January 8, 2010

  • TRUE BIBLICAL TEACHINGS ABOUT ATONEMENT

     As you've probably noticed, I'm into comparative theology and looking how different faiths look at things. I've had a few tell me I'm anti-Christian or anti-Islam, but I'm not. I just post what I write so people who follow those faiths can see how their concepts compare to the original text. I live in America and we have freedom of religion. If you want to sacrifice squirrels to a Mr Potatohead, you have that right. The same as I don't want someone telling me what my religion believes, unless they actually have the facts, I don't tell anyone how to live their lives. I simply show what this says compared to what that says. If you have the book,it's right in front of you to see for yourself and decide your own path. 

    Most Christians are taught that "Jesus died for their sins" and that the Jewish bible, which they call the "Old Testament," says that ONLY blood sacrifices can atone for sins. 
    However, anyone that actually reads  their bible knows that there are SEVERAL ways to atone for sins -- not just blood sacrifices. While animal sacrifice played a large part of religious worship, not all were sin sacrifices. There were thanksgiving, communal,peace,guilt and others. The keyword here is atonement,the Hebrew word is kippur,as in Yom Kippur,the Day of Atonement. While some Christian faiths attempt to say this was not a removal of sin, but a "covering". Atonement means removal of sin,not covering it up and still having it counted against you. You can look up kippur in Strong's but to save time  look at your own book.Rom 5:11.  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

    In fact, the sentence most quoted is Levitcus 17:11    . However, anyone who read their Bible knows that Leviticus 17:11 is not a chapter about atonement. Rather, when one views the context, it describes the prohibition of eating blood from offerings

    The verse directly preceding verse 11 makes this very clear. It says, "    If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people."
     
    The next verse goes on to explain why G-d has prohibited us from eating blood. "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement." In other words, although we were given permission to eat animal flesh, the blood of an offering was set aside from the flesh for a specific purpose. To be used in the Temple service for atonement. No where in this verse does it say that blood is the only way, or even the best way to achieve atonement. Only that, since it was set aside for the purpose of atonement, we are forbidden to eat it.
    Animals slaughtered for food that weren't offerings required the blood to be poured on the ground and covered up Deut 15:21.  And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be Lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God.
     22.  Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart.
     23.  Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

    THE VERSES

    READ Exodus 30:12 "Every man shall give God an atonement for his soul ... this shall they give ... a half shekel."
    .READ Exodus 30:16 "Money of the Children of Israel [may be used] to make an atonement for your souls."
    READ Numbers 31:50 "Jewelry of gold [may be used] to make an atonement for our souls."

    Thus, we are taught that charity can, in fact, provide atonement

    READ Leviticus 5:16 which teaches that returning something to it's rightful owner and "he shall be forgiven."
    READ First Samuel 15:22 which reads: "And Samuel said: 'Does the Lord delight as much in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?' Behold,     obedience is better than any sacrifice, and to comply [better] than the fat of rams."
    READ I Kings 8:46-53 which teaches that prayer and repentance are both valid forms of atonement.
    READ I Kings 48:50 in which King Solomon, at the dedication of the first Temple, knew that the Jewish people would someday be without the Temple and the sacrificial system. He described a time when the Jews would be carried off into the land of their enemies. He then proceeded to tell us exactly what we should do in such a case in order to achieve atonement. He said "And pray to Thee towards their land, which Thou didst give to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name: then hear Thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people that have sinned against Thee, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against thee" (I Kings 48:50).
     
    Clearly King Solomon was telling us that, through repentance and supplication, we can be granted atonement.
    READ Isaiah 27:9 which references to breaking altars to idolatry will atone for the sin.
    We see that fighting idolatry can provide atonement.
    READ Jeremiah 26:13 "Depart from evil, and do good, so you will abide forever." (see also Psalm 37:27; Ezekiel 33; Zechariah 1:3)
    READ Jeremiah 36:3 "That every man will turn from his evil way, then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin."
    READ Ezekiel 18:21-30 which proclaims that "If the wicked man turns from his sins and observes My statues, he will live." Looks like following the Torah law does it.
    READ Hosea 6:6 "    For I desire goodness; not sacrifice. Obedience to G-d, rather than burnt offerings."
    READ Hosea 14:2-3 which states that all of our sins will be forgiven, in exchange for which we can give prayers instead of sacrifices.
    Some Christian bible translations are so bothered by that verse that they actually change it
     to read "... and we will offer the fruit of our lips." instead of bulls. If their doctrine is so solid, why must they change our scriptures?
    READ Jonah 3:10 "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."
    This verse discusses how G-d saw the people of Ninveh turn from unjust acts of disdain to righteous acts of kindness. Because of the people's repentance the forgiveness they sought was granted to them by G-d.
    READ Micah 6:6-8 which proclaims: "With what shall I come to the L-rd, and bow myself before the G-d on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the L-rd take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my
    firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the L-rd require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d." (see also Amos 5:22-24; Jeremiah 7; Psalm 69:31-32)
    READ Psalms 40:7 "Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; but my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required." (Psalm 40:6 in
    Christian Bibles)
    READ Psalms 51:18 which says: "You do not want me to bring sacrifices; You do not desire burnt offerings."
    READ Psalms 69:30-33 which says that "song [words, prayer, and study] is better than sacrifices."
    READ Psalms 78:22-39 which says that even though the Jewish people "believed not in G-d and trusted not in his salvation," which resulted in many earthly trials and tribulations, and even though "their hearts were not right with Him nor were they steadfast in His covenant," G-d nevertheless "being full of compassion forgave their sin     because they were but flesh."
    READ Psalms 86:5-6 "For You, L-rd, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. Give ear, O L-rd to my prayer, and give heed to the voice of my supplications."
    Thus, we discover prayer is a form of atonement as stated by G-d in Psalms.
    READ Proverbs 10:2 which says that: "Ill-gotten wealth is of no avail; But righteousness saves from death."
    READ Proverbs 11:4 which similarly states that "Weath is to no avail in the days of wrath,     But righteousness saves from death."
    The word Tzedakah means both righteousness and charity in Hebrew.So again,it says charity saves from death.
    READ Proverbs 16:6 (JPS Version) "the practice of mercy and truth atones for sin."
    READ Proverbs 14:22 which teaches that merely "devising [planning] good deeds is considered to be mercy and truth."
    READ Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteous charity ('    tzedakah') and judgement is more acceptable to G-d than sacrifice."

