Challenging: “Why The Jews Don’t Believe In Jesus…And Never Will”

Rabbis at both Aish.comhttp://www.aish.com / and Jews for Judaism are knocking themselves out to prove Y’shua is NOT the Messiah. They post:  “One of the most common questions we receive at Aish.com is: ‘Why don’t Jews believe in Jesus?’ Let’s understand why ― not in order to disparage other religions, but rather to clarify the Jewish position." And then they go to great lengths to disprove “Jesus and the New Testament” – suggesting, in part, that it was due to the mistranslations of the myriad Bible “versions”, etc.

Our question at The Refiner’s Fire is:  If they’re not out to “disparage other religions” then why do they spend enormous amounts of time and energy trying to DISPROVE Y’shua and the New Testament?  (Google the terms “anti-missionaries” or “counter missionaries” and see how many articles come up – it’s absolutely mind-boggling!)  One can certainly “clarify the Jewish position” by simply ignoring the “noise” and just concentrating on teaching the Torah and Tanach. Instead, “they” are out there on various radio and YouTube videos blatantly making fun of those who teach about Y’shua!
 
Traditional Jews spend about as much time on disproving Y’shua as Christians spend on proving why December 25th is the supposed real birthdate of “Christ” (even though man-made traditions and “holy days” are rendered worthless by God Himself – see our articles on the pagan origins of Christmas and Christmas is unbiblical.)

The bottom line is:  This whole Judaism vs. Christianity/Messianic Judaism/Hebrew Roots is nothing more than a “you say/we say” battle ground, fraught with mostly opinions that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.  Everybody has an opinion. “The Word says this!”  “Oh no, it doesn’t!  It says THAT!” … OPINIONS!  Anybody can take a Bible verse and twist it into meaning what THEY want it to mean. It’s an endless battle of “my religion is better than yours.”

Well, here’s something to chew on:  YHWH’s Word is not about “religion” or “opinions”; “religion” is simply man-made nonsense – theologies based on what MAN THINKS God said! “Religions” have nothing to do with God and the Bible. YHWH’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness as written down by Moshe in the Torah are Truth!  The Neviim (prophets) are Truth; the Ketuvim (writings) are Truth … as are the Ketuvim Netzarim (writings of the Netzarim/Nazarenes), commonly known as Brit Chadasha/New Testament.  Whether traditional Jews (and their mean-spirited converts who write snippy comments all over the Internet) choose believe the Ketuvim Netzarim or not, the fact remains that YHWH constantly alluded to a “rest of the story” – which, upon non-biased inspection from a Hebrew viewpoint   -  perfectly fits into, and lines up with, the first two-thirds of the Bible!

The only problem is, “man” (including Jewish rabbis) has skewed the entire Bible so much, that confusion, misperception and doubt overshadow YHWH’s TRUTH.  (There are Bible verses – in both the OT and the NT that predict this would happen!)

Returning to the original point - sure, it’s okay to challenge someone’s ideas and opinions and theology, but we really need to examine ourselves if our WHOLE FOCUS in life becomes arguing, fighting and challenging the OPINIONS of others!  Case in point, Rabbi Skobac of Jews for Judaism is in the process of trying to dissect and disprove every one of the 365 Messianic prophecies listed in our article!   (This radio interview is just one example of many.)  While we certainly respect his position and knowledge of Torah, we also realize he is just a man, like all the rabbis before him, trying to understand God.  He is just as fallible as the rest of us....

Another “mere man” - a young, Jewish lawyer – came to believe that Y’shua is THE Messiah, after trying to disprove Him, back in 2005.  The 48 prophecies in this article came straight from the mind of this young man, who graciously allowed us to post them on our site for all to see!

Aramaic scholar and author Andrew Gabriel Roth (Aramaic English New Testament  and One Faith One People Ministries) has a similar story.  He told us he used to have fun debating Christians (and pretty much making mincemeat out of their theology) while he was in college ... until one day when it suddenly dawned on him that Y’shua was the “netzer/branch”.  Afterwards, he began to study the NT like never before, and a whole new world opened for him!  He once wrote:  “Netzarim is a SCRIPTURAL and  not a cultural, title.  Y'shua says in John ‘I am the vine and you are the branches,’, and from there is natural to link ‘He will be called a Nazarene’ (Matthew 2:23) with NETZER as righteous branch in Isaiah. It’s a name that Rav Shaul agrees is proper under interrogation in Acts 24:5.  If anyone were to use ANY alternate term, it would Mishkhanee (Messianic). The only OTHER title for Gentiles, is KRISTIANAY, which does appear twice even in Aramaic because that's what Gentile believers were called. But the Shlichim (Apostles) NEVER WERE “Christian!” … which certainly punches a hole in the endless insistence of traditional Jews who INSIST that once a Jew believes in Y’shua, he/she is automatically “Christian”....

