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Debunking Christian Circular Arguments and Assumptions
Why
Jesus could
not be the Messiah of the Old
Testament
Christians
are fond of claiming that Jesus fulfilled
Old Testament messianic prophecies. But as mentioned above
in
the Fulfilled
Prophecies section, the writers of the New Testament books often
twisted verses from
the Old
Testament that had nothing to do with messianic prophecies, to try to
make them
fit into Jesus’ story. (In my opinion, that was very
disrespectful to the Old
Testament writers.) It was as though the Gospel advocates of
the
New
Testament were desperate to look for anything in the Old Testament to
try to
fit their concept of Jesus as the messiah into it. In effect,
it
was a
sort of “forced sequel.” Anyone who
merely looks at
the alleged Old
Testament prophecies can see this. It’s quite
obvious.
However,
not only does Jesus not fit the messianic
prophecies of the Old Testament scriptures, but what most Christians
don’t know
and are never told, is that Jesus also did not fulfill the actual
intended
messianic prophecies of the Old Testament and Torah! You see,
Old
Testament prophesized a messiah (or “moshiach”
as
modern Jews like to call it) who would re-establish the national
http://www.jewfaq.org/moshiach.htm
“The word "moshiach"
does not mean "savior." The notion of an innocent, divine or
semi-divine being who will sacrifice himself to save us from the
consequences
of our own sins is a purely Christian concept that has no basis in
Jewish
thought. Unfortunately, this Christian concept has become so deeply
ingrained
in the English word "messiah" that this English word can no longer be
used to refer to the Jewish concept. The word "moshiach"
will be used throughout this page.”
In that
same site, the prophecies about what the “moshiach”
will do are explained:
“The moshiach
will be a
great political leader descended from King David (Jeremiah 23:5). The moshiach
is often referred to as "moshiach
ben
David" (moshiach,
son of David). He will be well-versed in Jewish law, and observant of
its commandments.
(Isaiah 11:2-5) He will be a charismatic leader, inspiring others to
follow his
example. He will be a great military leader, who will win battles for Israel.
He will be a
great
judge, who makes righteous decisions (Jeremiah 33:15). But above all,
he will
be a human being, not a god, demi-god
or
other
supernatural being………….
The moshiach
will bring
about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish
people by
bringing us
back to Israel
and
restoring
And
according to that site on Jewish tradition, here
is what this “moshiach”
will
bring to the world when
he arrives:
The
world after the
messiah comes is
often referred to in Jewish literature as Olam
Ha-Ba
(oh-LAHM hah-BAH), the World to Come.
This term can
cause some confusion, because it is also used to refer to a spiritual afterlife.
In
English, we
commonly use the term "messianic age" to refer specifically to the
time of the messiah.
Olam Ha-Ba
will be characterized by the peaceful co-existence of all people.
(Isaiah 2:4)
Hatred, intolerance and war will cease to exist. Some authorities
suggest that
the laws of nature will change, so that predatory beasts will no longer
seek
prey and agriculture will bring forth supernatural abundance (Isaiah
11:6-11:9). Others, however, say that these statements are merely an
allegory
for peace and prosperity.
All of
the Jewish
people will
return from
their exile among the nations
to their home in Israel
(Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 23:8; 30:3; Hosea 3:4-5). The law of the
Jubilee
will be reinstated.
In the Olam
Ha-Ba,
the whole world will recognize the
Jewish G-d
as the
only true G-d, and the
Jewish religion as the only true religion (Isaiah 2:3; 11:10; Micah
4:2-3;
Zechariah 14:9). There will be no murder, robbery, competition or
jealousy.
There will be no sin (Zephaniah 3:13). Sacrifices
will
continue to
be brought in the Temple,
but these will be limited to thanksgiving
offerings, because there will be
no further need for expiatory
offerings.”
Obviously
the Jesus of Christianity did not fulfill
these requirements, contrary to what the church teaches.
Instead,
what
the Christians do is take the prophecies that Jesus didn’t
fulfill and try to
claim that he will fulfill them in his future Second Coming.
Nice
try,
but no cigar. The Judaism site addresses Jesus:
Jews do
not believe that
Jesus was
the moshiach.
