I am really curious about this and have never really looked into it before. I had to take aroad trip for work today and got to listening to a christian ministry station on the radio. They where talking about how the whole Bible,old and new testament, pointed to and where about the coming of Jesus. They didn't elaborate,as that's not what the program was about,but it made me think. I know most Jews don't believe Jesus was the Messiah and I assume this must be due to unfulfilled prophecy. However, some Jews(Messianic Jews?) do believe,as do Christians. How is this possible? Either prophecy is fullfilled or it isn't,correct? I know that many Jews and Christians must have studied this in depth,and yet they have come to completely different conclusions.Can anyone explain?
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Why don't Jews believe Jesus is the Messiah?
- Thread starter xxclaro
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Twig pentagram
High Priest
This question is asked frequently on this site. If you check out some old threads I'm sure you will find what you're looking for.
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
The main point here is that Jesus never freed the Jews from Roman oppression. He died, and after that, things got worse. Jerusalem was destroyed, as well as the temple was. By being such, Jesus can not be the Jewish messiah.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
Why doesn't Faith X believe in Faith Y's religious figure?
Tathagata
Freethinker
The issue is much more complex than that. The answer isn't simply "because they're different religions." The question is, what is the real reason that Jews don't believe Jesus is the real Messiah. Especially during Biblical times, there was no Christianity, so why did some Jews accept Jesus and other Jews did not?
What was the criteria by which they evaluate who the true Messiah is?
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Levite
Higher and Higher
Here are two posts I have made previously on the topic. They mostly say what I would tell you here.
As for Jews for Jesus ("Messianic Jews"), traditional Judaism holds that their beliefs are essentially part of Christianity, and therefore are heretical and unacceptable to Judaism. Obviously, non-Jews who wish to practice some of the commandments and syncretize them with Christian teachings are welcome to do so-- that is their own business; but such practices are forbidden to Jews. Our tradition teaches that the messiah has yet to come, and must do certain things to be the true messiah; and it also teaches that Christianity may be a perfectly acceptable way for non-Jews to interact with God, but it is not acceptable for Jews, because we are to practice Judaism.
Christianity took the Hebrew term mashiach, and in turning it into the term "messiah," or Greek christos also deeply altered the theological and philosophical meanings of messianism and what a messiah was, and what such an individual was supposed to do. In the Jewish tradition, the mashiach was originally very much a political and social leader. He would be a restorer of the Davidic monarchy, and someone who regained Jewish political autonomy in Israel, and returned the people to the fullest possible practice of the commandments. The Christian notion of the christ as spiritual redeemer from original sin is utterly foreign to Judaism, since we have no doctrines of original sin and salvation. The notion of the christ as the literal Son of God (much less a facet of God incarnate) is utterly incompatible with Judaism, which holds that God is entirely transcendant and only spiritually immanent; and does not reproduce in such a fashion, or ever incarnate in any way, or appear as an avatar of human or animal form.
As for Jews for Jesus ("Messianic Jews"), traditional Judaism holds that their beliefs are essentially part of Christianity, and therefore are heretical and unacceptable to Judaism. Obviously, non-Jews who wish to practice some of the commandments and syncretize them with Christian teachings are welcome to do so-- that is their own business; but such practices are forbidden to Jews. Our tradition teaches that the messiah has yet to come, and must do certain things to be the true messiah; and it also teaches that Christianity may be a perfectly acceptable way for non-Jews to interact with God, but it is not acceptable for Jews, because we are to practice Judaism.
Christianity took the Hebrew term mashiach, and in turning it into the term "messiah," or Greek christos also deeply altered the theological and philosophical meanings of messianism and what a messiah was, and what such an individual was supposed to do. In the Jewish tradition, the mashiach was originally very much a political and social leader. He would be a restorer of the Davidic monarchy, and someone who regained Jewish political autonomy in Israel, and returned the people to the fullest possible practice of the commandments. The Christian notion of the christ as spiritual redeemer from original sin is utterly foreign to Judaism, since we have no doctrines of original sin and salvation. The notion of the christ as the literal Son of God (much less a facet of God incarnate) is utterly incompatible with Judaism, which holds that God is entirely transcendant and only spiritually immanent; and does not reproduce in such a fashion, or ever incarnate in any way, or appear as an avatar of human or animal form.
Cordoba
Well-Known Member
If Jesus, peace be upon him, is to return, as most Christians and Muslims believe, would the second coming of Jesus "fit" with the Jewish description of "Messiah", especially that according to Islam he would have a very important political role for believers in the three Abrahamic religions?
Jesus Will Return - by Harun Yahya
Jesus Will Return - by Harun Yahya
Caladan
Agnostic Pantheist
The Jesus movement has began by a certain group of Jews and has transformed considerably with time, the vast majority of Jews simply remained with their standard beliefs.
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
Nope, the description in the scriptures, at least Hebrew scriptures, do not say that.
See that's what I thought, the Jews don't accept Jesus due to unfulfilled prophecy. What puzzles me is how some of them seem to be able to dismiss that and believe he is. As a friend of mine likes to tell me all the time,we know the bible is Gods word because it's prophecies where all fulfilled. Now I know they weren't,but that's another issue. If you were told that certain prophecies would be fulfilled to show you the truth, how do you get around that? I had heard something about the rest of the prophecies were to be fulfilled after the second coming, therefore Jesus was the true Messiah even with the propheccies left unfulfilled.
Poisonshady313
Well-Known Member
There is no indication whatsoever in the Hebrew Scriptures that the Messiah will have to come twice.... that he will do half the job and come back for the rest.
This is entirely a Christian fabrication... and it seems compelling to those who don't know any better.
fallingblood
Agnostic Theist
One of the problems is that many of the prophecies Jesus supposedly fulfilled had nothing to do with the Messiah. Matthew goes into the idea of Jesus fulfilling prophecy much more than the other Gospels do. We see the writer claiming that the virgin birth occurred to fulfill prophecy. This is a perfect example of how prophecy were used in a different manner than intended.
The prophecy Matthew uses for the virgin birth dealt with a time much before Jesus was even conceived. It dealt with the time around which it was written. By the time Jesus was born, it was already fulfilled. We know this by looking at the prophecy in context. (As a side note, the term virgin was a mistranslation. In the Hebrew, it referred to a young woman).
This was a common practice of religious writers during that time. They would search scripture to find prophecies to help prove their point. Matthew was simply doing that.
So it is logical why Christians were believe that Jesus fulfilled all of these prophecies. They simply are not aware of the historical context in which the prophecies were written. They are not aware that those prophecies had nothing to do with a messiah (at least many of them), simply because they have been taught differently.
The way to get around it is simply by knowing what the prophecies are, and the historical context for them.