The thing is, traditional Jews absolutely refuse to “see the other side.”  They automatically reject it – and they LOVE to micromanage the Messianic prophecies!   (They even came up with a  “Six-minute counter missionary course” - which supposedly proves that Yeshua and the New Testament are “a farce” ...  Well, we have answered every one of their allegations in our short article, as well!)  Some Jews have no problem believing that the "Lubavitcher Rebbe" - Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died June 12, 1994 is the promised Jewish Messiah, and they are still waiting for him to raise the dead!  (We have shown in this article why he can't possibly even qualify!)  It's totally ironic that they believe a mere MAN can be Messiah, and that they have no problems living by the Talmud and engaging in Kaballah; but mention Y'shua, and they go berserk! There is one woman on Facebook (someone who used to be Christian and has rejected Messiah Y'shua) who is constantly NOMINATING some guy in Israel to be the Messiah - and people are "liking" her posts in droves!  Where in Scripture are we told we can NOMINATE the Messiah???

No matter how many Bible verses one can produce to counter “them” (and woe be unto you if you attempt to present New Testament scripture because they’ll immediately pounce on those), they will NEVER address YOUR points or bother to answer YOUR questions!  They always steer the conversation onto the next “challenge” on their agenda.  We know this because we have actually ANSWERED many of their challenges!  Our responses have been on The Refiner’s Fire for at least 10 years, but we have yet to see ONE traditional Jew show us biblically where we are wrong!  But they are certainly out there, continuing to toot their own horns and push the same, tired “challenges” time and time again.  (Much like Christians who will pound you to death with the SAME, TIRED theology about how we are “under grace” because “Jesus paid it all” and nothing else is required, because all those “laws” were meant “only for the Jews”.... They have never yet figured out that it's "same God, same rules!")

Below is a short list of some traditional Jewish arguments – with the links in parentheses to our articles that counter them:

“Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because”:

1.    Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  See Accurate Messiah Prophecies and Messianic Prophecies, and decide for yourself - without letting your personal opinions get in the way!  Replying, “No he didn’t!  Isaiah 53 is about Israel” or any other personal opinion, doesn’t cut it!)

2.    Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah.  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  See Qualifications of Messiah in a nutshell.)

3.    Biblical verses “referring” to Jesus are mistranslations.  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  Yes, let’s look at some of the revisionism that can be found in the JPS, shall we?)

4.    Jewish belief is based on national revelation.  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  True!  The Tribe of Yehudah was chosen to take Torah into the world and safeguard and preserve it [Genesis 49:10, Micah 4:2].  But, let's not forget: YHWH caused Yeshua to be born into the Tribe of Yehudah/Judah. See the many articles the answer more of their challenges on our Messianic Judaism page.) 

5.    Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).  (The Refiner's Fire responds: See Yeshua qualifications.)

6.    Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  There is no language that specifies the Messiah will bring the Jews back to Israel. The language states only that God will lead the Jews back to Israel. If you then point to Isaiah 11:10 - 11:12, you must distinguish between what the Messiah will do: "BE a banner to all nations" and what God will actually do: "RAISE a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel."  Thus, one must distinguish between the roles of God in heaven, and the Messiah on earth. This contention is reinforced by Zechariah 10:8-12, which provides that God (not the Messiah on earth) will gather the Jews back to Israel.)

7.    Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4) – (The Refiner's Fire responds: See Yeshua Qualifications.)

8.    Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: “God will be King over all the world ― on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One” (Zechariah 14:9).  (The Refiner's Fire responds:  See our article Yeshua Qualifications.)

As mentioned above, anyone can twist Scripture to suit their agenda.  But the bottom line is, arguing really doesn’t resolve anything.  As the old adage goes:  "Those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still." The traditional Jews and their hangers-on/converts have literally taken their lives into their own hands by playing “word games” and thus rejecting Y'shua!  Just because MAN with his many Bible "versions" and misinterpretations has missed the mark doesn't mean that YHWH did! 

One day, when we are all out of our “earth suits” we will stand before our Maker to give an account of our life here on earth, and then we WILL ALL KNOW HIS TRUTH!  In the meantime, our prayer is that “religious folk” would stop the arguing and bickering and start concentrating on God and His Word – ALL of it.