How is that possible, you might think?
Is not Christianity dependent on Judaism as its very foundation?
Is Jesus nothing without Jewish prophesy?
Hypothetically now, and stay with me here, if you, as a Christian, became aware that Jesus was, in fact, NOT the fulfillment of the Jewish prophesy, would you stop thinking of him as your Lord and Savior?
Or, would you stand by him despite unavoidable proof that he was not the messiah Jews were waiting for? Even if Jesus himself claimed he was?
Would he then be less to you?
Would his other teachings no longer have the same value to you?
Jews believe Jesus Christ was not the messiah prophesied in the Old Testament - and derogatorily regard Christianity as Paganism. It's true!
According to the description of the required Messianic characteristics from the Old Testament I am forced to agree that the man the New Testament supposedly called Jesus doesn’t meet the requirements.
No matter how awesome he may have been.
From the Jewish website, aish.com, Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because:
1. Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
2. Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
3. Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mis-translations.
4. Jewish belief is based on national revelation.
Christians can’t have it both ways. And why make excuses? The messiah is supposed to be a descendant of King David - yet Christians believe Jesus was born without a biological father. Therefore, Jesus was obviously not genetically related to his adopted father.
Christians, in the face of this, also claim it was Mary, Jesus’ mother, who was the descendant of King David. Yet this doesn’t work out because Jews only trace lineage through the father’s line.
The messiah is supposed to usher in an era of world peace?
Didn’t happen.
The messiah is supposed to build the ‘third temple’.
Didn’t happen.
The messiah is supposed to gather ALL Jews back to ISRAEL.
Also didn’t happen.
The messiah is to spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. He is to be the King of the World, on that day God is to be called, One.
Didn’t happen.
And it wasn’t supposed to happen later, after his death, it was supposed to happen then, real time, due to his presence on Earth.
But it didn’t.
Doesn’t mean Jesus wasn’t a great man! Doesn’t mean a religion can’t be formed around the good stuff he said, magic he displayed and wisdom bombs he dropped! There’s no doubt he did all that.
But to proclaim he’s the fulfillment of the Jewish scripture while they, Jews, have been saying for millennia, uh, no he’s not, makes Christianity as it is, is an affront to Jews.
They are so affronted by Jesus that in their most important text, the Talmud, they say he is in HELL!! In the Jewish Talmud it says that right now, as you read this, Jesus Christ and his mother, are boiling in their own excrement in HELL. And will be for eternity.
Yet Christians are ok with this? Just, ok, that the very people for whom their professed messiah Jesus Christ was supposed to come to redeem, reject him wholly. They just keep going along with the whole chosen people thing?
How do they justify this paradox?
They just do. Most are brainwashed as children and despite modern availability of information don’t bother to research and verify things they were convinced of as vulnerable children. Questioning their faith, as per their efficient brainwashing, feels sinful to them. The others, converts, those not born into the religion, often chose to simply ignore these glaring discrepancies and just go along to get along.
Observing this level of mass psychological cognitive dissonance makes one question why humans are regarded as special among the animals at all, we seem no more discerning in many vital ways.
A NEW CHRISTIANITY
If I had it my way, I’d say, it’s high time for a new Christianity.
Let the light shine in, cut off the dead weight.
Time to set Jesus free from this mess of expectations he got himself caught up in. He was a victim of the times and of his culture. He thought as freely as a person could in that time and place, but certainly remained limited. There is no doubt about that.
Time to set oneself, as a devotee, free from this traumatizing bondage of Jewish beliefs. Not a cart I'd tie my horse to spiritually if you know what I mean. Read the Talmud, then let's talk.
Why can’t Jesus stand on his own? Why aren’t his teachings and past times enough to lay the foundation of an independent religion?
They are!
When I think of Jesus and Jesus alone, just as a person, a mystic, a rebel of his times, an agitator, I think of - bravery. Wisdom. Philosophy. Compassion. Insight.
He was and is a beacon of light.
I think Christians should consider dismissing the Old Testament, as well as EVERYTHING that comes AFTER the gospels. (No more Revelations madness.)
Just stick to the life and words of Jesus. Build your religion on that alone.
What do you care if he was the fulfillment of the Jewish prophesy?
What if he was? So what?
What if he wasn’t? So what?
Is it not his teachings and his teachings alone that inspire you?
Or is it the fact that HE’S the FULFILLMENT?
BUT OF WHAT?
Of what Jews say the world is and where the world is going?
Why would you trust them in the first place anyway?
Jesus didn't.
I take all sides of an issue seriously, even if I don’t like the side. I still look at it - and inevitably learn something.
I have to agree with the Jews on the question of Messiah-ship.
But I also think the teachings of Jesus Christ are filled with the light of enough goodness to be a religion on its own.
But maybe Christians don’t. Maybe they just want to be right.
Maybe they just want to thumb their noses saying hahaha we were right.
If that’s not the case - then I propose Christianity limit itself to the gospels.
If it were my fight to fight, if I were still a Christian, I would research and find ALL of the gospels and I would focus on them. Nothing before and nothing after. Certainly not Revelations, the rantings of a tripping mad man.
As a former Christian myself I don’t understand how Christians regard Jews as the favored of God while Jews, in turn, regard Christians blasphemers of the highest order.
Even if they don’t say it to your face.
Putting myself in the position of a cosmic relationship counselor for Jews and Christians considering all their crazy history therein, my advice, conclusively and apologetically would be..........
It's time to go your separate ways.