Usurper in Triplicate

Posted on June 30, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Usurper in Triplicate

Who is the book about? Who are the main characters in this story? What is the central theme of the narrative?

These are the questions that we ask ourselves when we read any work of literature.  It is important for us to distinguish between the fundamental and the peripheral, between the center-stage and the back-drop.

There is no reason that we should treat the Jewish Bible with less consideration than we would treat any other written work.

So who is the Jewish Bible about? Who are the main characters of this story? What is the central theme of the Bible narrative?

The Jewish Bible is about God and the people of Israel. God and the nation of Israel are the central characters in the book. The central theme of the Jewish Bible is the ongoing relationship between God and the Jewish people.  God’s law stands at the center of this relationship.  By presenting His holy and perfect law to the Jewish people, God gave them the path through which they can express their loyalty and their love to the God of their fathers.

To recap: God is the Divine lover, Israel is His bride, and the Torah is the heart of their relationship. This is the focus of the Jewish Scriptures.

Enter Christianity.

Christianity attempts to reject God’s bride; Israel. They proclaim to Israel: “you are NOT the children of Abraham”.  Christianity attempts to teach mankind that the God of Israel is unapproachable. And Christianity attempts to malign God’s law with the contention that it is impossible.

In place of Israel, Christianity attempts to insert Jesus; who they claim to be the embodiment of everything that is good about Israel. In place of God, Christianity proposes Jesus; an approachable man. And in place of the Torah, Christianity advocates Jesus as: “the way, the light and the truth”.

Jesus demands the reverence that is coming to the God of Israel, Jesus claims the blessings of God’s bride; Israel, and Jesus seeks the obedience that belongs to the Torah.

Usurper in triplicate.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in General | 8 Comments

Jeremiah 10:23

Posted on June 26, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Jeremiah 10:23

Justice and kindness are prominent themes in the Jewish Scriptures. Jeremiah, Micah (6:8) and Moses (Genesis 18:19) all put these concepts at the center of our relationship with God.

Why?

Here is a thought.

The basis of our relationship with God is the fact that He created us (Psalm 100:3, Isaiah 42:5, 44:24). So what? Well, if He created us then we belong to him. When I say: “we belong to him” – I mean – everything – our lives our souls, our ability to love – everything. We owe every facet of our existence to the One Creator of all.

The concepts of: “belong” and “owe” only talk to us to the degree that justice is important to us. If justice is not important to us, then we cannot appreciate the idea that we “owe” everything to God and that we “belong” to God. It is only to the degree that we internalize the concept of justice, giving to each what rightfully belongs to them, that we can begin to feel where we stand in relation to God.

God is the Ultimate Giver. He gives and there is no taking on His part – pure kindness. To the degree that we do not love kindness, we are prone to confuse “giver” and “taker”. Every idolater is by definition worshiping a “taker” – a beneficiary of God’s overflowing kindness. This confusion is only possible where kindness is not appreciated. To the degree that we love kindness, to that same degree – and only to that same degree can we love the true God, the ultimate source of all kindness.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in The Ultimate Truth | 2 Comments

Supplement to an “Open Letter”

Posted on June 26, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Supplement to Rabbi Eli Cohen’s Open Letter

I received varying reactions to Rabbi Cohen’s letter. As usual, Sharlee’s comment was insightful, encouraging and to the point. But not all reactions were so friendly.

In light of this, I figured a bit of education never hurt anyone – except the cause of falsehood – so here goes.

John Adams, the second President of the United States wrote: “I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing nations.”

(From a letter to F. A. Van der Kemp [Feb. 16, 1808] Pennsylvania Historical Society)

Now – I am quite aware that many Christians do not value the accomplishment of “civilizing” nations. They consider this accomplishment to be fleshly, earthly and material. I would argue that moving people from the jungle to a civilized democracy where everyone enjoys equal rights is quite a Godly accomplishment – but let us talk the language of the Christian.

I imagine that most Protestant Christians would consider the reformation of the Catholic Church to be a Godly accomplishment, and perhaps some Jews could also admit that it is a step in the right direction. A tiny step, but a step nonetheless.

Martin Luther, the most prominent figure of the reformation was heavily influenced by a Franciscan theologian; Nicholas of Lyra. Lyra’s influence on Luther was so strong that the saying went: “if Lyra had not played his lyre, Luther would not have danced”. Lyra, in turn was heavily influenced by Rashi, the Jewish Bible commentator. Lyra wrote: “I usually follow Rabbi Solomon (Rashi)”. Those Christians who could not stomach Lyra’s dependence upon Jewish scholarship, ridiculed Lyra with the term: “Rashi’s ape”.

