Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[mlsoft]

sarai...

"Islam believes that Jesus was a Messenger or Prophet, sent by God, but not God - Himself, thus elevating Jesus to the same status of other Great Prophets of the Hebrew Bible. This interpretation is, of course, at odds with the Jewish and Christian interpretation, so it is one that is not considered by either. As a Scriptural basis for their interpretation, Islam cites the NT Gospel of John."

I find it hard to believe that anyone could read the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (especially John) and come away with any other conclusion other than Jesus claimed to be One with God, to have eternal existence (John 8:58), to be the only way to God, and to be the Messiah (Christ, in the Greek) (Matthew 16:15-17 see also my post #msg-709583). It is certainly evident that the Jews of His day understood His claims in that way, for they sought to have Him stoned and then crucified for His blasphemy.

In my view, the Jewish response is far more honest intellectually than the Islamic or liberal "christian" one. To assert that He was a great prophet or a great moral teacher and man seems ludicrous in light of the claims He made for Himself - logically, the only choices I see are to accept His claims (and those of the rest of the New Testament) as being true, or totally dismiss Him as a nut that received exactly the punishment He deserved.
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"There doesn't seem to be any indication that Jesus intended his followers to abandon the Hebrew tradition. Jesus's gripe was with the Pharisees interpretation of the Word of God, rather than with Judaism itself. Jesus rejected their interpretation of the Torah as hypocracy, and he was deemed a "false teacher". An argument can be made that Jesus embraced the Torah tradition, while rejecting the Pharisees interpretation."

I agree - the New Testament teaches that Jesus never sought to abrogate the Old Testament (Torah) teachings. He was here to live the law as no man could, in perfection, and to explain the OT teachings from God's viewpoint to those that would listen. Most of all, it was God's plan from eternity past that He would die on the cross, to pay the debt of sin in full for all that would accept it, and to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies.
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"Both sides of the "Messiah Debate", Jews and Christian, would probably deem the above blasphemy because it would mean they were both WRONG - Heaven forbid! But given the undeniable historical and theological significance of Jesus, the idea of Jesus as Messenger or Prophet is worthy of debate, and probably should be debated, imo."

Perhaps - but for myself, the issue was resolved not through debate, but by searching the scriptures. After a life of being an agnostic, I finally decided to sit down and read the Bible (I had never seriously read it) with a view that it was either book full of worthless traditions, myths, and bogus claims (which I expected to be the result), or it was exactly what it claimed to be - the inerrant Word of God to man - either it was all true or it was totally worthless, no middle ground. To my surprise, the more I read, the more it all made perfect sense, and I believed.

mlsoft