Old Testament Traditions

All Christians on the earth follow their own traditions that have since originated from the time of Jesus Christ. Christians place high importance on the New Testament and live their lives based on the teachings of the New Testament, the completion of the Old Testament, which is the foundation of the Jewish faith (Tasman 2016). Many Christians find the Old Testament almost irrelevant, as it was before Jesus’ time. The Old Testament contains traditions that are meant to be followed by Christians and Jews alike. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christian Messiah, was a Jew who followed and fulfilled the laws of the Torah, the Old Testament, and never did abrogate Jewish tradition or authority. By celebrating Jewish holidays, one can reflect on the lineage …show more content…
To start off, Christianity is a religion which originates from Judaism, concluding that Judaism is the past of Christianity. Jewish festivities celebrate and honour Jewish history and tradition, and through Christian perspective, celebrating the history of Christianity (Messianic Judaism 2015). Judaism is an important part of the Christian religion and is meant to be honoured and celebrated the same as the Christian religion itself is. For example, a famous Jewish holiday is the celebration of Passover, a remembrance of how Moses liberated the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. Moses is the most highly regarded human in the Torah, as Jesus is in the New Testament (Deslippe 2011). By celebrating Passover, Christians recognize the miracles and revelations through other figures in the Bible. Likewise, Shavuot, the Jewish celebration of the giving of the Torah by Moses, can help Christians recognize the Old Covenant between God, Moses, and the Hebrews. The Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God, and became the Law that Jews and Christians are to still follow today. By accepting Jesus, one accepts his teachings and the Law of Moses as an original and fulfilled covenant. For this reason, many Christians practice Messianic Judaism, one who celebrates and lives a Jewish lifestyle accepting Jesus as their Messiah. Participating in these kind of services allow Christians to “worship like Jesus” did (Messianic Judaism 2015). Finally, it is evident that Jewish celebrations often honour events that take place in the Torah, the Old Testament, while Christians honour events from the New Testament. To put into perspective, an important holiday for Jews is called Shabbat, the Sabbath, which is part of the Law of Moses. Although Christians do celebrate Shabbat, they do so on Sunday, which is against the Law of the Torah. Jesus himself celebrated Shabbat as the