    Therefore, we are taught, that righteous, charitable acts are not only effective in achieving atonement, but they are actually preferred by G-d over animal sacrifices.
    READ Job 22:23-27 "If you return to G-d you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent.... then you will delight in G-d."
    READ Second Chronicles 6:36-42 explains that after a person sins, if he repents, he will be forgiven by G-d.
    READ Second Chronicles 7:14 which states "And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
      Hence, we learn that repentance is another form of atonement. If you admit to your sinning and seek to improve it with righteous acts of charity and prayer G-d will forgive you.
    READ Second Chronicles 30:18-19 "G-d pardons everyone that prepares his heart [whose intent is] to seek G-d even though he not be cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary" (an "unclean" person is unable to offer sacrifices).

    Did you know that even during the years that the Temple was standing, and sacrifices were offered on a daily basis, sacrificial offerings NEVER atoned for sins committed against human beings? For example, wounding another person's body or hurting someone's feelings could not be atoned for using sacrifices? You needed to seek that person's forgiveness.

    Did you know that even during the years that the Temple was standing, and sacrifices were offered on a daily basis, sacrificial offerings did NOT atone for deliberately committed sins? Only repentence and prayer and charity atoned in that case.

    Did you know that Deuteronomy 24:16 warns that a father cannot be put to death for a son,
    and a son cannot be put to death for a father?

    Did you know that Jeremiah 31:29 says that "every man shall die for his own iniquity (wrongdoing) thus disenabling Jesus of dying for anyone else except himself!

    Did you know that the prophet Ezekiel warned against Christendom's central doctrine that an innocent human being can die for the sins of the wicked (Ezekiel 18)?Ezekiel chapter 18 verses 21 through 24 states that if a wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps G-d's ordinances, and executes justice and righteousness, he will surely live and he would not die. The Scripture further states that the transgressions he had committed will not be remembered against him, and that "in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live".Similarly, Jeremiah chapter 36 verse 3 states "that (when) every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin." This is a reiteration of the prominent Biblical theme of Tshuvah (repentance of sin).

    Did you know that Second Chronicles 25:4 states that "every man shall die for his own
    sin" thus eliminating Jesus from atoning for the sins of anyone but himself?
    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fefefe" color=#000000
    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" color=#000000 All this stands in contradiction to the Christian doctrine that the only way a person can truly repent and be forgiven is to accept Jesus as his sacrifice or should I say that the Christian doctrine contradicts what God and the Prophets said.

    As the "New Testament" book of Hebrews declares (9:22), "...Without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." shows the author of it obviously never learned what the Torah,Prophets and writings say.
    <FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" color=#000000  
    Then there is the statement in the Christian book that Jesus is a "final sacrifice".
    Heb:10:12: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
    This clearly contradicts what it says in  Ezekiel's prophesy of the Eternal Temple and the
    re-establishment of the sacrifices, including sin sacrifice.
    Ezek:37:26: Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
    Ezek:45:17: And it shall be the prince's [ Messiah's] part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the Sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.

January 7, 2010

  • What do you mean rabbinic:the Oral Torah laws and the Christian bible

    To the Orthodox Jew, the Oral Torah is intrinsic to our understanding of the Written Torah, both being revealed at Sinai and two parts of a single entity.To the non-Jew and to the "messianic Jew" as well (a Jew who has adopted some forms of Christianity),the Oral Torah appears as the superfluous imposition of rabbinic legalism. There is, however, definitive evidence that G-d interwove the Written Torah with the Oral Torah, and, in my opinion, nothing provides greater proof of this than the Jewish Calendar.For while G-d tells us in the Written Torah what to celebrate as Jewish festivals, throughout our generations, it is the Oral Torah which tells us WHEN  these festivals occur.
    In the book, The Path of the Righteous Gentile, by Rabbis Chaim Clorfene and Yakov Rogalsky, there is an interesting discussion regarding resistance to acceptance of the Oral Torah. They write, in the introduction:

    "When G-d gave the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai, the people all accepted the written Torah willingly, but G-d had to lift the mountain over their heads and threaten to drop it on them to persuade them to accept the Oral Torah, that is, the rabbinic interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. If the Jews had difficulty in accepting the Oral Torah as no less divine than the scriptures themselves, how much more difficult must it be for the non-Jews. But accept the rabbis they must, for the source of understanding the Seven Noahide Commandments is found in the Talmud and later rabbinic teachings, and nowhere else."

