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Jews for Jesus:
David Brickner, executive director of Jews for Jesus recently asked the question: Why don't the rabbis believe in Jesus? Following is a short excerpt from his article which supposedly answered that question:
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"Why don't the rabbis believe in Jesus?" Many Christians who ask me this assume that all rabbis are extremely knowledgeable about the Hebrew Scriptures. And, they figure, it stands to reason that anyone who is familiar with the many passages that point to Jesus would be persuaded to believe in Him too.
But in fact, it is simply not the case that all rabbis know and believe the Jewish Scriptures.
The Hebrew Bible is only one of the holy books in Judaism. Traditional rabbis are likely to spend far more time studying traditional interpretations and commentaries from the Talmud and other rabbinical texts than they are on the actual Scriptures. Liberal rabbis are likely to embrace a higher critical view of the Bible, seeing it more as a source for moral guidance than divine revelation.
But there is another reason why the rabbis don't believe in Jesus: once they do, they are no longer considered rabbis. Rabbis are expected to believe and teach a religion that does not accept a New Testament belief in Jesus. To inquire earnestly about whether Jesus might be the Messiah is to question the authority of traditional Jewish thought. It requires a willingness to be removed from one's chosen career and stripped of one's standing in the community. It should be no surprise that most rabbis will not allow themselves to openly consider the claims of Christ. In fact, even a public recognition of Jesus as a wise Jewish rabbi can be enough to jeopardize a rabbi's standing....
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The Netzarim Response:
Brickner's article went on to bash "the Jewish rabbis" for harassing and shaming other rabbis who dared to mention Jesus in a positive light, blaming them for keeping their brethren away from the Messiah....
It seems that "the Jews" just can't win in this world; they are simply the "bad guys" from every angle, according to "the world." First, they refused to "believe in Jesus" even while He was walking among them; and then they had Him killed (according to some people). Then, after being dispersed into the nations, they insisted on remaining "under the law" despite the teachings of the enlightened church that clearly showed that "the law" had been abolished at the cross. And then, in 1948, when the world briefly felt sorry for the Jews after the Holocaust and returned Israel to "the Jews", those Jews had the audacity to accept the land, thus stealing it from the innocent Arabs (Palestinians) who had been squatting on the Land that YHWH gave to Abraham, and who are to this day, occupying and terrorizing innocent Muslims. And now those darn Jews don't even have the decency to "believe in Jesus"!
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Well, perhaps it's time somebody reminded Mr. Brickner and his "Jews for Jesus" organiation of the real reasons Jews don't believe in Jesus!
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The real reason is that the Christian "Jesus" in no way resembles the actual Torah observant Jewish Messiah who walked this earth and proclaimed the Kingdom of YHWH! The Christian "Jesus" came to abolish the Torah and all Divine Instructions from YHWH, and to send "tolerance" into a world where more than 33,000 Christian denominations now reside. "Jesus" was born on December 25th, a man-made "holy day" that features Santa Claus as the central figure who causes parents around the world to lie to their children every year.
Jesus - the god who apparently came to replace His Father and to abolish His Father's Torah, hangs dead as a doornail on crosses around the world...A God who is born, has a human mother, and who died? Why should the Jews believe in that? Furthermore, Jews have been persecuted and killed over Jesus for the last two millennia, and to this day they are still being told by "good and well-meaning Christians" and the Jews for Jesus types (who accost them in the streets and at the airports) that they are going to hell if they don't believe in that blond adonis hanging on a cross, called Jesus....
Perhaps Mr. Brickner and his Jews for Jesus would be taken a little more seriously if they dove into the Scriptures and recognized that the Name of our Messiah was Yeshua (which means "YHWH is Salvation) who was not a new god, but an "arm of YHWH" (Isaiah 53:1) who came to proclaim the Kingdom of YHWH and show mankind how to obey Torah.
Luke 4: 43 "But he (Yeshua) said, "I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
Acts 28: 23 "From morning till evening the Apostle Paul explained and declared the Kingdom of God and tried to convince people about Yeshua from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets."
Acts 24: 14. But this indeed I (Paul) acknowledge, that in that same doctrine of which they speak, I do serve the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things written in Torah and in the prophets.
