Yanni, what I explain is strictly my personal view and I present it as an option.
God created and the thing created became separated, which equals to eternal death, because the thing created (Mankind became as like god, to know both good and evil) could not be created any other way.
So, because the thing created had no power of its own to overturn the sentence of death, God had to do it for us.
That's the part Jesus played in the life of humanity. He Jesus, as God, with the full authority of God, had the power to overturn our death sentence, thus completely separate from our own righteousness.
God granted us life for the taking, assuming we become knowledgeable about it, making of us sinless, acceptable into the kingdom of God by God's work and not ours.
Now, since Jesus as God, the bible states that there is no other name "under Heaven" by which mankind can be saved.
That being the case, then Jesus is the way, the truth and the life of every soul that ever lived, as our direct access to the Kingdom of the Father.
Murderers, and all who willingly sin, build to themselves recompense and payment due while in the flesh.
Jesus, as God being the one who purchased our souls from eternal destruction, is our God... the Father, for when we die and see Jesus, we will see the Father.
He has the power to forgive all our sins, to heal, to give us joy in times of trouble, to give us hope when we see no hope, to comfort us in times of trials and tribulations, to support us in our endeavors, our businesses, our work and allow us to be His representatives here on earth.if we repent, meaning have a change of mind to do the right things.
He also gives us the responsibility to self government, to set laws, execute those laws
of those who trespass them.
There is however, an ever present potential for any of those laws in the hands of mankind to go amok. Hence the constant stand against evil deeds.
What is very hard for Christians as well as many other people in the world to believe is how can a God love even the murderers and evil doers?
The answer lies in that those evil doer's deeds are punishable in the flesh.
The opposite of living is death, so if we kill, then our death is required; thus payment is met in full. (For the wages of sin is death)
Our own righteousness is our protection against the evil that we may do.
Blessings, AJ
I respect your personal view; however, it is flawed for a number of reasons. First of all, Jewish doctrine states that God punished righteous people in
this world so as to have them bypass the temporary pains of "hell" in the Afterlife. When evil seems to flourish in
this world, they flourish and get their
reward in
this world so that they must go through the pains of "hell" in the Afterlife. That helps with "why do bad things happen to good people."
Second, I don't know if you ever read this, but here it is:
The Jewish Concept of Messiah and the Jewish Response to Christian Claims
The Jewish Concept of Messiah and the Jewish Response to Christian Claims
1)
The word Messiah is an English rendering of the Hebrew word Mashiach, whose translation is Anointed. It usually refers to a person initiated into G-ds service by being anointed with oil. (Having oil poured on his head. Cf. Exodus 29:7, I Kings 1:39, II Kings 9:3).
2)
There are many Messiahs in the Bible. Since every King and High Priest was anointed with oil, each may be referred to as an anointed one (a Mashiach or a Messiah). For example: G-d forbid that I [David] should stretch out my hand against the L-rds Messiah [Saul]... I Samuel 26:11. Cf. II Samuel 23:1, Isaiah 45:1, Psalms 20:6.
3)
The Hebrew word HaMashiach (lit. the Messiah) describing a future anointed person to come
does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Since the Bible makes no explicit reference to the Messiah, it is unlikely that it could be considered the most important concept in the Bible. Indeed, in Jewish thought, the Messianic idea is not the most crucial. However, in Christian thought, the Messiah is paramount- a difficulty in light of its conspicuous absence from scripture.
4)
Where does the Jewish concept of Messiah come from? One of the central themes of Biblical prophecy is the promise of a future age of perfection characterized by universal peace and recognition of G-d. Isaiah 2:1-4; Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Isaiah 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 8:23, 14:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34.
5)
Many of these prophetic passages speak of a descendant of King David who will rule Israel during the age of perfection. Isaiah 11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16; Ezekiel 34:11-31, 37:21-28; Hosea 3:4-5.
6)
Since every King is a Messiah, by convention, we refer to this future anointed one as The Messiah. The above is the only description in the Bible of a Davidic descendant who is to come in the future. We will recognize the Messiah by seeing who the King of Israel is at the time of complete universal perfection.
7)
The Bible never speaks about believing in the Messiah. Because his reign will be an historically verifiable reality, self-evident to any person, it wont require belief or faith.
8)
Because no person has ever fulfilled the picture painted in the Bible of this future King, Jewish people still await the coming of the Messiah. All past Messianic claimants, including Jesus of Nazareth, Bar Cochba and Shabbtai Tzvi have been rejected.
9)
The claim that Jesus will fulfill the Messianic prophesies when he returns does not give him any credibility for his first coming. The Bible never speaks about the Messiah returning after an initial appearance. The second coming theory is a desperate attempt to explain away Jesus failure. The Biblical passages which Christians are forced to regard as second coming (#5 above) dont speak of someone returning, they have a first coming perspective.
10)
According to Biblical tradition, Elijah the prophet will reappear before the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5-6). In the Greek Testament, Jesus claims that John the Baptist was Elijah (Matthew 11:13-14, 17:10-13). However, when John the Baptist was asked if he was Elijah, he denied it (John 1:21). The Gospel of Luke 1:17 tries to get around this problem by claiming that John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. However:
a] Malachi predicted that Elijah himself would return, and not just someone coming in his spirit.
b] When asked about his identity, John the Baptist didnt claim to have come in the spirit of Elijah - he claimed no association with Elijah at all.
c] The prophesy about the return of Elijah says that he would restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. There is no evidence that John the Baptist accomplished this.
11)
According to the Jewish Bible, the Messiah must be a descendent of King David. (Jeremiah 23:5, 33:17; Ezekiel 34:23-24) Although the Greek Testament traces the genealogy of Joseph (husband of Mary) back to David, it then claims that Jesus resulted from a virgin birth, and, that Joseph was not his father. (Mat. 1:18-23) In response, it is claimed that Joseph adopted Jesus, and passed on his genealogy via adoption.
There are two problems with this claim:
a) there is no Biblical basis for the idea of a father passing on his tribal line by adoption. A priest who adopts a son from another tribe cannot make him a priest by adoption;
b) Joseph could never pass on by adoption that which he doesnt have. Because Joseph descended from Jeconiah (Mat. 1:11) he fell under the curse of that king that none of his descendants could ever sit as king upon the throne of David. (Jeremiah 22:30; 36:30).
To answer this difficult problem, apologists claim that Jesus traces himself back to King David through his mother Mary, who allegedly descends from David, as shown in the third chapter of Luke. There are four basic problems with this claim:
a] There is no evidence that Mary descends from David. The third chapter of Luke traces Josephs genealogy, not Marys.
b] Even if Mary can trace herself back to David, that doesnt help Jesus, since tribal affiliation goes only through the father, not mother. Cf. Num. 1:18; Ezra 2:59.
c] Even if family line could go through the mother, Mary was not from a legitimate Messianic family. According to the Bible, the Messiah must be a descendent of David through his son Solomon (II Sam. 7:14;
I Chron. 17:11-14, 22:9-10, 28:4-6) The third chapter of Luke is useless because it goes through Davids son Nathan, not Solomon. (Luke 3:31)
d] Luke 3:27 lists Shealtiel and Zerubbabel in his genealogy. These two also appear in Matthew 1:12 as descendants of the cursed Jeconiah. If Mary descends from them, it would also disqualify her from being a Messianic progenitor.
Also see
Why Don't Jews Believe In Jesus?