    While most of Christianity gets along quite well without the Oral Torah, it is only because they have deluded themselves into believing that the Written Torah too is abolished or no longer binding, either for Jew or Gentile. Yet, if there is some commandment that they decide really should continue on perpetually, such as "do not murder" or "do not commit adultery," they are then placed into the position of formulating their own definitions of what murder and adultery mean. In other words, when there is no Oral Torah to explain how these commands are applied in daily life, an "oral Torah" of their own must be contrived. Do abortion and mercy killing transgress the laws prohibiting murder or is it only violent action to take a life that is what it means? Does a married man commit adultery with a single woman or does the fact the Torah permits more than one wife negate that idea? Does a civil divorce suffice, or does there need to be a religious divorce as well, in order to remove the possibility of a future adulterous relationship?

    For the committed Jew, there is no doubt but that we resort to our Oral Torah to determine the proper responses to these questions. Yet, somehow the non-Jew or the messianic thinks that all of the Torah's written Laws can be observed by some form of "common sense." This belief ignores all civil law legislation which has analyzed and debated these questions ad infinitum, but, nevertheless, the non-Jew or messianic Jew thinks that any question concerning the details of G-d's commands can be resolved by praying for the correct answer. The fact that each comes up with a different response as a result of praying doesn't bother them in the least!

    But there is, Baruch HaShem, one obvious area of the Torah which cannot be understood either through the Written Torah itself, or through prayer, and that is the Jewish Calendar. The Jewish Calendar is 100% Rabbinic. If a Jew (or non-Jew) accepts the standard Jewish Calendar for the dating of the Jewish Festivals, beginning with Rosh Hashanah as the first day of the seventh month, that person is automatically accepting the authority of the Rabbis. And if they will accept the authority of the Rabbis -- specifically of the Pharisees who have been the true transmitters of the Torah from Sinai -- then what excuse does either the Jew or non-Jew have for denying their authority in any other area of Torah Law?

    Some will say that anyone can determine with accuracy today when the new moon is. This is very true. But the moon only tells us that a new month is beginning. It does NOT tell us what month it is. The Rabbis tell us which month Tishrei is.

    The Jewish calendar is based on a leap year system which inserts an extra month into some years. Thus, if a person does not recognize the second month of Adar which is RABBINICALLY inserted into a leap year, then he will believe that Rosh Hashanah (the 7th month) is a month earlier. And that miscalculation will be compounded for every rabbinic leap year he rejects!

    A wonderful explanation of The Jewish Calendar appears in The Stone Edition of The Chumash, ArtScroll Series, in Parashas Bo, Exodus Chapter 12.

    "The Jewish calendar is based on the moon, and it is regulated by the sun. The time span between one new moon and the next is twenty-nine days, twelve hours, forty-four minutes, and 3-1/3 seconds. Since a month must be composed of complete days, the months of the Jewish calendar alternate between twenty-nine and thirty days, so that a twelve-month year contains 354 days. Since this is eleven days less than the solar year, the solar date of Rosh Chodesh Nissan would be eleven days earlier each year, so that, for example, if it were on March 25 one year, it would be March 14 the next."

    "If this calendrical pattern were to continue for many years, Nissan would fall in the winter -- but the Torah requires that Nissan be "chodesh ha-aviv," the month of springtime [generally late March and April] (Deuteronomy 16:1). To resolve this difficulty, the Jewish calendar includes the institution that is familiarly known as the 'Jewish leap year.' It consists of adding a thirteenth month to the year seven times every nineteen years, with the result that Nissan always remains in its proper season. For example, Pesach sometimes falls as early as March 31. Without a leap year, the next Pesach would fall on March 20, but thanks to the insertion of an extra month -- Adar II -- during the next year, Pesach will fall on April 19."

    "The Torah provides that Rosh Chodesh can be proclaimed only by the rabbinic court, on the basis of two witnesses who testify that they observed the re-appearance of the moon. The members of such a court must have the semichah, or ordination, that was conferred by teachers upon their students, generation after generation, from the time of Moses. This requirement is derived from the word, 'lachem,' to you (Exodus 12, v. 2), which was addressed to Moses and Aaron, and from which the Sages inferred that those deciding on the new moon must have the same legal status that they had (Rosh Hashanah 22a, 25b)."

    "After the destruction of the Second Temple, the level of scholarship needed to qualify for this ordination gradually ceased to exist, due to persecutions and dispersions. Had it reached a point where there was no one left who qualified for semichah, it would have been impossible to proclaim new months, and if that had happened, the Jewish calendar could not have continued. To avoid this catastrophe, in the year 4119 (358-9 C.E.) the court of Hillel II promulgated a calendar for all succeeding centuries based on the calculations that had historically been used to corroborate the testimony of witnesses to the new moon. [See also ArtScroll Mishnah Rosh Hashanah and Birchas Hachamah.]"


    We must give thanks to HaShem that -- not only did He clearly identify the nation of Israel by the signs mentioned in the Torah -- but also for granting the ability of those who seek truth to know which Jews can be relied upon for the guardianship of His Words.
     
