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solopilot (solopilot)
Intermediate Member
Username: solopilot
Post Number: 116
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 216.190.204.218
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 04, 2005 - 12:40 am: | 
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I hope that my Protestant friends here can take this with the same sense of humor which I took the original when I saw it. Now you know how we feel when we get this sort of stuff handed to us by well-meaning people who don't know any better.
I did not write this, but I wish I had!
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Dear God-fearing friend,
I am writing this letter because of a great threat to the cherished words which the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has given us through His holy prophets.
You've probably had Christians come around to your door, wanting to engage you in "discussions" about their faith. And maybe, as a good Jew, you've let them in the door. They seem to be nice, well-dressed, well-mannered. They may speak about Israel's God, and they may carry the Bible under their arms, but don't be deceived-they are not Jewish. Christianity is an insidious cult that seeks to tear real adherents of Judaism away from Moses and the Bible.
Take, for example, their principal message, about the Messiah. They bring you their "New Testament, Another Witness of the Prophets" and try to convince you that their founder, Jesus, was the Messiah. But believe me, this is not the Messiah of the Bible. No, my friend, the Christians teach a very a different messiah than what the holy prophets wrote about. While the biblical Messiah is a king who will liberate us from our enemies, the Christian messiah is said to have died to liberate us from our sins, despite the fact that the Bible teaches that every man is responsible for his own sins (Leviticus 20:19-20). If a man commits murder, for example, he is to be executed for his sin, and there is no provision for someone else dying in his stead (Genesis 9:6). The law of God clearly states that "every man shall be put to death for his own sin" (Deuteronomy 24:16). For those not guilty of capital crimes, the Bible is clear about the procedure that must be followed in order to be cleansed from sin. One must confess his sins, make restitution for wrongs, and offer the proper sacrifice (Leviticus 4:2-4; Numbers 5:6-7).
The Christians believe that, because their leader died, it is no longer necessary to offer sacrifices at the temple. But the Bible says otherwise, commanding, "thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement . . . two lambs of the first year day by day continually" (Exodus 29:36, 38). These sacrifices are to be made "throughout your generations" (Exodus 30:10).
Ironically, the founder of the Christian Church was conceived out of wedlock, which, under the Law of Moses, disqualifies him from participating in religious functions (Deuteronomy 23:2). The Christians' own scriptures acknowledge that Jesus was a winebibber (Matthew 11:19). The Bible warns us, saying, "a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink" (Micah 2:11). The false prophet Jesus, who also claimed divine prerogatives, was tried and found guilty of high crimes (blasphemy and treason) and executed by crucifixion. And yet some people are gullible enough to believe that he was sent by God!
And what of those who perpetuated this false messiah? The Christians claim that some of the disciples of Jesus, including a sometime fisherman and money-digger (Matthew 17:27) named Simon (who goes under the alias of Peter), along with a traitorous Roman money collector named Matthew and ten others who go by the title of apostles, are prophets who speak with God. But their messages contradict the word of God as given through ancient prophets such as Moses, Isaiah, and Jeremiah and their behavior violates all the laws of God.
Peter was once arrested and put into prison until he could answer charges brought against him. But the night before he was to be arraigned before King Herod, he escaped from the guards and ran away (Acts 12:6-9). Tradition has it that after fleeing to Rome and practicing his treasonous religion there, he was again imprisoned, this time by the Roman authorities, who found him guilty of crimes against the state and was executed by crucifixion.
The most outspoken of the followers of Christ was a Roman Jew who preferred to be known more by his Gentile name, Paul, than by his God given Israelite name, Saul. It is this man, more than all the others, who is responsible for writing the "new" testament which Christians deem more holy than the law God gave to Israel through Moses. What kind of a person was he? I will tell you. He was expelled from the cities of Antioch (Acts 13:50), Iconium (Acts 14:5,6), and Lystra (14:19) where his preaching had stirred up riots. In the city of Thyatira Paul and one of his companions were brought before the magistrate and accused of being trouble-makers. When the evidence was presented, Paul was found guilty and sentenced to a beating and ordered to do time in prison. (Acts 16:20-25) The last eight years of his life he spent in a Roman prison and was eventually executed according to Roman law because of his crimes. These are the kinds of people Christians look up to and whose words they claim came from God.
