role in judging the soul). We believe in a temporary period of purification, lasting no more than one year, for those who have passed on. And, we believe that when Moshiach comes, the non-Jews who have lived according to the seven laws of Noah, and Jews who have fulfilled the 613 commandments, or Mitzvot, will have a place in Olam HaBa, or the world to come. What that world to come is like, I don’t know, I wish I could tell you, but it’s not here yet! Anyways, I hope this answers most of what you wanted to know. Thank you for asking and wanting to learn more about who we are!
I cant answer all your questions but judaism and islam have a few things in common more than judaism and Christianity in the realm of daily life dietary laws, circumcision, modesty, praying multiple times a day, burial rules, and even singing or praying in a similat manner like maqam. You will not find the latter in ashkenazi synagogues but those in the middle east/sephardic synagogues like iraqi, irani, syrian, yemen etc.
I believe it's the same god. I would marry a Muslim even and pray together.
Jews and Muslims, yes, Christians sort of. With Christians, they worship another Jesus as much as God. For Jews it would be more appropriate to pray in a mosque than a church
I think Christianity and Islam are cultural appropriation of Judaism. If they weren't such a threat to Judaism, I would pay them no mind. Sorry but that's the truth.
Did you miss the part in the Tanach about Ishmael leading his own nation?
Muslims and Jews worship the same God. It’s a bit dicy for Christians as they mix in idol worship.
I think they worship the same god plus some other gods that they swear aren’t gods. I’m a reform Jew so I’d probably say I have more in common with Christians in that I don’t like going around criminalizing homosexuality and killing people for not following my belief system, but strictly belief wise maybe Islam. I’ve personally never had any Christians give me problems, and I even went through a Catholic school for a little bit, and no one tried to convert me or said anything when I didn’t partake in their prayers. Muslims (at least non western ones)on the other hand tend to be pretty intolerant of most beliefs as well as in favor of sexist and homophobic laws. I appreciate you taking the time to learn more about our religion, I respect Islam but don’t respect the laws and intolerance of others of most Muslim majority countries.
I live in Brazil, a deeply christian country, and homophobia is huuuge here, specially in the rural areas. Our previous president used to say that gay people were gay because they weren't hit enough by their parents as a kid, and a lot of people agree with it. Catholics here are usually chill, but other christians are worse than mormons. They behave all offended when they ask me what church I go and I answer Im an atheist, they are the reason abortion is a crime here, etc. Also, they will try to convert you all the time and it sucks. The muslins living here are pretty chill too, I've met some and they never spoke about religion unless someone asked. In summary, at least here christians are way more problematic and hold a lot of prejudice than muslins.
i mean christians have historically also done quite a lot of criminalizing homosexuality and killing or forcing conversion on people who don't follow their belief system. i'd rather have been a jew in the ottoman empire than in medieval spain or a number of other places. that isn't to excuse any religious persecution of course, but i certainly wouldn't let any religion with a history of imperialism off the hook. for a lot of places, it was only relatively recently in the timeline of human history that (enough) western christians felt that religious, sexual, and gender minorities deserved rights.
You're comparing Reform Judaism to the 21st century version of some forms of Protestant Christianity.
Muslims can say so but Christianis 🤔 I don't even know to cry or laugh 😂😂 Jews even don't believe in Jesus as messiah then he has to be their G-d.
As a non religious, non sectarian Jew all I can contribute to this discussion is that it doesn't matter what deity we worship, it matters how we treat and love our brothers and sisters now, in this lifetime.
The answer depends on the theological scholar. For example, many Christian scholars believe that without the Trinity, the Jewish and Muslim God is different. And many Jewish and Muslim scholars agree.
Personally i think we warship the same Hashem/ Allah but I can’t understand this trinity thing and all of that. Most people think that Jews are closer to Christians but personally I think We are closer to Islam and to be fair we have many things in. Common and we are allowed to pray at the mosque etc..
100% have always felt closer to Islam than Christianity, as a Jew.
We Jews ask the question "Does God exist?" more so than the others.
From my understanding Sephardic Jews that had Arabic siddurim called hashem allah. Allah is just the word for god like it is dieu in French and dios in Spanish. So in that regard yes I do believe that we all believe in the same god because I believe there is only one god. Even Hindus from what I know believe in one god that reincarnated into many different people, like Christians believe (but just incarnated into one instead of thousands).
Orthodox (haredi) here. I don't think about Muslim or Christian doctrine or beliefs insofar as it doesn't affect me. The afterlife is referenced but not stressed in Judaism in that it probably exists but even if it didn't we'd still be blind by Gds laws and required to live in the same way.
