That is what I heard and read years ago. So how do you view Jesus?
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As a very distant cousin who was mostly a good guy, who was very idealistic (in wanting to get rid of the Roman-induced corruption of the Priesthood)…but foolish to allow himself to come to the attention of the Romans as a revolutionary. Got himself killed for it…and then his followers (starting with Paul, but continuing for literally centuries) completely changed his message and even went against the Torah that Jesus himself said would not change one “jot or tittle” until the final redemption (which we haven’t seen yet).
As a (potential) prophet, he sucked. The test to even have a shot at being called a prophet is that each and every one of your prophecies has to be true in every detail. Well, Jesus said to his followers that the final redemption would come before some of them tasted death. WRONG! Oh, and necessary prerequisites for the final redemption include world peace, the universal recognition of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the one and only deity, the ingathering of ALL Jewish exiles and the building of the 3rd Temple. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG and WRONG - not a single one of those things happened during his life, shortly thereafter or at any time in the nearly 2000 years since then. So…NOT a prophet of any kind.
He was also not born of a virgin (that’s a deliberate mistranslation of a passage that was taken completely out of context), and was not THE messiah for many reasons, including his unqualified genealogy and his failure to do ANYTHING required of that person, as laid out in Jewish scriptures. That failure, btw, is exactly why every Christian talks about a do-over (the “2nd coming”), because they KNOW that he failed. FYI, this also shows the Christian theologians can’t count - because according to them he lived (1st coming), died and came back (that’s 2) without accomplishing anything, and is still expected to come back (that would be the THIRD coming). By that standard (incorrect genealogy and a couple failures), pretty much ANYBODY could be THE messiah.
Anyone (of any religion) wanting to know more about the Jewish perspective on Jesus and the religion created by his followers should go to YouTube and watch either Rabbi Tovia Singer or Jews for Judaism. Both of their channels have a wealth of information, backed by specific references to both Jewish and Christian scriptures.
I appreciate your taking the time to impart this to me.
My thinking of Jesus has been evolving for the last few years independently of what you have told me, so I was moving in the right direction.
I grew up in the Episcopal Church which has changed so radically in the last 30 years I no longer claim it.
My Mother had a cousin who always felt she was Jewish and come to find out somewhere in our family tree someone did marry a person of Jewish Faith so I may have a few drops and I have always felt close to the Jewish people. I grew up in Arkansas and with a lot of wonderful Jewish people. I even attended Temple a few times.
I have considered converting, my Mother’s cousin actually did convert and became a Messianic Jew. I would need to investigate more on this.
Thanks again for the information.