Christians consider it very important to emulate Jesus, to behave as they feel he would behave.
Here’s a quiz you can take to see if your ethics measure up to the standards of Jesus’ behavior. It’s easy: it’s multiple choice. Continue reading
Many Christian missionaries make the claim that the Jews see G-d as cruel, and that in contrast, Jesus is merciful.
The first statement is a lie. Certainly, anyone who has read the articles on my site knows that Judaism is very emphatic that Hashem is merciful. (Before emailing me about this, read the articles on my home page.)
The second claim, that Jesus was merciful, is certainly not supported by the words of the Christian bible, as we shall see below.
Let us discuss the two claims in order. According to Judaism, no one can be more merciful than G-d. It is impossible. G-d is the most merciful of anything in the universe that exists, all of which G-d created. According to Judaism, it is heresy to claim that anyone or anything is more merciful than G-d.
What do Christian missionaries mean when they say that Jesus is more merciful? They usually don’t answer this one directly, because missionaries seldom answer any direct questions. The answer appears to be that supposedly “Jesus accepts repentance, and the Jewish G-d does not.”
However, that is also untrue. Hashem most certainly does accept repentance, and sacrifice is not necessary for forgiveness and atonement. (More about that in another article.) Continue reading
Christians believe that the Law of Moses has been abolished in favor of a better, higher religion. They believe that the Torah is bad and gives death, but their faith gives only life.
Even a casual study will easily disprove this.
Let’s begin by discussing the Torah.
The Torah comes from Hashem, so how can it be cruel or bad?
Furthermore, the Torah itself says that the Torah is our life. Continue reading
Christianity maintains that all men are doomed to sin, and everyone will go to everlasting hell unless they accept Jesus as their savior.
Judaism has always held that we do not need that sort of salvation, for we are not doomed or damned at birth. We are not doomed or fated to sin. Quite the contrary. The Torah says: “If you do good, won’t there be special privilege? And if you do not do good, sin waits at the door. It lusts after you, but you can dominate it.” (Genesis 4:7) In other words, you can do good, and if you do, things will be better for you. If you do not do good, sin wants to be partners with you. But you can control sin, you can control your evil desires, and you can be good.
So we have free will, and that is what Judaism has always believed, because that is what the Torah teaches. The Torah does not teach — or even mention — that we are “born in sin,” or that we are fated to sin. Just the opposite. We have the ability to choose. Continue reading
When I discuss the concept of obeying the Commandments of Hashem, which is the basis of the Torah, Christians often respond,
“We Christians believe that the Law of Moses has been fulfilled and now we are to live a higher law.”
I have to admit that those words make no sense to me. What little of them I understand shocks me.
There is no such concept as the Law of Moses having been all fulfilled. That’s like saying “I no longer have to eat because all the eating in the world has been fulfilled.” Does that make any sense? Continue reading
Whenever possible, whenever we were allowed to, we Jews have lived side by side with Christians, Muslims, and pagans, without causing them any trouble. We have no desire to proselytize to them; we have no desire to turn them into Jews. In fact, we have no Commandment in our religion to make any non-Jew into a Jew.
As such, Jews have no problems with people of other religions, and they shouldn’t have a problem with us.
Unfortunately, many Christians do have a mandate to proselytize, and they do feel that they must proselytize to Jews and turn them into Christians.
And that is a problem.
First of all, there can be no peace if people do not accept each other for what they are. If you are unhappy with what I am, you will not be at peace. If you keep trying to change me, you will be disturbing my peace as well.
Our purpose, that is, what Jews do, is to fulfill what Hashem wants us to do. How do we know what Hashem wants us to do? Hashem gave us a Torah, and told us to follow the Torah always. So we study the Torah, and fulfill the Commandments.
Missionaries feel we have that wrong. Continue reading
Most Christians maintain that in order for anyone to approach G-d, or to “inherit the kingdom of Heaven” as they put it, or to “attain salvation” (again, their phraseology), one must go through Jesus. They insist that one cannot do this except through Jesus.
In the first place, it seems rather strange that the Torah should be so insistent that each and every one of us can reach G-d directly.
For example:
For this commandment that I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, nor is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us and make us hear it?’ It is not over the ocean…. But this thing is very close to YOU in YOUR mouth and your heart to do it.”