    One can say,"Well, that's something the Jews believe and I won't accept any concept of an Oral Torah Law."
    But accept the rabbis they must, for the source of understanding the Seven Noahide Commandments is found in the Talmud and later rabbinic teachings, and nowhere else. Nowhere else except in the Christian bible.
     
    The Noahide Laws are the seven laws given to Noah and apply to Gentiles. These laws are found in the Torah as well as part of the six hundred thirteen comandments.
     
    Acts15:17: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.
    18: Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
    This is the foreword of the laws that the Jerusalem Council gave  to the Gentile believers.
    19: Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:
    Verse 19 shows the decision of James that Gentiles are not bound to the Torah laws.This is further elaborated in verse 24,where it says "to whom we gave no such commandment" It makes one wonder how the church managed to adopt a concept that following the Torah laws was somehow abolished when the men that ate,studied and lived along side Jesus were debating whether Gentiles should convert and follow Torah or not.
    20: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

    1Tim5:19: Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
    A definite reflection that it requires two or more witnesses to convict a man.In Torah law,there must be no less than two witnesses.This is part of the original 7 laws to establish courts of justice;to establish courts of law
    Rom:13:9: For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
    This is a reflection of what Hillel wrote 100 years prior to Paul and 40 years prior to Jesus,"What you dislike yourself,do not do unto your neighbor".It also reconfirms the Noahide laws listed below.

    Eph:4:28: Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
      Is the fist part of the Noahide laws
    The Seven Noachide Laws
    ====================================
    1) It is forbidden to eat a limb or any meat that was
    severed from a live animal.    <-- prohibition of eating blood,
    Acts 15:20.  But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
     
    2) It is forbidden to blaspheme the name of G-d. <- 1 Tim 1: 20.  Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme

    3) It is forbidden to steal or rob    .<-- Eph4:28,Rom:13:9: 9.  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

    4) It is obligatory to appoint judges and set up a
    court of law in order to pronounce and mete out
    just decisions to all mankind.    <-- 1Tim5:19 19.  Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.
     
    5) It is forbidden to worship idols.  <- No idols,Acts15:20, But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

    6) It is forbidden to commit sexual sins
    (adultery, homosexuality, bestiality).    <- No fornication,Acts15:20,Rom:13:9: For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,...

    7) It is forbidden to murder a human being.    Rom:13:9: For this, .....Thou shalt not kill, ..It is already established earlier that the Torah laws were not to be followed by the gentiles,yet these laws,which are the Noahide laws also contained in Torah were to be followed by the gentiles as taught by Paul.
     
    A person could call that coincidence that the laws the Council decreed for Gentiles match up with the Noahide Laws, but then as I've pointed out in my previous post,What do you mean that's rabbinic, almost all the purported quotes of Jesus were from previous rabbinic teachings.That would be some coincidence.
     
    If that person that chooses to deny the Oral Torah believes there is a coming Messiah from the line of David,through his son Solomon they are in fact accepting the Oral Torah Law.
     
    "WHAT !?!?" , you might exclaim,"That guy is a sandwich short of a picnic! That's IN THE BOOK!"
     
    Yes,it is. The Tanakh definitely says the messiah will come from the house of David  through his son Solomon. The Bible also says that a Moabite or an Ammonite could never be considered a convert to become a part of Israel (Deut 23:3). This commandment however ONLY applies to males and not females.This is an Oral Law found in tractate Yevamot 76 affirmed by the authority of the Sages.Whoever rejects this authority must deny the legitimacy of King David, King Solomon and the future messiah.
     
    Since the commandment against Moab and Ammon ONLY applied to males, Ruth the Moabitess was able to be accepted as a convert and therefore an Israelitess and become the grandmother of David and the ancestress of the coming messiah. Since Torah law states tribe is paternal and that only an Israelite female produces Israelite children ( see Ezra 10:2-3), to deny the oral law is to say Jesse,the father of David was not an Israelite and therefore his son David,though born of a Israelite mother, was Yisroel and not of any tribe.
     
    In addition there was Naamah,an Ammonitess (1 Kings 14:21) who became the mother of Rehoboam,the son of Solomon.The bible says Rehoboam was forty-one when he began to reign. Solomon reigned for forty years,so he was born a year before Solomon became King. Solomon had married her while his father David was still alive.The future messiah will be a descendant of Solomon and most likely through Rehoboam. The messiah will therefore be descended from both Moabite and Ammonite converts. Something forbidden by the written Torah. If one doesn't accept the Oral Law concerning females of Moag and Ammon,then the words of the Prophets concerning Messiah can't be true.
     
    Other commands not so readily understood would be:
     What is the beautiful fruit that one takes in hand at Sukkot? 40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the beautiful tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for a seven day period.
     
    How does one tie the fringes that go at the corners of a garment? How many strings to make it, how do you tie the knots and how many, what is the source of the teheelet to dye the one thread?
     
    You are commanded to do kosher slaughter yet how do you remove the blood so it is able to be eaten and what fat can you eat since the Torah states you will eat no fat? All meat has capillaries that contain blood after slaughter even when the throat is cut.All meat contains fat.
     
    What amount of time between mixing and baking keeps matzah from being considered leavened when the leavening process starts immediately after water hits flour?
     
