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Q&A: Christianity

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This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

Christianity

Question

According to your logic that the giving of the Torah is something we would rationally expect after establishing the existence of God, and therefore it makes sense to believe in it despite the ambiguity of the parallel evidence, why does the same logic not apply to Christian doctrine? There too we expect a messiah to come (from a number of sources in the Hebrew Bible, and even from the Torah itself), and we have a certain level of evidence such as eyewitnesses who attested to the resurrection of Jesus, in addition to his teachings and the like. So why do you still dismiss it?
In other words, if you had been born a Christian, wouldn’t you use this exact same logic to justify your theology? And if so, on what basis do you still reject it?

Answer

Who said I reject it? The same logic does indeed apply there. But that is only one piece of the puzzle, as I’ve explained several times (the reliability of the tradition is another part). In addition, I’ve said more than once that exclusive discourse (only I’m right and everyone else goes to hell) was probably created only for internal needs.

Discussion on Answer

Wondering and Puzzling (2024-12-17)

How can Christianity and Judaism coexist? Is there some flexible theology that manages to reconcile both together? After all, they negate one another. Unless the idea is “the Merciful One exempts one who was coerced,” and that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not expect a person to leave the landscape of his birthplace. But even then there is still one particular religion that upholds the truth and another religion that is merely exempt from punishment, and you still can’t say that “they stand in the same place in the heavenly court.”

Michi (2024-12-17)

I’d ask it more briefly: is there theology at all?
That is, what is there in Christianity that you can’t live with? The Trinity? First, it doesn’t exist in all forms of Christianity. Second, it exists in Judaism too: the Holy One, blessed be He, Israel, and the Torah are one (and they said in the name of the Ari that this is to be taken literally). It’s all a matter of interpretation and generosity. Not to mention the human form of the Godhead in Kabbalah.
When a Jew looks at Christianity, it’s easy for him to dismiss everything as nonsense, and vice versa. With a more generous perspective, you can always find interpretations and explanations. I mentioned here in the past a chapter from a ridiculous book that brings Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook’s notes on the New Testament. Bizarre. Like a child catching the other on contradictions and errors, when he himself has a thousand times more. Children can’t manage to step into the other person’s shoes and see everything from their own point of view, in black and white.

Still Wondering (2024-12-17)

In Judaism there are things Christians can’t live with, and vice versa. First of all, the dispute over whether God abandoned the Jews or not. Is there any perspective that can contain the idea that He both did and did not abandon us at the same time? Second, according to Christianity one follows the father in determining religion, while according to Judaism one follows the mother, so you can’t trace the historical lineage and determine who is Jewish/Christian and who is not.

Another Question (2024-12-17)

To that we should of course add the discussion of whether the commandments of the Torah are still relevant or not. After all, Christians hardly observe anything from our Torah (and don’t study it). So how can one determine that we will have the same standing in the heavenly court if we observe the words of the Torah and they do not?

Michi (2024-12-17)

Yes, Christians also eat pork and do not keep the Sabbath. I see no problem at all with the claim that the exclusive discourse is for internal needs. Besides, Christians do not need to observe Jewish law even according to our own view. And besides that, at least in my understanding, the Holy One, blessed be He, has indeed almost completely abandoned us and the land in general.

Puzzlement (2024-12-17)

This is a zero-sum game: either God commanded not to eat pork and to keep the Sabbath, or He commanded going to church and so on. I don’t know of any theory that reconciles both commands together. It sounds like empty words. The Holy One, blessed be He, may have abandoned us in the aspect of providence over individuals, but He did not abandon the command to keep the commandments (for one of the sides), otherwise we wouldn’t be observing commandments.

Michi (2024-12-17)

The problem is in the realm of logic and information. So here is a groundbreaking piece of information: the Holy One, blessed be He, does not demand of Christians that they refrain from eating pork. And another claim worth considering: perhaps each population group has its own path of serving God.
That’s it. I’ve exhausted this.

Exhaustion That Isn’t Exhaustive (2024-12-17)

A lot of exclusive words meant for internal consumption…

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