Posted on 05/16/2010 5:24:35 PM PDT by lovesdogs
My neighbor was buried today. He was a Jewish man of devout faith. Now mind you he was no saint, he had his share of issues just like anyone else. But in his later years, he became much more involved in the temple and study of the Torah. His Rabbi was at his home every other day and sometimes every day for study and company.
I looked all over for an answer to this question and I cannot find it. My friend did not accept Christ as his savior. As a Jew he did not accept Christian belief. Can anyone help me with what will happen to his soul? Will my prayer help? I have no experience with this sort of thing and I am heartbroken with the loss of this good man.
The New Covenant was a whole new way of receiving remission for sins. The Old Covenant required the blood of animals, while the New Covenant was through the blood of Jesus.
The New Covenant no longer requires rituals; it is obtained by faith in the blood of Jesus.
God never divorced Israel. He simply allowed her to go off on her own .. as He still does today to people who refuse to follow Him. However, God’s love for the Jewish people will never wane.
I have no idea where you’re getting the House of Judah represents the Jews, and the House of Israel represents Israel. I’ve never heard of that.
The “church” is the Ecclesia .. made up of all who receive Jesus as their Savior.
End time doctrine says there are 3 groups of people on the earth .. the Jews, the nations (non-believers), and the church.
I’m under the blood of Jesus .. and I’ve studied my history and there is no Jewish blood in my family, so I cannot be from the House of Israel or the House of Judah.
The scriptures in Jerimiah are about the coming of Jesus.
Oh you poor thing ........
Amazing and interesting thread. Sorry about the loss of your friend; I am of the opinion that God will deal with him according to the sincerity of his spiritual beliefs, which you describe in very positive terms. Thus your friend’s soul is likely to do well. Beyond that, I’m not as clear on the details as others on this thread appear to be, so perhaps their answers are of more use.
I’m not going to argue religion with anyone here ( so don’t start ) but as a Christian who went to the local Temple for nearly 20 years with his wife, if your friend was a practicing Jew, I think he’s good to go.
Pray for him anyway- can’t hurt, might help.
One day, we’re all gonna meet again- in a better world than this one...
I am very sorry for your loss.
God is Love.
I have no reason, nor will, to attempt to explain my position, nor to define what is good, If you do not agree that is fine, I am not about to waste time and effort to explain my personal feelings about a subject that has been in dispute since Christ was born.
Theologically, I’m no expert, but I would say that your neighbor was governed by the old Covenant and hence would be judged at the end of time by his deeds. As a member of the chosen people, he had a well, “lucky card” as he did not accept Christ. That’s putting it VERY simplistically and crudely, of course
depends on what you mean by “good”. Would someone who kills attackers be judged good or bad by that action? Jihads use that argument to justify their deeds
What a stupid comment.
Rather than walking into a Heaven with all the saints, et al, you get to stop being reincarnated ~ after what can only be described as a personal "judgment". if looked at from the Western point of view.
Except that there is no Judge, it's an process built into the universe like gravity or entropy. This to me makes it a huge stretch to claim it is similar to the Christian conception of judgement day. Is peanut butter like a lock washer?
The Jewish unbeliever thinks that although he isn’t perfect, God will find something in his life is righteous and will save him.
The Muslim unbeliever thinks that while there is much to be done to achieve perfection, as long as one good thing is done and unrighteousness is opposed, God will count it as righteousness.
Both perspectives are fundamentally flawed in regards to justice.
Whatever the unrighteousness presented to God, His Perfect Righteousness demands Perfect Justice. Likewise whatever unjustness is presented to God, His Perfect Righteousness demands Perfect Justice.
The only way to provide perfect justice to perfect righteousness is to provide it in a right way. If provided without righteousness, it will still fail to be labeled righteous by Perfect Justice.
Jesus Christ remained faithful to God the Father, by submitting to His Plan, even to the Cross, even unto death, submitting himself as the Perfect Sacrifice. Without that perfect sacrifice, nothing offered by anything or anybody which has ever been associated with anything not in or by His Plan, i.e. sin (missing the mark), will ever be qualified as righteous before a Perfect Judge. Without faith through what He provides, we have no redeemer.
Muslims and Jews might produce many humanly good works within this domain, but the Divine domain, where only good works by Divine standards are not burned up are ever admitted for eternal presence with the Divine and other righteousness.
...well we're doing a bang up job of it then aren't we?
The Christian concept of 'salvation' is foreign to Judaism.
My neighbor was buried today. He was a Jewish man of devout faith. Now mind you he was no saint, he had his share of issues just like anyone else. But in his later years, he became much more involved in the temple and study of the Torah. His Rabbi was at his home every other day and sometimes every day for study and company.I looked all over for an answer to this question and I cannot find it. My friend did not accept Christ as his savior. As a Jew he did not accept Christian belief. Can anyone help me with what will happen to his soul? Will my prayer help? I have no experience with this sort of thing and I am heartbroken with the loss of this good man.
Are you asking us to give you a false hope?
The problem with that is people who believe that are applying their own understanding of good and bad. We all assumed Tiger Woods was a good man ... before we knew he wasn't. We humans are not a good judge of character, of good and bad, we are easily dupped by well speaking, well intentioned people.
However, if we judge good and bad by Gods standards, NONE of us is good because we never continually live up to His standards of goodness ... which happens to be perfection. How many of us would claim we are perfect? That is Gods standard and that is the standard by which we will be measured against.
Perfection being the standard, we are all in a hopeless situation. That is why the life of Jesus Christ and his substitutationary atonement was necessary. We cannot attains Gods standard on our own. But Christ did attain that standard and He willingly suffered the penalty of our imperfection. He died in our place, instead of us, He suffered the separation from God instead of us. God accepted that substitution and He now offers eternal life to all those willing to place their faith and trust in Him now ... instead of their own efforts which can never be perfect.
The opinions of man do not matter. The only answer is found in God’s Word.
John 3:18 - “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
John 5:37-40 “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
John 8:24 - “I told you that you would die in your sins, FOR UNLESS YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM HE YOU WILL DIE IN YOUR SINS.”
John 8:42 - “Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.”
John 14:6 - “I am the way, the truth and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through me.”
As to those in the world who have never heard of Jesus, the Bible gives us the answer to their eternal state as well.
Romans 2:12 - “For all who have sinned without the law will also PERISH without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”
Trying to use human wisdom to answer question of such profound importance is always futile.
The Word is a feast for those who read it and believe it... even more so for anyone that is Jewish.
So sad that so many of my Jewish friends just don’t read their Torah; all those Hebrew lessons, I’m afraid, acts on them like Latin must have acted upon Catholics years ago — they feel understanding the Scripture is beyond mere mortals.
When it was written for mere mortals and not the “professionals” of the faith.
Love how Augustine came to the Lord, a voice said “Pick up and read” and he picked up the scroll of the NT which specifically answered his question about the faith and he was born again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.