The Contradictions And Inconsistencies Between The Two Books
Contradiction 1
The New Testament states, If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
When we read this verse as an isolated passage, it appears to say that a person must hate his/her family in order to be considered a disciple of Jesus. However, this statement clearly contradicts the Old Testament biblical command to honor ones parents as found in the Ten Commandments. Honor your father and your mother , and the commandment to Love your fellow as yourself
Some Christians reply that the Luke 14:26 passage should not be taken literally. Furthermore, they assert that this passage is taken out of context and is an inaccurate translation. Ironically, their arguments confirm the Jewish teaching of not accepting passages on surface value without first applying careful examination of context and translation to obtain a correct understanding.
The first mistake is the translation of the original Hebrew word as pierced. The word actually means like a lion and the verse should read, they encompassed my hands and feet like a lion. This original Hebrew translation is totally consistent with many other verses, such as Isaiah 38:13 which states, I wait for morning like a lion , even so he breaks all my bones
Contradiction 2
Contradiction 3
Contradiction 4
Contradiction 5
Contradiction 6
Example 1:
Example 2:
2. A Descendant of King David
NOTES
Do Orthodox Jews Interpret The Bible Literally
Question:
My pastor tells me that, The most orthodox view historically seems to be not a literal interpretation, with the creation story in Genesis 1-3.
Would you agree with this? Are there other passages in the Torah like this? Are their hints in the Hebrew that suggest something to be non-literal? Jarred
Answer:
A few days ago, Jews celebrated the festival of Shavuot, known in English as Pentecost. Shavuot falls during the Hebrew month of Sivan, whose sign is twins.
The main connection of Shavuot with twins or twoness is that it celebrates the giving of the physical Torah on Mt. Sinai at the same time as it falls on the sixth of the month, a number that represents the Oral Torah. In other words, God transmitted the text of the Bible to Moses, and then spent forty days and nights teaching Moses an accompanying Torah that goes hand in hand with that text. We call this the Oral Torah or oral transmission and the Bible can best be understood through this lens.
Much of this oral transmission was known to the Christian founders of America and Christian scholars elsewhere. Small parts of the Jewish community have kept the oral transmission alive since the days of Sinai. The mission to which we devote ourselves in our ministry is to enable both Jews and Christians to recapture that part of their heritage that has been neglected or lost. We call this transmission ancient Jewish wisdom.
Keep studying,
Republicans Are Grabbing Power Because Scotus Said Go For It
In North Carolina, GOP lawmakers are redrawing maps that are neither unconstitutional nor illegalyet skew heavily in their favor.
This week, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly approved new maps for electing state legislators and U.S. representatives. The results are what youd expect for a red state: Of the 14 U.S. House districts, including a new seat added after the latest census, Republicans can expect to win nine, 10, or perhaps 11 they can also expect strong and possibly veto-proof majorities in the state legislature.
The problem is that North Carolina isnt really a red state. Its electorate is roughly evenly split. In 2020, Donald Trump edged Joe Biden by 1.3 percentage points, but more than half of the states votes for U.S. House seats went to Democratic candidatesyet Republicans still won eight of 13 races. The state has a Democratic governor.
Don’t Miss: What Does Omer Mean In The Bible
Jews Less Inclined Than Us Adults As A Whole To Consider Religion Very Important
Nearly half of U.S. Jews say religion is either very or somewhat important in their lives, while 53% say religion is not too or not at all important to them personally.
Jews by religion are far more likely than Jews of no religion to say religion is at least somewhat important in their lives . And Orthodox Jews are especially likely to say that religion is important: Nearly nine-in-ten say religion is very important to them, compared with a third of Conservative Jews and 14% of Reform Jews who consider religion very important in their lives.
Religion is more important to Jewish women, on average, than to Jewish men. Jewish adults ages 30 and older are more likely than those under 30 to say religion is at least somewhat important to them . And two-thirds of married Jews who have a Jewish spouse say religion is very or somewhat important to them, while far fewer intermarried Jews say this .
Jews who did not obtain college degrees are more inclined to say that religion is very important in their lives. For example, about a third of U.S. Jews whose formal education stopped with high school say religion is very important, compared with 13% of those with bachelors degrees and 15% of those with postgraduate degrees.
Jews by religion are far more likely than Jews of no religion to say that being Jewish is very important to them 55% of Jews of no religion say being Jewish is of little importance to them.
Who Is A Jew
Jews believe that a Jew is someone who is the child of a Jewish mother although some groups also accept children of Jewish fathers as Jewish. A Jew traditionally can’t lose the technical ‘status’ of being a Jew by adopting another faith, but they do lose the religious element of their Jewish identity.
Someone who isn’t born a Jew can convert to Judaism, but it is not easy to do so.