In other words, no Jews, no reformation.

Are you still looking for a light?

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, History | 5 Comments

An Open Letter from Rabbi Eli Cohen

Posted on June 23, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Where do the Jews play a role in G-d’s plan?

“Israel has not fulfilled in any measure its role to be a priestly nation for over 2,000 years. That’s the charge against G-d’s people.” I would say that such a charge is saying that G-d made a mistake when choosing the Jewish people , no?  Oh No! is the reply, G-d HAS a purpose for the Jews……. yet to be seen in the future.

OK, so let me ask you, what was the purpose of the nation of Israel from 400 ce –  1500 ce in G-d’s plan? To prove that G-d can preserve a nation?  Is this a silly game where Israel is just a guinea pig so G-d can prove Satan wrong?  The Jews are butchered just to prove a point?  Were the people of G-d just put on earth so that they can reject Jesus so that the message can be preached to the gentiles?

Paul teaches that the Jewish rejection was a blessing to the nations, but at what cost to Israel? The blessing for the gentiles was at the expense of the murder of millions of Jews for centuries. Does that sit well with you?  I know it doesn’t sit well with me.

How about G-d’s covenant with Israel in Isaiah 59:21 where G-d promises that His spirit and words will never depart from Israel? Was that including a break of 2,000 years? Can one totally ignore the supernatural preservation of Judaism despite all of the attempt (past and present) to eradicate Judaism?

I’m sorry if I’m a bit emotional, but I often feel that there’s an attempt to try and highlight all the “blessings” the gospels have brought the world and play down all the destruction it brought by conveniently placing the blame on “Christians who never knew Jesus” but that a cop out and simply not true.  Some of the people that were behind the terrible suffering brought upon the Jews were people who spent hours on their knees praying to Jesus. They studied the scriptures and believed they were doing what G-d wants them to do.  How can the Gospel that is supposed to be such a “blessing” be the source and root of such a curse?

The fact that today millions of Christians love Israel etc. won’t ever reverse past.  Today so many Christians are coming to see the error of Church and the validity of Jewish teachings that were preserved at the pain of death.  One needs not go that far, just look at replacement theology.  Many Christians today admit that replacement theology is a stain on Christian history, but why stop there? What else is part and parcel of that same stain?

Is anyone out there????

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence | 40 Comments

Goldberg vs. Brown

Posted on June 16, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

My article entitled ‘Response to the Line of Fire 9″ ended with the following appeal to Dr. Michael L. Brown:

I would like to end this critique with an appeal to Dr. Brown.

The myth of the “blindness of the Jew” is an ugly stain in the history of mankind. Dr. Brown, instead of working to perpetuate this myth, I appeal to you to educate Christians of the fallacies of this myth. Explain to your audience that as long as the Jew sees the teachings of Christianity as a contradiction to the Scriptures with which we were entrusted by God – it is the moral duty of the Jew to REJECT those teachings. Encourage your audience to try to read the Jewish Scriptures as a Jew would have read them before the advent of Jesus. Encourage your listeners to attempt to acquire a complete world-view on the basis of the Jewish Scriptures alone – and ask them – how would they view the doctrines of Christianity in the light of the Jewish Scriptures.

Dr. Brown responded to this appeal on his blog with the following post:

Rabbi Blumenthal, to be sure I’m following your proposal, you are also willing to discard all Jewish tradition from your thinking — as much as possible — and look at the Tanakh alone to ask: What should the Jewish people been expecting 2,000 years ago, even though, from your own testimony, you ultimately know the Tanakh to be God’s Word because of that very tradition, and without that tradition you cannot rightly understand the Torah? Is that correct?

Also, we don’t have to speculate about what Jewish people were expecting 2,000 years ago, since we have numerous writings from different Jewish groups — the Pharisees being one of them — indicating a wide-range of beliefs (including eschatology as well as how to understand Torah). More importantly, our people often strayed from the path and God had to send prophets to bring us back to truth. Yeshua came in that respect as Prophet as well.

