Judaism was the true religion: the seeds of Christianity are found in it.

Today, however, one would not recognize if compared with the religion of the Old Testament. Without the hand of God moving in it, it has become distorted, and perverse. Jewish people are a part of a very peculiar religion. It was

originally God's tool in the world to accomplish His will, but today it is far from the title of God's people. Judaism was affected by modern philosophies heavily as it entered the modern age. It was especially influenced by the Enlightenment ideas presented by Kant. (Eisen, Summary) Judaism was also greatly influenced by rationalism which led it, like Christianity into a more goal-driven mentality as a whole. In short, this means that the end justified the means. (Eisen, 59) This kind of thinking created the enormous sect of cultural Jews, who identify with no specific doctrine or do not maintain any practice that would bring discomfort. This makes it hard to designate even a very general doctrinal description of Judaism. There is no specific definition of Judaism today, just as it would be difficult to maintain a specific one for Christianity when addressing all the religions claiming to be Christendom today. In an attempt to formulate a general definition Kressler states that it is aptly described as a way of life. (Kressler, 1) He uses a three-pronged conceptualization of Judaism. It is a triangle with its three

points being religion, nation, and culture. In this illustration, all Jews are somewhere in the triangle and their position is determined by their emphasis. (Kressler, 2) Modern Jewish theologians are placed in a difficult position because they must explain many highly exegetical practices that are elevated to status with purely Mosaic teachings and practices. (Harris, Summary) Over centuries of a purely man-maintained Jewish structure, the Hebrew religion has deteriorated. It has become either a holiday oriented quasiculture or an incredibly broad set of rules and regulations with contradictions that are corrected with contradictions. As truth has become less and less easily identifiable in culture and other more widely familiar religions, so too has become the truth of Judaism. Modern Judaism has no centralized truths. A Jew is free to decide anything for himself; what seems best to a man is true and right. In Modern Judaism, there are no absolutes.It is generally posited that the opposite of truth is falsehood: a Jew might suggest that the opposite of one truth may well be another more profound truth. (Kressler, 5) The main tenet and the starting point for Judaism is that there is one God Jehovah of the Old Testament as stated in Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:. (Kessler, Location 629) Throughout the history of Judaism, there have always been those Jews who are ritualistic

and those who believe in a personal God. To the Jew, God can be many things. The spectrum of belief on who God truly is to the Jews is astounding. Through centuries of distortion, corruption, and absence of God's influence on doctrine, some Jews have even removed many of God's deifying attributes in their view of Him. Walter Lamp is a subscriber to this belief. (Lamp, Locations 1194, 1201, and 1211) The Jews can agree, however, on one way God speaks to them. Most Jews believe today that God speaks to them through His written word in the Scriptures. (Kessler, Location 669) Some of these also add to God's Word. Oral tradition of how God wanted the Jews to understand the Torah was written down in two books called the Mishnah and the Talmud. Some Jews, including Edward Kessler, believe that these texts are indeed God's handbook for His way of understanding the Scriptures. To them it is equal with the Scripture. (Kessler, 686-94) There are those Jews who would say that God's will is a matter of pure human discernment and that man has to find God on his own. (Kessler, Location 694) In Judaism, prayer is also a large part of man's communication with God. Traditionally, it was focused on praise and worship of God. (Kessler, Location 1195) Though Jews hold to the same idea of sin as true Christianity, that sin is basically something unsatisfactory,

they believe that man must atone for his sins to God. (Kessler, Location 852) However, this atonement is not spiritual at all. Judaism has an undue focus on the physical aspects. The approved doctrine of sin for Judaism, both modern and traditional, is that sin is merely the physical acts of wrongdoing, and there are no spiritual repercussions. (Lamp, Locations 2606 and 2617) This nature of physical focus has affected every area of Jewish life. Salvation in Judaism is merely salvation from consequences of sinful deeds. There is no need for spiritual salvation because Jews are taught by tradition that there is no heaven or hell. Those who do believe in heaven and hell, therefore, believe that physical acts determine their position in the afterlife. Given this, there is no spiritual affects of their actions. (Lamp, Location 2607) In Judaism, sin is based on disobeying the laws of Moses by acts of commission or omission. There is no concept in Judaism of people being born in sin; nor is there any personalization of sin in a Satan or Devil. (Lamp, Location 2638) Jews cling to the belief that there is no afterlife taught in their Scriptures. (Lamp, Location 2647) It is interesting to parallel the distortion of Christianity and that of Judaism. It is truly a nightmarish type of the religion God gave to His people in the Old Testament.

Because God is now working in the lives of Christians, Jews now lack truth because they lack God.

Lamp, Walter. Judaism, How Beliefs Changed from the First Bible Ever Written to Today's Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and What It Means for Modern Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Reno, Nevada: RunningLight Publishing Company, 2010. Kindle ebook. Eisen, Arnold M. Rethinking Modern Judaism: Ritual, Commandment, Community. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998. Kressler, Edward. What Do Jews Believe? The Customs and Culture of Modern Judaism. New York: Walter Publishing Company, 2007. Kindle e-book. Harris, Jay Michael. How Do We Know This?: Midrash and the Fragmentation of Modern Judaism. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995.