by G.L.F. Gammey

Created on: May 22, 2008   Last Updated: January 01, 2009

Jews are an ethnic group that originated from the Israelites. A descendent of Abraham, they practice the religion of Judaism. Simply put, Judaism is the belief in God and that God should always direct our path.

The core beliefs inherent in Judaism are based on faith in just one God who is unique and has no bodily form. This God is everlasting and listens to our prayers which should always be directed to God and no one else such as cows, the sun, the moon etc, because no one should worship idols such as these.

Those who follow the Judaism religion also believe that the words spoken by the prophets and his prophecies are true; Moses was the greatest of the prophets and his prophecies are true; The first five books of the Bible known as the Torah were given to Moses; No other Torah will exist; God knows the feelings and actions of men; God will reward the good and punish the wicked; The Messiah is yet to come; and the dead will be resurrected.

When Jesus did come and perform miracles, some of the Jews were unwilling to acknowledge the fact that Jesus could be the long-awaited Messiah. Rather, the Jews were inclined to believe that Jesus was simply a profit.

However, there were some Jews who faithfully believed that the Messiah was Jesus. Later these Jews would become known as Messianic Jews who worship Messianic Judaism.

A lot of the core beliefs remain the same between Judaism and Messianic Judaism.

Messianic Jews believe that the Jewish bible, the Tenach and the Brit Chadasha, is the only divinely inspired, trustworthy, and undying word of God which holds as true today as it did when God first created this world; There is only one God; Jesus is the messiah who was revealed to mankind in the flesh, born of the virgin Mary, ministered on earth, was crucified on a tree for our sins, and was resurrected three days later; That God's chosen people are the Jewish nation, Israel; The blood of Jesus the Messiah must cleanse the sins of both gentiles and Jews; Only through faith in Jesus and his atonement in blood, salvation from eternal separation from God and the forgiveness of sin can be achieved; those Jews who follow the messiah must maintain their cultural, ethnic, and biblical identities by remaining faithful to their heritage; Salvation and a true relationship with God can only be achieved through grace and faith, not through works of the law; and, finally, the nation of Israel is biblically ordained by God and those who stand with this nation will be blessed (http://www.messianicjewishonline.com/page1002.html) .

Messianic Jews still observe traditional Jewish holidays and biblical feasts, and worship on the biblical Sabbath, which is from Friday evening to Saturday.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.jewfaq.org/beliefs.htm. 2. http://www.messianicjewishonline.com/page1002.html. 3. http://www.messianicjews.info/general/faq.html.

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