I could write much more (time escapes me again), but I don’t see the rationality of your proposal as you see it. Furthermore, for Christians here, they know the Tanakh is true because of Yeshua. If your arguments against him were true and he was neither Messiah nor Savior nor Son of God, they would have no reason to continue to believe in the Tanakh either. They have come to know the God of Israel through him, they have received forgiveness of sins through him, their lives have been transformed through him, and if he was not who he claimed to be, then for them, the Tanakh would be another book of myths and fairy tales. I might as well tell you, “The Torah is true but there is no God, so follow the Torah.”

Yes, we have the Tanakh in common, both you and I believing it to be God’s Word, but I ultimately recognize it as God’s Word because of Yeshua — the one who saved me from my sin and rebellion and darkness — not because of other important, but ultimately secondary reasons. (This is parallel to a counter-missionary rabbi telling me that he is ultimately sure that God exists because of the Jewish people.)

A Jewish fellow named “Goldberg” posted the following response to Dr. Brown’s response – I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

Hi Dr. Brown.

Let me make clear up front that I am an Orthodox Jew. Not that there will be any doubt.

I think that your last response to Rabbi Blumenthal seriously blurs the basic ground rules of what these dialogues are all about. With that said I’d like to take a step back and reestablish for your readers what I believe to some of the axioms of these discussions

1)Countermissionaries, like Rabbi Blumenthal, exist ONLY because there are missionaries like yourself. Jews do not believe in a compelling need to undo the belief systems of non-Jews. It is only because Christian missionaries engage in what they believe to be their sacred responsibility to persuade Jews to embrace Jesus that countermissionaries engage in their efforts to “counter” that activity. Fair is fair. Put more simply – and it is extremely important that your readers understand this – if there was no one engaged in any effort to convert Jews to Christianity, the likelihood is that almost all of the countermissionary works that we are discussing and that your readers find so puzzling, if not offensive, would never have been written. While Jews obviously don’t believe Christianity to be truth, they also don’t believe Islam, or Hinduism to be truth. One need ask then, why is there so little – if any – counter-islam and counter-hindu Jewish literature out there, despite the fact that the two faiths together outnumber Christians. To be honest, I find the title of your series “Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus” to be itself misleading and a tad offensive. (As if Jews, by their nature, walk around muttering the objections to Jesus. How medieval.) Jews don’t walk around “objecting to Jesus”. The more honest, if not market-friendly, title should have been “Answering Jewish Objections to Christian Evangelical Overtures” You know very well that it is almost exclusively in this context that Jews “Object to Jesus”. I received 17 years of Yeshiva education and I’m not sure I can recall a single instance of any teacher devoting any time to a serious discussion of Jesus. It’s a non-issue – untill the missionary raises it.

2)Sophisticated missionaries, like yourself, know very well that the theology of Judaism is based on the scriptures as defined by the OT canon. Moreover, sophisticated missionaries – like yourself – acknowledge that this belief system of the Jew is valid which is why sophisticated missionaries – like yourself – have written so many thousands of pages of material with the intended to demonstrate that belief in Jesus is not only justified but inescapable, purely on the basis of the OT on its own terms.

3) Therefore:

a. This is a fight picked by the Christian not by the Jew.

b. The burden of proof is therefore on the Christian not the Jew.

c. If the proof is there in the OT as you believe it is, then

d. You must concede that Rabbi Blumenthal’s challenge to those who would engage in this debate, to read the OT purely on its own terms and then and only then consider the case for Jesus, is not only a resonable challenge but a necessary precondition, or there is really no point to the discussion.

4) If however, the real point is, as you so eloquently put it in comment number 44 above is that “…we have the Tanakh in common, both you and I believing it to be God’s Word, but I ultimately recognize it as God’s Word because of Yeshua – the one who saved me from my sin and rebellion and darkness – not because of other important, but ultimately secondary reasons…”, then my response to you is, I am happy that you found a basis for cleaning up your life and living meaningfully.

So have I.

Have a nice day.

You can view all the comments on Dr. Brown’s blog here – http://www.lineoffireradio.com/2011/06/09/dr-brown-answers-the-rabbis-part-2/#comments

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence | 71 Comments

Response to the Line of Fire 9

Posted on June 13, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to the Line of Fire 9

On the June 9 2011 edition of his Line of Fire radio show  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown interacts with an audio clip of a talk by Rabbi Michael Skobac of Jews for Judaism. The full presentation of Rabbi Skobac can be downloaded at http://www.divshare.com/download/14994437-329

Rabbi Skobac’s presentation is brief and to the point. Rabbi Skobac contends that if we would search the Bible for a description of the Messiah – without any preconceived notions about Jesus – we would never end up with Jesus. It is only after Christians accept Jesus that they then see Jesus in the Jewish Bible.

