Response to “The Line of Fire” 3

Posted on May 20, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to The Line of Fire 3

On the May 19 2011 segment of Dr. Brown’s radio program  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , he addresses some of the arguments that I raised on the Jews for Judaism youtube channel.

The first argument he addresses is my challenge to Christian missionaries. I challenge the missionary to designate a set of criteria for determining if a given doctrine is truly Scriptural. Then I encourage the missionary to take the verses presented by the Jewish people in support of their doctrines, and the verses presented by the missionary in support of Christianity and run it through the test that they themselves have created. I am confident that there will be no contest. The verses that are  presented to support the Jewish position will pass with flying colors while the verses that are used to support the doctrines of Christianity will fail.

Dr. Brown accepted my challenge. He sets forth the criterion that the doctrine be supported by the plainest most obvious contextual sense of the verse.

Dr. Brown then presents Isaiah 53 as a support for the doctrine that the Messiah is supposed to atone for the sins of Israel and he contrasts that with the Rabbinical teaching that the Rabbis are authorized to pronounce rulings on matters of religious law on the basis of Deuteronomy 17:8-19.

Nice try.

The challenge was to take ALL of the verses that are used to support the doctrines of Christianity and contrast them with ALL of the verses that are used to support the doctrines of Judaism.  My challenge was to look at the total picture. What Dr. Brown has attempted to do was to take one of the stronger proof-texts used by the missionary and compare it to one of the weaker proof-texts presented by the counter-missionary. (When I use the terms “stronger” or “weaker” – I mean – the way they may seem at first glance. A study of Isaiah 53 in context will reveal that Jesus is NOT the Messiah. Please see my article “Isaiah 53 Teaches that Jesus is Not the Messiah” – on this blog.)

Dr. Brown presented the argument that Deuteronomy 17:8-19 only refers to civil law and does not refer to ritual law. This argument was articulated by Dr. Brown quite a while ago and I responded to this argument in the publication “You are My Witnesses” – that I actually handed to Dr. Brown over a decade ago (this publication is available on the Jews for Judaism website). I pointed out that the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 19:10 and 11 makes it abundantly clear that the jurisdiction of the courts extended both to matters pertaining to the king (i.e. civil law) and matters pertaining to God (i.e. ritual law).

If you want to take my challenge seriously , please go through the verses that I presented on my blog in support of Judaism. There are over 1000 of them. https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/1000-verses/

You may also find my article: “The Totality of Scripture” helpful – it is available on the Jews for Judaism website.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 1 Comment

Response to “The Line of Fire” 2

Posted on May 20, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to Line of Fire 2

Dr. Brown addressed Rabbi Cohen’s presentation on repentance on his “Line of Fire” radio show on May 12 2011  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ . Rabbi Cohen demonstrated from the Jewish Scriptures that the path to forgiveness from sin is repentance.

Dr. Brown opened his response by acknowledging the importance of repentance. He then goes on to compare repentance to one wing of a bird, the other being blood sacrifice. Dr. Brown is attempting to argue that repentance does not work without a blood sacrifice.

This argument of Dr. Brown has no biblical basis. The Jewish Scriptures NEVER say: “there is no forgiveness without a blood offering”. The Scriptures clearly say that with repentance there is forgiveness.

Dr. Brown appeals to his audience: “would you want to stand before God having to rely on your own repentance”?

This argument is fallacious for two obvious reasons.  We do not rely on our own repentance.  We rely on God’s explicit word that He fully accepts our repentance. It is not a matter of relying on our own actions. We rely on God and His promise.

Furthermore, does the Christian not need repentance? According to Dr. Brown, repentance serves as one of the wings of the bird? How can a bird fly without one of its wings?

Dr. Brown’s assertion that Nineveh’s sin was forgiven because of the sacrifices of Israel, has just about the same Biblical basis as does Paul’s assertion that the Temple sacrifices only worked because of Jesus’ future sacrifice.  Namely: Zero. I might as well say that Jesus’s sacrifice only worked because someone in the future will die for the sins of mankind.

The Scriptures are abundantly clear. God in His infinite mercy accepts our repentance. All we need to do is to take God on His word.

