Why Did the Jews Reject Christianity?

The Yeshiva.net ^ | 8/1/2010 | Rabbi Joseph Isaac Jacobson

[RaisingCain]

““The Jewish authorities ought to learn Hebrew.”

I can assure you they do. The JPS used by mechon-mamre is not the most authoritative. The Rabbi’s know Hebrew better than any christian authority, stick to your Greek.”

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The word in question is properly translated, as I showed.

[zencycler]

I kindly ask that if you wish to ask me questions about my faith that it is for informational purposes only, ask for explanation or opinion, and do not attempt to convert me. I will of course give you the same respect.

I'm not so religious, and had no intention of trying to convert anyone. However, I don't see anything disrespectful about someone who does try to persuade me to consider their faith. After all, if you truly believe that you are following the right path, it would be an act of generosity and compassion to share it with others. Those who disagree (as I often do) can simply choose to listen or not, change or not.

For example, a conservative who attempts to "convert" a liberal is not being disrespectful, is he? When one holds a conviction, which they believe, if shared, would benefit another person, why would they NOT want to persuade others to follow?

[RaisingCain]

“Your timeline is all wrong. You are not counting correctly. And the two messiahs mentioned in Daniel are NOT the same person. One is good and one is bad (cut-off) Only bad people are cut-off. There have been hundreds of messiahs, some good, some bad.”

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So you assert, but I do not see that in the reading of the passage. As for “cut off,” the word Karath having a special meaning of “bad people cut off,” there is no evidence for that. The word is used in such disparate thing as cutting branches, cutting fruit, cutting things, cutting people off from the living, and so on and so forth. I do not think that fruit, branches, etc are all inherently evil. In Isaiah 53, that one is also “cut off from the land of the living” though the scripture says he was cut off for the iniquity of others. That word, though, is a different word also translated as “cut off.”

[RaisingCain]

Whether He is a part of your faith or no, you have no answers for my questions, just a stubborn hanging on to things as meaningless (so far as Reasoning is concerned) as a false sense of heritage or bloodline.

[James C. Bennett]

Of interest?

[zencycler]

Jews don’t recruit. No polite way of saying it. :)

Right, but the topic was "respect" and how you somehow equate recruiting with disrespect, which I don't get.

Let me try it this way - I respect those, like you (and me) who don't feel the need to recruit their religious point of view. But I also respect those who do

Respect, because in both cases, folks are folloing what they believe. How can you respect Christians, as you claim, if you are labeling those who engage in recruitment as being, somehow disrespectful?

[Sheapdog]

There have always been Christians who have believed in God’s promises to the Jewish people would be literally fulfilled prior to the end of this age. Unfortunately, it’s intellectually easy or advantageous for many to broadly lump everyone in to traditional positions. Since Augustine’s The City of God the church (Catholic church) understood scripture and prophetic scripture through a lens of Replacement theology or Supersessionism. The Church is the fulfillment of all Jewish scripture and thus inheritor of all God’s promises. The loss of the land for Jews and their persecution were seen as evidence justifying the belief. Mohammedian’s beliefs are their own form of replacement theology as is the persecution of Jews seen as a validation of that belief.

Many Christians resort to arguments from tradition and that God’s Holy Spirit surely guided the church for over a millenium and would not have led the Church in error. If that were the case we should all learn Latin and return to using the Vulgate. There have always been Christians (maybe a remnant or a minority) that have taken God’s promises to the Jewish people literally and seriously. In the past - reformation period soteriological (study of salvation) and ecclesiological (study of the church and its form) issues dominated the questions of those centuries. Each generation must be judged in light of it’s understanding and within the century and time frame as they understood things and the relevancy of those issues. Even if I could excuse Christians hundreds of years ago (although John Calvin’s copious commentary on the Bible – skipped completely Romans chapter 9 through 11 because they didn’t fit his traditional view as understood in a replacement framework) I can’t believe the current 21st or 20th century can be excused nor will posterity look kindly on us as it is.

Even Charles Spurgeon didn’t spend significant time with eschatological issues dealing with the Jewish people and a literal fulfillment of prophecy-maybe because he knew it was both divisive and not essential for his generation. Both Replacement and non Replacement camps claim him as one of there own. However, many Christians looked forward to and believed God would restore the Jewish people to their land and inheritance. This is documented and especially true of many puritans in England and surrounding areas going back at least 4 centuries.
Eschatological issues are more relevant for this generation than the issues that Christians haggled over hundreds of years ago. Most of those issues today that many died for wouldn’t be understood and even if they were would be brushed aside in the blink of an eye in name of tolerance and or pragmatism.

Barry Horner’s Future Israel is the definitive modern look at the issue. here’s the link if anyone is interested

http://www.amazon.com/Future-Israel-Anti-Judaism-Challenged-Commentary/dp/0805446273/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2PXVUTW1RKEHZ&coliid=I6SX08JVWWFHH

Dr. James R. Sibley 2007-present Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Mishkan (an international journal relating to the Jewish people and the gospel)

once showed me his personal collection gathered over many years of Christians/ Jewish/Hebrew/Christians and Christian missionaries going back to the reformation period who reached out to Jewish people and believed in the literal future fulfillment of Bible’s promises to the Jewish people regarding their inheritance and the land. It was extensive, rare and probably quite valuable. Probably shouldn’t even mention it but much of the history in this area is scare and or it’s relevance downplayed.

