An
important goal Rabbi Jeffrey Leynor
and Jim Myers shared at the
beginning of our journey was discovering how our religions, Rabbinic Judaism and Protestant Christianity, began as two
sects of Second Temple Judaism and
became two mutually exclusive
monotheistic religions.
● Mutually
exclusive means a person can belong to one but not both religions.
● Monotheistic
means both religions believe that only one God exists.
From
my (Jim Myers) perspective the primary difference between our religions was that they have
very different beliefs about God. From Jeffrey’s perspective beliefs about who
God is are less important than doing what the God of his Scriptures instructed
and commanded people to do. Below is how scholars describe the differences between
our religions.
● Judaism is an “orthopraxy” religion, concerned with “correct” (ortho) “practice”
(praxis) that places the “fundamental emphasis on the application of
God’s instructions, laws and regulations in personal and community life.”1
● Christianity is an “orthodox” religion, concerned with “correct” (ortho) “opinion”
(doxa) that places the “fundamental emphasis on adherence to
institutional beliefs, creeds, catechisms, and theologies.”2
Late
Second Temple Judaism, the religion from which both of our religions
originated, was an “orthopraxy”
religion. The origin of Jeffrey’s religion was the Pharisee sect; while my religion began as a sect we call the Yeshua Movement.
● Members
of both sects viewed God in the same way.
● Members
of both sects actively participated in Temple rituals and activities.
● Members
of both sects viewed each other as members of the same religion and nation.
● Members
of both sects shared the same Scriptures.
● Members
of both sects, as well as all other Jews of their nation, lived under Roman
rule.
The
primary differences between the Pharisees and the Yeshua Movement centered on
their teachings about the “Anointed One”
(a messianic figure) and the “Kingdom of
God” (also called “Kingdom of Heaven”).
The differences were about practices – things
that are done – not about beliefs. Yeshua taught about the application of God’s instructions, laws and regulations
in personal and community life, especial those things that were related to role
he proclaimed that God had “anointed him”
to fulfill -- proclaiming the good news to the poor; binding
up the brokenhearted, declaring liberty to the captives and the opening of the
prison to those who are bound.3 His “gospel” (good news) focused on
teaching people how to do the following:
1. acts of teshuvah
(repentance)
2. acts of
tzedaqah (righteousness)
Even
though “eternal salvation” wasn’t his
primary focus, Yeshua’s taught this as a salvation message – “Those who do acts of tzedaqah
(righteousness) will enter into eternal life.” The acts of righteousness Yeshua specifically identified were feeding the hungry, giving the thirsty
drink, clothing the naked, giving the homeless shelter, visiting the sick and
going to those who are in prison.
Dividing Events
Yeshua
never used the word “Christian.” His
movement was defined by his message about the “Kingdom of God.” Yeshua was executed about 27 CE by the Roman army.
About a decade later (37 CE) a new sect appeared that was led by a Jewish man
named “Saul of Tarsus.” He claimed he
had been given an “exclusive new gospel”
in a vision from God in a dream. It revealed that it was the “resurrected Yeshua” that became “the Christ” (Anointed One) and “Son of God.”
Members of his sect were the first to be called “Christians.” Saul later was called “Paul.” Paul taught a
different gospel (message) than Yeshua. The primary focus of his gospel was
the promise of resurrection and eternal
life.
In
70 CE, Roman armies sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple. The
Temple was the center of Jewish authority and the only place on earth where
humans could knowingly approach the presence of God. Its existence was required
for important commandments to be fulfilled; i.e., major holy day rituals and
the presenting of sacrifices. It was also the center of the Jewish justice system
(Sanhedrin), education by scribes and priests and the treasury and banking
system. The Jews would continue to revolt against the Romans until 134 CE when
they were forbidden to enter Jerusalem or practice their rituals in the land.
After
the destruction of the Temple, the Jewish sects that survived were the
Pharisees, the Yeshua Movement and Paul’s Christianity. Yeshua’s Jewish Kingdom of God message was
neither understood by nor had much of an appeal to non-Jews (Gentiles), while
Paul’s promise of resurrection and
eternal life appealed to everyone that expected to die someday. It was
Paul’s Christian movement that spread
throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. Yeshua’s movement faded away as time
passed.
