Judaism

 Judaism can mean different things depending on which period of history we are discussing. In our modern era, there are Jews who are faithful to the Torah (the Old Testament books written by Moses), as well Jews which are atheists, and everything in between. There are even some Jews who recognize that Jesus Christ was the Messiah (but these are more properly designated as Christians).

Even during the lengthy period in which the Old Testament was being written (up to about 250 BC) there were various Jewish sects. Some of these were the object of rebuke by the various Old Testament prophets. But it was those Jews who recognized the Old Testament as the inerrant, inspired word of God who provided the foundations for Christianity. At the time of Jesus and the early Christian Church, some Jewish sects were rebuked by Jesus (and the writers of the New Testament) for their failure to properly follow God's revealed plan.

The Old Testament records the history of the Jewish people (the Israelites) who at various times became unfaithful to God, and even followed after idols and false gods. On one occasion, God's response to this was to send the Israelites into captivity in Babylon. But they later returned from captivity and again occupied the land that was given to them by God. However, they again turned away from their God and began to follow a religion devised by the rabbis instead of following the traditions of the Old Testament. By the time of Jesus Christ, many Jews were practicing this corrupted version of Judaism.

Jesus Christ was born in a Jewish culture and he was, himself, Jewish. He was the promised Messiah and he fulfilled hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament. He attempted to teach the unfaithful Jews the error of their ways, but they rejected him as their long-awaited Messiah which resulted in his death. Soon after this, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple as predicted by the Old Testament and by Jesus himself, and the Jews were dispersed.

Today most Jews are no longer practicing the religion of the Old Testament — they are practicing a religion which has come from various traditions. But some Jews of today are beginning to realize that Jesus Christ was, indeed, the Messiah. These Jews are called Messianic Jews and are really Christians who keep their Jewish culture but who accept the New Testament as God's revealed word. These Messianic Jews, as well as Christians, believe that both the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible are God's revealed word.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 839 & 840, the Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. . . . When one considers the future, God's People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God [Christians] tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one [the Christian,] awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other [the Jew,] awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting [by the Jews] is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.

source: www.bookrags.com/Judaism - Estados Unidos