Why Do Jews Reject Jesus?

[vulturesrow]

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I don't think the non-existent jesus had any disiples[sic].

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I have seen you make reference to this point before. The fact is that most historical scholars acknowledge the historical existence of the man named Jesus. This debate died a long time ago and these days the debate is over the signifigance of His life, not whether He actually existed or not.

[Warder]

Sounds like most of you have made up your mind on the issue one way or another, so why not just leave it at that? If you don't believe in a God or higher power, how can you prove that you're right to somebody who does? And if you do believe, how can you prove it to somebody who doesn't?

[buck_thunder]

You love to take things out of context. I believe it to be a great compliment. My father does not hate, berate, or call e stupid for not believing in heaven or hell. He prays for me, tells me he will always love me no matter what i believe, and ALWAYS wishes me the best success in life. We hold very deep and intelectual conversations - just not about religion. There is no point. My point is that you make fun of these people for what they believe. True religious followers and leaders do not take this aproach with "non-beleivers". They are above that. And i for one respect them for living their lives in this maner. I do not respect you for using your intellignce to belittle people. I view you and your thinking as pathetic. Don't hate them because someone used to flush your head in a toilet as a kid (and that guy happen to go to church).

[Warder]

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Good non fiction books are not interpreted much differently depending on the reader.

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Completely not true.... Everybody has their own opinion on a subject simply because they didn't experience it first hand. The only correct interpretation in any case is from the author, including the bible whether you believe it or not.

[Warder]

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The Old Testament is nonsense. There neither was nor will there ever be a messiah.

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Then how dare any of you emit such certainty about your particular interpretation? I've said a few times that it would be a lot harder to debate against religions if there were only one. Why not get together and see what you can all agree upon? (Sklanskyanity would of course be the obvious choice.) The way it is now you are all just making fools of yourselves.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well then it looks like they're not the only ones.

[Spladle Master]

[ QUOTE ]
You love to take things out of context. I believe it to be a great compliment. My father does not hate, berate, or call e stupid for not believing in heaven or hell. He prays for me, tells me he will always love me no matter what i believe, and ALWAYS wishes me the best success in life. We hold very deep and intelectual conversations - just not about religion. There is no point. My point is that you make fun of these people for what they believe. True religious followers and leaders do not take this aproach with "non-beleivers". They are above that. And i for one respect them for living their lives in this maner. I do not respect you for using your intellignce to belittle people. I view you and your thinking as pathetic. Don't hate them because someone used to flush your head in a toilet as a kid (and that guy happen to go to church).

[/ QUOTE ]

If your father believes that your lack of faith in Jesus Christ will earn you an eternity of pain and suffering in hell after you die, and he does not spend his every waking moment attempting to convince you of the truth of his beliefs, then your father does not love you very much.

[bossJJ]

Another reason why Jews don’t believe that the Greek testament is true (nor written by Jews) is that it is full of anti-Semitism. There are literally hundreds of antisemitic verses in it. It doesn't just disagree with Jewish beliefs, but it completely and totally vilifies and dehumanizes the Jews. The only good Jews are the ones who accept Jesus. But Jews who choose to remain Jewish are evil, hypocritical spiritually blind murderers, sons of devils and enemies of God. Here are a few examples:

Jews are "sons of devils" (Jn 8:44).
Jews are snakes and "sons of snakes" (Mt 12:34, 23:33).
Jews are hypocrites (Mt 23:13-15, 23, 29).
Jews are liars (Jn 8:44).
Jews are "God's enemies," (Rom 11:28).
Jews are in "spiritual poverty" (Rom 11:12).
Jews are blind (Mt 23:16, 19, 26).
Jews are "hostile to all men" (1 Thess 2:15).
Jews have never known or heard God (Jn 5:37-38, 8:55).
Jews are a "synagogue of Satan" (Rev 2:9, 3:9).
Jews will go to hell, Jews murderers, guilty of all murders (Mt 23:34-36. See also 1 Thess 2:14-16).
The Jews are depicted as those who steal, kill and destroy (Jn 10:10).

These verses aren’t being taken out of context, as there are no surrounding verses that give a contrasting view or portray Jews in a favorable light. And some of the verses (e.g. – Jn 8:42-44) make it clear that the Jews are “sons of devils” (or whatever) because they don’t follow Jesus. So it would apply to all Jews (who choose to remain Jews).

The Jews are blamed for killing Jesus, and all their descendants are guilty too. In Matthew 27:15-26, a crowd of [apparently ordinary] Jews demand that Jesus be crucified. In verse 25 they [i.e. – the Jews] say "let his blood be on our heads and the heads of our children." Historically, Christians held all Jews responsible for Jesus’ death and as a result they persecuted, tortured and murdered thousands of Jews. In doing so, they were following the teachings of the gt. After all, it says that the Jews murdered Jesus and that they are God's enemies. Jesus commanded that his enemies be put to death. A parable of Jesus (in Luke 19:11-27) says that those who reject the king (i.e. - Jesus to Christians) should be put to death. Jesus allegedly said "He who is not with me is against me..." (Mt 12:30) and "If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned." He said that anyone who isn't for him is against him, that those who don't accept him will be tortured for eternity in hell. So those who torture and kill Jews are just doing God's work - God will continue the torture after their death.

