Why do Christians worship the God of the Hebrews?

Christians do not worship the same diety as the Hebrews. From the jump off, the Israelite Creator, in their faith, has no form or shape and can never be encapsulated in any form. If you could point and say "hey, that guy is god", you would be guilty of idolatry. The Moslems on the other hand do in fact worship the same diety as the Hebrews. Therefore there is a Jewish prohibition against entering a Church, but none about entering a Mosque. Such things as Icons, Relics, and Crucifixes, especially with an effogee of Jesus are quite literally tools of idolatry as far as the Old Testament is concerned. This isnt to say that Jesus was an idolater, the evidence points to him living and dieing as a Jew, and all the rest was added by pagan converts dozens if not hundreds of years after his death.

reply to post by dashen

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I agree to a point. I would say that the issues you brought up concerning giving form to G-d are best explained in our different understandings of the same G-d. The Jews do not understand G-d as the Trinity where Christians do. Both faiths recognize that G-d the Father has no form that could be painted, etc. This is seen in the Hebrew scriptures where G-d often reveals himself as a cloud, fire, etc but never a bodily form, human or otherwise.

There is some thought that the Angel of the Lord may very well have been Christ in the Old Testament, but this is debated among scholars and there is little to prove it one way or another. It would be interesting though if Christ, in his spiritual body, was making appearances long before he came in the flesh as the man we call Jesus (Yeshua).

I believe the idolatry issue is likely to be why many Christians and churches do not have statues of Jesus but rather just the cross, which they do not bow to in worship but is used only as a symbol/reminder of what was done. It itself is not the object of worship nor is it actually used in the process of worship. Personally, I don't care for any of the pictures we have of Jesus because none of them are actual pictures of the real G-d-man that walked the earth.

Muslims claim to worship the same G-d, but when you look at how the Hebrew and Muslim scriptures compare it turns out they are very different. I'll end that bit right there though as it is not the focus of the thread and could become problematic.

[edit on 9-2-2010 by Mykahel]

Why do so many Christians talk about other gods? I thought Christianity was monotheistic. It is the same god, people.

reply to post by Mykahel

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There are no different understandings. The Old Testament is quite clear and simple on the matter, "Hear O' Israel, G-d is 'elokenu', G-d is ONE". Meaning, Israel is many, G-d's interaction with man is pluralistic, yet G-D IS ONE.
Even when G-d revealed himself at Sinai he did not show Himself, rather a voice came from the fire. When G-D is described as appearing as a cloud or fire, it does not mean that the cloud or the fire is actually G-d, because the Hebrew G-d is not "somewhere", "somewhere" is a place within G-d. In the Old Hebraic texts G-d is referred to as HaMakom, which means The Place. Anything which is quantifyable is therefore not G-d, since G-d, to the Hebrews, is a purely singular, unquantifyable entity.
Whatever the Cristians wish to believe, is of their own concern , ranging from tri-lateral god-heads to the Ancient Coptic's expression of Jesus as an angel with a head made of four heads, resembling Ezekiel's description of the 'Chayot' angels.

reply to post by earthdude

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Christians only recognize one G-d. We talk about other gods with the acceptance that they are not gods at all but possible spirits, fallen angels, etc that claim to be gods. It would make sense for a being of supernatural power that has been cast down from earth to set itself up as some sort of authoritarian figure and rule or at least influence the lives of people.

Christians only believe in ONE G-d and even though they believe in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, they still call Him ONE. Doesn't mean we can explain it though. Then again, who can explain G-d?

For the most part, I think we might just be misunderstanding each other, but I do still believe very firmly that Christians and Jews worship the same G-d as far as the Father is concerned. Different G-ds in the sense that Christians say Christ is G-d and Jews have rejected him. Misunderstandings of the same G-d in my opinion. If this is not the case, it is at the very least what Christians claim and understand their faith to be.

There are some sects that claim they are completely different gods of the Old and New Testament times, and that the creator god was evil and that the redeeming god is good. This has been rejected as being a heresy by most Christians, though I do not recal the name for those exact beliefs.

Has the OP got the answer they were looking for yet?
Hope the discussion we have been having has helped.

I think the difference is that Jews worship the old school God while Christians worship a God that changed its mind about a ton of stuff. That's to say Jews reckon that Jesus was a fraud while Christians root for him and believe that the old school God suddenly changed its mind about so many things. Doesn't really matter since the God thing is just a big scam anyways.. Now some members think I'll end up in Hell.. haha no thanks.. I'll rather go and see (and drink) the beer volcano.

[edit on 9-2-2010 by rhinoceros]

"G"Day Wise Ones,

The Hebrew god Yawh was taken from the much earlyer gods of the Sumerian's.

The Sumerian's were the first to write the early bible storys of the old testament not the Hebrews at all, the Sumerians were the first humans to Write there history on clay tablets, the Hebrews just past the storys down by word of mouth and later clamed the storys their own.

There for, the god of Judaism and christianity is the Sumerian god Enlil, Yawh, the storm god, the god of wrath.

In fact there were two gods Enlil and Enki, Enki the god that made Atama (Adam) and Enlil the god that wanted to drown mankind in a flood.

The christian's made the two into one, so not to confuse the newley converted pagans, by doing so have twisted the true stroy into the nosense you read today.

If you read between the lines of the old testament you can still make out how the story realy should go.

Genisis 6: (Behold the Man has become one of us.) Us as in plural, if you are able to keep in mind that there is Two gods, one is just called God the other The Lord God you will make a bit of sense of the old testament.

If you want to lern more on this just search for Anunnaki, Enki, Enlil, Sumerian clay tables.

Blessed Be: Kernoonos......

[edit on 9-2-2010 by Kernoonos]

ENKI YeHUaH (Ye'aH) is the start of the "10 Commandments"!

I think explaining GOD is the easy part, defining was just the start,
it's demonstrating it in a dynamically relative communicative way
Acknowledged now Believe to Convey -like knowing is showing then telling
but then so much of all this is just a shot in the dark!

reply to post by Kernoonos

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Not to be disrespectful but it sounds like a lot of bologna to me. There are numerous names for G-d throughout the Old and New Testament but it is one and the same G-d.

The two quickest and easiest explainations for the plurality of God in these Genesis verses is that he is either using the "Royal plural" or that he means Us when he says US and there is still no problem if you accept G-d as the Trinity. After all, we also read in the scriptures that just as the Father was without beginning or end, so was the Son. Jesus was a part of creation, and John even goes so far as to say that nothing that was made was made without Him (Jesus). Father, Son, and Holy Spirit worked together in making man, and created him in their image.

reply to post by Mykahel

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Exactly, a lot of people don't realize Jesus is with the Lord during creation, along with Angels.

Gen 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness


[edit on 9-2-2010 by EndOfTheWorld7]

reply to post by Kernoonos

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Hey they wise Kernoonos,

You may be interested to know that Abraham, Patriarch of the Hebrews, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Amalekites and many many more, was the son of Terach, The Sumerian Idol Maker. To get a sense of the Sumerian Caste System it goes from the bottom up; untouchables, wood choppers and water carriers, craftsmen and merchants, warrior class, advisors and noblemen, the king, the priests, the idol maker. His father was in fact the most powerful and wealthy person in the world at that time, in that he actually created the gods of yore, both for use at temples and personally. Abraham was the inheritor of this wealth, and the fall of Sumer coincides preciseley with Abraham's departure from Ur. The names of G-d do little to describe Him directly, but rather our percieved intercations with him. The similarity to ancient Sumerian dieties' names is most probably due to the fact that they describe similar attributes and interactions from various sources, but the Hebrews believe all is ultimately One.