Welcome, plt!

Well, for what it's worth, I am a middleage goy--with Jewish in-laws, but that's another megillah!

As Boanerges already said, I think you will find "the regulars" here quite willing to answer most questions you may pose. Not knowing exactly what you believe about either Judaism or Christianity in particular, I did want to point out three general principles that will be helpful to bear in mind when and if you do pose questions.

    [*]First, the term "Christian" on this site is used to refer to:

    belief in a specific set of details, recorded in the Bible, which are concerned with the person and work of Jesus Christ,

    and by extension,

    a person who believes those details to be true in a way that only such belief can cause a person to be declared righteous by God.

    At least two implications follow.

    a) "Comparative Religion" is, to a Christian, the evaluation of utterly false systems of belief in light of the one absolutely true system, rather than a neutral choice between systems equally acceptable to God. Of course we will be happy to go into great detail about why this is the case; do not be surprised when these things come to the surface.

    b) The word "Christian" is frequently used to refer to persons or beliefs who do not fit the above definition. There are and have been many times, grievous to the true Christian, when non-Christian activity has been done using the name of Jesus Christ in a manner inconsistent with his own teaching, including, but not limited to, anti-Semitic behavior. I am convinced that a proper understanding of the true Christian teaching will equip you to see that much of so-called "Christian" history, while sadly true, did not reflect the true Christian faith at all, and really, ultimately only a true understanding of the Christian faith can enable one to make sense of it at all.


    [*]Second, the details of this Christian faith are revealed by God, by God alone, in one place alone, the Scriptures of the Bible, specifically the 39 books of the Old Testament with which you are hopefully thoroughly familiar and the 27 books of the New Testament.

    Many implications follow; most important is that since the Christian faith is sufficiently, authoritatively, inerrantly and infallibly revealed in the combined testimony of the historical Scriptures, no other system of belief which either adds to (as semi-Christian cults do), subtracts from (as modern Judaism and others do) or contradicts (as all other religions do) this Biblical testimony may be said to be God's own voice of revelation of how to be declared righteous in his sight. Do not be surprised if your questions are sooner or later referred to Biblical passages to clarify the Christian faith.


    [*]Third, I find it helpful to clarify one point of terminology at the outset. As you know, in Jewish usage, the term "Reform" refers to the wing of modern Judaism which places the least emphasis on the role of the Bible. Since this is a "Reformed" Christian site, you need to realize that the term is used in a far different way among Christians: in Christian usage, because of the 16th-century return to the Biblical roots of Christianity known as "the Reformation", Reformed always refers to that core group of Christian teaching which places the most emphasis on the role of the Bible.
    [/LIST]

    Just thought you might want to know! ;-)