    Without the explanation of the how to, you can't follow many of the written. Torah is not a do what you think is right situation.If you ask twenty people to choose the fruit you take in hand at Sukkot,you will get multiple answers, yet only one can be correct. If you deny the oral law then you have to make up your own "oral law" to be able to follow it.
     
     Then there are what are referred to as "fences". These rabbinical established rulings are to protect the commandments from being broken. A good example is the Torah says the Passover lamb must be consumed before dawn. This command doesn't denote that it be finished at dawn,only before it. The Sages declared that it be finished around midnight.This prevents any possible way for the meal to still be eaten when the dawn comes.It changes no law of Torah,only protects it from being broken.
     
    In fact,the Torah itself commands the establishment of these fences. Torah instructs our judges to "guard My guard" which has always been understood to mean that our sages are to set these "fences" around the Torah laws. This can be found  in Leviticus 18:30, "ushmartem et mishmarti" -- the root word being shomer,to guard or protect.
     
    "The Law is a treasure entrusted to us. Each one of us is its "shomer" [please note the root word for guard in this verse], its appointed keeper or guardian, and we must guard it, first of all, from ourselves..... Clearly, this means: Guard the Law that I have placed into your keeping in such a manner that you will not come to transgress it. And this, in turn, obviously means: Do not refrain only from actual violations of the Law but also from any act that might lead you to violate the Law. Or, as it is stated in Yebamoth 21a and Moed Katan 5a, "Let the keeping of the Law as such be the purpose of your guarding; i.e., keep away from yourselves anything that might cause you to neglect your duty to guard the Law against violation."

    (The above partial commentary is from The Pentateuch, Translation of the text and excerpts from the commentary of Samson Raphael Hirsch, Judaica Press, 1997.)

January 6, 2010

  • Recognizing the Messiah in Judaism

     The Bible is transparent on the subject of the role of the messiah. It should be noted that, although there are many sections throughout the Jewish scriptures that vividly describe how the world will be forever transformed with the arrival of the messiah, very few are about the messiah personally. The vast quantity of messianic scripture in Tanakh depicts the state of perfection that the world will achieve at the end of days. It is quite clear from the vantage point of Tanakh that the significance of the messiah himself pales in comparison to the utopian age that his arrival will usher in.

    The reason Judaism does not accept the Christian messiah is because Jesus fulfilled and brought about none of the messianic prophecies clearly foretold in the Jewish scriptures. The following is an overview of the most distinct messianic prophecies as outlined in the Jewish scriptures -- which both Christians and Jews agree are messianic:

    World Peace
    "And he  shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." -- Isaiah 2:4

    "Then the inhabitants of the cities of Israel will go out and make fire and feed them with the weapons -- shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, clubs and spears; they shall use them as fuel for seven years." -- Ezekiel 39:9

    Universal Knowledge of God
    "For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. -- Isaiah 11:9

    "And no longer shall one teach his neighbor or shall one teach his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from their smallest to their greatest," says the Lord" -- Jeremiah 31:33

    "All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow low to the King Lord of Hosts and to observe the feasts."
    -- Zechariah 14:16

    "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one." -- Zechariah 14:9

    "Thus said the Lord of Hosts: In those days, ten men from nations of every tongue will take hold -- they will take hold of every Jew by a corner of his cloak and say, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." -- Zachariah 8.23

    Building of the Third Temple
    "...and I will set My sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. My temple also shall be with them. Yes, I will be their God and they shall be My people. And the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. --
    Ezekiel 37:26-28 (See also Ezekiel 40-48; Isaiah 33:20)

    Death Will Cease

    "He will swallow up death forever...." -- Isaiah 25:8

    Resurrection of the Dead

    "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead bodies shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." -- Isaiah 26:19

    "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." -- Daniel 12:2

    "Therefore, prophesy and say to them, "So says the Lord God: Lo! I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves as My people, and bring you home to the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and lead you up out of your graves as My people." -- Ezekiel 37:12-13

    Ingathering of Israel

    "I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ''Give up,'' and to the south, "Keep not back, bring My sons from far, and My daughter from the ends of the earth. -- Isaiah 43:5-6. (See also Jeremiah 16:15; 23:3; Isaiah 11:12; Zechariah 10:6; Ezekiel 37:21-22)

    Eternal Joy and Gladness Will Characterize the Jewish Nation

    "And the redeemed of the L-rd shall return, and come to Zion in song; everlasting joy shall be upon their head; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee. -- Isaiah 51:11

    The Enemy Dead Will Be Buried

    For seven months the House of Israel will be burying them, in order to cleanse the land. -- Ezekiel 39:12

    The Egyptian River Will Run Dry

    "And the L-rd will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt and wave His hand over the river with His scorching wind, and smite it into seven channels, and make men cross dryshod." -- Isaiah 11:15

    Trees Will Yield New Fruit Monthly in Israel

    "And on both sides of the bank of the stream, all trees for food will grow; their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because their waters flow from the Sanctuary; their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine. --
    Ezekiel 47:12
    Each Tribe of Israel Will Receive It's Inheritance

    "Thus says the L-rd, G-d: "These are the boundaries by which you shall divide the land for inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. And you shall divide equally that which I swore to give your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as your inheritance." -- Ezekiel 47:13--14


    It is interesting to note that these Messianic prophecies foretell the nations' turning  to

    Israel as the center of the utopian world's leadership. If Jesus was really the Messiah and the Jews persecuted and killed him, why is G-d going to reward them so greatly?