Dr. Brown did not find enough time in his two-hour radio program to present any substantive response to Rabbi Skobac’s argument. Instead of responding to Rabbi Skobac’s contention, Dr. Brown spends the time speaking about spiritual blindness, telling his audience how he encourages people to hear both sides of the story, accusing Rabbi Skobac of using “circular reasoning” and putting words into Rabbi Skobac’s mouth – words that he never said.

1 – Rabbi Skobac brings up the Christian belief that it is only a supernatural spiritual blindness that prevents Jews from seeing Jesus in the Jewish Scriptures. Dr. Brown counters Rabbi Skobac’s point by telling his audience that Jewish people would have to believe that the Christian people are spiritually blinded to the truth of Judaism.

Dr. Brown’s comparison is completely inappropriate. First of all, the traditional texts of Judaism don’t spend too much time judging the mindset of adherents to other religions – in sharp contrast to the Christians Scriptures and the writings of Christian thinkers since then – who spend an inordinate amount of time teaching their audience about the “blindness” of the Jew. Furthermore, the Jewish people do not have to assume that the Christian is “blinded” by anything more than the natural bias that affects every human being on earth with equal measure. The Christian on the other hand, must believe that the “truth” of Jesus could be staring you in the face and that a “supernatural” veil prevents you from seeing it. In his own radio program (May 20 2011) Dr. Brown maintained that Jesus explicitly taught his disciples about his impending death – in other words he told them “black on white” that he is going to die – and they “didn’t get it”. He then goes on to compare this with the “spiritual blindness” of the Jew. Dr. Brown is not talking about a natural bias – he is talking about not hearing explicit words that are spoken into your ear by your beloved teacher.

2 – Rabbi Skobac makes the point that if you search the Jewish Scriptures for a job description of the Messiah, you will never end up with Jesus.

Dr. Brown counters this point by stating that the Jewish Scriptures do not lay out the role of the Messiah in a text-book format. The Messianic prophecies, according to Dr. Brown, are not clearly laid out but rather they are the subject of debate.

Dr. Brown has inadvertently verified Rabbi Skobac’s argument. Before Jesus appeared on the scene, people had a clear idea of what the Messiah is supposed to accomplish – and until this very day – no student of Scripture has ever attempted to argue that the Jewish understanding of the Messiah that preceded the advent of Jesus was incorrect. What Christianity has done instead, is that they have presented the argument that there are some additional accomplishments that the Messiah must also fulfill. But these “additional accomplishments” are not clearly laid out in the Bible. The prophecies that Jesus did NOT fulfill ARE clearly laid out in the Bible – to the degree that no one ever dreamed of disputing the meaning of these explicit prophecies.

So to put Rabbi Skobac’s argument into Dr. Brown’s words: The Jewish expectation of the Messiah is clearly laid out in the Jewish Bible – to the degree that even if you are spiritually blinded (because you have not accepted Jesus) – you will see it. But the Christian expectations of the Messiah – is not clearly laid out in the Bible, is the subject of debate, and you can only see it if you are “cured” of your spiritual blindness through acceptance of Jesus. – Thank you Dr. Brown.

3 – Dr. Brown accuses Rabbi Skobac of using “circular reasoning”. Dr. Brown bases this accusation on the fact that Rabbi Skobac believes that the prophecies that Jesus did NOT fulfill are the ones Rabbi Skobac considers “Messianic” – while Rabbi Skobac dismisses the “prophecies” that Jesus did fulfill as “non-Messianic”.

Dr. Brown has already refuted himself, but for the benefit of the reader we will reiterate. Those prophecies that Jesus did NOT fulfill were always considered Messianic prophecies by all students of the Jewish Bible – spiritually blinded or not. The prophecies that Jesus did “fulfill” can only be seen by those “cured” from their “spiritual blindness” by acceptance of Jesus. If this is not circular reasoning, then what is?

4 – Dr. Brown assures his listeners that Matthew is a very sophisticated writer. He compares the inability of many to appreciate Matthew’s sophistication to the inability of one who has no understanding of science to appreciate Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Another inappropriate comparison. All who understand science appreciate Einstein’s theory of relativity – whether they are spiritually blinded or not. Not every student of the Jewish Scriptures appreciates Matthew. It is only those who are “cured” of “spiritual blindness” through acceptance of Jesus that have the ability to appreciate the sophistication of Matthew. Those who are “cured” of “spiritual blindness” through acceptance of Mohammed and Joseph Smith see unbelievable depths of sophistication in the Koran and in the Book of Mormon respectively. This is not science.

