Judiasm v. Christianity

Wow.  What a difference. (Warning - difficult religious issues follow- I encourage my family to stop reading!)

I absolutely adore a friend's daughter.  Her name is Beth.  I have spent a great deal of time with her and been blown away by the differences between Christianity and Judiasm. 

Beth has attended Jewish schools her whole life.  I was stunned to learn that Judiasm encourges difficult questions. Having been raised by a religion that ulitmately boils down to "I believe God had a hand in it, stop asking questions!"  I was stunned to learn that Judiasm not only encourages questions but applauds questions that have no obvious answers.  In fact, if you ask a question that cannot immediately be answered/countered in Judiasm, you are cheered.

Wow!  What a difference.  Being raised Southern Baptist, if you ask enough questions, "scholars" and "adults" and "leaders" get angry and ultimately say - "I just believe God had a hand in it."  Let me tell you, it is difficult to explain to a teenage Jew working towards her Bat Mitzvah that if you ask enough difficult questions, people get mad and discard their intellect.

Beth's questions are intelligent and come from a religious tradition that prizes intellect.  Her mother converted from Catholicism, so she is fairly well-versed in Christianity.  She has asked the questions I've been asking since junior high - eg,

• "Why do Protestants ignore the teachings (dogma) of Peter (the first Pope) - a disciple of Christ - but subscribe to the teachings of Paul - a latter day saint - while disavowing all all other latter day saints?"
• and why do they believe those who believe the teachings of Peter are going to hell?
• "Why is Paul believed but not Mohammed and Joseph Smith?"  
• "If you haven't read the teachings of Mohammed and other 'latter day saints' how can you discount them and still support Paul?"  
• "Why do you believe the teachings of Paul, but not teachings that Jesus - who no one disputes was a first century Rabbi - taught?"  (Eg, Maccabees, Enoch, etc.)  
• "Why disregard the most sacred of Jewish texts (the Kabbalah?) which it is believed by both Christians and Jews that Jesus remained behind to teach?"  
• "Why do you believe King James's Bible is correct when he threw out texts taught by Jesus himself?"'
• If Mary was a Levite, how is Jesus a descendant of David?
• Given that Revelations was written by a Kabbalah scholar, why doesn't Christianity understand that it is not literal (and those morons who wrote "Left Behind" in no way understand or accurately portray it)?
• How can you study the Old Testament without learning Hebrew and studying it properly?
• Antiabortionists claim one verse in Psalms (again, not written with vowels or breaks) to support abortion/murdering abortion doctors - yet Judaism (and again, Jesus was a Jew and Rabbi) teaches life begins at birth.  If Jesus didn't preach against abortion and homosexuality - how do you rely on "evangelists" to speak for Jesus? 

Unlike my family, after reading the Da Vinci Code, I purchased "Holy Blood, Holy Grail."  I have explored the Gnostic Gospels (aka the Dead Sea scrolls), studied Celtic Witchcraft (which has as much to do with the birth of Christianity as Judaism), and am currently reading on Buddhism.

I have a great deal of respect for Judaism. I was surprised to learn that the Jewish texts have no vowels and no breaks between "words" or "sentences."  I admire that.  The purpose is to prevent the Word of God from ossifying to dead dogma (don't tell the mega-churches.  They'll freak).  When a Jew reads at Bar/Bat Mitzvah, they are not simply showing off their Hebrew skills - they are presenting the Word of God as revealed to them through their study of a text that (again) has no vowels or breaks.

I don't want anyone to take this post to mean that I have no belief in the Divine.  However, I believe a Pagan friend of mine might be on the right track.  If you ask her if she believes in Jesus, she says "absolutely".  If you ask her if she is a Christian, the answer is, "absolutely not."