Assuming that he existed,
and assuming that
the Christian scriptures are accurate in describing him (both matters
that are
debatable), he simply did not fulfill the mission of the moshiach
as it is described in the biblical passages cited above. Jesus did not
do any
of the things that the scriptures said the messiah would do.
On the
contrary, another
Jew born
about a century later came far closer to fulfilling the messianic ideal
than
Jesus did. His name was Shimeon
ben
Kosiba,
known as Bar Kochba
(son of a star), and he was a charismatic, brilliant, but brutal
warlord. Rabbi Akiba,
one of the greatest scholars in Jewish history, believed that Bar Kochba
was the moshiach.
Bar Kochba
fought a war against the Roman
Empire, catching the
Tenth Legion by surprise and retaking Jerusalem. He resumed sacrifices
at the
site of
the Temple
and
made plans
to rebuild the
For more
detailed answers, see the site Jews
for Judaism
which explains what the real Jewish messiah was
about
and why the Jesus story didn’t fit the
criteria. Their
article The
Jewish Concept of Messiah
explains why the Christian messianic
prophecies are
not even Biblically supported. They also have a handbook The
Jewish Response to Missionaries
that you can download in different
languages. In it, the criteria for the Jewish messiah are given:
“THE
CRITERIA TO BE
FULFILLED BY THE
JEWISH MESSIAH
In an
accurate
translation of the
Jewish Scriptures, the word "Moshiach"
is
never translated as "Messiah," but as "anointed."1Nevertheless,
Judaism has always maintained a fundamental belief in a Messianic
figure. Since
the concept of a Messiah is one that was given by G-d to the Jews,
Jewish
tradition is best qualified to describe and recognize the expected
Messiah.
This tradition has its foundation in numerous biblical references, many
of
which are cited below. Judaism understands the Messiah to be a human
being
(with no connotation of deity or divinity) who will bring about certain
changes
in the world and who must fulfill certain specific criteria before
being
acknowledged as the Messiah.
These
specific criteria
are as
follows:
1) He
must be Jewish.
(Deuteronomy
17:15,
Numbers 24:17)
2) He
must be a member of the tribe
of Judah
(Genesis 49:10)
and a direct male descendent of both
King David
(I Chronicles 17:11, Psalm 89:29-38,
Jeremiah 33:17,
II Samuel 7:12-16) and King
Solomon.
(I Chronicles 22:10, II Chronicles 7:18)
3) He
must gather the Jewish
people
from
exile and return them to Israel. (Isaiah 27:12-13, Isaiah 11:12)
4) He
must rebuild the Jewish Temple
in
Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1)
5) He
must bring world peace.
(Isaiah 2:4,
Isaiah
11:6, Micah 4:3)
6) He
must influence the entire
world to
acknowledge and serve
one G-d.
(Isaiah 11:9, Isaiah 40:5, Zephaniah 3:9)
All of
these criteria for
the
Messiah are best stated in the book of Ezekiel chapter 37:24-28:
"And My
servant David will be
a king over
them, and they will
all have
one shepherd, and they will
walk in My ordinances, and keep My
statutes, and
observe them, and
they shall live on
the land that I
gave to Jacob My
servant...and I will make a covenant of peace with
them; it will be an
everlasting covenant and I will set my
sanctuary in
their midst forever
and My
dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their G-d and they
will be My
people. And the nations will know
that I am the Lord who
sanctifies Israel,
when My
sanctuary is in their midst forever."
If an
individual fails to
fulfill
even one of these conditions, he cannot be the Messiah.”
In the
next section of the handbook, a funny story is
given that illustrates how the New Testament writers
“created” Jesus’ fulfilled
prophecies.
“While
traveling
through a forest, a
person noticed a circle marked on a tree with an arrow shot perfectly
into the
center. A few yards away he noticed several more targets, each with
arrows in
the center. Later, he met the talented archer and he asked him, "How
did
you become such an expert that you always get your arrows into the
center of
the bull's-eye?" "It's not difficult," responded the archer,
"First I shoot the arrow and then I draw the circle."”
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