Editing Christianity and Judaism (section)

==Salvation==
{{Main|Salvation}}
Judaism does not see human beings as inherently flawed or sinful and needful of being saved from it, but rather capable with a [[free will]] of being righteous, and unlike Christianity does not closely associate ideas of "salvation" with a New Covenant delivered by a Jewish messiah, although in Judaism Jewish people will have a renewed national commitment of observing God's commandments under the New Covenant, and the [[Jewish Messiah]] will also be ruling at a time of global peace and acceptance of God by all people.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html |title=JfJ ''Messiah : The Criteria'' |access-date=23 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219214921/http://www.jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html |archive-date=19 December 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Judaism holds instead that proper living is accomplished through good works and heartfelt prayer, as well as a strong faith in God. Judaism also teaches that gentiles can receive a share in "[[Jewish eschatology|the world to come]]". This is codified in the Mishna [[Pirkei Avot|Avot]] 4:29, the Babylonian Talmud in tractates [[Avodah Zarah]] 10b, and [[Ketubot]] 111b, and in Maimonides's 12th century law code, the ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'', in ''Hilkhot Melachim'' (Laws of Kings) 8.11.

[[Sola gratia|The Protestant view]] is that every human is a sinner, and being saved by God's grace, not simply by the merit of one's own actions, pardons a damnatory sentence to Hell.<ref>Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 1446. The Vatican.</ref>

===Forgiveness===
{{main|Forgiveness#Judaism|Forgiveness#Christianity}}
In Judaism, one must go ''to those he has harmed'' to be entitled to forgiveness. This means that in Judaism a person cannot obtain forgiveness from God for wrongs the person has done to other people. This also means that, unless the victim forgave the perpetrator before he died, murder is unforgivable in Judaism, and they will answer to God for it, though the victims' family and friends can forgive the murderer for the grief they caused them.

Thus the "reward" for forgiving others is not God's forgiveness for wrongs done to others, but rather help ''in obtaining forgiveness from the other person''.

Sir [[Jonathan Sacks]], Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, summarized: "it is not that God forgives, while human beings do not. To the contrary, we believe that just as only God can forgive sins against God, so only human beings can forgive sins against human beings."<ref>{{cite web | year = 2006 | url = http://www.chiefrabbi.org/thoughts/vayigash5766.pdf | title = ''Covenant and Conversation'' | access-date = 7 February 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090319205218/http://www.chiefrabbi.org/thoughts/vayigash5766.pdf | archive-date = 19 March 2009 }}</ref>

===Judgment===
{{main|Last judgment}}
Both Christianity and Judaism believe in some form of judgment. Most Christians (the exception is [[Full Preterism]]) believe in the future [[Second Coming]] of Jesus, which includes the [[Resurrection of the Dead]] and the [[Last Judgment]]. Those who have accepted Jesus as their personal saviour will be saved and live in God's presence in the [[Kingdom of God|Kingdom of Heaven]], those who have not accepted Jesus as their saviour, will be cast into the [[Lake of fire]] (eternal torment, finite torment, or simply annihilated), see for example [[The Sheep and the Goats]].

In Jewish liturgy there is significant prayer and talk of a "book of life" that one is written into, indicating that God judges each person each year even after death. This annual judgment process begins on [[Rosh Hashanah]] and ends with [[Yom Kippur]]. Additionally, God sits daily in judgment concerning a person's daily activities. Upon the anticipated arrival of the [[Messiah]], God will judge the nations for their persecution of Israel during the exile. Later, God will also judge the Jews over their observance of the Torah.

===Heaven and Hell===
{{main|Eschatology|Heaven|Hell}}
There is little Jewish literature on heaven or hell as actual places, and there are few references to the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible. One is the ghostly apparition of Samuel, called up by the [[Witch of Endor]] at King Saul's command. Another is a mention by the [[Prophet Daniel]] of those who sleep in the earth rising to either everlasting life or everlasting abhorrence.<ref>Daniel 12:2</ref>

Early Hebrew views were more concerned with the fate of the nation of Israel as a whole, rather than with individual immortality.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=233&letter=R&search=Resurrection|title=RESURRECTION - JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> A stronger belief in an afterlife for each person developed during the Second Temple period but was contested by various Jewish sects. [[Pharisees]] believed that in death, people rest in their graves until they are physically resurrected with the coming of the Messiah, and within that resurrected body the soul would exist eternally.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=252&letter=P|title=PHARISEES - JewishEncyclopedia.com|website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Maimonides also included the concept of resurrection in his [[Jewish principles of faith|Thirteen Principles of Faith]].

