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Does anyone know if this sect even exists anymore or why it is no longer a legal sect of Judaism?
I'm sure that out of the thousands of denominations of Christianity, there's something that someone will tell you is close to it.
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What was it 'called' when it was a legal sect of Judaism?
Heresy.
To say that Christianity was a valid sect of Judaism is a misnomer. According to the Christian Bible, the first people to follow Jesus would have been Jews, but they had ceased being part of Judaism by the time "Christianity" had become an actual concrete idea.
Jesus (again, according to the Christian Bible) taught Jewish lessons to Jews. And there's absolutely nothing un-Jewish about that. Even when some of those lessons are unorthodox or odd, there isn't anything really wrong about it (just look at some of the oddballs we have teaching Torah within Judaism today). But when you start to think that your dead teacher is some kind of savior, can absolve you of your sins, or is God incarnate, then you've passed odd and landed squarely in apostasy. And when you stop following the practices and rites of one religion (such as circumcision with the Council of Jerusalem at around 50 CE) you cease to be part of that religion altogether.
Last edited by JB from NC; 08-01-2015 at 07:23 PM..
They were known a little later as Ebionites or the Jerusalem Christians who did not put two and two together about the New Covenant. You will read about them in Acts requiring circumcision for converts and all the lements of Law.
Does anyone know if this sect even exists anymore or why it is no longer a legal sect of Judaism?
What was it 'called' when it was a legal sect of Judaism?
I don't think it was called Christianity though. I'm not a historian, but many Jews who liked Jesus would return to old scripture to confirm that he was the Messiah that was foretold in the Old Testament. Some Jews believed that, and therefore it was an affirmation of Jewish scripture and not a new ideology. Others called is blasphemy. It's also worth pointing out that Jesus was hardly the first 'Messiah.' In fact, many thought John the Baptist was the Messiah. That idea just didn't catch on, probably because Jesus was around then, but if he weren't, it might be John Christ instead of Jesus.
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Originally Posted by Rotagivan
1: Judaism = Being from a particular tribe called "Judah"?
2: Are there any particular teachings attributed to Jesus (in the Christian Bible) which are specifically...lets say...abhorrent...to Judaism?
1) I don't know much about that.
2) Not really, at least not necessarily. Technically, Jesus never openly contradicts what's in the Old Testament, but his teachings are certainly unorthodox. He was basically a hippy. He was homeless and unemployed and pretty much just traveled and preached and he taught about the intrinsic worth of every living thing; this was not value. He also hung around with prostitutes and outcasts and sinners. If nothing else, it wasn't what Jesus taught that was anti-Jewish, it was simply not what the Messiah was expected to look like for the Jews (who were eagerly waiting for the Messiah, who they expected to conquer Israel from the Romans).
They are not altogether saying the same thing but I get the general gist.
Two more questions:
1: Judaism = Being from a particular tribe called "Judah"?
2: Are there any particular teachings attributed to Jesus (in the Christian Bible) which are specifically...lets say...abhorrent...to Judaism?
History: Israel was the nation but the kingdom split and most of the tribes that made it up disappeared, leaving Judah and Benjamin as the kingdom of Judah, the surviving remnant of which was divided between those who were carried off to Babylonia and those who stayed in the area of Samaria. Upon the return of great numbers of those who returned from that captivity the kingdom was reestablished and the people at that time were known primarily as "Jews." Capsule, but you get the idea. "Hebrew" would be the generic name of the whole people and the language they spoke, Israel the name of the original nation, Judea the remaining elements.
As far as the teaching, What Jesus had to say was a culmination of the direction that a large element of the religion was going, and with the destruction of the Temple and the attendant system of sacrifice, the direction a major branch of that faith known as Reform Judaism took. Most of what is objectionable to Judaism was added to the basic message of Christ by the religion that developed fairly quickly after His death and resurrection, but the idea that Law was not enough and a new commitment to love as the basis for community was not really welcome to many Jews.
It's quite interesting to read about the Nazoreans, Jerome writing to Augustine about them (he makes it clear that they still followed Jewish Mosaic law (1) the gospel of the Hebrews, the Ebionites and Mandaeans - the various related groups and branches of the Jesus -followers amongst the Jews (to call them Christians is a bit misleading and that implies a Pauline -gentile church, which they were not).
The present day Nazoreans are purely Christian churches that have just appropriated the name and do not represent a continuing line from Judaic Christianity. You may find them still represented in the Sabaeans.
(1) one can wonder whether this was a backsliding into Judaism because of the 'circumcision party' as in Acts or because departure from the Mosaic law was entirely Paul's idea and was not what was taught by Jesus. That of course means that all the Law -bashing in the gospels in untrue and so on and a lot of Christians will refuse to accept what is there for all to see if they only read. I have no doubts whatsoever. Jesus was a practicing Jew, so were his disciples. The abandonment of the Torah -Law was entirely Paul's idea.
Sure the Roman Empire banned the religion of Christianity for 300 years until Constantine the Great rule the Roman Empire 306-337 AD......... Like in 269 AD St. Valentine married Christian couple and was convicted by the Roman authority and was executed by beating , stoning and was then decapitated by the brutal Romans ...... There was the USSR who ban Christianity from 1928-1964.......There was at the French revolution which banned Christianity for three years around 1789.....Moderator cut: no need for Atheist bashing
Last edited by mensaguy; 08-02-2015 at 06:47 AM..
Reason: Atheist bashing is off topic in this thread
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