    Moreover, when looking back at all of these prophecies, we can clearly see Jesus is not
    the Messiah. Jesus fell short of fulfilling any of the  messianic prophecies; he was never anointed as King, he never ruled Israel, and the world was certainly not perfected in
    his time. In addition, he was not preceded by the return of the prophet Elijah. To suggest
    Jesus is the Jewish Messiah is, in effect, saying that God was lying to the Jewish people
    when he promised a Messiah from the house of David who would bring about all of the prophecies.
    Rabbi Joshua ben Levi in the Talmud, Sanheddrin 98a,points out a contradiction. According to one verse in Isaiah,Messiah will come in his own due time while it is also written that G-d will hasten his coming (which implies before the proper time).The answer given there is,"If we are worthy Messiah will be hastened,if not,he will come at due time.
    Then Rabbi Joshua points to another contradiction.In Daniel it is written that Messiah will come"with the clouds of heaven" while Zechariah says messiah will come "as a poor man riding a donkey." R. Joshua answers this as,"If we are meritorious,he will come on the clouds of heaven (swiftly).if not,he will come like a poor man on a donkey(very slowly)."

    The essence of our prayers is that Redemption come swiftly,not slowly.
    An answer to this may be found in the two aspects included in the word swiftly: 1)the plain meaning,referring simply to the time of Redemption 2)the manner of the Redemption.For Messiah can come either on the clouds of heaven or as a poor man riding on a donkey. Accordingly,even though it is indeed to late to ask that Redemption should come before due time,it is still appropriate to request that Messiah come with the clouds of heaven ie swiftly refers to the manner of his coming.

    Rambam's description of messiah in his Code,Laws of Kings 11:1 deals with messiah coming in a natural manner,"like a poor man riding a donkey." Then his identity needs to be verified.But if we merit,and he comes swiftly,with the clouds of heaven,ie:miraculously,there will be no need for clues or evidence that he is the true Messiah.

    Proof of the true Messiah,however,is needed when he comes slowly,like a poor man riding a donkey ie:in a natural way,leaving room for imposters.Therefore,there is a need to deliniate and describe very clearly the charactoristics of the true Messiah.

    This is what Rambam does in in chapt.11 in his Laws of Kings. Rambam says,"And when a king of the House of David will arrive,dedicated to the study of the Torah and observance of the Mitzvot (commandments) like his father David,according to the Torah (Written Law) and Shebal-Peh (Oral Law),and he compels all the Jewish people to walk in it and strengthen its fences,and he will fight the wars of G-d,he is assumed to be Messiah." (Note that this is not yet a certain sign of the Redemption,for this can take place in time of exile too. However Rambam continues):
     
    Whoever does not believe in him, or does not await his coming, denies not only [the statements of] the other prophets, but also [those of] the Torah and of Moshe, our teacher, for the Torah attests to his coming, stating: [Deut 30:3-5]

    And the Lord your G-d will bring back your captivity and have compassion upon you. He will return and gather you [from among all the nations].... Even if your dispersed ones are in the furthest reaches of the heavens, [from there will G-d gather you in].... G-d will bring you [to the land]....

    These explicit words of the Torah include all that was said [on the subject] by all the prophets.
     
    There is also a reference [to Moshiach] in the passage concerning Bilaam, who prophesies about the two anointed [kings]: the first anointed [king] [2], David, who saved Israel from her oppressors, and the final anointed [king] who will arise from among his descendants and save Israel [at the End of Days] [3]. The following [quoted] phrases are from that passage: [Exodus 24:17-18]

    "I see it, but not now" - This refers to David; "I perceive it, but not in the near future" - This refers to King Moshiach.

    "A star shall go forth from Yaakov" - This refers to David; "and a staff shall arise in Israel" - This refers to King Moshiach.

    "He shall crush all of Moab's princes" - This refers to David, (as it is written [II Shmuel 8:2], "He smote Moab and measured them with a line"); "he shall break down all of Seth's descendants" - This refers to King Moshiach, (about whom it is written [Zechariah 9:10], "He will rule from sea to sea").

    "Edom will be demolished" - This refers to David, (as it is written [Cf. II Shmuel 8:6 and 8:14], "Edom became the servants of David"); "his enemy, Seir, will be destroyed" - This refers to Moshiach, (as it is written [Ovadiah 1:21], "Saviors will ascend Mount Zion [to judge the mountain of Esau....]").Note: Ovadiah speaks here of Moshiach ben David and Moshiach ben Yosef.
     
    Similarly, in regard to the cities of refuge, it is stated [Deut 19:8-9], "When G-d will expand your borders... you shall add three more cities." This command has never been fulfilled. [Surely,] G-d did not give this command in vain, [and thus the intent was that it be fulfilled after the coming of Moshiach]. There is no need to cite proof texts on the concept [of the Moshiach] from the words of the prophets, for all [their] books are filled with it. 

    One should not entertain the notion that the King Moshiach must work miracles and wonders [ beyond those in prophesy] ie: bring about new phenomena within the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is [definitely] not true.
     
    A proof can be brought from the fact that] that Rabbi Akiva, one of the greatest Sages of the Mishnah, was one of the supporters of King Ben Koziva, and would describe him as the King Moshiach. He and all the Sages of his generation considered him to be the King Moshiach until he was killed because of [his] sins. Once he was killed, they realized that he was not [the Moshiach]. The Sages did not ask him for any signs or wonders.
     