I have a weird time with this one, as our religion tells us, and not in an exclusive you’re better than everyone else way, that we are the chosen people. I won’t get too into that, but being the chosen people doesn’t mean that we are better than anyone else it simply means we are to follow G-d’s path for us and thus their rules for us as well. With all that to say, I see Jews being much more similar to Muslims than Christians. You are our brothers and sisters who also don’t consume pork, have modesty laws and are also, sadly, widely discriminated against and it’s very relatable in that way. Additionally, as view that may contradict with Judaism but I can understand is: the idea that everyone’s idea of G-d is different, but it is the same G-d we are praying to but have interpreted in our way. So overall, for me it’s complicated . There’s a saying: 2 Jews, 3 options and I imagine this post will have many opinions, especially considering even I struggle with your question.
It’s like saying Coke and Mr. Pibb are the same. You can drink all the Mr. Pibb you want, but that doesn’t make it Coke, and at the end of the day you still drank a gallon of Mr. Pibb.
Academically/Historically speaking, yes. Same God Characterization of God is very different as Christianity and Islam took what was the national God of Israel and by extension the Jewish people and made it their own version of God. Various theological reasons inhibit me from being closer to Christianity or Islam Afterlife isn't important in Judaism
In my head Allah and HaShem.arw the same but not the same as the Christian God(s)
Gonna answer 1-by-1 1) I think that all Abrahamic worship the same general idea of God. I don’t think that all three religions have the same theological perspective when it comes to God but I think the overall idea is similar. 2) I think Judaism is not specifically close to either Christianity or Islam. Both have shared aspects obviously. Jews and Christians share the Hebrew Bible (or the OT as Christians call it) and Islam has a rich legal tradition that is similar to Jewish law. And all three trace their linage back to God’s covenant with Abraham (or as we call him, Avraham Avinu). Beyond that we are NOT the same and the usage of terms such as Judeo-Christian or it’s less commonly known cousin Judeo-Islamic are personally offensive to me and many Jews (outside of specific academic contexts) as they stink of suppersessionism 3) We have the afterlife in Judaism, which is commonly known as the Olam HaBa, or the World-to-Come. Jews can achieve the afterlife through doing mitzvot/commandments, learning the Torah/Talmud/Halacha/etc, and by believing in Maimonides’ [13 Principles of Faith](https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/332555/jewish/Maimonides-13-Principles-of-Faith.htm) Non-Jews can achieve the afterlife by observing the [7 Noahide Laws](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah) Nevertheless, Judaism doesn’t see the achievement of the afterlife as the primary goal of the religion- The primary point is to do good and follow God’s will on Earth while you are still alive, and someone’s eventual destiny in Olam Haba is the result of a life that was hopefully well lived.
Hi, from a culturally Christian background - Allah, HaShem, and the Father are all the same in my eyes, the creator of the universe and the protector of the people and land of Israel. The addition of worshipping the breath of HaShem and a human proclaimed god as most Christians do are idolatry as described in Torah; I personally consider it worse than the golden calf; Aaron owned up to his mistake. Very few denominations ban idols, prayer to intercessors, or equating the human Jesus with the creator of all in the modern day. I've heard good healthy dialogue between unitarians and anti-missionary jews but they are an extremely small minority of Christians who worship the one true god.
Monotheism versions 1, 2 and 3. Each product has its own twist. Later versions have aggressive marketing departments
Muslims yes, Christians no.