For further information – please read Contra Brown and The Elephant and the Suit (on the Jews for Judaism website) as well as the articles filed under the category “Atonement” that are posted on this blog.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 5 Comments

Response to “The Line of Fire” 1

Posted on May 20, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to Line of Fire 1

Those of you who have been following this blog may find it of interest that Dr. Brown has chosen to address some of the issues that we have been discussing here – on his radio show: Line of Fire – http://www.lineoffireradio.com/2011/05/12/jesus-the-messiah-of-israel-opening-up-some-major-messianic-themes/

On this program Dr. Brown plays two clips from the Jews for Judaism you tube channel, one at about the 67 minute mark and the other at about the 82 minute mark. Each of these clips is followed by Dr. Brown’s response.

The first of these clips is my presentation of the argument that is articulated in the article; “The Polar Opposite” (https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/09/05/the-polar-opposite/ – see also – https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/yearning-for-the-messiah/ ), while the second is Rabbi Eli Cohen’s presentation of the Scriptural concept that all that is required for forgiveness from sin is sincere repentance.

Before I address the issue under discussion, I would like to clear up a possible misconception. The focus of that particular radio show is the belief of some that while Jesus is not the Messiah of Israel, he somehow still plays the role of the savior of the gentiles. In his introduction of the first clip Dr. Brown described the clip as explaining why Jesus is not the Messiah of the Jewish people, which may give the mistaken impression that Jesus could somehow be the savior for the gentiles.

Let it be known that both Rabbi Cohen and I do not subscribe to such a belief. Jesus was not the Messiah of the Jews or the gentiles, and he is not the savior of the Jews or the gentiles. He is not the Messiah – period.

The main thrust of my presentation was that the Scriptures point to David as an example of the Messiah. David brought Israel into a deeper relationship with God through the songs of the Psalms. Through these songs David directs Israel’s devotion and worship towards the God of Israel and towards the God of Israel alone. He does not divert an iota of the worship and adoration that is coming to God towards his own person. This is the Messiah.

Jesus –  as a man who demands worship as a deity, is not only – not the Messiah. Jesus is the polar opposite of the true Messiah.

Dr. Brown’s first response to my argument was that a believer (in Jesus) listening to my presentation would shake his head in disbelief. Dr. Brown goes on to argue that Jesus has attracted many people to God serving like a magnet that draws people into a relationship with God. People have thrown away their idols and turned to God through the teachings of Jesus. Dr. Brown declares that Jesus served as a path to God in his own personal life. Dr. Brown claims that religious Jews have told him that they only came to know God through Jesus. Finally, Dr. Brown states that the concept that Jesus somehow distracts from God is “profoundly wrong”.

How is this a response? Does the Jesus of Christianity demand worship and devotion as a deity or does he not? Of-course he does. Is there anything more to discuss?

Some people find it confusing when they see a crude pagan throw away his wooden statues and accept Christianity. This pagan never heard of the One Creator of heaven and earth, and the Christian missionary introduced him to this foundational truth. For this pagan, Christianity seems to have been a positive development. But this does not make Jesus the Messiah any more than it makes Mohammed or Joseph Smith the Messiah. The teachings of these two people also lead many pagans and atheists to recognize the One Creator of heaven and earth.

For someone who never had a relationship with the Creator, entering into relationship with the Creator together with one of His creations, namely: Jesus; could perhaps be viewed as a positive development. But for someone who already possesses a deep and intimate relationship with the One Creator of heaven and earth, be they Jew or gentile, for such a person to bring Jesus into the relationship is a most catastrophic development.

Dr. Brown’s contention that people who believe that they have a true relationship with God without believing in Jesus – don’t “really know” God – doesn’t really deserve a response. How could he tell our martyrs, who gave their lives for the love of God – “you don’t really know God”? How could he be sure that he “really knows Jesus”? After all, according to Dr. Brown, our martyrs were deluded into thinking that they “really knew” God – how could he be so sure that he is not deluded into thinking that he “really knows” Jesus?

