[CS-FSLUG] There is more to this than mere denominations

[Timothy R. Butler]

> Well, if christianity is no longer a sect of judaism, then is the book 
>  "Acts of the Apostles" no longer applicable?

	Well, personally, I think this discussion is getting tiring (at least 
on arguing what one should talk about), but this part is rather 
interesting, so I shall respond.

	Here's what I'd say.... At the time of Jesus and the Apostles, what we 
call Judaism really didn't exist -- present Judaism is Rabbinic 
Judaism. The Judaism of that time with Levitical Judaism (i.e. with 
priests and offerings and so on).

	There's two ways to look at this from: scholarly and from a Christian 
faith standpoint. From the latter, to suggest that Christianity is a 
subset of Judaism (the old covenant) really doesn't fit well with the 
idea that Christianity (the new covenant) actually supersedes Judaism.

	From a scholarly standpoint, Christianity is no more a sect of Judaism 
than Buddhism is of Hinduism, actually it is less so. Christianity and 
Rabbinic Judaism both draw from Levitical Judaism (sometimes known as 
"Ancient Israelite Religion"), but neither follow it. People may 
observe Jewish beliefs in a Christian context (e.g. Messianic Jews), 
but that is a different kind of thing.

	Christian doctrine differs substantially from either form of Judaism, 
but especially modern Judaism. Today's Judaism, is largely based on the 
Talmud (which, depending on the definition, is either based on or 
contains the Mishna which is based on the Torah). It's scriptural canon 
was actually canonized *after* Christianity parted ways with it.

	In all, Christianity is more of a "sister" to Rabbinic Judaism than a 
sect of it. In all, I think to say that Christianity is still a sect of 
Judaism would require saying that Islam is also a sect of Judaism.

	Just my $0.02...

	-Tim

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Timothy R. Butler       Universal Networks      www.uninet.info
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