Judaism's view is summed up by a biblical observation about the Torah: in the beginning God clothes the naked (Adam), and at the end God buries the dead (Moses). The Children of Israel mourned for 40&nbsp;days, then got on with their lives.

In Judaism, [[Heaven]] is sometimes described as a place where God debates [[Talmuds|Talmudic law]] with the angels, and where Jews spend eternity studying the Written and Oral Torah. Jews do not believe in "Hell" as a place of eternal torment. [[Gehenna]] is a place or condition of [[purgatory]] where Jews spend up to twelve months purifying to get into heaven,{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}} depending on how sinful they have been, although some suggest that certain types of sinners can never be purified enough to go to heaven and rather than facing eternal torment, simply cease to exist. Therefore, some violations like suicide would be punished by separation from the community, such as not being buried in a Jewish cemetery (in practice, rabbis often rule suicides to be mentally incompetent and thus not responsible for their actions). Judaism also does not have a notion of hell as a place ruled by [[Satan]] since God's dominion is total and Satan is only one of God's angels.

Catholics also believe in a [[purgatory]] for those who are going to heaven, but Christians in general believe that Hell is a fiery place of torment that never ceases, called the [[Lake of Fire]]. A small minority believe this is not permanent, and that those who go there will eventually either be saved or cease to exist. Heaven for Christians is depicted in various ways. As the [[Kingdom of God]] described in the New Testament and particularly the [[Book of Revelation]], Heaven is a new or restored earth, a [[World to Come]], free of sin and death, with a [[New Jerusalem]] led by God, Jesus, and the most righteous of believers starting with 144,000 Israelites from every tribe, and all others who received salvation living peacefully and making [[pilgrimages]] to give glory to the city.<ref>Book of Revelation 20–22</ref>

In Christianity, promises of Heaven and Hell as rewards and punishments are often used to motivate good and bad behavior, as threats of disaster were used by prophets like [[Jeremiah]] to motivate the Israelites. Modern Judaism generally rejects this form of motivation, instead teaching to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do. As Maimonides wrote:
<blockquote>
"A man should not say: I shall carry out the precepts of the Torah and study her wisdom in order to receive all the blessings written therein or in order to merit the life of the World to Come and I shall keep away from the sins forbidden by the Torah in order to be spared the curses mentioned in the Torah or in order not to be cut off from the life of the World to Come. It is not proper to serve God in this fashion. For one who serves thus serves out of fear. Such a way is not that of the prophets and sages. Only the ignorant, and the women and children serve God in this way. These are trained to serve out of fear until they obtain sufficient knowledge to serve out of love. One who serves God out of love studies the Torah and practices the precepts and walks in the way of wisdom for no ulterior motive at all, neither out of fear of evil nor in order to acquire the good, but follows the truth because it is true and the good will follow the merit of attaining to it. It is the stage of Abraham our father whom the Holy One, blessed be God, called "My friend" (Isaiah 41:8 – ''ohavi'' = the one who loves me) because he served out of love alone. It is regarding this stage that the Holy One, Blessed be God, commanded us through Moses, as it is said: "You shall love the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 6:5). When man loves God with a love that is fitting he automatically carries out all the precepts of love.
(Maimonides ''Yad'' Chapter 10, quoted in Jacobs 1973: 159)</blockquote>

===The Messiah===
{{Main|Messiah}}
Jews believe that a descendant of [[King David]] will one day appear to restore the Kingdom of Israel and usher in an era of peace, prosperity, and spiritual understanding for Israel and all the nations of the world. Jews refer to this person as [[Jewish eschatology|Moshiach]] or "anointed one", translated as messiah in English. The traditional Jewish understanding of the messiah is that he is fully human and born of human parents without any supernatural element. The messiah is expected to have a relationship with God similar to that of the [[Nevi'im|prophets]] of the Tanakh. In his commentary on the Talmud, Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon) wrote:

:All of the people Israel will come back to Torah; The people of Israel will be gathered back to the land of Israel; The Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt; Israel will live among the nations as an equal, and will be strong enough to defend herself; Eventually, war, hatred and famine will end, and an era of peace and prosperity will come upon the Earth.

