You people need to understand that the fact that chrstianity "accepts" (in a mitigated sense) the "old testament" not only doesn't in any way justify chrstianity, it doesn't even require Jews to be grateful for this! The Hebrew Bible was known to be of Divine origin before chrstianity even existed.
Jews reject J*sus because they are bound for all eternity to the Torah . . . as it has existed since Sinai (none of this "fufillment" garbage, please!). The Torah excludes any such religion as chrstianity, no matter how much of Judaism chrstianity "acknowledges."
If someone started a brand new religion that "accepted the 'new testament'" but added to it, would that prove it is authentic? Every chrstian would reject it because they think they already have the fullness of truth. This is exactly what Jews think of Torah.
So, without the shedding of blood, there is no redemption of sin.
What do the Jews of today do with that?
They can’t sacrifice anything.
Mormons and muslims are the examples christians reject as having extra revelation.
Howevr the torah never had an explicit book saying theres nothing left to add, like Revelation does.
Further Christ, the kinsman redeemer, is discussed in the torah. The jews refuse to believe Jesus is that redeemer because they thought their messiah would be a political worldly leader that would overthrow Rome and other worldly powers. They were looking for that are thus almost all missed Jesus for who He was.
Interesting, thanks.
So Jews look to Christians
as Christians look to Mormons,
and as Mormons, probably,
look to Scientology.
If someone started a brand new religion that “accepted the ‘new testament’” but added to it, would that prove it is authentic?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph Smith did just that.
Some people believe it.
The conditions of the Torah are impossible to achieve - and that is the point. Man had to learn that achieving Holiness through obedience is impossible. However, Jesus came and in his “flesh” complied fully with all of the conditions of the Torah - thus fulfilling (completing) all requirements. Once the Torah had been fulfilled, Jesus established the terms for acceptance will all nations (exactly as foretold in Isiah). Thus, Israel’s relationship with God is no longer exclusive, but others can be “grafted” into this remnant of Israel - the followers of Jesus. Now all that is required is faithfulness to the completed work of Jesus - what a Joy!!
The conditions of the Torah are impossible to achieve - and that is the point. Man had to learn that achieving Holiness through obedience is impossible. However, Jesus came and in his “flesh” complied fully with all of the conditions of the Torah - thus fulfilling (completing) all requirements. Once the Torah had been fulfilled, Jesus established the terms for acceptance will all nations (exactly as foretold in Isiah). Thus, Israel’s relationship with God is no longer exclusive, but others can be “grafted” into this remnant of Israel - the followers of Jesus. Now all that is required is faithfulness to the completed work of Jesus - what a Joy!!
There is NO such thing called Christianity without the writings of Moses. Genesis 3:15 is the foundation of Christianity. Only half of that first prophecy has been fulfilled. Christ declared in Mark 13:23 “But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.” This was long before any jot or tittle was ever placed on plant fibers or animal skins.
Every individual is given the opportunity to ‘chose’ which path they will follow. There is NO New Testament without the foretelling of all things in what is commonly called the ‘Old Testament’.
The denial of Christ being who He said He was is not a new thing... first recording was by Moses in the Garden of God, called Eden.
“Jews reject J*sus because they are bound for all eternity to the Torah . . . as it has existed since Sinai (none of this ‘fufillment’ garbage, please!). The Torah excludes any such religion as chrstianity, no matter how much of Judaism chrstianity ‘acknowledges.’”
Conservative Christians here appreciate our conservative Jewish FRiends as we share a lot in common politically, socially, and in our faiths. You do not have to convert to Christianity to be appreciated.
Christians are NOT commanded to convert everyone. We are, however, commanded to proclaim the Gospel. Some will believe. Some will not. Doctrinally, Christians who understand the Bible know that it is impossible to coerce someone into becoming a Christian believer. This conversion is supernatural and can only be done by God alone. The perception of Jews that Christians are all only interested in proselytizing and converting them to Christianity is one of several things that Jews find offensive about evangelical Christianity.
I do not expect to convert you. And I especially do not intend to coerce you or anyone else to become a Christian. However, because Christians believe, in this current age, the revealed Gospel message about Jesus is a requirement to receive eternal life, we proclaim this message from both the Greek and Hebrew scriptures. This principle is based on the connection between reason and faith. And faith is the basis for the imputed righteousness of God for salvation from sin.
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.”
The central issue is sin and its consequences. Because of the sin that occurred in the Garden of Eden, all of humanity is under the curse of God and the consequence of sin in the world. But in the Divine judgment is also the hope that goes along with the first Messianic promise of the Bible:
Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.
According to Christian tradition, it was the Devil or Satan operating through the serpent. Also according to Christian doctrine, every person will ultimately be identified with one of these two seeds: the serpent (i.e. children of the Devil), or the Divine Seed of the woman who is the Messiah (these are children of God who are spiritually reborn into God’s family). The seed of the serpent will be personified in the ultimate counterfeit Messiah—the antichrist, who will mislead the world before Jesus the Messiah returns.
We see in the lineage of Adam the Divine plan of redemption. Cain and Able are a literal embodiment of two competing religious systems. The true religion of Seth was based on faith and a blood sacrifice patterned after the slaying of an animal by God to clothe Adam and Eve. Cain’s religion was one of self-righteousness, presenting to God the fruit of his own hands. When God accepted the sacrifice of Able but was displeased with Cain’s offering, Cain ultimately killed his brother. And this is the nature of false religion versus true down through the centuries. But Able’s death did not hinder God’s Divine plan. God gave Seth to take his place.