The argument I presented in the you-tube clip stands. For an individual who lives with the love of God in his heart, David and Jesus represent two polar opposites. David points this individual ever closer to God, while Jesus attempts to direct this person’s devotion towards himself.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 4 Comments

Letters to a Messianic Jew

Posted on May 20, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Letters to a Messianic Jew

Dear Brother

I am writing this letter with the hope that you will stop and reconsider the most important decision you made in your life.

I realize that this hope of mine is a brazen one, or as we say in Yiddish: “chutzpa”. Perhaps I should be minding my own business and stay out of your life.

Perhaps – but your own actions encouraged me to write this letter. You see, you spend your own time and energy in an effort to get Jewish people to rethink their commitment to traditional Judaism. You would want people to realize that you are motivated by the feelings of kinship that you harbor in your heart towards your brothers and sisters. You would want people to realize that you are moved by a sincere desire to help your people.

Please view my words in that same light.

You have asserted that your decision is based on the Jewish Bible. You maintain that the words of the Jewish prophets inspired you to commit your life to Yeshua.

It is difficult for me to accept your assertion at face value.

If you truly based your decision on the Bible, it should have taken you much longer to come to a decisive conclusion.

You would have first studied the differences between Judaism and Christianity. You would have made sure to understand the viewpoint of Judaism from a Jewish source, and you would have acquired an understanding of Christianity from a Christian source.

With the two opposing world-views clear in your mind, you would have then approached the Jewish Bible. You would have read it carefully and thoughtfully from cover to cover, all the while asking yourself, which of the two belief systems is supported by this text. Many sections of the Bible cannot be properly understood with a casual reading. You would have had to devote more than a little time and energy in order to master the Jewish Bible.

You came to your decision too quickly.

It is not too late. You can start again. You can study. It may take time and it may be difficult.

But then your decision will truly be based on the Bible.

Your Brother

Yisroel

Dear Brother

I am writing again. There is something else I want to talk to you about.

Let us step back and think about the big picture. What did you mean when you told me that you had based your decision on the Bible? I want to point out to you that there are certain principles that one must accept before your assertion can begin to make sense.

Before justifying your decision with the assertion that it is based on the Bible, you must first accept that the Bible is the guidance and the direction that God provided for mankind.

You see, a chain cannot be stronger than its weakest link. If the only way you know that the Bible is true is because “someone” told you it is true, than your trust in the Bible cannot be stronger than the trust that you place in the word of that “someone”.

How indeed do you know that the Bible is really God’s word? How do you know that the prophets of the Jewish Bible actually lived? How do you know that they were authentic prophets? And how do you know that each of the books of Scripture truly belongs in the Biblical canon?

If God gave you the Bible for guidance, and if God expected you to make life-changing decisions on the basis of this book, He would have presented you with solid answers to these questions.

And He did. After all – He is the God of truth.

My dear brother. Are you a man of truth? Can you honestly say that you based your decision on the Bible if you cannot articulate how it is that you know the Bible is authentic?

You owe it to yourself to find the answers to these questions:

How were the Jewish Scriptures canonized?

What were the requirements demanded of a claimant to prophecy before his or her books were accepted?

Who determined that these requirements were indeed met, and how can we be sure that the judgment of these people was indeed accurate?

When you find the answers to these questions, and when you are honestly satisfied with those answers then, and only then, can you say that you decision is based on the guidance that God has provided.

Your Brother

Yisroel

Dear Brother

Here I am again.

This time I want to ask you if you know what it means to be a Jew?

It was not so long ago that if you wanted to be called a Jew, it would have cost you dearly. If you wanted to be called by the name Jew you would have to give up your basic civil liberties. You would not be considered a citizen in most countries, you would not be allowed to own land, you could not live outside of the ghetto walls, and you could not practice most professions. Often enough, your insistence at being called a Jew would cost you your life.

But our ancestors proudly carried the name “Jew” through fire and water.

Our ancestors appreciated their calling as a nation chosen by God. That calling was dearer to them than life itself.

You are probably aware that our ancestors would not have been pleased with your decision to follow Yeshua. What you may not be aware of is how deeply your decision would have pained them. You see, they did not view a decision such as yours as a mistake, a sin or even a terrible transgression. It goes much further than that.