5 – Dr. Brown tells his audience that Rabbi Skobac is arguing that Matthew misquoted Scripture in order to “trick” his readers. This is a false accusation. In all of Rabbi Skobac’s lengthy presentation (of which Dr. Brown only played a small segment) he says nothing of the sort. Towards the end of his presentation Rabbi Skobac discusses various possibilities as to what Matthew was thinking when he misquoted the Jewish Scriptures, and trickery is not the option that Rabbi Skobac advocates. Dr. Brown’s accusation is unfounded.

The fact is that Dr. Brown himself explains Matthew’s misquotation of Scripture. In the 5th volume of his series; Answering Jewish Objections (page 61), Dr.Brown quotes an Israeli professor who offers the opinion that Orthodox Jews are incapable of reading Scripture literally. While the broad brush of this accusation is clearly inaccurate, but on a limited level, this accusation holds true. Since the sermons of the Rabbis often employed homiletical and non-literal interpretations of Scriptures there have always been ignorant Jews who saw Scripture through these homiletical readings. These were people who never studied Scripture in a formal setting, but rather acquired their knowledge through listening to these inspiring but non-literal sermons. This explains the mentality of the gospel writers. None of these men claimed to have had any formal training in Jewish scholarship. In all probability their understanding of Scripture was acquired through listening to the local preachers – thus they never picked up the necessary tools that would enable them to read Scripture contextually and literally.

6 – Dr. Brown argues that it is “preposterous” to believe that Matthew quoted the Jewish Scriptures but didn’t expect his audience to look up the text he was quoting. Dr. Brown argues that this would be a “self-defeating” exercise on Matthew’s part.

As Dr. Brown himself has explained, it is entirely possible that Matthew was misquoting Scripture in all innocence. There is no need to assume that it ever dawned upon him that a contextual reading of the Scripture will refute his imaginative interpretations. Furthermore, throughout history, until this very day, these misquotations of Matthew are presented by Christians as if they were the contextual and literal reading of Scripture. As a member of the Jewish community I receive mailings from various missionary organizations that attempt to persuade me to believe in Jesus. (– The fact that these organizations do not live up to the basic concept of justice – do not do  unto others what you hate for yourself – and they deliver this literature to people who find them offensive – is living testimony that these people are not representatives for the God of truth and justice – unless they would like to have literature delivered to their own communities that presents arguments for another faith.)

These tracts that I receive list the hundreds of prophecies that Jesus “fulfilled”. Matthew’s misquotations of Scripture are always present in these “educational tracts”. These followers of Matthew obviously still cannot distinguish between literal contextual interpretation of Scripture and the imaginative interpretations of Matthew. So much for “preposterous” and “self-defeating”.

I would like to end this critique with an appeal to Dr. Brown.

The myth of the “blindness of the Jew” is an ugly stain in the history of mankind. Dr. Brown, instead of working to perpetuate this myth, I appeal to you to educate Christians of the fallacies of this myth. Explain to your audience that as long as the Jew sees the teachings of Christianity as a contradiction to the Scriptures with which we were entrusted by God – it is the moral duty of the Jew to REJECT those teachings. Encourage your audience to try to read the Jewish Scriptures as a Jew would have read them before the advent of Jesus. Encourage your listeners to attempt to acquire a complete world-view on the basis of the Jewish Scriptures alone – and ask them – how would they view the doctrines of Christianity in the light of the Jewish Scriptures.

You did open your talk with the truth that experience is no proof for truth – all we have to go with is the Scriptures. Please encourage your audience to understand the Jewish people’s rejection of Christianity in light of your own teaching. You have my full permission to use my article “1000 Verses” – I am sure that your audience will find it helpful.

https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/1000-verses/

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 3 Comments

The Festival of weeks – Isaiah 41:8

Posted on June 5, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Festival of Weeks – Isaiah 41:8

 Love doesn’t calculate. Love does not hear the discouraging voices.  Love is innocent. Love yearns and it follows. But love does not ask: what will I gain? Could I really get there?

