My feelings toward this thread are so mixed. I had no idea how recent the JW antiblood doctrine is. According to this thread, it was recent when I was very young, which makes it hard for me to believe so many would be willing to die for the belief. Nevertheless, cults don't encourage rational thinking but obedience. The basic premises concerning both Christinianity are wrong, objectively. Sometimes the rampant antiSemitism present on this forum discourges me. God frequently or always is teaching Jews this lesson or that lesson bc they are so stupid or thick. Jews don't agree! Most Christians don't agree!
The God of the NT is markedly different from that of Judaism. This is clear from a standard reference book or even a casual conversation with almost any person with a little bit of Jewish education. All one can is this is one strand of thought wtihin Christianity. It does not stand for mainstream belief as defined by Anglicans, Lutherans, Roman Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox churches, among others. The author own peculair brand of Chrstianity is the only A-OK one. This is repulvsive to me. If you want to know what Jews believe, a Christian minister may not know best. I say go to the source. There are standard references on Judaism, such as Encyclopedia Judaica, and there are scads of actual Jews with some Hebrew School knowledge.
On the other hand, why does it bother me so much? Antisemitism is ugly. If I did not live in my geographical area, I might believe the same way. The only reason I do not is that I attended school with many Jewish students. New York City has a large Jewish presence. In order to understand how Jews and Christians interacted at school, I was forced to learn basics about Judaism. Christ is not the answer, in their view. The idea of God made man is abhorent in their eyes. God is sacred. He is what is not human. The Witness understanding, which is so barely Jesus at all, is different from Jewish belief. All this was news to me when I attended college. We share some of the same sacred scriptures but the interpretations and values are markedly different. Psalm 23 is a good example. Jews do not see Jesus announced in the Old Testament. They already have God. Jews are not waiting for God the way Christians often believe. Such beliefs are not Christian projections backwards in time.
I've spent a lifetime discussing these matters with friends and scholars. Christians don't "get" Judaism and Jews don't seem to "get" basic Christian belief--even when studied. After decades of sometimes awkward questions and conversations, I don't fully "get" it. I do know that Judaism is not a junior version of Christianity. Christianity can stand on its own merits or fall. Some Christians must see fulfillment and God ordained laws every place. There are other views. Perhaps this is all I wanted to say. There are other views.
There is much diversity in Jewish belief. In fact, as an observer, I often note that all denominations of Christians seem to get along together very well compared to the debates I overhear. When I want to know Jewish doctrine, I check several sources and even telephone a professor or two. Part of me strongly believes that if Christians understood Judaism more, we could understand all those radical sayings of Jesus, particularly in Mark, that don't quite make sense.
I also did not mean to draw attention to this particular thread which taught me much about the blood doctrine by posting this here. It was convenient. What you heard at KH about Judaism is likely not true. There is nuance and variety. It is a shame that the Bible was ever canonized b/c we could appreciate the diversity of belief within Judaism, Christianity, and even Islam better if we had all the sources and valued them equally as historians would. God cannot be fully contained in a single Bible. The Bible is a lare book but compared to what most believers believe is the immensity and totality of God, the Bible is merely a pittance. When Charlton Heston or an actor playing Jesus in a good Jesus film personally tells me so, perhaps I will believe laws. Culture evolves. These books are merely snapshots in time that is passing. There was a before and there will be an aftermath.