From the standpoint of our ancestors, the path you have chosen violates the very core of our calling as a nation before God. The way our ancestors look at it, the faith that you presently follow represents the precise opposite of what it means to be a Jew.

I recognize that you have a different understanding of the word “Jew” and of our calling as a nation before God. But wouldn’t you agree that you owe it to your ancestors to find out why they were so convinced that you are wrong?

After all, it was through your ancestors that you inherited the name: “Jew”. The price that they paid so that you can carry this name was nothing less than their very life-blood.

Won’t you at least allow them to share with you their appreciation of what it means to be a Jew? Will you let them talk?

Your Brother

Yisroel

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence | 1 Comment

Non Prophet

Posted on May 17, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Non Prophet

Christian missionaries contend that the Jewish people should accept Jesus as a true prophet.

We can’t.

Because he wasn’t.

How can you be so sure?

Simple – The same system that tells me that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were true prophets, tells me that Jesus was not.

Well, how do you know that the prophets of the Jewish Scriptures were authentic?

I will tell you in a minute – but before I answer your question, I have a question of my own for you. Did you ever think about this? Did you ever wonder how it is that we know that the prophets of the Jewish Scriptures are for real and that the writings of the Jewish Scripture were authored with Divine inspiration?

Did you have a clear and straightforward understanding of the method that we should use to sort out the true prophets from the frauds – and then did you carefully and patiently apply this test to Jesus – and only after he passed with flying colors – then, and only then, did you accept him? Or did you perhaps accept Jesus before you ever thought about this question?

So how do we know that the Jewish Scriptures are authentic?

We must first recognize that God appointed a witness nation (Isaiah 43:10, 12; 44:8). God had demonstrated to the Jewish people in a clear and unequivocal way – that He is the Lord and that there is no other (Deuteronomy 4:15, 35).

We are confident that Israel is His witness nation because no national entity claims any experience that could be compared to ours (Deuteronomy 4:32-35).

When the claimant to prophecy presented their claim – the Jewish people asked themselves: is this man or woman speaking in the name of the God we know from Sinai? (Deuteronomy 18:20) Is he or she encouraging worship of an entity other than the God we know from Sinai? (Deuteronomy 13:3)

Jesus did not pass this test.

There is another test that God provided to sort the true prophet from the fraud. If a prediction of the prophet fails to materialize, then we can be sure that the prophet is a fraud (Deuteronomy 18:22). This one is tricky though. You see, the followers of false prophets were never short of excuses when the predictions of their “prophet” failed to materialize. How could we know if our bias, for or against, the claimant to prophecy is confusing us or not?

In these situations we are directed to turn to the judges of Israel(Deuteronomy 17:8, 9 – 2Chronicles 19:11).

We know their verdict.

If you do not accept the authority of Israel and her judges to pass judgment on Jesus, please be consistent, and reject her Bible as well.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Faith Structure | 33 Comments

Tell Them… Jeremiah 10:11

Posted on May 17, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Tell Them … Jeremiah 10:11

 Trinitarian Christians believe that it is entirely appropriate for a person to direct absolute religious devotion towards one Jesus of Nazareth.

Throughout history the Jewish people have proclaimed, often at the cost of their life, that this aforementioned belief is idolatry.

The Jewish position is quite easy to understand. After all, Jesus looked like a man, walked like a man, breathed like a man – as the common adage about a certain water-fowl goes – he was a man!

A common Christian reaction to any insinuation that their belief is idolatrous is to launch an offensive, as if those who don’t worship Jesus are the ones who are lacking in their faith in God. “Don’t you believe that God could do anything?” the Christian challenges. “If God wants to make Himself into a man – who are you to tell Him that He can’t?”

There are several ways to respond to this “challenge”.

First, it should be pointed out that such arguments could be used, have been used and are being used to justify worship of any idol. “Who are you to tell God that He can’t become a graven image? or a cat? or a holy cow?”

Second, try asking the missionary if God could commit suicide? Or if He could get appendicitis or a hernia? Could he get lost, confused or disoriented? How about losing his mind – could God do that to Himself?

