[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

I'll be honest with you. I really can't figure out why Jews would not embrace Christ.

Judaism is much more difficult and rigorous and the promised rewards not nearly as great. This is not to mention the opportunity to eat pork and lobster.

I suppose Judaism is somewhat more mystical. Plus, you do what your parents do. But, why a Christian would choose to become a Jew your guess is as good as mine.

Why don't the Jews know what they need? Good question, but it might be part of God's plan. Some have said that the Jews are the people who have been "chosen" to suffer through history. Aside from the Chinese, they are the only other "people" with such a long time-line. They may be there to "teach" the world something.

Here is a theory on which I would like your opinion. Let's say it was God's plan that Christianity spread to the part of the earth that produced the culture that eventually became the basis for the dominant world culture. God knows that for people to live together peacefully they must learn to live with diversity.

The Jews were an "alien" presence in the "Christian World" for the entirety of the religion's existance. There were even times during which there were attempts made to expel and/or exterminate them. But, they survived and have lived to tell the world that intolerance leads to incomprehensible acts and that we must create a culture and a world that never allows that type of thing to ever happen again. If this is true, than God sacrificed 6 million of His people to teach the world that lesson. It is a pretty brutal lesson. The only reconciliation is to say His ways are not our ways.

God may still have further plans for the Jews. But, it has been a very, very short time since the last time God interfered with Jewish history (Think about WWII. It had nothing to do with the Jews. The Holocaust was completely separate and had no affect on the war's outcome. It was merely an event that could only occur during the "fog of war").

This is the closest I can come to an explanation.

I am starting to ramble.

[Desdemona]

Well, my own theory as to why such awful things always happen to the Jews is not one I generally publish. The only thing I'll say is that there is a pattern.

So, with that said, I don't know God's plans. But, other than the letter of the prophesies, why reject Jesus and His teachings?

[malakhi]

I'll be honest with you. I really can't figure out why Jews would not embrace Christ.

Very simply, it is because we do not think Jesus was who people claim him to be.

Judaism is much more difficult and rigorous

It really isn't. To use one example. God commands us not to commit adultery. It is not that difficult to obey this commandment. Christians are likewise expected not to commit adultery. This is no more difficult for a Jew to do than for a Christian. And if we sin, if we fail to obey a commandment, what then? We repent, ask forgiveness, and strive to avoid such sin in the future. Basically the same thing that a Christian does.

and the promised rewards not nearly as great.

Jews believe in a bodily resurrection, and that the righteous of all nations will be in God's presence in Heaven. What more does Christianity have to offer in terms of rewards?

But, why a Christian would choose to become a Jew your guess is as good as mine.

In my case, my father is Catholic and my mother is Jewish. I was raised Christian. But according to Jewish law I am Jewish. I began studying Judaism as an adult, when my doubts about the truth of Christian doctrine grew stronger. A Christian converts to Judaism because he rejects the teaching of Christianity and believes Judaism to be true (or closer to truth). No more complicated than that.