Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Jewish Answers to Christian Missionaries

  1. Who do you think Jesus was? According to most theologians and Jewish scholars, Jesus was a first century Jew who claimed to be the messiah and died without fulfilling the messianic prophesies, including bringing universal peace.
  2. Doesn't the Jewish Bible prove that Jesus is the Messiah? Actually, everyone of the Biblical or rabbinical passages that missionaries bring as proof that Jesus in the Messiah have either been mistranslated, misquoted, taken out of context or even fabricated. When analyzed carefully, Jewish scriptures do not point to Jesus and infact disqualify him from being the messiah.
  3. Did you know that believing in Jesus is the most Jewish thing you can do? According to Judaism, the messiah will not be divine or eliminate the obligation to observe Torah. Jews believe in a monothiestic system of a non-corpreal God. By believing that Jesus is 'co-equal' to God the father, Christians have crossed an unbreachable chasm by accepting a belief idolatrous for Jews.
  4. Do you have a personal relationship with God? Every Jew has a personal relationship with God, since we all posses a divine Neshama (soul). All we need to do is turn to God with a sincere heart and this will reawaken our intrinsic spiritual closeness to God. Prayer, Torah study and loving kindess are the spiritual means to approach God.
  5. How can you get forgivness for your sins without Temple sacrifices? Teshuvah is the means of forgiving our mistakes through a process of repentence that includes reflection, remorse and returning to God. Sacrificial offerings when practiced, only helped to atone for unintentional transgressions. The prophets clearly taught that prayer and repentence are the main remedy for sin and suffice when there is no temple.
  6. Did you know that Jesus can change your life and perform miricles? No religion has a monopoly on life changing experiences or claims to miracles. The Bible warns against relying on signs and wonders as proof that a person is a messenger of God (Deut 13)
  7. Did you know that you can be a Christian and a Jew at the same time? a Jew for Jesus or Messianic Jew is as absurd as Christian for Buddah and as rediculous as Kosher Pork. The fact that some of the first early Chrstians were Jews didn't make them right. The early movement died out with in the first few centuries as the church became a gentile institution.

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