"The Old Testament is first and foremost a collection of religious books, created by faith and addressed to persons who share that faith. Its basic premise is the reality of the living God of creation and history, and its primary aim is to expose the active purpose of God at work within the world" (West, Introduction to the Old Testament, 3).The Jewish religion is based around the scriptures of the Old Testament, which they call the Tanakh. The Tanakh is made up of the five books of Moses, (the Torah). These books tell the story of their creation, and how people came to be. A lot of important lessons can be learned from these stories. Other books in the Tanakh are the Prophecies, (Nevi'im) which consist of writings which are said to be messages of God, and the Writings (Ketuvim) which are said to be writings ...view middle of the document...
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; 5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long; 6. Thou shalt not kill; 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery; 8. Thou shalt not steal; 9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour; 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. These laws are the basis for today's ethical and moral standards held by people of all races and religions.In the Old Testament, there are numerous prophecies of the coming of the "Messiah" who came to us later on in the form of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the Christian religion was formed, it was not a religion completely removed from the Jewish one. In fact, they kept the Jewish Tanakh, and turned it into the first three-quarters of their own bible, along with the New Testament, which contains the stories of Jesus.You see, the Old Testament is Christianity's heritage too. Jesus was a Jew, and was brought up going to synagogues, learning each of the 613 laws mentioned in the Old Testaments, and being expected to follow each and every one of them. In the New Testament, the most recent part of the bible, shared by no other religion, there are numerous mentions of the Old Testament. In the 4 Gospels alone there are a total of 255 mentions of the Old Testament.Christians and Jews believe in the same God and share the same heritage. The only difference being that Christians believe that Jesus Christ, who was in turn a Jew, was the Messiah. The Old Testament is part of the heritage shared by both religions, and is no more important to one than it is to the other.The Old Testament was "written for the generation to come; that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD." (Psalm 102:18)