    Rather, this is the main thrust of the matter: This Torah, with its statutes and laws, is everlasting. We may neither add to them nor detract from them.
     
    If a king will arise from the House of David who delves deeply into the study of the Torah and, like David his ancestor, observes its mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G-d; - we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach. If he succeeds in the above, builds the [Beis Ha]Mikdash ( Holy Temple) on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach. He will then perfect the entire world, [motivating all the nations] to serve G-d together, as it is written [Zephaniah, 3:9], "I will make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of G-d and serve Him with one purpose."

    The simple meaning of the words of the prophets appears to imply that the war of Gog and Magog [Ezekiel ch. 38] will take place at the beginning of the Messianic age. Before the war of Gog and Magog, a prophet will arise to rectify Israel's conduct and prepare their hearts [for the Redemption], as it is written: [Malachi 3:23] "Behold, I am sending you Eliyah(u)  [before the advent of the great and awesome Day of G-d]."
    During the Era of the King Moshiach, once his kingdom has been established and all of Israel has gathered around him, the entire [nation's] line of descent will be established on the basis of his words, through the prophetic spirit which will rest upon him. As it is written [Loc. cit., v. 3], "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier."
    He will purify the lineage of the Levites first, stating that "This one is a priest of defined lineage" and "This one is a Levite of defined lineage." Those whose lineage he does not recognize will be relegated to the status of Israelites. This is implied by the following verse: [Ezra 2:63] "The governor said to them, '[They shall not eat of the most holy things] until a priest arises [who will wear] the Urim and Tumim.'" From this verse one can infer that the genealogy of those presumed to be of unquestioned [priestly and levitical] lineage will be traced by means of the prophetic spirit, and those found to be of such lineage will be made known.

    He will define the lineage of the Israelites according to their tribe alone; i.e., he will make known each person's tribal origin, stating that "This one is from this tribe" and "This one is from another tribe." However, concerning a person who is presumed to be of unblemished lineage, he will not state that "He is illegitimate," or "He is of slave lineage," for the law rules that once a family has become intermingled [within the entire Jewish people], they may remain intermingled.
    The Sages and prophets did not yearn for the Messianic Era in order that [the Jewish people] rule over the entire world, nor in order that they have dominion over the gentiles, nor that they be exalted by them, nor in order that they eat, drink and celebrate. Rather, their aspiration was that [the Jewish people] be free Ito involve themselves] in Torah and its wisdom, without anyone to oppress or disturb them, and thus be found worthy of life in the World to Come, as we explained in Hilchos Teshuvah.
     
     In that Era there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition, for good things will flow in abundance and all the delights will be as freely available as dust. The occupation of the entire world will be solely to know G-d. The Jews will therefore be great sages and know the hidden matters, and will attain an understanding of their Creator to the [full] extent of human potential; as it is written [Isaiah 11:9], "For the world will be filled with the knowledge of G-d as the waters cover the ocean bed."

January 5, 2010

  • What do you mean that's rabbinic?

    It never ceases to amaze me that the Christians call everything Talmudic opinion,yet claim their book is "inspired by God". This is a piece I put together about ten years ago on the rabbinic concepts in the Greek text and just added a bit before posting. While some of the Jewish concepts shown post date the Talmudic era, but reflect earlier ideas, it shows that their "inspired" book is hardly inspired and is repetition of previous thoughts.
     
    One of the greatest outcries of Christians is the ever so popular,"That's rabbinic!",yet the concepts of the Greek text are rabbinic in nature. Taken from the teachings of the sages and the Oral Torah (Talmud),the actual meanings were lost after the Jewish influence disappeared from the church.What started out as simply another sect of Judaism turned away from its basic ideals into a totally non-Judaic creation of adding Roman and Greco influences.Here are quotations from the Greek text and their Jewish counterparts in sources commonly unknown to the average adherent to the Christian faith.
    Let's take the L-rd's Prayer in Matt 6,which is phrase by phrase a compilation of Hebrew thought in the Tanakh (Hebrew text),prayers,and Mishnah (Oral Torah)
    NO VAIN REPETITIONS. Ecc 5;2,"....for G-d is in heaven and thou art on earth;therefore let your words be few."
    OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. Isaiah 63:16,"Doubtless Thou art our Father,...Thou,O L-rd,art our Father,...."
    HALLOWED BE THY NAME. Kaddish prayer,"Exalted and hallowed be G-d's great name in this world...."
    THY KINGDOM COME,THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IN HEAVEN. Kaddish prayer,"May His will be fulfilled and His sovereignty revealed speedily in our days. Also see Dan 2:44,"the G-d of heaven (shall) set up a kingdom,which shall never be destroyed....."
    GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD Proverbs 30:8,"...feed me with food convenient for me(Original Hebrew "with my allotted bread')
    AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS,AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS. Exodus 22:25,"If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee,thou shall not be to him as a usurer(Hebrew original is creditor)..."Also see Jer 31;34,"...for I will forgive their iniquity..."
    AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION,BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.Oral Law Berakot 60b,"..bring me not into sin,or iniquity,or into temptation...and deliver me from evil."
    FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM,AND THE POWER,AND THE GLORY,FOREVER.
    1 Chron 29;11,"Thine,O L-rd,is the greatness,and the power and the glory,and the victory,and the majesty;..thine is the kingdom Psalm:145:11: They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
     