That’s enough for now…
cheers

[Sheapdog]

I should add Jacob Dumkani, an Israeli born Jew and believer in Jesus/ Yeshua does much to promote and share his faith and views in Israel with the help of gentile believers. A bit controversial in Israel. He has a very famous book Why Me?

his website is and ministry is called “Trumpet of Salvation” if anyone is interested.

also his website offers a new dvd “The Other Side of the Cross” is free and a preview is here
http://vimeo.com/44858626

Here is the write up he has
It is a very powerful tool that will demolish centuries-old strongholds of lies about who Yeshua is and will reveal the truth about Him to both Jews and Gentiles around the world. It has been the result of a vision God put in my heart to glorify Yeshua with a film designed specifically for Israelis using the expertise of world-renowned historians and modern film production techniques - thousands will be re-educated and the lives of many Jewish people will be forever changed!

[RaisingCain]

“You are basically asking me to prove a negative. Not going to happen.

Meaningless to you, but not to me.”

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I was asking you to answer my questions, which you have not done or even acknowledged. Similarly, you do not acknowledge the obvious references to Jesus in the scriptures.

[moose07]

Bookmark for later

[stpio]

Can you see how history repeats itself? Jesus states
“I AM.” I am God and the Jewish leaders couldn’t handle
it...they said...nooo!!

Jesus states to mostly Jewish people, “unless you eat My
flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you.” Some
of his disciples couldn’t handle such a saying and walked with Him no more. They said...nooo!!

Today and for almost four centuries past, some Christian, thank God, a minority cannot handle that “I AM” God Himself can be present in a tiny wafer. They say and said...nooo!!

God’s not crazy or lying in His words, this is the divine
plan.

[thecodont]

Is Jesus looked at as Someone heretical? Not until they are confronted with the historical fact that Jesus claimed to be God Himself. At that point, every jew I have spoken with has doubted the historicity of the claim, even though the enemies of Christ acknowledged (and used) it at the time of His death. At this point, I would suggest that you’re at the point of doubting the historicity of the claim. You can’t go before God and claim you never heard this. It is worth checking into, for the sake of your own soul.

At one point Christ asks it of each one of us, Jew and Gentile.

"Who do you say that I am ?"

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say that I am?"

(This is the most important question we are ever asked and the most important question we can ever answer.)

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."

(Matthew 16:13-16, NIV)

[Talisker]

Jews don’t recruit. No polite way of saying it. :)

LOL, daring to speak as a lowly, born and thus permanent goyim, I'd say that was the politest way I've ever heard.

[chuckles]

I've found over the years that we all worry too much about these things we can't control. The Holy Spirit calls you to faith in Jesus. We can reason and argue till the cows come home and it really does no good. The Jews were chosen to bear witness to Jesus even if they don't believe themselves. Jesus was the fleshly image of God on Earth to be the blood sacrifice needed for forgiveness of sin.

If you really want to get on a Jew's nerves, ask them how their sins are forgiven for the last couple thousand years since the Temple was destroyed and they don't have their sacrifices anymore? If they are such sticklers for every jot and tittle of the Bible, then it seems they need to live as they did in 70AD. Jesus is found in every book of the Bible and fulfills every prophesy promised in each book. The guy in the film sound just like a Pharisee of old, and we know what Jesus thought of the church leaders back then, and it wasn't good. When Jesus was asked why He cured a sick person on the Sabbath, He explained it to them, but they still wanted to kill Him. Sorta reminds me of Muslims today. If you live by the Law, you will die by the Law. Just as on the first Pentecost 3000 were killed, on the Pentecost after Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, 3000 were saved. A Jew would just deny they were saved from their sin because they didn't have the Holy Spirit.

If anyone should have been hard to fool, it seems Saul/Paul would have been that man. He was educated and had zeal to obey the Torah. Yet he ended up writing most of the NT and suffered much for the work of Christ. Jesus NEVER suggested that we worship idols or other God's as the speaker suggested. He taught in the Synagogues and befuddled the teachers with His knowledge. I believe because I have faith. That faith comes from personal proof I have seen and heard with my own eyes. Everyone has to come to their own conclusions and you will never change a close heart. The Holy Spirit gives life to a dead person so they can see and hear. If you can't see and hear, you are still dead and speaking and showing will do nothing for a dead man. God calls whom He calls. My job is to testify of the good news and leave the hearing to the Spirit. Jesus fulfills all the requirements of Messiah, but if you don't want one, He will never fill the bill.

[1010RD]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did back in 1841:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/1991/10/orson-hydes-1841-mission-to-the-holy-land

[Hardraade]

Boy, ain’t you fellows lucky having a h*ll to go to?

Might even meet ol Mo and do the interfaith shuffle ;).