But their words cannot be from God for one simple reason: Malachi's record marks the end of the scriptures which God intended to give mankind. Since prophecy ceased some four centuries before the time Jesus was even born, this is absolute proof that Jesus was a false prophet! Along with the ending of scripture, so did the visitation of angles. Yet Christians claim that angels appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus and to her cousin Zacharias, to Peter and to Paul. The Bible tells us to beware of false prophets (Isaiah 9:15; Jeremiah 28:15), and the Lord warned us through Moses not to add or detract from his word (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32). The Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, is inerrant and all-sufficient, and it is blasphemous to suggest that God should give us additional scriptures, a "new" testament that contradicts in every particular what he has already given us. And yet, that is exactly what the followers of the man Jesus have done. They dare to give us more of God's word, which, in reality, contradicts the words of God's true prophets.
One such contradiction is found in a supposed "revelation" of Simon Peter's where he claims that God told him not to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals (Acts 10:9-16), despite the fact that the Bible clearly commands that we make such a distinction (Leviticus 10:10; 11:2-31, 41-47; 20:25; Deuteronomy 14:3-20). The "revelation" which he had itself contains a clue to its false nature. It says (verse 10) that Peter was suffering hunger when "he fell into a trance" (Acts 10:10) His supposed "vision" (Acts 10:17)-or should we call it what it really is, an hallucination-was from the feeling in his stomach, not from God. I had a dream very much like Peter's one night, but instead of attributing it to a heavenly revelation, I chalked it up to a morsel of undigested food.
This same Peter states that all Christians belong to a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5,9). The Bible makes it clear that the priesthood is restricted to the tribe of Levi, and that God curses anyone else who tries to officiate in priesthood functions (2 Chronicles 26:18-19). When Aaron and his sons were anointed, God said, "for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations" (Exodus 40:15). God made a "covenant of an everlasting priesthood" with Aaron's grandson Pinehas (Numbers 25:13). It is people like the Christians whom the Bible condemns because they have "cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods" (2 Chronicles 13:9).
As for the supposed Christian "miracles," it is clear that they do not follow the biblical pattern. Their founder is said to have healed people by telling them their sins were forgiven (Matthew 9:2), while some people were supposedly healed by touching his garment (Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 6:55-56). This practice of magical rites is confirmed in another Christian scripture, Acts 19:12, which says people can be healed by being touched with handkerchiefs or aprons touched by someone who has healing powers. Even more fantastic is the story in Acts 5:15, where we read that people were healed when the shadow of Peter fell on them!
The Christians also deny the efficacy of circumcision, wanting to replace it with baptism. But in the Bible, God clearly states that circumcision is "a token of the covenant betwixt me and you," and is to be "an everlasting covenant." If a man is not circumcised, God says, "that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant" (Genesis 17:10-14). But Christians do not believe God's word. Instead, they invent a "new testament" to justify breaking sacred, everlasting, holy commandments.
In his "sermon on the mount," the founder of the Christian Church openly spoke out against Bible teachings that had been revealed from heaven. Even while professing that he had not "come to destroy the law, or the prophets" (Matthew 5:17), he changed the sixth commandment from "thou shalt not kill" to "whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matthew 5:21-22). He also reworded the seventh commandment, rejecting the words "thou shalt not commit adultery" and substituting, "whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Matthew 5:27-28). And though the Bible specifically says that we should perform oaths in the name of the Lord (Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20), Jesus abrogated the commandment and taught "swear not at all" (Matthew 5:34). He also denounced the biblical law of divorce (Matthew 5:31-32). In the same sermon, he showed his utter depravity and demented state by telling his disciples to pluck out their right eyes and to cut off their right hands (Matthew 5:29- 30). It is hard to believe that anyone could accept someone like this as the Messiah.
Still, Christians revere their leader as a martyr, one who "gave his life" willingly. Yet the facts tell a different story: When the chief priests came to lawfully arrest this Jesus, his principal disciple lashed out with a sword, inflicting serious head wounds upon the high priest's servant (John 18:3- 10)! Jesus, the "martyr," was involved in a sword fight shortly before his death! By both Jewish law (blasphemy) and Roman law (treason and sedition), Jesus was condemned to death as a common criminal. This is the kind of man whom his followers admire and ask us to put our faith and trust in.
Then we are told that this condemned criminal rose from the grave as an immortal being three days later! But how do we know this? Where is the proof that such a thing actually happened? Christians can only point to their "new" testament. But who wrote this testament? Why, it was the followers of Jesus, and, more especially, his closest friends and associates. So the only real proof we have is what they tell us. As I have already shown, these disciples were not men of moral virtue and trustworthiness. The proof of this is that Peter admittedly lied three times in one night! (Mark 14:66-72). Judas betrayed his own master. And these were supposedly the most devoted admirers of Jesus. Yet, Christians ask us to believe that the words which such men wrote are just as holy and inspired as the true prophets of God!
