I started this search over 2 years ago and I'm more confused than when I started!
I have more questions about the stuff in the OT and even more about the NT than when I started. In a nutshell, Christianity seems to centre on the resurrection which, for me, is deeply lacking in evidence. I could be persuaded of its symbolism but that seems only applicable in the more "progressive" versions of Christianity. I keep throwing in the towel but then keep being pulled back. I'm really looking to make sense of who we are and why we are here and ultimately where we will end up. I think it's the peace and joy that I find in so many Christians that makes me feel that there is something but I cannot reconcile those supernatural events throughout the Bible with the reality of life. Philosophically and/or theologically, clever people can use various forms of words to reconcile things but I'm afraid my brain does not function that way.
Initial responses to my post ( very brief one liners ) suggested I might look beyond mere Christianity and I think that may be a fruitful position to take. That leads into your point about Judaism. I have read a little about it but find it hard to see where I should begin. Orthodox, seems impossible and Reform well, that looks just like the progressive stuff that I have no truck with. The middle way perhaps but there is not much near me to get info on and it would be looking deeply at the OT and it's so much of that that gives me so much trouble. One nagging thought is that given that Christianity arose alongside Judaism and eventually expanded so dramatically, why then did and indeed, do Jews not regard Jesus as the Son of God? Why do they deny the resurrection? Surely their historical accounts are at least as valid as those of Christianity?
Final point, I'm now looking at " finding God without religion" my initial research leaves me with a somewhat hollow, cold feeling. As I said, I think I will only be satisfied when I find that warmth inside and that contentment that others have. I never expected this to be easy and it certainly isn't but, my search continues!
Yes, Orthodoxy is a hard, hard road, and although I find it a wonderful way, it is not for everyone. I understand your reluctance about the Reform as well, though I find a lot of positive stuff there as well. I suppose I just look for the good in all the denominations -- being unattached to any particular branch, I kind of feel at home wherever I go. But if you are pickier, that's okay too.
So there are no conservative synagogues in your neck of the woods? What a shame.
Since you have asked questions, I am more than willing to answer.
Jews have no problem with Jesus being a son of God -- only with such a title being unique. After all, David is described as a son of God. All Israel is God's "first born son." But the Christian scriptures describe Jesus as God's ONLY son, and what's more they describe him as a BEGOTTEN son of God. We do take issue with that. Why? Because God having babies is a pagan idea.
This idea entered the church later in history, when Gentiles entered the church, bringing their Hellenism and Egyptian ways with them. In Greek culture, you had the gods having sex and giving birth to other gods and demi-gods all the time. Things like virgin births and resurrections were not unusual in pagan mythology. In Gentile minds, if Jesus was exalted, it was simply natural to think of him as a deity, and for this kind of mythology to be attached. To some extent, Hellenistic Jews such as Paul came under this sway as well.
These things were never beliefs of the Jews from Judea. Christianity began as a Jewish sect, which means that the only belief they had about Jesus was that he was the messiah. It was still a heretical belief, because it required heretical understandings of the Tanakh, and the view that the messiah wouldn't fulfill all the prophecies. For this reason the Christians were eventually kicked out of the synagogues. That combined with the fact that the majority of them were soon Gentile, and you had a new religion.
Other Christian bread and butter theologies such as the Trinity came hundreds of years later.