— Deut 30:11-14
Evidently, we ourselves are capable of fulfilling the Commandments and obeying Hashem’s will.
And furthermore, we also find that even when the Jews are at the lowest level, even after having served idols, the Torah promises us, “And you will request from there (that low level) Hashem your G-d, and YOU WILL FIND, if you search with all your heart and all your soul” (Deut. 4:29).
We ourselves can find Hashem, if we just do it honestly and sincerely. Why does the Torah not say that we must do it through Jesus? Because belief in Jesus is not necessary, and has never been a part of Torah or Hashem.
And even Jesus said so! Jesus said that if you fulfill the Torah, and do not believe in Jesus, you will still go to Heaven.
You don’t believe me? He says this in Matthew, Chapter 12, verses 31 through 32:
I say to you, All types of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven people. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, he shall be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, he shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
In other words, it is possible not to believe in Jesus, and still go to Heaven. But not believing in G-d is unforgivable.
I must also add at this point that this passage makes it hard to see why Christians claim that Christianity is a religion of forgiveness and love. Here is something that the Christian bible says can never be forgiven!
The passage I quote next makes both points even more strongly. Jesus says that there are people who will consider Jesus to be their savior and god, and yet will still not go to Heaven!
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:21
In other words, even some of the people who do believe in Jesus and accept him, people whose belief in him was strong enough to give them (supposedly) the power to cast out devils, many of them will not go to Heaven anyway. Why not? Because even though they believed in Jesus, they did not do the will of G-d, whom the Christians call the Father. Apparently, it is not enough to believe in Jesus. One must also fulfill what the Torah says.
But the Torah also says that we must fulfill the words of the Torah! And the Torah does not say we need to believe in Jesus!
So why should anyone believe that we need Jesus?
Christians say that G-d cannot accept sin, so therefore everyone is doomed. But G-d, out of mercy, killed himself so that we would have forgiveness.
Yet the Torah clearly tells us that Hashem Himself forgives! All we have to do is repent. For example: “Let the evil person forsake his ways, and the man of sin forsake his evil thoughts, and let him return to G-d and He will have mercy on him, to our G-d, because He greatly forgives” (Isaiah 55:7).
And it says, “Do I desire the death of the wicked? says the L-rd G-d. What I want is for him to return from his ways and live!” (Ezekiel 18:23).
That’s all it takes. Return from sin, and live!
Christians like to think that Christianity is just another form of Judaism. This is incorrect.
The first thing you have to understand is that to Judaism, Jesus is a foreign god.
Yes, it is true, as a few people have written to me, that Christians themselves assert that they worship the same G-d we do. This is really misdirection, even when it is unintentional. Judaism has strict Laws and Guidelines to define these things, and Christian beliefs in Jesus contravene those Laws and Guidelines.
Let me use a parable. Continue reading
One of the primary ways that we know that Jesus was not the Messiah was simply because he did not fulfill any of the Messianic prophecies.
Many people have written on this subject, both in books and online. This article will not add anything new to what they have written, but since so many people write me about this subject, evidently this article needs to be here at this site as well.
The Prophets have written a great deal about what the Messiah will do when he comes. Likewise, the Oral Torah has much to say about this as well, of course. Numerous Rabbis or the post-Talmudic era have collected these teachings and written about them. I shall write some of what has been written by the Rabbis. I hope and plan to quote many of the verses from Tanach (Jewish Bible) in a separate article one of these days. (To write in detail all the Talmudic and Midrashic passages would be too much for me to do.)
The Messiah will be a human being, the child of two human parents. He will be by unbroken patrilineal descent the undisputed heir of King David. Continue reading
It’s a very popular question. Why don’t Jews believe Jesus was the Messiah? Aren’t the proofs convincing?
This is a sensitive issue, and it is hoped that no one will be offended by the candid answer provided here.
We do not believe that it is prophesied that the Messiah will be crucified. We do not believe that the Messiah will be the son of G-d. We do not believe that he will be raised from the dead any more than anyone else. We do not believe that he will appear twice, in what some Christians call a second coming. We do not believe that the Messiah will be our “savior” in the sense that he will redeem us from our sins.
These are all fascinating claims to make concerning anyone, but they are all irrelevant to the Messiah for whom the Jews have awaited these three thousand years. None of these things are prophesied in the Jewish Bible. Continue reading