Finally, Israel's God pronounced a curse upon anyone who put their trust in another man. Moreover, the Bible clearly states that the heart of such a person had departed from the Lord (Jeremiah 17:5). In direct opposition to God's holy word, Jesus told his disciples to come follow him (Luke 18:22). Not even our great lawgiver, Moses, ever told us to follow him. He always commanded our fathers to put their trust in God. But the followers of Jesus go so far as to take upon themselves his name rather than the name of God. That is why they call themselves "Christians." We honor Moses but we don't take upon ourselves his name. We revere the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Samuel and all the others, but we don't claim our allegiance to them. We worship God, not some man who claims to speak for God. But Christians have no such belief. They put their trust in the man Jesus.
Now, you might want to try helping your Christian neighbor find his way to the God of the Bible. But bear in mind that it will be difficult to talk to him because Christians have their own unique definition of biblical terms. So when they use the term "Messiah," they're not thinking of the biblical Messiah, but of the criminal Jesus. When they speak of "sacrifice," they don't mean the sacred rites of the temple of God, but refer to the execution of the criminal Jesus. A true Jew understands salvation to be God's intervention in the affairs of men to save his people, Israel, from their enemies. But Christians use the term "salvation" to mean resurrection and going to heaven to live with God. And this comes only if you believe in their other messiah!
We love the Christian people and need to do everything in our power to bring them back to the God of the Bible. You should, of course, pray for your Christian friends. But you can do more. The ministry we have organized here at Yeshivah Ahuvat ha-Shem needs your help in order to continue its work in exposing the insidious Christian conspiracy against the Jewish people. Please send your love offerings to us at Yavneh-Yam. Thank you and God bless you for your faithfulness to his ways and your generosity in helping us protect his word.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Yohanan bar Alcalai
(adapted from "Solving the Christian Puzzle" by John Tvedtnes)
As we can see, according to the same standard by which most Christians judge Mormons, they themselves easily fit their own definition of a cult.
POSTSCRIPT: It might be argued that the above characterization of Christian beliefs is inaccurate or misleading. However, every allegation, as seen from the Jewish viewpoint, has been stated factually. What a Christian would really object to is how those facts have been presented in an unflattering and biased way, while ignoring other important information which might convince an objective reader to view Christians differently. Yet, that is exactly how Latter-day Saints feel about the way most Christian writers and preachers often characterize Mormons to their followers.
The Bible teaches, "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew 7:12.). That is the standard Christians should use in judging others. |
godchild (godchild)
Junior Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 26
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 64.28.52.224
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 1:57 am: |
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You have completely excluded Christ in your beliefs. You have negated the whole purpose of God. He sent his son to die for your sins. Without him there is no salvation. He shed his blood because of his love for you. I will not speak to you again. I rebuke you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Get thee behind me Satan. |
solopilot (solopilot)
Intermediate Member
Username: solopilot
Post Number: 271
Registered: 12-2004
Posted From: 216.190.204.218
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 2:02 am: |
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GC:
Yeah, right. Whatever you say.
Rebuke to your heart's content. But you have no authority to speak for Christ, don't you think that he'll get upset that you're taking his name in vain?
Protestants amuse me. |
godchild (godchild)
Junior Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 34
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 64.28.63.149
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 - 11:00 am: |
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The Bible teaches us to Call on the Lord in times of trouble, pray to our Heavenly Father IN JESUS' name, be diciples, share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Beware of false prophets! 1 Kings 13:6-34. I do not expect that nonchristians will read this chapter in the Holy Bible, nor these: Nehemiah 6, Jeremiah 23 warnings to false prophets, final verse saying, "And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten". The Bible says, 'He who has an ear, let him hear'. |
godchild (godchild)
Intermediate Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 318
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 24.237.120.194
| | Posted on Saturday, July 02, 2005 - 4:17 pm: |
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Every believer recieves authority from Christ through the Holy Spirit. The Bible continually tries to show us we do not need men in power. God, Christ and the Holy Spirit are all for one, in one, and one for all. The Jews do not consider their rabbis prophets, but teachers. Mormonism prefers the Old Testament for many of it's doctrines and practices (though highly twisted) and if it weren't for the name 'the Christ, the Messiah, I don't believe they would follow the New Testament. This is very similar to Jehovah Witnesses, and Seventh Day Adventists, who are all legalists. |
yaakov (yaakov)
Intermediate Member
Username: yaakov
Post Number: 461
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 63.148.234.6
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 10:20 am: |
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solopilot
How did I miss this one?! I liked almost everything about your post at the top. It was very factual and true. What did you mean about needing a sense of humor, in your first sentence?
