Oh I believe Christians exist. I think most of them are very good people. I just think they have a lot of basic theological errors, the most obvious are that they think Gd is a man, they think Jesus is the messiah, and they think (most of them) that we are saved by belief in Jesus Christ.
I do not know any Christian who thinks God is a man ... that what you say is just maliciousness!
It is true that TRINITARIAN CHRISTIANS wrongfully believe that Jesus, who is a man, is ALSO GOD... Well, in that I agree they are woefully wrong - but that belief DOES NOT SAY that ‘God is a man’...
Could I beg you a favour and assign the appropriate SECT of Christianity that you refer to in your expositions... You must not taint ALL WHO ARE CALLED CHRISTIAN with the same belief :
- A Christian is one who professes to believe in and follows the ways of Christ Jesus
You can see from that definition that there will be a wide variety of persons (or groups / sects) who are umbrellaed under that belief title. So please research whom you are accusing and differentiate them as appropriate :
it is offensive, for instance, to say that I believe that God is a man when I absolutely do not make even an inkling of such a claim!!!
((Oh, incidentally, I do not belong to any group of Christian that is traditionally named even though I believe in ways of Christ Jesus. If you need to refer to what I believe then just class me as ‘Christian True Scriptures’. It’s not a group but you gotta call me something, yes?))
I do not have to be a Christian to know how to compare Christian teachings with the teachings of the Tanakh, and to see that there is a big contradiction. I do not have to be a Christian to know that the Torah is the reed by which all other ideas are measured to see whether they are of God or not, and that the Christian scriptures are found woefully wanting.
It is unfortunate that you choose this belief because it is exactly what Jesus Christ came and overthrew in that the Jews of the Tanakh/Torah were abusing the very laws of MOSES... note carefully:::
MOSES’ Laws....
Moses saw that the Israelites were overwhelmed by God’s laws - they found them stiffling due to their inherent sinful nature. So they begged Moses for a lightening of the laws... and Moses took their complaint to God... and God allowed Moses to create such retrievals. An instance of this was Divorce...
But even this reprieval was abused. Jesus taught that, for instance, ‘the Sabbath was made for man’. This means that the Sabbath was to allow the Israelites to rest... and to worship God. But the Jews insisted on ABSOLUTE WORKLESSNESS - not even to bake bread, heal a sock person, or anything of a professional attitude. HOWEVER, as Jesus pointed out, if their donkey fell into a well then they would takes steps to recover it... viz-a-viz they would WORK to remove it... and ‘god forbid’ if their house caught on fire!!!!!! Would they hesitate to WORK at putting the fire out... Of course not... So Jesus called them HYPOCRITES because they accused him of breaking the Sabbath by ‘DOING GOOD’ by healing a man (I.e. carrying out DOCTOR services) and also for MAKING BREAD (Being a Baker)!!! Jesus also taught them that their Spiritual Father, YHWH GOD, was working even on the Sabbath - and so, as long as the work was Spiritually profitable then all was ok...
So, I ask you if you think what this ‘prophet’ you don’t believe in was correct? Is it a sin to do good on the Sabbath - is not doing good a GODLY ACT?
Indeed, I acknowledge a little bias on my part, and I insist that you acknowledge the same sort of bias on your part. You simply start with the opposite assertion -- that the NT is the reed for measuring. When there is a conflict between NT and Tanakh, its "obvious" that its because God has done away with the Torah.
NO WAY should quarters be given to a deprecated belief... the aspect you plant yourself on ((the Ten Commandments are still valid))
I have always declared that no true Christian should ever consider ‘walking in the shoes of a fallacious belief just to see what it’s like!’ I would not advocate that a police officer walks in the ways of a criminal in order to understand the ways of a criminal to sympathise with them. It is absolutely not required... It is intuitive what is wrong even if the person is down on his wealth or born into crime or forced into it... we are furnished with strength to resist them easy way out!’. So also, I do not need to ‘understand Judaism’ to know where it fails in its teachings. I put it to you that, as has been said, ‘Let Scriptures attest of itself!’.
And since the Old Testament ends way over 2,000 years ago Judaism has nothing to seat itself upon as far as any future is concerned.
Still waiting fir the messiah??? What are the signs of the times... let the Torah/Tanakh speak to you... and does it???
This is not what paul teaches at all. If you read romans chapter 11, you will find Paul teaching that the Jews are still God's covenant people -- "For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable." He also says regarding unbelieving Jews that "All Israel shall be saved," and that "As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election (salvation) they are beloved for the sake of the patriarchs." Sounds to me like Paul is very pro=Jewish, even those of us who reject Jesus. He would prefer for us to believe, but he doesn't think God has cast us aside.
Paul was ‘re-assigned’ by Jesus to preach the way to God. His dispute with Peter showed that there was division between whom should be taught about the risen Christ. I’m not sure of the outcome but
Acts 17:24 - 18:23 says:
- "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.... ... Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah. But when they opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to the Gentiles..... ...One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city. .... While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews of Corinth made a united attack on Paul and brought him to the place of judgment. "This man," they charged, "is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law."
And elsewhere:
- “All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.” (Psalms 86:9)
As you can see, Paul preached to both Jews and gentiles after he saw that the Jews were not receiving the word of God by the spirit of Jesus. He did not reject the Jews entirely because if it were so he would have been in denial and violation of psalm 86:9.
You also see that Paul preached a risen Christ and put it to the Jews that salvation was through this Christ, this messiah, this MAN WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEATH AS PROOF!!
So, and however, many Jews eventually tried rejecting HIM (Paul)... but Jesus (‘the Lord’) told him to keep preaching ... if the Lord had found that Paul was wrong then he could never have advocated that Paul should maintain his preaching....!!
You have to understand that I do not accept your gospels, or any part of your NT as authoritative. The Torah is the reed by which your NT is measured and found wanting.
The Torah WAS the yardstick by which the nations were judged ... up until the SAVIOUR was sent with a new Covenant... the everlasting covenant!!!
There can be only one covenant concerning any one matter. A new covenant overturns all and any previous covenant on the same matter just as a new WILL supersedes all previous WILLS concerning the same matter!
Look, I don't have all the answers about every scripture. But if I were to identify a cornerstone of the faith, it would be the Torah.
COWARD!!! (Smile!!) Thats a cheap politicians way out - it means you see the veracity of what was said but you cannot BE SEEN to agree with it as it is counter to your parties manifesto... Being pious in admitting by saying you don’t have the answers is purely deflection because if you can’t understand a simple verse or verses then how are you so sure it is wrong?
Yes, we still look to the messiah. He will, among other things, bring all the Jews back to the land of Israel. He will rule from Jerusalem. And he will usher in an era of world peace.
Notice that Jesus did none of these things. The messiah, when he comes, either fulfills all the prophecies, or he is a failure.
Jesus brought REDEMPTION from the sin of Adam, a redemption from DEATH OF ALL MANKIND NO MATTER HOW ‘godly’ they were because God demanded the blood of a sinless man in order to remove it, If you do not believe that the sin of Adam has been removed by the death of an innocent pure and holy man and raised again by Almighty God: YHWH, then you are in serious error!!!