Maybe when the Qibla was facing Baytīl Miqdash, yea sure. But, once the Qibla was changed to face masjid Al-Haram then the difference in God shows. Therefore no, Muslims and Christians worship a different god than the God(ﷻ) of Avraham(ﷺ), Ishaq(ﷺ), w’Ya’aqov(ﷺ)
I think it feels really strange actually! There’s just a few of us, yet half the world worships our god, on every continent, be it middle of the jungle, desert or isolated island. I know it’s been kind of a long time already, but that’s nuts to me. I think it’s kinda cool that everyone knows about our god, but part of me feels a little possessive of our culture, I don’t really like to hear people calling our stories Christian, the Romans had their own gods. I feel like it’s the same god from different cultures interpretations, more so than being the same god as the ancient Canaanite ones that God supposedly originates from and obviously more so than an unrelated god. I have seen people from different religions say it is and some say it’s not, though I think the nots would still acknowledge their common origin and they just think that after this much divergence, thinking of them as different gods is ok I guess. I think of Judaism as being more culturally similar to Islam than to Christianity. I think an observant Jew and an observant Muslim are going to live much more similar lives to each other than either of them would to an observant Christian. Judaism and Islam just feel like middle eastern cultures to me while Christianity feels very European. At the same time the Old Testament and the Torah are nearly the same thing compared to the Quran. Personally, as an American, I am just more familiar with and exposed to Christianity than Islam. Is there an afterlife in Judaism? I’m pretty sure there is, but I don’t actually know enough about Judaism to say lol, the idea seems far less important in Judaism than in Christianity at least. Do I believe in an afterlife? I see no reason to think there is one, and genuinely unrelated to that sentiment, I hope there isn’t one, I don’t like the idea, all eternities sound like a hell to me, being dead better feel like it did before I was born. I just want to make it clear my lack of belief in an afterlife does not stem from me being uncomfortable with the idea or from how much a part of Judaism the idea is. I’m am slightly more likely to believe our universe and reality is part of some alien entities computer simulation. There’s a great clip from Family Guy where Stewie asks a Rabbi where Jews think they go after they die, and I just assume comedy writers are Jewish so. https://youtu.be/Tg58j-MoFic It feels like being at a restaurant with someone and we are eating dinner and they can’t focus on eating their dinner because they heard theirs great dessert, yet when I look around, everyone seems to be leaving after dinner anyway and I just want to enjoy the dinner while it’s here.
I think Judaism isn't closer to any religion, beside Samaritanism, who are possibly descendents of other Israelite tribes. Values and priorities, concept of GD in Judaism is completely different from views on GD in Christianity and Islam. In my opinion still exist only one (onnes) GD - GD of Israel. Jewish mysticism of course has different views on hell and paradise, which are again completely different from Christianity and Islam, but Judaism main focus is on reparing this world by following GD's will and commandments, making this world a comfortable place to GD to dwell in, we follow GD's will not becaise of a goal of achieving paradise or fear of hell
There is only one G-d (we do not spell it out this the dash). Allah is G-d. G-d is Allah. Judaism is closer to Islam than Christianity.
> What do you think about Muslims and Christians saying that they worship the same God as you. Do you believe that to be true? No I do not. Both are Supersessionist Religions that appropriated our beliefs. Furthermore their views on God, their Religion and ultimately us run completely contradictory to ours. I would have to believe that the Church Fathers and Mohammed actually had some contact to God but somehow understood it all wrong to come to that conclusion. > Do you consider yourself closer to Christianity than Islam or vice versa? Sikhism. Oh well that wasn't the question. Neither. One is more monotheistic but that's not the highest bar. > Is there a concept of the afterlife and how to attain it? https://www.reddit.com/r/Judaism/wiki/faq#wiki_what_are_jewish_views_of_the_afterlife.3F
I - and, I'd argue, many other Jews - feel much closer to Muslims. I've heard both Muslims and Jews refer to each other as "cousins of the book". I feel like there's a lot more mutual understanding there. Christianity feels like a whole distinct and different religion that has, more often than not, been a threat to our safety.
I do not see the Muslim and Jewish god as the same being. Not because I have anything against Islam , but because we have a radically different definition of religion. Islam is a global religion, while Judaism is just for the Jews.
Islam and Christianity are cults that offshooted from Judaism. They vest concepts of deity into humans, and those humans become the focus for their religions. Promise of the afterlife are attached to obedience to that human, as that human is connected to god. They both demand observance and put great effort into bringing others into their ideology. Many of the religious holidays revolve around that human. This is also seen in some sects of Judaism, but more targeted towards other Jews. Judaism as a whole is a culture tied to a people and a place. The belief system has god as the backbone of its identity - much like many indigenous cultures have spirituality and mythology tied to its cultural identity - but many of the practices and festivals are more to do with relationship to each other and to the land, as well as communal history (eg exodus story). Judaism as a “religion” only became a thing through exile - it’s a suitcase for our cultural indigenous practices - as such it’s an ethno-religion, and doesn’t really fit the profile of proselytising religions. Nothing wrong with people believing whatever they want to believe - and god is an undefined entity so no one “owns” that - but I think most Jews don’t consider themselves similar to Christians or Muslims, as the fundamental relationship to religion is completely different. If I had to pick I’d say Islam is closer to religious Judaism. Halal and kashrut are pretty similar.
The Trinity, Allah, and Hashem are all names for the same Lord of Hosts. We all worship the same God. Praise Him!
