Question for any Jewish people on the board...?

Question

Although I do not believe in the God of the Bible, I respect the Jews very much. You don't try and gain converts through fear, or threats. Anyway, here are my questions...

How frustrating is it (if at all) to see Christians continually rip verses out of context to try and "prove" the New Testament? And if so, could you please list examples and your rebuttals?

I'm not a Bible scholar but I did read without aid of apologetics because all the contradictions were starting to weigh on me and even the apologetics couldn't agree on everything. Anyway it seemed pretty evident that the OT doesn't teach that the Messiah will be born from a virgin, then come and teach three years, then die, then come back to life, then have a transfiguration and THEN FINALLY the end will come and the Messiah will reign in peace. Wasn't that all suppose to happen at once?

Thanks...

Answer 1

ditto with jewish girl.

also, here are some common comments i make on this forum:

. the subject of Isaiah 53 is promised a "long life" and "seed" (i.e. physical children). Clearly this isn't about jesus.
. Isaiah 7 is clearly not messianic if you read the whole chapter. and "alma" doesn't mean virgin either. You'd know that if you spoke hebrew (I guess it wasn't part of your "extensive jewish upbringing", huh?)
. Isaiah 9 can't be about jesus since, according to christianity, he's the "son" not the "father" (as the verse states). Nor did he have control of the government (to the contrary, the roman government killed him). And he certainly did not establish "endless peace".
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Sources:
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Why_Jews_Dont_Believe_In_Jesus.asp
http://jewsforjudaism.org/web/faq/general_messiah-criteria02.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_messiah#Textual_requirements

cheerio

Answer 2

No, it is not part of our religion to try and convert others. IF a person wholeheartedly wants to convert however, they are welcomed with open arms in most synagogues. I am a convert of a year, its a long process. As with christians, you cant just say, I believe in JC and now im a christian as you do with being jewish. I didnt just wake up one day and say, "Im jewish". You must learn and grow and its really a lifelong process, its a way of life more than a religion.

As far as the messiah, from what I have learned and heard from other Jews, The messiah has not come because the messianic prophecy has not been filled. Namely world peace. It just makes more sense to me. Christianity is a man made religion, Judiasm is the religion choosen by god.

Answer 3

It can be, and is at times, fustrating.

One example is found in Matthew 2:15
"and was there until the death of Herod, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 'Out of Egypt did I call my son'"

Christians claim the prophet is Hosea and the reference is from Hosea 11:1. But there is a problem when one reads Hosea..

Hosea 11
1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son

but what is ignored is the context which is found in verse 2
2 The more they called them, the more they went from them, they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols.

First, Hosea is talking about when God brought Israel out of Egypt under Moses. Second there is a reference to some worshiping idols and false gods. This reference is the context of why God called Israel out of Egypt. And the reference as to why God calls Israel His son is found in Exodus 4:22-23.

So, if the original context is the nation of Israel, not a specific son, and also idol and false god worship, then the verse found in Matthew 2:15 should reference the same context. And since it doesn't, the proof becomes self evident as to pulling topics out of their proper context.

Another is Mark 7:19 "...(Thus He declared all foods clean)"

First, the topic wasn't about clean foods, it was about ritual washing of hands before meals. Yeshua was arguing that ritual washings doesn't make food clean or unclean. What makes food clean is the word of God, which He does in Gen 1:29 for vegatables and Lev 11 for animal meat. So he wasn't declaring all foods clean, but making the point that the God-declared kosher foods doesn't change status with ritual hand washing, thus all kosher food is Already clean.

Answer 4

i'm here. it drives me nuts when they do that. i don't mind that they have their own bible, but trying to tell us we don't know what OUR OWN BIBLE is talking about is pretty ludicrous.

"And if so, could you please list examples and your rebuttals?"

well, its late and i can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but christians are always emailing me to point out biblical prophecies "of jesus" and its not very hard to rebut any of them.

oh, i thought of one! the "piercing" argument which actually never mentions the word "pierced" at all in the hebrew manuscripts, but "pierced" always seems to be mentioned in christian bibles... even though the words "like a lion" which they mistranslate as "pierced" is translated correctly in other parts of the very same chapter and book, oddly enough, showing that the christian scribes knew perfectly well the difference between "like a lion" and "pierced" but chose to mistranslate anyway.

Answer 5

Totally agree w/ Jewish Girl...

Answer 6

hmmm...no replies yet? I think they all went to sleep, it's late...