Perhaps Jews for Jesus would be taken more seriously if they began to teach that Yeshua was NOT born on December 25, but on the first day of Sukkot; and that He died on 14 Nisan just before the Feast of Passover, and He rose three days later (which was NOT "Easter Sunday"....). Perhaps they would have more luck with those "stiff-necked Jews" if they began to show how Yeshua Himself kept the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts that foreshadow him!
Perhaps Mr. Brickner (who proclaims to be a Jew) can recall the Tanach Scriptures where YHWH, time and time again, warned His People to abstain from idolatry and from the pagan ways of the Gentiles (the pagan ways Mr. Brickner himself now follows). Examples:
Deuteronomy 4: 15 You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.
Deuteronomy 6: 14"Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you."
Deuteronomy 12: 30 be careful, after they have been destroyed ahead of you, not to be trapped into following them; so that you inquire after their gods and ask, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I want to do the same.' 31 You must not do this to ADONAI your God! For they have done to their gods all the abominations that ADONAI hates! They even burn up their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods!
Jewish rabbis don't believe in Jesus because Jesus is a figment of the imaginations of the forefathers of the Catholic Church; forefathers who decided that "the Jews" were the "bad guys" - and when they weren't harassing, imprisoning or slaughtering them in the Inquisition, the pogroms, or the Holocaust, the "Church" leaders were teaching that Judaism had been replaced with a new religion that had new rules which in no way smacked of Judaism. "Church founders" such as Ignatius(35-107 CE), Marcion (110-160 AD) and Tertullian(155-230 CE) were instrumental in tweaking the Scriptures and inserting their own opinions - which, of course, were swallowed by "the world" as "true Gospel" which sought to free the Church from "false Jewish doctrines":
- Ignatius was considered to be an "auditor" and "disciple" of John. Ignatius pioneered the Greek-based Christian religion and was instrumental in the assimilation of paganism into early Christianity, packaging Christianity for a Greco-Roman Hellenic culture. Ignatius saw Jewish followers of Y'shua as nothing more than legalists and Judaizers. He despised the observance of Shabbat in favor of his Ishtar sunrise "Lord's day" Sun-Day teachings. It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of the Ignatian letters to modern Christian institutions. He was a key player in the development of the modern Christo-Pagan church, promoting the "infallibility of the church" and the "universal church". If there ever was a hierarchy loving "Christian" with a Hellenistic autocratic mindset, it was Ignatius who gave himself the nickname Theophoros (the God-bearer) and taught that deacons, presbyters and bishops were a separate category of people, high and lifted up, and infused with Jesus-like authority to be lords over people. Christians consider Ignatius as one of the all time biggest movers and shakers of the all-Gentile church. He strongly instructed that "without the bishop's supervision, no baptisms or love feasts are permitted". He also believed Mary to be the eternal virgin mother of God.
- Every Christian who uses the term "Old" and "New" testament must take their hats off to Marcion as he was the one who coined these terms which perfectly reflect the Hellenistic mindset of the pagan world which is ignorant of Torah. Marcion taught that the Old and New Testaments could not be reconciled with each other, and this is what you will hear in Christian churches today.
- One of Tertullian's better known "achievements" was to fall into a trance and then prophesy under the influence of the "Holy Spirit", insisting his utterances were the voice of the "Holy Spirit". (The modern day speaking in tongues "born again" Pentecostal or Charismatic Christians must really appreciate someone like Tertullian!) Also, Tertullian, while fumbling in all manner of paganism and spiritism, picked up an "anointing" of the "Holy Ghost" and coined the word "Trinity" which is one of the most beloved doctrines of the pagan Church to this very day. The "persons of the trinity" doctrine flourishes in the hierarchy-based religion which sees itself as a three-sided pyramid structure. Tertullian's works abound with puns, wit, sarcasm and a continual pounding of his opponents with invectives.
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Let's face it: There is no reason under the sun why "the Jews" should believe in Jesus. But they have every reason to learn about Yeshua, YHWH-Come-in-the-Flesh! The Tanach tells us so.
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