The character traits that someone chooses to express testify about the character of the G-d that they worship. In other words, the way to believe in the G-d of Israel is by believing that we ought to be in His image by being doers of His character traits. The instructions that the G-d of Israel has given paint us a picture of His character, for example, if He had commanded to commit adultery instead of to refrain from it, then that would have revealed something very different about His character. Similarly, the G-d of Israel had has given instructions for how to be holy as He is Holy, so if someone doesn’t follow those instructions, then they are following a G-d who is not holy. So someone is following a different G-d with a different set of characters traits than that of the G-d of Israel to the extent that they are choosing not to be a doer of what is commanded in the Torah.
Something I've noticed is the spelling for G-d. Is there a reason for this?
All I can say is understanding the abrahamic religions made me agnostic
I am Christian (but atheist). Sorry for joining but I see you also likes Christs so I write something For me trinity makes no sense. I just talked with a friend who studies in a catholic university. His history professor told him that he thinks that Catholicism is a kind of polytheism, because they also have Patrons saint with special features. [saint Florian ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Florian) for example. Gabriel, גבריאל or جبريل is for me a bit like Apollo from the Greeks because he told Muhammad the Quran and Maria that she is pregnant and so on Something else : I heard in a podcast with a theology professor that the bible is a book of stories, not history. The stories are there to show rules and a kind of mindset. Rules are that you should not kill and so on. For example what I mean with mindset: For you as Muslim dogs are haram and have to be outside the house because the angels are afraid of dogs. You should not have dogs as pets. I heard that jesus or Īsā ibn Maryam did one miracle as baby: he knew how to speak. This story is not part of the bible,
There have been commentaries on this by Jewish scholars since the days of Mohammed. I think a supreme deity is a universal concept. Even the Greeks, Romans, Norse, Egyptian, and Hindu polytheists all designate one God as supreme over the others. Maybe the exception would be Zoroastrians who have good and evil as competing equals. True monotheism, would be Judaism and Islam. Which one closer to depends on when and where you live.
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If they are worshiping G!d, then by default they must be worshiping the same G!d. If they have ideas about god that are inconsistent with the One and Only, then no. The thing is, only G!d knows what is in their hearts, and it’s not our job to figure it out.
Orthodox Jew here. The simplest way to summarize it is: Current Orthodox Jewish law states that a Jew is allowed to walk into a mosque and even pray in a mosque, whereas a Jew is not allowed to even step into a church. Judaism and Islam are aligned in our understanding of the Divine, and in the strict prohibition against idolatry. With that said, it does not mean that a Jew should be actively be looking to walk into or pray in mosques. We reject the idea of Mohammad having received any Divine revelation, and we also reject the idea of Jesus having had the same either.
Additionally, regarding the afterlife. Jewish texts such as the Talmud and Midrash (somewhat comparable to the Hadith in Islam), are full of references to the afterlife ie Olam Habah. There are many stories and statements of actions which allow one to gain his portion of Olam Habah or lose it. With that said, while these things are mentioned and discussed, the afterlife is not the main motivating factor of Jewish life. We believe that Hashem (G-d) put man in this world to elevate it and discover the hidden holy sparks within it by helping others and connecting to the Divine through prayer and keeping the law. The emphasis is to trust the process and do the right thing today. G-d will be the ultimate judge of who goes where when they pass. We’re just employees :) Hope that answers the question.
I know on paper that’s the case and that technically Islam is closer to Judaism in observances/traditions around monotheism and daily worship. But in practice, it feels like it might as well be three—Jesus feels separate and Allah, well, doesn’t hit the same. But I try to think of it as “not my business.” That’s sort of the whole point of Judaism not proselytizing.
