If being half-Jew isn't recognized though, what then does this make his children? Obviously non-Jews correct (there mother isn't Jewish)?
It depends on his mother. If its important enough for him to become a Jew, he can convert if he is serious about it. It takes a few years of study and a lot of dedication. I'm not sure I understand why he wants to be a Jew though since he is not. He can be a perfectly good gentile with the same outcome.
Although, he tells them that they are half-Jew as well. I find it interesting though, that just because my cousin's mother is non-Jewish even though his father is that this in itself divides he and his brother from the heritage of their father. All because the mother is considered a Gentile, then he and his brother are not able to share a sense of religious connection with their father or even their grandmother who are both full fledged Jews even though they both claim the Jewish faith.
Fathers carry the tribal lineage. Numbers chapter 1.
What then are the consequences (for lack of a better word) for him to profess being a Jew even though he's not recognized as one by the Synagogue? What happens when in the end for him, seeing as how he doesn't believe that Jesus was the Son of God however, only a Prophet. If he's not recognized as a Jew but lives semi-accordingly to the Jewish beliefs what issues does that arise for him on Judgment Day? I guess there's really no answer to that... God is the only judge and knowingly, He'll judge accordingly.
As I said before, the judgement day is a christian belief. After all it was jesus who said... "I'll be back..." or was that arnold schwartzenegger
Sorry for my poor taste in jokes.
Anyways, being serious, non-Jews that believe in Judaism but don't convert, follow the covanent that was made with Noah. Now there is a debate even among Jews about wheather or not a gentile can believe in jesus and at the same time live up to the noahide laws.
Why are there different types of Jews? Is that similar to the Christian faith having so many different denominations?
There is one key distinction in my opinion between jews and christians. Jews while there are numerous degrees of observance via: reform, reconstruct, conserv, orthodox, etc... all use the same TNK, letter for letter, word for word. Christians on the other hand tend to use different translations of the bible and have completely different takes on manuscripts and beliefs.
To be fair, so Jay doesn't come campaigning in here, Jews do experience a
similar difference. Among the orthodox, we use the Talmud and believe this was given to Moshe at Sinai. The other branches for the most part don't share this belief, but we all are united in the uniformity of our TNK.
I believe, and again this is
my opinion and not the beliefs of Judaism, that the only
significant difference between the reformed, conserv, reconstruct, orthodox in theory, is their level of observance. So for example, I've heard some reformed jews argue that pork and shellfish are okay because they were time-based punishments. Do I believe that argument? No, of course not but it is noteworthy that even reformed and orthodox agree on a lot more then they think, its just that they have a different interpretation on how to follow it. When it comes to christianity, a lot of the actual beliefs are drastically different from catholics who believe you must have a priest in the process of confession to mormons who have all sorts of different beliefs.
I know that the process of conversion is a tedious one but what exactly does it all entail?
Years and years of intense study. The fastest that I personally know of someone converting to Judaism (Orthodox) is 9 months and that was when he was planning to marry a firm jewish woman that he met from work. He was already living a very Jewish life in several ways... attending synagauge three times a day, eating kosher, had made plans to attend yeshiva, etc... General conversion takes a few years at the minimum though and a clear sense of dedication. It's not to be taken lightly.
....sometimes I find my faith a bit more based on the grounds of interpretation as opposed to a more analytical, factual standpoint... if that makes sense. I'm highly interested in learning more regarding the Jewish faith.
It makes a lot of sense, I believe that the reformed and conserv branches of judaism do this a lot.