Could God make Himself “not God”?

The basis of our worship of God is that He is the Creator of all. By definition, any created being – is “not God”. For God to turn Himself into a created being – and to then go and demand the worship that is coming to Him as Creator is like saying – light turned into darkness and it still provides illumination.

Finally – you could tell the missionary that God taught us everything we need to know about worshipping Him at Sinai (Deuteronomy4:35) – if He would have wanted us to worship Jesus – we would have seen Jesus at Sinai.

Chances are that you will not convince the missionary – but at least he or she will not use that argument in your presence anymore.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in The Ultimate Truth | 17 Comments

Orange Juice, Water and Blood

Posted on May 11, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Orange Juice, Water and Blood

The weekly discussion group focused on the exodus. The Rabbi explained to the small crowd how the plague of blood impacted the Egyptians. What, with the Nile itself, the source of Egypt’s sustenance and her national pride turning into blood – the devastation must have been tremendous.

As the Rabbi droned on – an incredulous voice rang out from the back of the room. “The river turned into blood?! Rabbi – do YOU believe that?”

The Rabbi looked the college student in the eye and asked the challenger: “If there were two glasses here on the table – one filled with water and one with orange juice – and a miracle worker were to turn both of them into blood – which of the two would you consider a greater miracle?”

The young man answered: “The orange juice turning into blood would be a bigger miracle.”

“Why do you say that?” – asked the Rabbi.

“Simple” – “water is sort of a neutral substance, you could probably use water to reconstitute dried blood – as opposed to orange juice which is something totally different than blood” – replied the young man.

“Do you realize” said the Rabbi, “that orange juice turns into blood every day?”

“What are you talking about?” – said the now puzzled young man.

“Well, what happens when you drink a glass of orange juice?” asked the Rabbi.

The young man hesitated, a glimmer of understanding appeared in his eyes – “yes – you are right, it turns into blood.”

“How does that happen?” challenged the Rabbi.

“It is the liver, the liver turns the orange juice into blood” replied the young man.

“How does the liver do it? How does the liver turn the orange juice into blood?”

The young man was silent. The Rabbi waited. Finally the young man admitted: “I don’t know, I don’t know how the liver turns orange juice into blood.”

The Rabbi comforted him: “don’t feel bad that you don’t know, the combined wisdom of all the scientists in the world also doesn’t know precisely how the liver turns the orange juice into blood. – But wouldn’t you agree that whoever designed the liver – could probably turn water into blood as well?”

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Addressing Atheism | 4 Comments

Judge Not

Posted on May 8, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Christianity claims to be the only path to salvation before God. Many individual Christian denominations take this claim one step further with the assertion that this path leads exclusively through membership in their particular church.

This claim is not unique to Christianity. Many religions lay claim to exclusive possession of the way to eternal reward. What is different about Christianity is that its claim is refuted through its own accusation against Judaism. Christianity’s claim to exclusivity is internally inconsistent and self-contradictory – in a word: hypocritical.

You see, Christianity acknowledges that before the advent of Jesus, the Jewish people enjoyed a unique relationship with God. Judaism does not claim that the path to God is limited to membership in the Jewish community. According to Judaism, any human being who acknowledges his or her debt to the Creator, and lives a life in line with the conscience that God planted into our hearts, will be rewarded by God. But Judaism does claim that the Jewish people stand in a special relationship with God as a chosen nation.

Christianity contends that the Jewish people forfeited this singular standing before God. I will allow Matthew’s Jesus to present the position of the Church.

“Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.

But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” (Matthew 21:33-43)

The meaning of the parable is obvious. The owner of the vineyard is God, the husbandman is the Jewish people, the son is Jesus, and the “nation bringing fruits thereof” is the Christian Church. According to Matthew’s Jesus, killing the “son” warranted that the kingdom of God be taken from the Jews.

Let us now see how Christianity fares according to the judgment it pronounced against Judaism.

We will note that there are many extenuating factors that mitigate the alleged guilt of the Jews in the death of Jesus;

Even according to the biased narrative of the Christian Scriptures, it was not the Jews who killed Jesus, it was the Romans.

