What do you think of their arguments?
2007-10-19 03:22:05 · 21 answers · asked by Meat Bot 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I'm not a Christian, but I do understand why Jews don't accept Jesus as the prophesied Messiah.
Jesus did not fulfill the "job requirements" for the Messiah, according to Jewish prophecy.
For Jesus to have been the prophesied Messiah, he would have had to have been a human leader who would restore the Jewish monarchy (and re-establish the Temple), drive out the Romans, set up an independent Jewish state, and inaugurate an era of peace, justice and prosperity (known as "the kingdom of God') for the whole world.
Didn't exactly happen, did it?
What most self-identified Christians do not understand is that Christianity is NOT a "continuation" or "fulfillment" of Judaism. It's a cobbled-together religion based far more on PAUL than on Jesus.
It was PAUL that changed things, and the successors of the original church (led by Peter and James, who called themselves "The Nazarenes) i.e. the Ebionites, broke with Paul and denounced him for the radical changes to Jesus' message and intent that he, Paul, promulgated.
2007-10-19 04:53:56 · answer #1 · answered by Raven's Voice 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Baseball Grrl: "It is my opinion that they interpreted the prophecies how they thought they would turn out. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, yet didn't meet the interpretations, they didn't believe Him. . . . It's like a bias, a preconceived notion. Jesus fits the prophecies if you start with Him and look back, but not if you think you already know what the prophecies mean and look forward."
Uhh . . . You've got the point of prophecy backwards. Prophecy says "it will rain tomorrow", and then you wait a day, and you see if the weather fulfills that preconceived notion, that it will rain. That's EXACTLY how prophecy is supposed to work.
Your preferred method is to look outside and see if it's raining, and then look through all the news reports from the last few months for mentions of water, and say, "see, in July the NY Times said "water bills went up last month," and that is a prophecy that more water will be used (obviously, by God), and it rained today!! Amazing!!" That is not prophecy.
And if I go rent a donkey and ride into Jerusalem next week, do I also get to point to the bible and say "See! I'm the messiah!!"? No, because any prophecy that you know about and can intentionally fulfil is inherently worthless.
2007-10-19 11:40:26 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because he not only didn't fulfill them, he didn't even come close in any way. Huge flameout, total failure.
There is no peace on earth, the temple is not rebuilt, and all the Jews are not back in Israel.
Most of the "prophecies" that Christians cite aren't even messianic prophecies. And even those trumped-up prophecies are pretty lame. Riding a donkey? Being born of an unmarried woman who claims she is a virgin? Being criticized for preaching against established norms? Must be God incarnate!
Fact is, the messiah has a couple of major jobs, and everything else is irrelevant: Peace on earth, ingathering of the exiles, restoration of the temple, all Jews following Torah law. JC is 0 for 4 on those.
If he hadn't failed on all fronts, his followers would not have had to comb the bible for bits of petty foreshadowing of what kind of car he would drive.
2007-10-19 11:31:16 · answer #3 · answered by mianmannoi 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Jesus lied about his 2nd coming...
Matthew 16:28 - I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
The Jews drop out of Christianity when Jesus didn't deliver the goods. According to the astrologers from the East, Jesus was supposed to be the "Newborn King of the Jews." The very last question the Jews made to Jesus was about delivering the goods! (Acts 1:6-7), but now Jesus is telling them that nobody, but nobody including himself knows when God will send him back! (Mark 13:32)... Some preachers today follow this same practice of announcing the coming of God the Son Jesus Christ by 2012, or so. Christians in trouble love to hear that...
2007-10-19 10:33:49 · answer #4 · answered by Opus 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because of their ignoring the Torah(Old Testament) in favor of man made commentaries by Rabbis,such as the Talmud,Mishnah Torah and Midrash, they for the most part gave up on the Messianic prophecies of Daniel ,Micah,Zecheriah ,Isaiah etc. When Jesus did show up they were at least expecting a "Conquering Messiah" who would overthrow Roman rule in Palestinian Syria area.They could not reconcile the fact of both a conqueror and one who dies for them.They thought it must be two people.A Warrior to overthrow Roman rule and a religious leader to die for Israel.Well as David prophecied about Melchizedek,Jesus was both King and Priest.
2007-10-19 10:36:45 · answer #5 · answered by AngelsFan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is my opinion that they interpreted the prophecies how they thought they would turn out. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, yet didn't meet the interpretations, they didn't believe Him. As a previous answer says, they seemed to think He would come and physically overthrow the worldly gvt. and rule His people as a traditional king. It's like a bias, a preconceived notion. Jesus fits the prophecies if you start with Him and look back, but not if you think you already know what the prophecies mean and look forward.
2007-10-19 10:27:38 · answer #6 · answered by BaseballGrrl 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
The Jews believe in 2 messiahs, the first is a suffering servant (which they believe it is their nation, and if there is a nation in the world that has suffered it is them), and the Messiah king who will conquer evil and bring them peace forever.. But when Jesus came He explained that there is only 1 Messiah but comming 2 times.. the first time to suffer and the second time to conquer..
2007-10-19 10:37:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That would be the larger part of why I am a Christian and not a Jew. Iam sure their arguments are valid to some extent but i feel that the prophesies at least that I am aware of were met.
2007-10-19 10:27:06 · answer #8 · answered by mortgagegirl101 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Flawed, consider the prophecy's fullfilled by Jesus from the Old Testament.
Go to this link:
http://www.carm.org/bible/prophecy.htm
2007-10-19 10:29:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because God wasn't even good enough for them. That's why they declared a king of Israel to listen to the law of the land instead of just obeying god. So of course they're not going to listen to Jesus. Once they found out that all people were gods people, they separated. Thats what Jesus taught.
2007-10-19 10:27:29 · answer #10 · answered by tweakk 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