He adds:
:"And if a king shall stand up from among the House of David, studying Torah and indulging in commandments like his father David, according to the written and oral Torah, and he will coerce all Israel to follow it and to strengthen its weak points, and will fight The Lord's wars, this one is to be treated as if he were the anointed one. If he succeeded [and won all nations surrounding him. Old prints and mss.] and built a Holy Temple in its proper place and gathered the strayed ones of Israel together, this is indeed the anointed one for certain, and he will mend the entire world to worship the Lord together ... But if he did not succeed until now, or if he was killed, it becomes known that he is not this one of whom the Torah had promised us, and he is indeed like all [other] proper and wholesome kings of the House of David who died."

He also clarified the nature of the Messiah:
:"Do not imagine that the anointed King must perform miracles and signs and create new things in the world or resurrect the dead and so on. The matter is not so: For Rabbi Akiba was a great scholar of the sages of the Mishnah, and he was the assistant-warrior of the king Ben Coziba Simon bar Kokhba... He and all the Sages of his generation deemed him the anointed king, until he was killed by sins; only since he was killed, they knew that he was not. The Sages asked him neither a miracle nor a sign..."

The Christian view of Jesus as Messiah goes beyond such claims and is the fulfillment and union of three anointed offices; a prophet like Moses who delivers God's commands and covenant and frees people from bondage, a High Priest in the order of [[Melchizedek]] overshadowing the [[Levite priesthood]] and a king like King David ruling over Jews, and like God ruling over the whole world and coming from the line of David.

For Christians, Jesus is also [[hypostatic union|fully human and fully divine]] as the [[Logos|Word of God]] who sacrifices himself so that humans can receive salvation. Jesus [[Session of Christ|sits]] in [[Heaven (Christianity)|Heaven]] at the [[Right Hand of God]] and will [[Last Judgment|judge humanity]] in the [[Eschatology|end times]] when he [[Second Coming of Christ|returns to earth]].

Christian readings of the Hebrew Bible find many references to Jesus. This can take the form of specific prophesy, and in other cases of foreshadowing by [[Typology (theology)|types]] or forerunners. Traditionally, most Christian readings of the Bible maintained that almost every prophecy was actually about the coming of Jesus, and that the entire Old Testament of the Bible is a prophecy about the [[Ministry of Jesus|coming of Jesus]].

====Catholic views====
Catholicism teaches ''[[Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus]]'' ("Outside the Church there is no salvation"), which some, like Fr. [[Leonard Feeney]], interpreted as limiting salvation to Catholics only. At the same time, it does not deny the possibility that those not visibly members of the Church may attain salvation as well. In recent times, its teaching has been most notably expressed in the Vatican II council documents ''[[Unitatis Redintegratio]]'' (1964), ''[[Lumen gentium]]'' (1964), ''[[Nostra aetate]]'' (1965), an encyclical issued by Pope John Paul II: ''[[Ut unum sint]]'' (1995), and in a document issued by the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], ''[[Dominus Iesus]]'' in 2000. The latter document has been criticised for claiming that non-Christians are in a "gravely deficient situation" as compared to Catholics, but also adds that "for those who are not formally and visibly members of the Church, salvation in Christ is accessible by virtue of a grace which, while having a mysterious relationship to the Church, does not make them formally part of the Church, but enlightens them in a way which is accommodated to their spiritual and material situation."

[[Pope John Paul II]] on 2 October 2000 emphasized that this document did not say that non-Christians were actively denied salvation: "...this confession does not deny salvation to non-Christians, but points to its ultimate source in Christ, in whom man and God are united". On 6 December the Pope issued a statement to further emphasize that the Church continued to support its traditional stance that salvation was available to believers of other faiths: "The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance with the Beatitudes—the poor in spirit, the pure of heart, those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life—will enter God's kingdom." He further added, "All who seek God with a sincere heart, including those who do not know Christ and his church, contribute under the influence of Grace to the building of this Kingdom." On 13 August 2002 American Catholic bishops issued a joint statement with leaders of [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] and [[Conservative Judaism]], called "Reflections on Covenant and Mission", which affirmed that Christians should not target Jews for conversion. The document stated: "Jews already dwell in a saving covenant with God" and "Jews are also called by God to prepare the world for God's Kingdom." However, many Christian denominations still believe it is their duty to reach out to "unbelieving" Jews.