Despite all the antisemitic verses, some Christians claim that the gt isn’t anti-Semitic, and I don’t understand how they can make that claim. If there was a book that said that Blacks are liars, thieves, hypocrites, murderers, hostile, spiritually blind sons of the devil and enemies of God, and that accused them of many crimes that they didn’t commit, could you deny that it was a racist book? Could that book be from God?

[bossJJ]

A Jewish View of the Torah:

Unlike Christians, who often think of the Torah as something harsh, Jews have a very positive view of the Torah:

“The Law of the Lord is perfect, it restoreth the soul; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the simple one wise! The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes!” (Ps 19:7-8, see also Ps 119)

With it we sanctify every aspect of our lives, and draw close to God. We are God’s servant (Isaiah 41:8, 41: 9, 44:1, 2, 21, 26, 45:4, 48:20, 49:3, Jer 34:10, Ps 136:22), and His witnesses (Is 43:10). By our example, we teach the nations about God and how to live righteously. This (Torah observance) raises us, and the entire world, to a higher spiritual plane. We are “a light unto the nations” (Is 49:6) and “ a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6).

“For a commandment is a candle, and the Torah is a light. . . “ (Prov. 6:23).

“And nations shall go by your light and kings by the brilliance of your shine.” (Is 60:3)

“…I will make you a light of nations, so that My salvation shall be until the end of the earth.” (Is 49:6)

This process will be completed only in the messianic age, because only then will all Jews return to Torah observance, and all non Jews will recognize its truth.

The ultimate goal of the historic process is the perfection of society. A torah-observant society is the closest there is to a perfect society. Until a few hundred years ago, the majority of Jews lived in separate communities where the Torah was generally observed. Because of Jewish Law, even when Jews were persecuted and shut out of the surrounding society, we had higher quality lives. We had more stable families, with virtually no alcoholism nor violence. We have always set up charities, fed the poor, taken care of orphans and widows, established schools, etc. Because giving charity and studying Torah are such important commandments (arguably the most important), everyone was taken care of, and everyone, women included, was educated. Jewish communities have had a system of public education for over 2000 years, and we were one of the first nations to totally abolish slavery.

God’s laws are absolute and eternal, so of course His holy Torah is to be observed forever (Dt 29:28, 2:4, Is 40:8, Ecc. 13:14, Ps 111:7-8, Ex 31:16, Num 15:23, etc.), even into and including the messianic age (Ezek 11:19-20, 37:24, 44:9, Zach 14:16, Jer 33:17-18). In fact, it is Torah observance that will bring about the messianic age. Two of the most important things that the messianic age will bring are world peace and a universal knowledge of God. These are impossible without Torah. It is inconceivable that God’s perfect Torah should not last forever. And indeed the bible NEVER says anywhere that the Torah is only temporary. The real messiah won’t replace the Torah, nor disobey or change its laws. On the contrary, he will embrace it. Then, finally, the Torah will be fulfilled, and achieve its purpose of compassion, loving-kindness, and peace in the world.

[bossJJ]

Jews reject the gt for the same reasons that we reject the Koran and the book of Mormon. All three were written by delusional men who were following a false prophet. Each group claims to have God’s true revelation to mankind. However, all three are clearly not from God because they all contradict His word as given to us in the Hebrew bible.

How can we be so sure that the Torah is from God? And that the gt, Koran, and book of Mormon are not? Because God appeared to the ENTIRE JEWISH NATION (about 2-3 million people) when He gave the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai (Dt 5:19). Judaism is the ONLY religion in the entire world that was started by a national revelation from God. Only God, speaking to an entire nation could reveal a true religion. And once God speaks, He doesn’t “change His mind,” or revise the truths He proclaimed as absolute and eternal.

All other religions, including Christianity, are man-made. They started when some person claimed to have received a personal revelation from G-d. (In the case of Christianity, this person was Paul, not Jesus.) This person starts spreading his new version of the truth, whether through charisma or “miracles”, and he gradually develops a group of followers, who tell even more people, etc. Followers of these other religions often try to convince Jews that their new way is actually God’s true final revelation to mankind. They are certain that they are right, and that the Jews are wrong. They get quite upset with the stubborn Jews who fail to see the “truth”. For this reason both the gt and koran are very antisemitic books which portray the Jews as spiritually blind.

With the single exception of Judaism, the whole foundation of the other major world religions rests on a single individual. This person claims to be telling the truth, but how can we be sure when there are so many conflicting religions out there? Well, God hasn't again appeared in front of an entire nation in order to validate ANY of those other religions. God explicitly commands us NOT to follow any other religion (Dt 6:12-15, 13:1-12, Ps 81:8-9), even if the “prophet” of this new faith produces a miracle (Dt 13:2-4). Instead, we are commanded to follow God’s Torah forever (Ecc. 13:14, Dt 2:4, 29:28, Is 40:18, Ps 111:7-8, Ex 31:16, Num 15:23), even into and including the messianic age (Ezek 11:19-20, 37:24, 44:9, Zach 14:16). The bible never says that the Torah is only temporary.

The fervent faithful of many other religions often talk about miraculous events and wonderful personal experiences that prove the validity of their faith. However, believers of all religions make such claims, and they can’t all be right. The fact is that these experiences don’t prove anything:

www.outreachjudaism.org/experience

And if the events at Sinai were just an elaborate hoax by Moses, how come no one else has ever been able to repeat it? That would be a great way to convince people that your religion was true. These ideas are discussed in more detail here:

Did_God_Speak_at_Sinai

Historical Verification of The Torah

[bossJJ]

About the Jewish view of God:

www.beingjewish.com/