Who is closer to Judaism? islam or christianity(jews answer)

[Iẓeḍwan n Nanna-Tuda]

like Jehovah's Witnesses?

Well, a sect that totally disagreed with the innovations made by Christians (trinity). A conservative and rustic sect who reproached Jews for their transgression of Judaism.
I guess that's why Coran contains Anti-Christians and Anti-Jews passages (not to forget that Mohammed probably got upset when both Arabian Jews and Christians didn't recognize him as a Messenger).
This sect would have wishing a "return to the sources", i.e "strict monotheism" / "Mosaic Law"

[Loki]

Islam and Christianity are closer than either one is to Judaism.

A few points:

1. Perhaps if you look at the fact that both religions believe in Jesus (although Christians would argue that Muslims don't believe in the same Jesus), and Islam has taken in some sectarian ideas from early Christian writings (sectarian writings, gnostic, that are not acceped by Christianity. btw), yes you could argue Islam and Christianity are more related. But that is probably where the "relatedness" ends.

2. In holy texts, Christians and Jews share their acceptance of the Tanakh (the first 5 books of the Bible) and the Old Testament prophets. The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible are similar, with the main exception that the Hebrew one does not include the New Testament. The Islamic scriptures are only found in Islam and are not accepted by either Jews or Christians.

3. Theologically, Judaism and Islam are both legalistic, whereas Christianity is uniquely not legalistic in doctrine (except in some sects like Seventh Day Adventism, for example, which is closer to Judaism in that regard).

4. Judaism and Islam are both quite unforgiving religions, and believe in concepts like revenge when justified... whereas Christianity is uniquely different in having concepts like "love your enemies".

5. Judaism and Islam both concentrate more on the earthly existence, whereas Christianity's focus and hopes lie in the hereafter, eternal life in heaven.

6. Christians can have a intimate, personal relationship with God, whereas in both Judaism and Islam the concept of "God" is more distant.

There are probably lots more comparisons, but I quickly thought about these to show that Christianity is actually quite different from Judaism and Islam.

[Loki]

I do not agree,Christianity is heavily influenced by European pagan beliefs.

No it isn't. Catholicism is to a certain extent, yes. But not all Christian groups.

[Loki]

However (that's a bit off-topic), I think that Islam had to emerge from a Jewish sect who was recognizing Jesus as the Massiah but not his divinity...

Islam plagiarized both Christian and Jewish apocryphal writings, including gnostic ones... and it is important to note that they did not use the canonically accepted writings of Christians and Jews, and that accounts for many of the discrepancies in the stories about patriarchs, Jesus etc. I made a thread about that, it's quite revealing.

[Loki]

Judaism and Islam are more monotheistic and their pagan influences are less obvious.

Pagan influences in Christianity are only noticeable in denominations like the Roman Catholic Church and other related ones. Much less so in Protestantism. Although I'd admit festivals like Christmas and Easter derive from pagan traditions, and were Christianized. That's why some Christians don't celebrate them. But that doesn't have any theological impact, actually, and is merely superficial.

[Loki]

sure islam and judaism have some common basic grounds,like they view on God same way while christians have the trinty (which is a huge sin in both islam and judaism)

Yeah, that is perhaps the main difference that makes Christianity stand out as unique... in particular our belief that Jesus is God. Muslims and Jews reject that (against all good logic and revealed truth, may I add). In Christianity, everything centres around Jesus Christ. Life itself. He is God.

[Loki]

i thought our hate for eachother ....

A recent survey about religion in America revealed that Jews actually dislike Evangelical Christians even more than they dislike Muslims (although it's almost at the same level, which is a high dislike). This is in stark contrast with Evangelical Christians, who regard Jews the highest of all foreign religion groups. Quite a disconnect.

[Longbowman]

A few points:

1. Perhaps if you look at the fact that both religions believe in Jesus (although Christians would argue that Muslims don't believe in the same Jesus), and Islam has taken in some sectarian ideas from early Christian writings (sectarian writings, gnostic, that are not acceped by Christianity. btw), yes you could argue Islam and Christianity are more related. But that is probably where the "relatedness" ends.

2. In holy texts, Christians and Jews share their acceptance of the Tanakh (the first 5 books of the Bible) and the Old Testament prophets. The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible are similar, with the main exception that the Hebrew one does not include the New Testament. The Islamic scriptures are only found in Islam and are not accepted by either Jews or Christians.

3. Theologically, Judaism and Islam are both legalistic, whereas Christianity is uniquely not legalistic in doctrine (except in some sects like Seventh Day Adventism, for example, which is closer to Judaism in that regard).

Agree.

4. Judaism and Islam are both quite unforgiving religions, and believe in concepts like revenge when justified... whereas Christianity is uniquely different in having concepts like "love your enemies".

You could make the other argument: Judaism does not require non-Jews to become Jews in order to go to Heaven. Judaism's God will not automatically condemn you for anything in particular. Of course, 'an eye for an eye' is definitely in Judaism, sort of as best practise. But 'love your neighbour' is from Leviticus (the Golden Rule's first mention).

5. Judaism and Islam both concentrate more on the earthly existence, whereas Christianity's focus and hopes lie in the hereafter, eternal life in heaven.

Is this really true about Islam? It's true about Judaism, for sure.

6. Christians can have a intimate, personal relationship with God, whereas in both Judaism and Islam the concept of "God" is more distant.

I think this is highly dependent on how you look at it. In all three religions (definitely Judaism and Christianity) you are encouraged to open a personal dialogue with God (even if it's one-way). I was encouraged to pray personally and in English to God during prayers at school.

[Phenix]

how is islam and judaism cult while christianity european? and most of the christians of the planet earth are not europeans

sure islam and judaism have some common basic grounds,like they view on God same way while christians have the trinty (which is a huge sin in both islam and judaism)

Most of the beliefs, rituals, and celebrations in Christianity are of pagan European essence; trinity adoration streams from an Proto-Indo-European cult of the sun; and all the five major episcopal sees were all European lands at that time; most church fathers were Europeans, and new testament was written in Koine Greek; besides that most of the Christendom was concentrated in Europe until very lately following colonization of Africa and Americas.

[Loki]

You could make the other argument: Judaism does not require non-Jews to become Jews in order to go to Heaven. Judaism's God will not automatically condemn you for anything in particular.

Yes, Judaism's god is nation-specific, whereas the Christian God is God of all creation, and all humans will be judged by him one day.

I think this is highly dependent on how you look at it. In all three religions (definitely Judaism and Christianity) you are encouraged to open a personal dialogue with God (even if it's one-way). I was encouraged to pray personally and in English to God during prayers at school.

Yes, but I'm not merely talking about personal dialogue. In Christianity we go further than that, i.e. having fellowship with God; being in his presence. We believe that -- like the Israelite high priest came in the presence of God in the tabernacle's holy of holies of the Old Testament era, we Christians can experience that manifest holy presence of God, and actually further than that, can be indwelled by God's presence through the Holy Spirit. The Christian's body literally becomes the temple of God that contains God's presence.