Cain’s descendants were destroyed in the deluge of Noah, but Able’s were preserved. Jesus has the same ten ancestors that all of humanity shares today: Adam, Seth, Enosh, Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah. From Noah’s sons, all the nations of the earth came, and also came the promised Seed of the woman, the Messiah.
Consider the meaning of these ten names:
Adam was a man, the first man and head of mankind, made in the image of God.
Seth was one in the image of his father, one who was appointed (Seth means appointed), in context, to take the place of what was lost.
Enosh means to die.
Cainan means possession.
Mahalalel means light of God.
Jared means to come down.
Enoch means to be experienced.
Methuselah means when he dies it will be sent.
Lamech means priest or servant of God.
Noah means comfort, and contextually, comfort in the deliverance from the curse of God.
Together we see the Divine plan moving forward to fulfill His promise of the Seed who is the Messiah: The Messiah is the Man in the very likeness of God, who was appointed to die in the place of those who were lost due to sin, and His death was the purchase price for our redemption. He was the light of God who came down from Heaven. And the experiential fulfillment of God’s promise was accomplished when he died. He was the great High Priest who redeemed mankind from the curse.
The Divine plan of redemption continues in the Torah with Abraham with a promise to bless the whole world through him:
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
The Messiah was not only the Priest but also the sacrifice as the Paschal Lamb of God. Of course you are familiar with the Christian view that Isaiah 53 describes the Messiah as the sacrificial Lamb.
Isaiah 53:7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
Verse 3 of this passage is where we also learn that this servant was “despised and rejected by men” (and not just men of Israel but of all nations).
But Abraham also prophesied of the Messiah who would be the Paschal Lamb of God:
Genesis 22:8, 13
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together... Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
God did not provide a lamb to Abraham that day. He provided a ram. But Abraham, as a prophet, was correct that God would provide Himself a Lamb which is the Messiah.
The offering of Isaac is also a prophetic picture of God giving His Son as a sacrifice to take away sin. Abraham was willing to obey God, knowing by faith that God was able to raise his son from the dead. God chose rather to intervene and prevent Abraham from completing the offering, though his faith and willing obedience were proven to be true. And indeed Jesus was raised from the dead, and the Greek scriptures record many of the eye-witness testimonies.
God chose that the Messiah would come through Abraham, and specifically through the nation of Israel. Why did God pick Israel?
Deuteronomy 7:7-8
The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
God chose Israel because of His own character and righteousness, not because of the righteousness of the nation of Israel.
Deuteronomy 9:6-7
Therefore understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember! Do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.
We learn the reason for God choosing Israel in the pattern of the prophet Jonah. God sent Jonah to preach repentance to Nineveh. God knew exactly how everything would unfold. He prepared a storm because He knew Jonah would run away in the opposite direction God sent him. He sent the fish because He knew Jonah would be thrown overboard. He also used the fish to demonstrate His power being greater than the fish-god Dagon that Nineveh worshipped. God also prepared a vine to shade Jonah and a worm to eat and destroy the vine. God was not surprised that Jonah was disobedient and rebellious at first. And, in fact, God chose Jonah for this very reason, in order to demonstrate His sovereign power so that He could intervene in Nineveh and bring them to repentance and save them from destruction.
Likewise God chose Israel knowing that as a nation they would reject the Messiah, and in so doing the Gospel would be proclaimed to the Gentiles. This does not mean He has rejected Israel or broken His covenant with Israel, no more than He rejected Jonah as His prophet. The book of Jonah ends with God admonishing Jonah:
Jonah 4:10-11
But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
And the story seems incomplete. Jonah says no more. He does not respond or show he learned and understood this Divine instruction. And this symbolizes that Israel will likewise not understand her role in God’s Divine plan of salvation. Israel is God’s chosen nation. She is like God’s prophet, Jonah. Like Jonah she did not commit the idolatry of Nineveh but worshipped the true God and attempted to keep His laws. Yet she failed to see her Divine commission to be blessing to all nations through the Gospel.
But what nations have repented like the city-state of Nineveh? The message of salvation is proclaimed to all nations, but only a remnant from every nation will respond. And as I said, this is a supernatural work of God. So, not ALL of Israel is in unbelief. God has a remnant within Israel that has received the Messiah, which is Jesus.
Daniel describes the antichrist and how some nations will fall and some will be spared and preserved into the reign of the Messiah on earth. Israel, of course, is the first and most important nation which God will spare from destruction when He judges the earth. And He promised in Daniel 9 to bring His chosen nation Israel to the fulfillment of all of His promises in His eternal covenant.
Daniel 9:24
Seventy weeks are determined
For your people and for your holy city,
To finish the transgression,
To make an end of sins,
To make reconciliation for iniquity,
To bring in everlasting righteousness,
To seal up vision and prophecy,
And to anoint the Most Holy.
When this is accomplished He will fulfill His covenant with Israel with the permanent righteousness through writing His laws on their heart:
Jeremiah 31:31, 33
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah... But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
But there is only one viable explanation for each of these separate and independent historical facts:
1. the tomb was empty
2. the disciples scattered in a panic after the crucifixion but within a few days’ time suddenly became unified and cohesive in their purpose
3. the disciples devoted their lives to the Gospel despite certain poverty, misery, persecution, torture and murder
4. the conversion of James, a skeptic
5. the conversion of Paul, an enemy