I disagree that we need to do everything in our power to bring them back to the God of the Bible. That is unneccesary. All we need to do is to bring back the Jews that have been cutoff by abandoning HaShem. |
godchild (godchild)
Intermediate Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 331
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 24.237.114.43
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 6:38 pm: |
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Yaakov, Do you have a view about the final condition of gentiles? Is a jew's life only important for/to other jews? Please define HaShem. Would that be the son of Noah? |
godchild (godchild)
Intermediate Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 332
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 24.237.114.43
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 05, 2005 - 6:50 pm: |
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Solopilot could have included in his story posted above, that it is every mans right to worship Hitler or Mussolini as great leaders who freed their people from the money-hungry jews and set them above anyone not fair-skinned or circumcised. He could have included Stalin and Napoleon. Or the catholic popes who instigates the burning of millions. Or Quakers who burned women at the stake because they were accused of being witches. Or God for that matter for turning Lot's wife into a pillar of salt or drowning everyone but Noah's family and some animals or destroying whole cities of men, women and children. But, let's keep a sense of humor about all this, shall we? |
yaakov (yaakov)
Intermediate Member
Username: yaakov
Post Number: 465
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 63.148.234.6
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:12 am: |
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Godchild
If you posted a joke, then the punchline went over my head.
Solopilot’s essay is factual. The biblical quotes are actual biblical quotes. I would agree with you that no man should be worshipped, whether it is Mussolini, Stalin, or jesus. |
yaakov (yaakov)
Intermediate Member
Username: yaakov
Post Number: 466
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 63.148.234.6
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 11:19 am: |
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godchild
Do you have a view about the final condition of gentiles?
Assuming that “final condition” means the after life, then yes I have a view. Almost all people, no matter their beliefs, are going to Heaven eventually.
Is a jew's life only important for/to other jews?
It would be a better world if we all cared for each other.
Please define HaShem.
It is phonetic Hebrew for “The Name”. It is another way of referring to God. |
godchild (godchild)
Intermediate Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 337
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 24.237.119.153
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 06, 2005 - 2:02 pm: |
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Yaakov, Thank you. Well said.
Could you please explain what the Torah teaches about Melchizidek? (It may be preferable to take this to another thread). Your views are greatly appreciated. |
yaakov (yaakov)
Intermediate Member
Username: yaakov
Post Number: 497
Registered: 11-2004
Posted From: 63.148.234.6
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 1:30 pm: |
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Again on this guy? I already did that on another thread. In a nutshell, Melech-Zidek is not a name, but a title meaning "Righteous King". The particular king that Abram spoke to was not Jewish, but was a pagan king. |
godchild (godchild)
Intermediate Member
Username: godchild
Post Number: 422
Registered: 1-2005
Posted From: 64.28.63.10
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - 3:25 pm: |
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I'm sorry, but I think I may have asked the question 'again' before I saw your response on the other thread. Personally, I accept that Melech-Zidek is not a name, but a title. I will study more on "the particular king was a pagan king."
Please bear with me. Does the Jewish faith teach Christians are pagans? (Just so I'm clear) |
redpurusha (redpurusha)
New member
Username: redpurusha
Post Number: 23
Registered: 3-2005
Posted From: 68.36.226.248
| | Posted on Saturday, October 15, 2005 - 8:53 pm: |
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It's nice to hear a Rabbi's side of the story, giving us one Jewish perspective on christians and Jesus in particular.
Having said that, in a powerful and dramatic fashion Jesus manages to fulfill God's will for him and provide a story for the ages -one with a deeper hidden meaning behind all the drama and betrayal.
If Jesus was God or the Son of God (as many christians believe) than how could he have been possibly killed? This would contradict God's own definition as the ever-lasting Alpha Omega -I Am That I Am- of Moses. The only possible answer is that the man -son of man- in particular, had been killed (as is stated in the gospels). In a deeper sense, I believe, his own identification with his human flesh and bone, had been 'killed' or 'sacrificed' in order to for the Divinty within him -the Son of God- to shine forth as he was able to resurrect himself from death three days later in God's glory.
His life displayed in dramatic fashion on the stage of our physical world -as directed by God- what must be played out within everyone of us in order to rediscover our true nature as sons and daughters of God -even as Jesus had done.
"Whosoever shall find his life, shall lose it; whosever shall lose his life, shall find it." Such is the paradox of our existence, that in order to know who we really are -childern of God- we must lose our identification with who we think we are, our ego or as the bible states 'son of man'.
Moses' 10 commandments are summed up by Jesus beautifully and artistically in his two greatest commandments: 1. love God with all your heart, body, strenght, soul and 2 love others as yourself. There is no contradiction here. "Laws are made for man, not man for laws," this is the great error on the Jewish leaders and priests of the time -failing to understand this teaching (to this day even). |
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