Scripture doesn’t throw around the term: “love” very lightly. In all of Scripture, Abraham is the only one that God describes as: “the one who loved me”. (It is said of Solomon: “and he loved the Lord” – 1 Kings 3:3, and David declares: “I love you Lord of my strength” – Psalm 18:2. Indeed, David’s love for God still inspires Israel today and Solomon wrote the ultimate love-song; Song of Songs, but Abraham still stands out with his love for God highlighted as a part of his very identity, and this from God, in the first person.)

Abraham did not know where his love would lead him to. Abraham did not know where it could possibly lead him to. How could a created being form a bond with the Creator of all? But love does not calculate – love just follows. Abraham saw that God is kindness, he followed kindness. Abraham saw that God is truth, he followed truth. He didn’t stop to ask himself: how could I ever reach God’s kindness or God’s truth? Abraham did not hear the discouraging voice that contended: “you will never be righteous in His eyes” – “you are inescapably tainted with the sin of Adam”. Abraham yearned and he followed.

Ruth didn’t calculate either. She didn’t ask herself: what hope is there for a Moabite widow in God’s nation? She just followed.

Israel didn’t calculate. They did not ask themselves: where will this relationship end up? How could we, created beings, form any meaningful relationship with the Creator of all? They just followed (Jeremiah 2:2).

The Festival of weeks is not about love. Passover is about love. Passover is when Israel followed God into the unknown, into the impossible. Passover is followed by seven weeks. Seven weeks of yearning. Seven weeks of following.

The Festival of weeks is God’s reciprocation to sincere love. On this day God reached out to Israel with an eternal embrace. He presented His beloved nation with the innermost expression of His will; His holy Torah. God formed an eternal bond with this nation that loved Him; a bond that would have been impossible to imagine. A bond between Creator and created. But love does not follow rules.

Ruth’s love brought David and Solomon to the world. Ruth’s love for God brought her to the center of God’s plan for the universe. She could never have dreamed of such an outcome. But love does not look at the outcome. Love simply follows.

God responded to Abraham’s love with Isaac, the child of laughter. Laughter – because it does not make sense. A child to a one hundred year old man?! Not just any child. But a child that will father a nation of human beings that will be granted an eternal commission from God – a commission to carry the truth, the holiness and the blessing of the Creator of all throughout the corridors of history. Is it possible for created beings to be entrusted with the work of the Creator of all?! Could Abraham have imagined that this is where his love would lead him to? Of-course not! But Abraham wasn’t looking for a payoff when he began his journey of love. Abraham simply loved, and love does not calculate.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Holidays, Judaism | 7 Comments

For the Record

Posted on May 30, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

For the Record

To my fellow member of the human race

Peace

It has come to my attention that certain members of my people have been promulgating a doctrine that distorts the essence of the teaching that we were entrusted with.

You have heard how the Creator of all took us out of Egypt with signs and wonders and how He taught us His Torah through national revelation and through His prophet. The open miracles that God preformed for us spread our reputation as the possessors of God’s Law. These men of whom I speak, exploited our reputation as possessors of God’s truth, and they spread a teaching that has no basis in the Torah that God has bequeathed to us.

These teachers taught you that all of mankind is damned before God to eternal punishment. They taught that if a person commits one sin it is as if he or she violated all of the commandments. These men taught that the God of Israel will not forgive your sins unless you present a blood sacrifice. These men taught that the God of Israel is unapproachable. And they taught that the good deeds that you do will not bring you any closer to God.

All of these teachings are blatant falsehoods. As a member of the people who were entrusted with God’s Law, I see it as my duty to correct these falsehoods that were taught as if they were the Law of my God.

God does NOT condemn everyone to the fires of eternal damnation. You can search the Jewish Scriptures from cover to cover; you will not find one verse that supports such a teaching.

A person who commits one sin is NOT equivalent in God’s eyes as if they violated the entirety of the Law. The Scriptures explicitly teach that God judges every deed, both bad and good (Ecclesiastes12:14). The conscience that God breathed into all of us tells us that there is a great difference in God’s eyes between a person who lived a moral life on the one hand and a person who lived a life of cruelty and immorality on the other hand.

The Jewish Scriptures do NOT teach that God requires blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. The Scriptures openly declare that if you turn to God in sincere repentance, God will forgive you (Isaiah 55:7).

The Jewish Scriptures do NOT teach that God is unapproachable. On the contrary, our prophets declare that God is close to all who call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18).

