Questions to Jews & Christians

[Anonymous]

http://youngbrokeandkosher.blogspot.com/2011/01/halal-vs-kosher.html

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:Hello,
I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with. I have always been curious about Religion in general, but never really meet a lot of religious people that I can ask some questions that I have . So here it goes :

-If you're Christian: Do you guys have a certain number of mandatory prayers that you do every day? For ex, Muslims pray 5 time a day.Does it depend on what branch of Christianity you follow? What is the difference between Catholics, Protestants and Methodists? Can you guys go to each other's churches?

-Jews: Shalom. What do you guys consider "Kosher". Muslims eat "Halal" but If I don't see something halal at the store, I usually buy Kosher because I was told that is very similar to Halal, even though I really don't know what Kosher fully means, I think I understand the concept but never really asked a jewish person, so maybe you can help me out? Also, do you guys have a certain number of mandatory daily prayers like the Muslims do? Do you do ablutions before prayers?


That's all guys, thanks

Muslima

Welcome. I am a Conservative Jew. I am not completely observant myself (we usually only eat kosher meat in our home, but I will eat nonkosher meat out, and we do not keep two sets of dishes, etc).

My understanding is that the requirements for how an animal is slaughtered are similar as between kosher and hallal. The prayers said over the slaugher are of course different, and while SOME imams accept the consumption of kosher meat where hallal is not available, as far as I know NO jewish legal authority, either Orthodox or Conservative does so. Some Jews I know will eat Hallal in place of kosher meat - both because its often very difficult to find kosher meat (and they are unwilling to forego meat entirely) and for the sake of peace.

Salaam/shalom

Shalom, thank you for responding. I didn't know some jews ate halal as well, though I know a lot of muslims would buy kosher given the choice between regular meat and kosher.
Shal

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:http://youngbrokeandkosher.blogspot.com/2011/01/halal-vs-kosher.html

Interesting article. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote: Also, do you guys have a certain number of mandatory daily prayers like the Muslims do? Do you do ablutions before prayers?

That's all guys, thanks

also

we have three mandatory daily prayers - evening, morning and afternoon (the jewish day begins at sunset.) On the sabbath we have an additional mandatory prayer service between morning and afternoon, normally combined with the morning service.

ritual washing is done on awakening (almost only by the Orthodox) prior to saying the prayer for eating bread, and after visiting a cemetary.

My understanding (mostly from googling just now) is that its considered desirable to wash just before a standard prayer service, but its not mandatory. As a Conservative jew I a was completely unfamiliar with this, so Id say its only done by the orthodox, and not sure all of them do it.

Note all these ritual washings are of the hands only.

[Anonymous]

The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind.

Catholic here. The above is not accurate, because it makes it sound like Catholics pray to the Pope, and that he in turn prays to God for them. As with other faiths, Catholics pray directly to God. The Pope is considered the spiritual leader of the church, going back to St. Peter. He is not a God or demi-god.

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind.

Catholic here. The above is not accurate, because it makes it sound like Catholics pray to the Pope, and that he in turn prays to God for them. As with other faiths, Catholics pray directly to God. The Pope is considered the spiritual leader of the church, going back to St. Peter. He is not a God or demi-god.

How about confessions? When you confess to the priest, does he intercede for you, if not, what's the idea behind it?

[Anonymous]

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind.

Catholic here. The above is not accurate, because it makes it sound like Catholics pray to the Pope, and that he in turn prays to God for them. As with other faiths, Catholics pray directly to God. The Pope is considered the spiritual leader of the church, going back to St. Peter. He is not a God or demi-god.

How about confessions? When you confess to the priest, does he intercede for you, if not, what's the idea behind it?

the priest is god's representative on earth because he's taken vows and received advanced theological training.

Only saints can intercede with god. Some people prefer to pray to a saint, who then takes the request to god. Other prefer to pray straight to god. There's no evidence to show if either system works better.

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind.

Catholic here. The above is not accurate, because it makes it sound like Catholics pray to the Pope, and that he in turn prays to God for them. As with other faiths, Catholics pray directly to God. The Pope is considered the spiritual leader of the church, going back to St. Peter. He is not a God or demi-god.

How about confessions? When you confess to the priest, does he intercede for you, if not, what's the idea behind it?

the priest is god's representative on earth because he's taken vows and received advanced theological training.