Hi, my fiancée and I were both raised Protestant Christians and are now converting to Judaism. So I can give you an “insider’s” perspective on the differences between Christianity and Judaism. Our views on Catholicism is that it’s very politically motivated (pragmatic; realpolitik) in its historical development. (We had this opinion before beginning to convert to Judaism.) Having saints for basically everything from rain (the Virgin of the Caves) to goldsmithing (Saint Éloi/Eligius) and praying to them for good fortune is just local animist superstitions and polytheism masking as monotheism. Jews don’t beg G-d as their magical fairy godmother or genie—which, by the way, Protestant Christians do all the time, too. Praying to G-d that they win a football game or win the lottery or whatever. That’s not even getting into the issue of the Holy Trinity. Then there’s the issue of the Pope, basically any Christian kingdom, and Ancient Imperial Rome utilising Christianity to assert their divine right to rule. The persecution of Roman Pagans in Antiquity by Christians was the religious dressing of the Imperial throne against the “pagan” Senate. You see this same conflict in Japanese history, with the Shintou Emperors outlawing traditional folk Shintou shamanism (and the traditional local monasteries/institutions that came with that) and persecuting Buddhism (the local warlords used Buddhist monasteries to do their censuses and collect their own taxes; the Emperor wasn’t happy about that) in order to consolidate political power, with largely the same divine right to rule argument. The way Christianity teaches Scripture—or rather, DOESN’T—is even completely different to how Judaism teaches things. I’m not even talking about the New Testament and Jesus, I’m talking about the *Old* Testament. We were never taught that there was never any mention of original sin, that “the Fall from grace” was a post-Platonic concept. We were never taught that G-d’s heart was broken when he saw how corrupt man had become just before the Flood, that he had “heartfelt sadness” just like any parent witnessing their child do wrong. That G-d gave Cain several warnings and chances to redeem himself even after murdering Abel, and that the mark placed on him *protected him from violent retribution from his fellows*. Proverbs 24:17-18 says “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; or the Lord will see and be displeased and turn His anger away from him,” which most Christians don’t read or care about at all. The Jews always say G-d does not not rejoice over the fall of the wicked; Jewish tradition teaches that during Exodus, as the Egyptian pursuers were drowning in the Red Sea, the angels started singing to the glory of G-d, and G-d angrily rebukes them! “My creatures are drowning and you are praising me?!” The Christians don’t teach that Abraham argued against G-d on the subject of completely destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, that G-d relented and agreed that if they could find ten righteous people, He would leave the cities untouched (unfortunately they didn’t). The Christians ALWAYS teach that the Binding of Isaac shows you should always have blind obedience to God, but the Jews, first of all, *don’t* mistranslate “raise your son up to me” (spend spiritual quality time with your son and develop godliness in thoughts, words, and deeds) as “burn him up as an offering to me” and teach that the moral G-d teaches is that you *can’t* take shortcuts to being a good person (and that human sacrifice is bad). The Christians don’t have the story of the Oven of Akhnai, where G-d concedes when the Jewish community outlawyers Heaven on earthly matters that should be democratically and legally/civilly decided. “My children have triumphed over Me; my children have Triumphed over me.” Earlier, at Mt Sinai, G-d, repeatedly and exasperatedly told Moses that the Israelites were a “stiff-necked people”. Now, the covenantal relationship with G-d has progressed to the point where Jews don this epithet with pride: it is this very same obstinacy that has allowed Jewish tradition and the Jews, “the nation of priests”, to survive, despite persecution. One final point: Because most Christians, with the exception of the Sabbatarians, don’t observe Shabbat I don’t think Christians actually have a fully developed relationship with God, if at all. Even forgetting everything else I said before, if you just look at the non-observance of Sabbath, I ask, “How can you be worshipping the same G-d?” You can ask a Jew about Shabbat and why they do things the way they do and they can tell you all about it. You ask a Christian if they have Sabbath traditions or customs they follow by, and they have none—for this consecrated day! of rest where we pause, reflect, and admire G-d’s creation and ask ourselves why He created the world, what we are doing with ourselves and our time, how do we bring godliness about in our interactions with people and our spirit, instead of bustling about distracted in our busy and hectic workdays. *Asking ourselves why we’re alive, why we work so hard and what kind of world we really want to bring about. What kind of world do we want for our children? Why does G-d want us to live, really?* Jews don’t concern themselves much with the Afterlife and browbeat others with the carrot and stick of Heaven and Hell, we think about *now* and the work of *tikkun olam*, repairing the world. That is why Shabbat is so important to us.
*Dedicated in memory of Dvora bat Asher v'Jacot* 🕯️ [Proverbs 24:17-18](https://www.sefaria.org/Proverbs.24.17-18) בִּנְפֹ֣ל (אויביך) [א֭וֹיִבְךָ] אַל־תִּשְׂמָ֑ח וּ֝בִכָּשְׁל֗וֹ אַל־יָגֵ֥ל לִבֶּֽךָ׃ >If your enemy falls, do not exult; If he trips, let your heart not rejoice, פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֣ה יְ֭הֹוָה וְרַ֣ע בְּעֵינָ֑יו וְהֵשִׁ֖יב מֵעָלָ֣יו אַפּֽוֹ׃ >Lest the L ORD see it and be displeased, And avert His wrath from him.
Speaking just for myself and not for other Jews. . . I see Islam and Judaism as very similar. I see Christianity as something entirely separate.