The
form of Judaism that survived is called “Rabbinic
Judaism.” Its sacred Scriptures
consist of the Written Law (Christian
Old Testament) and the Oral Law,
which was first written down about 200 CE.
“Reasoning” a New
Christian Religion
As
Paul’s Christianity spread through different cultures along with the Septuagint as its Scriptures – a Greek
translation of the Jewish Hebrew Scriptures. Gentile leaders of new
Christian congregations were forced to interpret the Greek words of the
Septuagint, Paul’s teachings and the teachings of Yeshua that had been recorded
in Greek for their non-Jewish audiences. Keep in mind that most of those audiences
knew Greek before they ever heard of “the
Christ.” They already had meaning for the Greek words and many meanings
were associated with the gods of their native cultures.
Things
might have turned out different if Yeshua had left a written text (in Hebrew)
of his teachings, with explanations for how they were to be incorporated in the
lives of his followers. But unlike the words of Moses, whose text was accepted
as a divine transmission, Gentile church leaders were forced “to reason” as to the implications of a
collection of texts that recorded his “remembered
sayings” in Greek. For centuries the sayings of Yeshua or any other
Christian writings were not viewed as a unified
canon of scripture – they were an
anthology.
But,
from the earliest groups of Gentile Christians, their leaders assumed that “the application of reason” would yield “an increasingly accurate understanding of
God’s will.”4 However, in practice, their deductions produced
different and conflicting views about God,
His will, the Christ and his teachings.
This was the state of Christianity
until 325 CE when Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great became involved in the Roman Church. Backed by the power and authority of the emperor, the
Roman Church’s views became the official source for determining the “truths” of the Christianity.
Roman
Christianity focused on believing the “right
things,” especially about “the Christ”
(Jesus). The “right things” were
determined by “reason” and “confirmed by official church councils.” Christian “beliefs about salvation” were also based on “believing the right things,” like those below:
● Jesus
and God are of the same substance.
● Adam’s
sin was passed on to all of his descendants.
● All
people are born as “sinners.’
● Jesus
was born of virgin.
● Mary
remained a perpetual virgin all of her life.
● Jesus
was the only sacrifice that could cleanse humans from Adam’s sin.
● On the Day of Judgment those who not believe
the right things will go to Hell for eternity and those who believe the right
things will spend eternity in Heaven with God and the other believers.
All
of the above beliefs were created from the 4th century forward by
Gentile church leaders. It is very important to recognize that the above beliefs
were not mere opinions or amplifications of scripture -- each is an example of “careful deductive reasoning” which led to
new doctrines – including the
perpetual virginity of Mary which remains the official Catholic teaching today.
It
is also important to understand that this method could -- and often did --
greatly alter or even reverse “Christian truths” on the basis of nothing
more than persuasive reasoning.5
For example, in 325 CE a church council reasoned that “Jesus and God are of the same substance,”
a few decades later other church councils reasoned “Jesus and God were not of the same substance,” still later other
church councils reasoned “they were of
the same substance” and, in 451 CE, another church council reasoned that “God is a ‘Trinity that consist of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’”
Different Ways
of Viewing History
Members
of Yeshua’s Jewish movement and Gentile
members of the Christianities that
developed in other cultures viewed history in one similar way and one very
different way.
● The Jewish and Christian idea of history both stress
procession, a directional
conception of history culminating in an end of the age event.
● The idea of history in Rabbinic Judaism stresses only
procession -- not progress.
● The idea of progress
in history is a Christian idea based on the belief that “God is a rational being who believes in human progress, more fully revealing Himself as humans gain
the capacity to better understand Him.”
The
idea that “humans are created in the
image of God” is a foundational tenet of Rabbinic Judaism and all forms of Christianity, but their “views
of God” reflect “their views of
history” – and that makes their
images of God very different. We will discuss that subject in the next
blog.
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SOURCES
1 The Victory of Reason: How
Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success by Rodney Stark © 2005; Random
House Trade Paperbacks, New York, NY; p. 8.
2 The Victory of Reason; p. 8.
3 Isaiah 61:1-2a.
4 The Victory of Reason; p. 9.
5 The Victory of Reason; p. 6.
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