Only saints can intercede with god. Some people prefer to pray to a saint, who then takes the request to god. Other prefer to pray straight to god. There's no evidence to show if either system works better.

Who determines who the saints are? Were they all from Jesus' time or can you have new ones?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Catholic Church is hierarchical. The Pope is considered the person who intercedes with God on behalf of mankind. Protestants are more decentralized. They believe that the individual has a personal relationship with God, so each individual denomination tends to have its own rules. The Catholic services are very liturgical, with each congregation praying in unison for much of the service, and a short five minute sermon or homily from the priest. On the other end of the spectrum are evangelicals, who have lengthy sermons by individual pastors and very free form services, with opportunities for silent or voiced individual prayer. Mainline Protestant denominations are somewhere in between.

What on earth Catholic church are you attending with a 5-minute homily? Sign me up!
And as a PP noted, the Pope does not intercede with God.

[Anonymous]

Muslima, I have noticed that this thread is full of mistakes and misinformation. Please go out and read a book or authoritative source about different religions. I get tips on baking or saving money on DCUM, not spiritual matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Muslima wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm Christian...

To answer your questions:

1. Do you guys have a certain number of mandatory prayers that you do every day? Does it depend on what branch of Christianity you follow?
No... I don't know about all the "branches" (denominations), but most of the Protestant ones do not. Not sure about Catholics.

2. What is the difference between Catholics, Protestants and Methodists?
Protestants grew out of the Reformation period from the Roman Catholic church. In a nutshell, some people felt the Catholic Church was a bit too corrupt so they split from them. Then different fractions started appearing... Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran... each started by different leaders. They all hold to the universal truths about Christianity, just vary slightly in certain aspects of the belief.

3. Can you guys go to each other's churches?
Yes, it is very open. I grew up in a Presbyterian church but now go to what is called non-denominational.

Thank you, I appreciate it. So Catholics were the "Original Christians" and all the other denominations branched out from them?

The Roman Catholics were the original organized Christians, with a creed, a set of scriptures and set of rules that the leaders devised and agreed to at the council of Nicea in 325, but before that there were many independent groups, just as there are today.

The Roman Catholics, were not "Roman" until they broke away from the Orthodox Eastern Catholics. There were many independent groups before during and after Nicea.

The Egyptian Copts I know swear they were the original Christians. doesn't really matter to me but Eastern Orthodox in general is older than Roman Catholicism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, I have noticed that this thread is full of mistakes and misinformation. Please go out and read a book or authoritative source about different religions. I get tips on baking or saving money on DCUM, not spiritual matters.

I think it's interesting to see all the different responses. Some of it's not wrong, per se, as much of it reflects beliefs in different denominations.

But I agree with a book recommendation. Muslima, Karen Armstrong writes a lot about different religions. I've always enjoyed her works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:to clariy - no Jewish legal authority allows the consumption of Hallah meat in place of kosher meat. Rather that is a practice evolving among some partially observant lay Jews.

Is there an exception, like in Islam, for times of sever hardship?

[Muslima]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Muslima, I have noticed that this thread is full of mistakes and misinformation. Please go out and read a book or authoritative source about different religions. I get tips on baking or saving money on DCUM, not spiritual matters.

I think it's interesting to see all the different responses. Some of it's not wrong, per se, as much of it reflects beliefs in different denominations.

But I agree with a book recommendation. Muslima, Karen Armstrong writes a lot about different religions. I've always enjoyed her works.

I love Karen Armstrong . She is very knowledgeable and wrote a beautiful book about the Prophet saw

[takoma]

Anonymous wrote:the priest is god's representative on earth because he's taken vows and received advanced theological training.

Only saints can intercede with god. Some people prefer to pray to a saint, who then takes the request to god. Other prefer to pray straight to god. There's no evidence to show if either system works better.

I hope this does not sound too snarky, but is there evidence to show that either system actually works? I don't mean to criticize prayer -- it certainly can make both the person doing the praying and the one being prayed for feel better, and it can't hurt. But the use of the word "evidence" piqued my curiosity. If the evidence is that someone prayed for somethig very unlikely and it came to pass, remember that there are unlikely things that have happened without people praying for them, and sometimes with people praying against them.