Read Also: What Does The Bible Say About Burial After Death
When The Jews Believed In Other Gods
The bible is rife with references to deities other than Yahweh: The prophets didn’t deny these gods existed, they just didn’t think Jews should worship them
There is but one God, according to Jewish religious dogma. No other exists. We tend to assume that our forefathers devoutly believed the same. But the truth is that the Bible also shows, time and again, that wasn’t the prevailing system of belief among the ancient Israelites.
The different scribes who wrote most of the biblical canon believed the incorporeal world was populated by a multitude of gods, but that the Hebrews should not worship any of these other deities, only Yahweh . This is explicitly stated in the Second Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me .
The verse “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?” is even more explicit about other gods existing alongside Yahweh.
Among the books of the Bible we find reference to a great many other gods, sometimes with explicit references to miracles performed by them. These gods are generally members of the West Semitic pantheon of gods, those worshipped by people speaking languages closely related to Hebrew.
It came to encompass
Arguably the most important of these gods was Baal , who is mentioned about 90 times in the Bible. Baal was an honorific title of the god Hadad, in much the same way that “Adonai” is an honorific title for Yahweh.
The victory of Yahweh
Judaism Means Living The Faith
Almost everything a Jewish person does can become an act of worship.
Because Jews have made a bargain with God to keep his laws, keeping that bargain and doing things in the way that pleases God is an act of worship.
And Jews don’t only seek to obey the letter of the law – the particular details of each of the Jewish laws – but the spirit of it, too.
A religious Jew tries to bring holiness into everything they do, by doing it as an act that praises God, and honours everything God has done. For such a person the whole of their life becomes an act of worship.
Being part of a community that follows particular customs and rules helps keep a group of people together, and it’s noticeable that the Jewish groups that have been most successful at avoiding assimilation are those that obey the rules most strictly – sometimes called ultra-orthodox Jews.
Note: Jews don’t like and rarely use the word ultra-orthodox. A preferable adjective is haredi, and the plural noun is haredim.
You May Like: What Does Bible Say About Cremation Vs Burial
Jews Also Do Not Accept Jesus Teaching That He Is The Only Way To God
With a religious system based on restitution and sincere repentance, Jews have no need of an intermediary to reach God. They also don’t understand the nature of forgiveness and salvation. Since they do not believe mankind has a sin nature, they do not believe any reasonable, attentive person can sin so much they cannot find forgiveness through their own effort and careful observance of the law.
But How Do Jews Know This About God
They don’t know it, they believe it, which is different.
However, many religious people often talk about God in a way that sounds as if they know about God in the same way that they know what they had for breakfast.
- For instance, religious people often say they are quite certain about God – by which they mean that they have an inner certainty.
- And many people have experiences that they believe were times when they were in touch with God.
The best evidence for what God is like comes from what the Bible says, and from particular individuals’ experiences of God.
Read Also: What Does The Bible Say About Mixing Races In Marriage
What Makes A Jew A Jew
Two more Jewish readers continue to debate that questionraised by Abby, the young Catholic-turned-Jew, and then complicated by Lekha, the young Southerner with a Jewish father and Hindu mother. First up is Esther, an Orthodox Jew who is very normal, but youd describe me as ultra because of the way I look and because I dont have a TV:
Jews are Jews by way of being born to a Jewish mother or by converting and following the Torah.
I think some of the people who are writing in and saying they converted to Judaism are saying they are Jewish, but at the same time, their lifestyle and practices reject the most important parts of Judaism, so Im not quite sure why they would expect others to embrace them as fellow Jews. Someone who converts to Judaism but by word and deed refuses to embrace real Jewish practices is naturally going to be viewed as an inauthentic outsider.
To those who have shared their stories, please understand that God made some people Jews and some people non-Jews. Non-Jews can lead good holy lives God does not expect them to become Jews, and Jews dont either. Maybe this is hard for followers of other religions to understand because it is so different than other religions. For example, Christians believe that their religion is the right path and universal, but Judaism is unique in that we believe that everyone is equal in the eyes of God, and not everyone has to follow our religiononly the members of the Jewish family do.
Was Jesus The Messiah
The question was Jesus the messiah? requires a prior question: What is the definition of messiah? The Prophets , who wrote hundreds of years before Jesus birth, envisioned a messianic age as as a period of universal peace, in which war and hunger are eradicated, and humanity accepts Gods sovereignty. By the first century, the view developed that the messianic age would witness a general resurrection of the dead, the in-gathering of all the Jews, including the 10 lost tribes, to the land of Israel, a final judgment and universal peace.
Some Jews expected the messiah to be a descendant of King David . The Dead Sea Scrolls speak of two messiahs: one a military leader and the other a priest. Still other Jews expected the prophet Elijah, or the angel Michael, or Enoch, or any number of other figures to usher in the messianic age.Stories in the Gospels about Jesus healing the sick, raising the dead, and proclaiming the imminence of the kingdom of heaven suggest that his followers regarded him as appointed by God to bring about the messianic age.