The number of Jews that could have been involved in his death had to be minuscule. The majority of Jews that were alive then could not all have been in that place at that one point in time.

Even those Jews who might have been involved in his death could not be considered representatives of Judaism as a belief system. The core texts of Judaism do not preach hatred against Jesus. On the contrary, the Jewish Scriptures that were venerated by the Jewish people of the time, devote more space to the castigation of the Jewish nation than they do in criticism of her enemies.

The hateful and sinister motivations attributed by Matthew’s Jesus to the Jewish people (- “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.”) is contradicted by John. According to Matthew, the Jews recognize that Jesus is “the heir” and their motivation for killing him was to “seize on his inheritance”. According to John the Jews were motivated to move against Jesus because they considered him a blasphemer (John 10:33), and feared that his activities will provoke the Romans to take action against the larger community (John 11:48).

Even the Christians, who accept Jesus’ claims, must acknowledge there was no way that the Jews could have known, before the alleged resurrection, that Jesus was who he claimed to be. Matthew’s Jesus declares that the generation will be given no sign except for his pending resurrection (Matthew 16:4). Thus before his alleged resurrection, the people had no way of clearly and conclusively verifying his claims. (It is in place to note that according to the Jewish Bible, no miracle, not even a resurrection, can justify Jesus’ claims for divinity – Deuteronomy 13:2-6.)

Still and all, despite all of these mitigating factors, Christianity asserts that the Jewish people have had “the kingdom of God” taken from them because they killed someone who claimed to be God’s son.

Let us now see how Christianity has dealt with the one who is explicitly identified by the Jewish Bible as God’s firstborn son. The Jewish Scriptures repeatedly and openly declare that the Jewish people are God’s children, His firstborn son (Exodus 4:22, Deuteronomy 14:1, Jeremiah 31:8).

How did the Church treat God’s firstborn son?

A cursory glance at Church history reveals that the Church poisoned the minds of mankind against the Jewish people. They oppressed, tortured and killed millions of Jews from the days of Constantine until the holocaust.

None of the extenuating factors that mitigate the guilt of the Jews in the death of Jesus apply to the guilt of Christendom in the persecution of the Jew.

It was the Christians and the Church themselves who persecuted and killed countless Jews.

The number of Christians involved in these crimes reach the millions over the centuries.

The core texts of Christianity preach this very hatred of God’s firstborn son, and the greatest scholars in Church history understood the texts to mean precisely what they say – that the Jews are no less than the children of the devil.

The motive that the Church had to persecute the Jews is obvious to every student of history. The Church was attempting to seize the inheritance of the Jewish people. They wanted the blessings that God had promised to the Jewish people, and the fact that the Jews were still claiming those blessings, and the fact that their claim is more credible than the claim of the Church, was a thorn in their side.

The Church was in possession of all of the evidence that is necessary to prove that the Jewish people are truly God’s son; namely the Jewish Bible.

So, if the Jewish people had “the kingdom of God taken from them” because of the death of Jesus, what happens to the Church for the death of millions of Jews?

Oh, I forgot the excuses. “Those weren’t real Christians, those murderers cannot be considered true representatives of the Church, “real Christians” helped and saved Jews etc.”

All of these excuses, and more are applicable to the Jewish people in relation to the death of Jesus. But Matthew’s Jesus brushes all of these excuses aside and passes his harsh judgment against the Jewish people of all generations. If these excuses are not accepted by Matthew’s Jesus, they cannot work for the Church.

According to the Church’s own judgment, they cannot be the exclusive masters of the “kingdom of God”. If a one time act took the kingdom away from the entirety of the Jewish people, then 2000 years of widespread persecution should have done the same for the Church.

The judgment that Matthew’s Jesus pronounces against the Jewish people condemns the Christian Church and effectively nullifies her theological claims.

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Posted in General | 14 Comments

Does He Forgive?

Posted on April 3, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Does He Forgive?
“From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him, if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have befallen you, at the end of days, you will return to the Lord your God, and hearken to His voice. For the Lord your God is a merciful God, He will not abandon you nor destroy you, and He will not forget the covenant of your forefathers that he swore to them.” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31).