If I were to say that the good deeds that you do will bring you closer to God, I will not have said enough. Our prophets taught us that the practice of justice IS intimacy with God (Jeremiah 22:16). When we follow the universal principle of justice: “that which you hate done unto yourself, do not do unto others”, we allow God’s truth to penetrate into our psyche. When we recognize the grace of God’s goodness that is expressed in every detail of existence, and we are moved to take the goodness that we were blessed with and allow it to flow towards another creation of God, we have then connected to the kindness and love of God. It is not that these activities bring us closer to God. The practice of kindness and truth are a connection to God in and of themselves.

There is one more false teaching that these men have propagated in the name of the Torah of my God. They have encouraged people to direct their hearts in worship of and in devotion to a man who walked God’s earth and breathed God’s air like the rest of us.

If there is any teaching that is contrary to the Torah with which we were entrusted it is this one.

My nation was called upon by God to serve as His witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). God taught us that there is none beside Him that is worthy of our worship and devotion (Deuteronomy4:35). Our core duty as a witness nation before God is to remain loyal to the truth that all created beings are equally subservient to the One Creator of all. Every facet of our existence, including our ability to love and to worship belongs to God and to God alone. It is my duty as a Jew to testify to you that your heart belongs to the One Almighty God who loved your heart into existence in the first place.

There is no greater joy on earth than approaching your Creator in heartfelt prayer. You don’t need anyone to plead for you and you don’t need to bring Him a blood sacrifice. The One who lovingly created every facet of your existence will accept you. All you have to do is to trust in His love.

A Jew

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, The Ultimate Truth | 58 Comments

Response to the Line of Fire 8

Posted on May 29, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to Line of Fire 8

On the May 20 2011 edition of the “Line of Fire” radio show – http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown addressed a presentation I made on the subject of the “second coming”.

The thrust of my presentation was that the concept of a “second coming” appears nowhere in the Jewish Scriptures. Furthermore, the disciples of Jesus are reported to have been shocked by his death. If the teaching of the “second coming” can be found in the Jewish Scriptures, the disciples should have been shocked if he didn’t die. The fact that the disciples were surprised at Jesus’ death proves that the “second coming” doctrine is but an invention of people desperately trying to hang on to their belief in a prophet after his prophecy has failed.

Dr. Brown responded with the argument that by contrasting Zechariah 9:9 with Daniel 7:13, we can see the concept of a “second coming” in the Jewish Scriptures. According to Dr. Brown, Zechariah is talking of the first coming while Daniel is talking about the second coming. Dr. Brown also points to Isaiah 53 which he sees as a prophecy that is fulfilled in Jesus’ rejection, suffering and death.

Dr. Brown then presents his explanation as to why the disciples were shocked by Jesus’ death. Dr. Brown points out that the Christian Scriptures teach that Jesus clearly told his disciples about his impending death – but that they were “supernaturally blinded”. The concept was right in front of them, both in the Jewish Scriptures and in the teachings of their beloved master – but they couldn’t see it. Dr. Brown quotes Deuteronomy 29:3 to support this theory of “supernatural blindness”.

Dr. Brown then goes on to say that all traditional Jews who don’t believe in Jesus are also “supernaturally blinded”. He encourages his audience to pray for the Jewish people.

This response of Dr. Brown reveals the weakness of his entire position.

I am not referring to the weakness of his Scriptural quotations. In order to get Zechariah 9:9 to talk of the “first coming” Dr. Brown is forced to put a 2000 year (-and counting) gap between verse 9 and verse 10 without any textual justification. In order to get Daniel 7:13 to be talking of the Messiah Dr. Brown is forced to ignore the explanation of this vision that is provided by the Scripture itself (- see https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/daniel-713/ . As for Dr. Brown’s reference to Isaiah 53, please see the posts under the title “Isaiah 53”.

I am also not talking about another obvious weakness in his position. If it is as Dr. Brown admits, that the disciples of Jesus had no clue that Jesus was to suffer and die, so in what way were they Christians? If one were to claim that he or she “believes in Jesus” – but doesn’t believe that Jesus’s suffered and died, would any denomination of Christianity accept this belief as “Christianity”? If Jesus’s disciples knew nothing about the suffering of the Messiah – so what DID Jesus teach them?

Furthermore, if the disciples were “supernaturally blinded” to such a critical teaching of Christianity, how can we be sure that there were no other critical points that they just “didn’t get”?

When I speak of the weakness of Dr. Brown’s position, I am referring to the theory that those who do not “see Jesus” are “supernaturally blinded”.

