The apple fell far from the tree

I have always lived under the impression that since Christianity is a ”spin-off” from Judaism, there must be some underlying similarities between these two religions. Something that binds together, something fundamentally shared. In reality, it is actually a lot easier to list differences between these two religions than find similarities. Basically, Judaism is based on what Christians call the Old Testament, while Christians have built their their belief, for the most, on the guy called Jesus or Christos, Ancient Greek for ”the anointed”.

Let's take traditional, religious festivities. The Jewish celebrations and holidays honor the stories of Israelites: Passover, Sukkot, Hanukkah. Yom Kippur is also stated in the Old Testament, and neither Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) nor Purim can be found in the Christian calendar. Needless to say, Christmas and Easter - Christian holidays that commemorate the life of Jesus - mean nothing to the Jews in return. And I don't blame them. I've read before that these two holidays were originally pagan anyway, and ”disguised” in the Christian faith by the Roman Catholic Church in order to convert more pagans. Easter was an old fertility festivity (Eggs, fertility? Coincidence?) to the goddess known as Eostre (=Easter). Christmas was an old celebration for winter solstice. But Passover, for example, is accounted in the Bible and most likely the Last Supper of Jesus was a seder dinner, too.

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That is perhaps where the whole difference culminates. Whereas Christianity is about G-d and his alleged son, for Jews Jesus was a mere false prophet. It is interesting how Christianity boasts about virgin birth and resurrection, while fellow Jews living during the same times write a totally different story about this man. According to them, Jesus is the result of an adulterous affair between a Jewish mother and a Roman soldier, and he studied black magic in Egypt. You will not find these descriptions in the New Testament.

This brings us to another disagreement between these two religions. Both are considered monotheistic, meaning there is only one G-d. In Christianity, though, the Holy Trinity is taught in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. According to this, there is just one G-d but is constituted in these three persons. I personally find this hard to believe, as Jesus of Nazareth is proclaimed has a historic person, an individual. Therefore he cannot be an incarnation of one deity, one G-d?

I apologize if I sound negative towards Christianity, but it does seem that many habits in Christianity are artificially made. OK, the divine word is filtered through human beings anyway, so no wonder it has become secular and there's room for error. But it still is absurd to blindly believe that 25^th of December is Jesus' birthday when historians think he was born in September and the Bible itself gives no confirmation on an exact date or month. And especially for the Finns out there: Northern European pagans celebrated ”Yule”, birth of Mithras, the pagan god of the sun, on the shortest day of the year. Yule = joulu. Rest assured, I do not want to deny anyone of the spiritual guidance or comfort they might find in Christian habits and teaching. To me, ”joulu” has been long dead anyway (ever since presents stopped coming ;), and there's just one God, no trinity.

PS. Dear Cousin, if you are reading this, I have discovered new-found respect and interest to the field of study you chose for yourself back in the day. Kudos! :)