“As for the wicked man, if he repents from all his sins that he committed, and he observes all My decrees and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he committed will not be remembered against him; he shall live because of the righteousness that he did. Do I desire at all the death of the wicked man? – the word of the Lord God. Is it not rather his return from his ways, that he might live?” (Ezekiel 18:21-23).

“Now you, Son of Man, say to the house of Israel, thus have you spoken saying; “Since our sins and iniquities are upon us and we are wasting away because of them, how can we live?” Say to them: “As I live – the word of the Lord God – [I swear] that I do not desire the death of the wicked one, but rather that the wicked one return from his way, that he may live. Repent, repent from your evil ways! Why should you die, O House of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:10,11).

“He has not treated us according to our sins, nor repaid us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens is above the earth, has His kindness overwhelmed those who fear Him. As far as east is from west, has He distanced our transgressions from us. As a Father is merciful towards His children, so has the Lord shown mercy to those who fear Him. For He knew our nature, He is mindful that we are dust. Frail man, his days are like grass; like a sprout of the field, so he sprouts. When a wind passes over it, it is gone, and its place recognizes it no more. But the kindness of the Lord is forever and ever upon those who fear Him, and His righteousness is upon children’s children, to those who keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to fulfill them.” (Psalm 103:10-18).

The prophets assured us of God’s forgiveness when we turn away from our sins. How then can we accept the claim that “… without the shedding of blood there is no remission from sin” (Hebrews 9:22)? This dark teaching is openly refuted by the words of the Living God.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Atonement | 24 Comments

Biblical Offerings versus Christian Doctrine

Posted on April 1, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Biblical Offerings versus Christian Doctrine
Christianity contends that the crucifixion of Jesus represents the culmination of the offerings described in the Jewish Bible. It is claimed that Jesus is the “sacrifice to end all sacrifices”.
Is there any truth to this Christian assertion? Let us study the Biblical offerings and see what we can learn.
One feature that is obvious in all of the Scriptural offerings is the fact that nothing remained of them, they were completely consumed. Some of the offerings were immediately burned on the altar, while others were eaten by the priests or by the bearer of the offering. Anything that remained was burned (Exodus 12:10, Leviticus 7:17). The offering itself was eradicated. The only thing that remained from the offering was the closeness to God that it generated.
When an individual walked home after having brought his or her offering in the Temple, the last thing on their mind was the animal that was burned or eaten. The destruction of the animal brought to mind the concept that everything temporal; is just that – temporal. There is no intrinsic value to anything that can be destroyed. The offering brought into focus that our only true possession is the relationship we share with the One who created all.
In short, one of the central concepts of the Biblical offerings was the idea that everything earthly – represented by the offering – has no intrinsic existence. It is only the closeness to God that we obtain through the sincere act of bringing a gift to God that is of any value. The offerings of Scripture reinforced the central concept of Scripture, that God is the absolute Master of all – while the animal that was brought as the offering represented the flimsy nature of the existence of all created beings – including life itself.
Imagine if someone were to return from having brought an offering in the Temple with a portrait of the animal that he or she had brought as an offering. Imagine further that this individual hangs this portrait in a prominent place in his or her home. This individual goes around praising the animal: “Oh what a perfect sacrifice! Completely unblemished! This offering is my best friend because through it I achieved atonement from my sins!” – It would be obvious to one and all that this individual has completely misunderstood the Biblical sacrifices. Instead of learning the lesson of the offering – that all earthly existence is but a dream – this individual attempts to exalt an example of earthly existence.
The individual in our parable is none other than the Christian theologian. The Christian theologian points to the supposed sacrifice of Jesus in order to exalt Jesus. With this doctrine, the Christian has turned the Biblical concept of sacrifice inside out. The point of the Biblical sacrifice was to emphasize the ephemeral nature of the article brought as an offering and to exalt the Creator of all. Exalting the item brought as an offering goes directly against one of the basic themes of the Biblical offerings.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Atonement | 25 Comments