In December 2015, the [[Holy See|Vatican]] released a 10,000-word document that, among other things, stated that Jews do not need to be converted to find salvation, and that Catholics should work with Jews to fight antisemitism.<ref name="NPR.org">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/10/459223058/catholics-should-not-try-to-convert-jews-vatican-commission-says|title=Catholics Should Not Try To Convert Jews, Vatican Commission Says|date=10 December 2015|publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref name="Philip Pullella">{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-jews-idUSKBN0TT1BK20151210#bdz0KPLr1Y8xfUAR.97|title=Vatican says Catholics should not try to convert Jews, should fight anti-semitism|author=Philip Pullella|date=10 December 2015|work=Reuters}}</ref><ref name="news.va">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vaticannews.va/en.html|title=News from the Vatican - News about the Church - Vatican News|website=www.vaticannews.va}}</ref>

====Eastern Orthodox views====
{{unreferenced section|date=July 2019}}
Eastern Orthodox Christianity emphasizes a continuing life of repentance or ''metanoia'', which includes an increasing improvement in thought, belief and action. Regarding the salvation of Jews, [[Muslims]], and other non-Christians, the Orthodox have traditionally taught that there is no salvation outside the church. Orthodoxy recognizes that other religions may contain truth, to the extent that they are in agreement with Christianity.

God is thought to be good, just, and merciful; it would not seem just to condemn someone because they never heard the Gospel message, or were taught a distorted version of the Gospel by [[Heresy|heretics]]. Therefore, the reasoning goes, they must at some point have an opportunity to make a genuine informed decision.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} Ultimately, those who persist in rejecting God condemn themselves, by cutting themselves off from the ultimate source of all Life, and from the God who is Love embodied. Jews, Muslims, and members of other faiths, then, are expected to convert to Christianity in the afterlife.

===Proselytizing===
{{See also|Antisemitism in Christianity#Conversion of Jews}}
Judaism is not a [[proselytizing]] religion. Orthodox Judaism deliberately makes it very difficult to [[Conversion to Judaism|convert]] and become a Jew, and requires a significant and full-time effort in living, study, righteousness, and conduct over several years. The final decision is by no means a foregone conclusion. A person cannot become Jewish by marrying a Jew, or by joining a synagogue, nor by any degree of involvement in the community or religion, but only by explicitly undertaking intense, formal, and supervised work over years aimed towards that goal. Some{{which|date= November 2018}} less strict versions of Judaism have made this process somewhat easier but it is still far from common.

In the past, scholars understood Judaism to have an evangelistic drive,<ref>H.H. Ben-Sasson's ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|0-674-39731-2}}, p. 288: "Explicit evidence of a systematic attempt to propagate the Jewish faith in the city of Rome is found as early as 139 BCE. With the increase of the Jewish population of Rome, the Jews intensified their efforts to make converts among the Romans. Although the activity of Jewish missionaries in Roman society caused Tiberius to expel them from that city in 1 9 CE, they soon returned, and Jewish religious propaganda was resumed and maintained even after the destruction of the Temple. Tacitus mentions it regretfully (''Histories'' 5.5), and Juvenal, in his Fourteenth Satire (11. 96ff.), describes how Roman families 'degenerated' into Judaism: the fathers permitted themselves to adopt some of its customs and the sons became Jews in every respect. ... the Bible provided the apostles of Judaism with a literature unparalleled in any other religion."</ref> but today's scholars are inclined to the view that it was often more akin just to "greater openness to converts" rather than active soliciting of conversions. Since Jews believe that one need not be a Jew to approach God, there is no religious pressure to convert non-Jews to their faith. Indeed, Scholars have revisited the traditional claims about Jewish proselytizing and have brought forward a variety of new insights. McKnight and Goodman have argued persuasively that a distinction ought to be made between the passive reception of converts or interested Pagans, and an active desire or intent to convert the non-Jewish world to Judaism.<ref>Martin Goodman (The Jews among Pagans and Christians: In the Roman Empire, 1992, 53, 55, 70–71), McKnight, Scot (A Light Among the Gentiles: Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second Temple Period 1991).
</ref>

The [[Chabad-Lubavitch]] branch of [[Hasidic Judaism]] has been an exception to this non-proselytizing standard, since in recent decades it has been actively promoting Noahide Laws for gentiles as an alternative to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.noahide.org/article.asp?Level=493&Parent=88|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128101917/http://noahide.org/article.asp?Level=493&Parent=88|url-status=dead|title=''The Seven Laws of Noah and the Non-Jews who Follow Them ''|archive-date=28 November 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:H.J.RES.104.ENR:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131231008/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:h.j.res.104.enr:|date=31 January 2016}}, 102nd Congress of the United States of America, 5 March 1991.</ref>

By contrast, Christianity is an explicitly [[evangelism|evangelistic]] religion. Christians are commanded by Jesus to "[[Great Commission|Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations]]". Historically, evangelism has on rare occasions led to [[forced conversion]] under threat of death or mass expulsion.