Also Check: What Bible Says About Cremation
Judaism Is A Family Faith
Judaism is very much a family faith and the ceremonies start early, when a Jewish boy baby is circumcised at eight days old, following the instructions that God gave to Abraham around 4,000 years ago.
Many Jewish religious customs revolve around the home. One example is the Sabbath meal, when families join together to welcome in the special day.
The Two Reasons Parents Regret Having Kids
A small but significant proportion of mothers and fathers wish theyd never had children. The whole family can suffer as a result.
Carrie wishes that shed never had children. She spent a few years feeling satisfied as a mother, but now locks herself in the kitchen and wonders, Who am I? What am I doing here? She cant pursue paid work, because she has to shepherd her 12-year-old and 10-year-old to school as well as to therapy appointments for their disabilities. Carrie, who lives in the U.K., told me that she often fantasizes about visiting her friend in Hawaii and never coming back. Her words felt so taboo that she asked to be referred to by only her first name. But sentiments of parental regret are less rare than one might imagine.
When American parents older than 45 were asked in a 2013 Gallup poll how many kids they would have if they could do it over, approximately 7 percent said zero. In Germany, 8 percent of mothers and fathers in a 2016 survey fully agreed with a statement that they wouldnt have children if they could choose again . In a survey published in June, 8 percent of British parents said that they regret having kids. And in two recent studies, an assistant psychology professor at SWPS University, Konrad Piotrowski, placed rates of parental regret in Poland at about 11 to 14 percent, with no significant difference between men and women. Combined, these figures suggest that many millions of people regret having kids.
Also Check: What Dies The Bible Say About Cremation
Why Do Most Jews Reject Jesus As The Messiah
notWhat shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone.Related Truth:
Heaven And Hell In Jewish Tradition
Jewish sources are conflicted about what happens after we die.
Like other spiritual traditions, Judaism offers a range of views on the afterlife, including some parallels to the concepts of heaven and hell familiar to us from popular Western teachings. While in traditional Jewish thought the subjects of heaven and hell were treated extensively, most modern Jewish thinkers have shied away from this topic, preferring to follow the biblical model, which focuses on life on earth.
Don’t Miss: How To Confess Sins According To The Bible
The World To Come For Jews And Non
Heaven and Hell are both spiritual stages that the soul goes through before arriving in the World to Come, or Olam Haba in Hebrew. According to Jewish sources such as the Talmud, the World to Come is the reward for righteous individuals, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Famously, Judaism does not believe that you have to be Jewish to receive your eternal reward. Non-Jews who serve Hashem properly will merit the World to Come alongside righteous Jews, primarily for observing the Seven Noahide Commandments. This is why so many rabbis encourage non-Jews to study and observe the basic Noahide Laws.
Read What are Noahs Seven Commandments on TheIsraelBible.com
While it is clear according to many Jewish sources throughout history and rabbinic literature, the details are ambiguous and sometimes even contradictory. Nevertheless, the belief is there.
In his classic book Jewish Literacy, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin writes, In Judaism the belief in afterlife is less a leap of faith than a logical outgrowth of other Jewish beliefs. If one believes in a God who is all-powerful and all-just, one cannot believe that this world, in which evil far too often triumphs, is the only arena in which human life exists. For if this existence is the final word, and God permits evil to win, then it cannot be that God is good.
Judaism’s View Of Jesus
There is no specific doctrinal view of Jesus in traditional Judaism. Monotheism, a belief in the absolute unity and singularity of God, is central to Judaism, which regards the worship of a person as a form of idolatry. Therefore, consideration of Jesus as deity is not an issue in traditional Jewish thought. The rejection of Jesus as Messiah has never been a theological issue for Judaism because Jewish eschatology holds that the coming of the Messiah will be associated with events that had not occurred at the time of Jesus, such as the rebuilding of The Temple, a Messianic Age of peace, and the ingathering of Jews to their homeland.
Historically, some Jewish writers and scholars have considered Jesus as the most damaging “false prophet,” and traditional views of Jesus have been mostly negative, though influential Jewish scholars of the Middle Ages including Judah Halevi and Maimonides viewed Jesus as an important preparatory figure for a future universal ethical monotheism of the Messianic Age. Some modern Jewish thinkers starting in the 18th century with the Orthodox Jacob Emden and the reformer Moses Mendelssohn have sympathetically speculated that the historical Jesus may have been closer to Judaism than either the Gospels or traditional Jewish accounts would indicate, a view that is still espoused by some.
Judaism has never accepted any of the claimed fulfilments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to Jesus.
Recommended Reading: What Is The Bible Say About Cremation