For myessay, I decided to focus more on the differences between Jewish and Christianbeliefs because that’s what was most interesting to me these past two weeks oflecture since I had little to no knowledge as to how these two religions canhave any comparisons, since I always thought they were completely different. Whileare many differences and similarities when it comes to Judaism and Christianity,this topic has helped me understand the ideology behind each religion and gainmore information in each religion. Even though the question may be verystraightforward, short, and to the point, it is quite complex trying to answerit thoroughly especially having so many differences, therefore, I concentratedon the main ones.  What I have learnedfrom the lecture and from the readings is that although they are two Abrahamicreligions and have many similarities, these religions have different beliefs,practices, and teachings. Based on the readings of Benton and DiYanni,Christianity was derived from Judaism and it had a close relationship withJudaism as well. One of themain similarities is that both religions believed in one almighty God.

  I believe that the main distinction between Judaismand Christianity is Jesus Christ. Christians believe that Jesus has fulfilledGod’s promises and believe that if they accept Jesus as their Savior, they willshare an eternal life with God in heaven. One very important reason for theirfaith was due to believing that Jesus rose from the dead after being crucifiedby Romans (Benton & DiYanni, 2012).

Judaism on the other hand, recognizesJesus a good teacher only but they do not believe that Jesus was Messiah. Jewsbelieve that a Messiah “would come into the world to save humankind, therebyfulfilling God’s promises.” (Benton & DiYanni, 2012).  Another difference is the bible that each ofthis religion uses. Judaism recognizes the Old Testament, which is also knownas Hebrew Scriptures, as the word of God. Aside from many differences, Jewishand Christian traditions share a similarity between the Jewish Passover andChristian Easter, which both are meant to celebrate Jesus being resurrectedfrom the death. (Benton & DiYanni, 2012) Also, Jews celebrate uniqueholidays such as Hanukkah, Yom Kippur, and Passover. Jewish and Christianbeliefs also exercise the idea of having a holy day during the week, the JewishSabbath which is on Saturday and Christian day devoted to attending church andworship God on Sunday.

Last but not least, these two faiths also differ intheir goal of life: Judaism focuses on living a good life and meanwhileChristians focus more on “love God above and love others as one loves oneself.”(Benton & DiYanni, 2012)Thereason why I chose this topic was because I was not very knowledgeable in thedifferences between these two. It caught my surprise to find out that Christianitywas derived from Judaism. It’s very important to understand the religious beliefsof others and have an open mind and be respectful enough to accept thateverybody is different.