--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "lurkernomore20002000" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Right. It this makes sense to "you". There are so many ways you > can "technically" disqualify Jesus as the Jewish messiah.
"Technically"? Whether a person is human or divine is just a technicality?? And I > have no desire to get into that argument. But when you take > the big picture - the old testament, and the new testament, > and the events of that period, don't ya have to sort come to > the conclusion that Jesus was the one the Jews were expecting, > and that the power brokers of the time had a vested interest to > make it not so, lest they lose their hold. No, you don't have to come to that conclusion. The prophesied messiah of the Jews was supposed to *depose* the power brokers and release the Jews from their oppression, not be the power brokers' victim (much less be the inadvertent cause of the Jews' continued oppression). Even assuming Jesus was only human and thus eligible to be the Jewish messiah, he would have been a *failed* Jewish messiah. Or is the fact that he didn't accomplish the whole *point* of being the messiah just another technicality? He wasn't the only such failure, either. There were dozens of them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah_claimants Nor is it clear, for that matter, that Jesus himself ever claimed to be the Jewish messiah. (I personally don't believe Jesus was anything but a fully enlightened human being and a great spiritual teacher, but I have no quarrel with those who believe he was the divine savior, only-begotten son of God, etc. I just wish Christianity hadn't piggybacked on the Jewish messiah as a way of validating that belief. It wasn't necessary, it didn't make sense scripturally, and it has caused no end of misery for the Jews.) Here's a list of the requirements for the messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures: --The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26) --Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4) --The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17) --He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10) --The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2) --Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4) --Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9) --He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10) --All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12) --Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8) --There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8) --l of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19) --All of the Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11) --He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7) --Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5) --The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23) --The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55) --Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9) --The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvot --He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9) --Jews will know the Torah without study (Jeremiah 31:33) --He will give you all the worthy desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4) --He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Messiah