If we are dealing with “supernatural blindness” then how does Dr. Brown know that he is not “supernaturally blinded”? How does someone overcome this supernatural blindness if not through an honest search for truth, in humility towards God, and with respect for His word? If people who don’t “see Jesus” are “supernaturally blinded” – then why is it that many people who have “seen Jesus” – abandon their belief in Jesus after an honest study of the Scriptures? I am not referring to nominal Christians. I am referring to people who risked their lives for Jesus, people who walked with him for years upon years. These people realized that their faith in Jesus was misplaced simply through studying the issues.

The underlying premise of a discussion between people who disagree with each other is that we are all capable of identifying the truth. It is my firm belief that every human being who walks this planet possesses an ability to determine between truth and falsehood. Each of us possesses a breath of God in our nostrils (Genesis 2:7, Proverbs 20:27, Job 32:8) which takes pleasure in truth and despises falsehood.

Yes, we are all biased, and our biases often prevent us from seeing the truth – and this is what is spoken of in Deuteronomy 29:3. The passage is referring to a natural tendency towards rebelliousness which prevented the Jewish people from absorbing the full spiritual impact of the lessons that God had taught them.

But a bias is not a “supernatural blindness”. There is a limit to what a bias can prevent you from seeing. You will not walk into a brick wall because your bias prevented you from seeing it. The entire basis of this discussion is that we are both (Dr. Brown and myself) predisposed to our respective positions, but that through an honest and thorough discussion, the truth will be brought to light – with such clarity – that our respective biases will not prevent us from seeing the truth.  All that this blog is – is my struggle to bring more and more clarity to this discussion.

When Dr. Brown throws in the “blindness” card, he has admitted that he sees no way of bringing more clarity to his position. He is asserting that all the evidence that an honest human being needs to come to a decision is already on the table. It is only supernatural blindness that prevents us from seeing the “truth” of his position.

I address the following question to any believer in Jesus that may be reading these words. Are you satisfied with this argument? Are you comfortable with the belief that the tens of thousands of Jews who died with the love of God in their hearts were “supernaturally blinded”? Does the belief that your fellow human beings are “supernaturally blinded” sit well with your sense of honesty? Do you really believe that an honest and open discussion will not lead to the truth?

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Critique, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 11 Comments

Isaiah 2:22

Posted on May 26, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Isaiah 2:22

Many Christians have a difficult time understanding why it is that Jews view their faith in Jesus as idolatrous. Christians assert that Jesus is “one and the same” as the God of Israel. How could veneration of Jesus be considered idolatry?

It may come as a surprise to some Christians if they were to realize that many Jews have a difficult time understanding Christians. After everything is said and done, Christianity is pointing to a man, and calling him “god”. What else is there to discuss?

This article is written in an effort to help Christians see things from a Jewish perspective.

Imagine the following scenario.

The Messianic era is here. God is revealed to all mankind. Every human being clearly sees that the One Creator of heaven and earth is the only true power. Everyone understands that every facet of existence is just an expression of His will and His love. All the nations recognize that every bit of adoration that the human heart can generate belongs only to the Almighty God who called the universe into existence.

And Jesus is not there. The man from Nazareth is nowhere to be seen.

What will the Christian then feel about the relationship he shared with this man? How will they view all the adoration that they were persuaded to pour out towards that individual?

The fact that you could imagine this scenario, should tell you that Jesus is NOT one and the same with the Creator of heaven and earth. The fact that this scenario is hypothetically possible should help you separate between Jesus on the one hand and the God of Israel on the other.

This scenario is not just a hypothetical possibility. If you believe those God fearing Jews whose words are immortalized in the Jewish Scriptures, you will realize that this scenario was at the heart of their vision for the future.

I will provide a list of Scriptural references for you to study. Please bear in mind that when these words were originally written, no one had heard of Jesus. When the Jewish prophets penned their words, the concept: “trinity” – was not yet invented. Please realize that for a Jew who would have read these words before the advent of Christianity, the words “God”, “Lord”, and “Almighty” would mean one thing and one thing only – The One Creator of heaven and earth.

Deuteronomy 32:39, Ezekiel 37:28, 38:1-48:35, Isaiah 2:17, 24:23, 40:9, 52:7,10, 60:19,  Joel 4:16-17, Micah 7:15-18, Zephaniah 3:9, Zechariah 14:9, Psalm 47:3, 83:19, 86:10, 97:6-9, 102:16, 148:13,

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in The Ultimate Truth | 242 Comments