    The Beatitude format is found in the Secrets of Enoch,a Pharisaic apocryphal work of the first century BCE.We see the following ideas of blessedness .Blessed is he who---blesses all the L-rd's work---keeps the Fathers foundations---raises the fallen--implants peace and love---speaks humbly---enters only good houses---brings gifts with faith before the L-rd's face for forgiveness of sin and it is said the just who escape the great judgement are blessed.
    Now let's look at the sermon on the mount and its parallels to the Beatitudes:
    BLESSED ARE THE POOR. Psalm 34:18,"The L-rd saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
    BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN. Isaiah 61;2,"...to comfort all that mourn."
    BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. Psalm 37:11,"but the meek shall inherit the earth."
    BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER FOR RIGHTIOUSNESS. Deut 16;20,"That which is altogether just shall you follow that you shall live
    BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL. Shabbat 15lb,"He who has mercy on his fellow creatures obtains mercy for himself."
    BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART. Psalm 24:3-4,"Who shall asend into the hill of the L-rd?..He that has clean hands and a pure heart."
    BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS Psalm 34:14"...do good;seek peace,and pursue it."
    BLESSED ARE THEY...PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTIOUSNESS' SAKE Isaiah 51:7-8,"Harken unto Me,ye that know rightiousness,the people in whose heart is MY law;fear ye not the reproach of men,neither be afraid of thier revilings...My salvation shall be from generation to generation.
    These two are the main sermons that the Nazarene supposedly gave and reflect the Judaic concepts and teachings he learned, not made up.
     
    Other examples:
    Mt:7:3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
    Baba Bathra 15b,"If he (the reprover) say to him,Take the mote from thine eyes,the other replies Take the beam from thine eyes

    Mt:5:28: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
    Masekheth Kallah,"He who deliberately looks at a (married)woman is as though he had a connection with her."

    Mt:6:20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
    Baba Bathra11a,"My fathers have laid up a treasure for this world;I have laid up a treasure for the world to come."

    Jn:14:11: Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:
    Or ha'Emeth:Who is the true believer in G-d?The man who believes that the Shekinah is within him always and guards him;That he is in the creator and the Creator is in him.

    Mt:6:14: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
    Tractate Megillah"Those who forgive people who sin against them --
    their sins will be forgiven."

    The majority of the Nazarenes quotes were directly from the teachings of the rabbis and scholars of Judaism.Just by reading his purported statements and knowing the sources;you can see the book borrowed heavily from what Christians call, with contempt, rabbinic Judaism.
     
    This opens up some speculation. Was he someone that simply went about parroting the teachings of Hillel and others, did the writers of the book spike it with these teachings to bolster the appearance of him being a sagely teacher, or did those writers use a composite of the teachings of those previous sages to create him as the protagonist of their story?
    Beside the Christian book and some archaeological findings such as the "Jesus Tomb" being worked by Professor James Tabor and that is, strictly speaking, hypothesis and conjecture, I'd say it's a coin toss.

January 4, 2010

  • No,it's not the same bible

     

    Tanakh and Old Testament: Why They Might As Well Be Different Documents Even Though They’re Basically the Same Document
     

     If you’re Christian and you’ve tried to engage someone Jewish in a conversation about scripture looking for some common ground, chances are you’ve found the experience frustrating – you’re trying to talk about the Old Testament (which we call Tanakh) and you know that the Old Testament is Jewish scripture as well as Christian, but somehow the conclusions you draw seem to be foreign to the person you’re talking to. This actually isn’t surprising; I’m writing this to explain why. I’m not writing this for Jews because we (I’m Jewish) have less reason to engage Christians in such conversations than the other way around, the reason being that we aren’t evangelical. That’s why there are so few of us. We aren’t evangelical because:
     
    1. We don’t believe in original sin so we aren’t worried about salvation.
    2. We don’t believe that being Christian will keep you out of heaven, so converting you to Judaism won’t save you from anything other than an extra set of responsibilities. We pay very little attention to the afterlife to begin with; it really doesn’t motivate us. (Also, we don’t believe in Satan, at least not in the form you do.)
    3. Having been a minority for a couple of millennia, being evangelical could get us killed by the majority populations so, if the first two reasons weren’t enough, we avoided being evangelical for survival.
     
     If the purposes of your conversation with us are evangelical, be aware that, for historical reasons and due to our relatively tiny population, we view evangelism as extremely threatening. How benign your intentions are (or how benign you view them as being) is beside the point. You may view the addition of Christianity to our beliefs as an augmentation of Judaism; we view it as an attack on our faith and, as such, an example of anti-Semitism, and we will typically react with extreme hostility. Understand also that, in our experience, most (though by no means all) of the people who start such conversations with us have evangelism in mind, so we approach such conversations with suspicion and caution. If evangelism is not your intention, please make that clear at the outset. The conversation will be far easier and quite a bit more pleasant. (Also, never ask someone Jewish a question that starts with “Why don’t you believe.” It’s logically nonsensical and assumes our beliefs are less valid than yours which, even though we understand you think that – it’s inevitable to favor one’s own beliefs – is still really rude.)
     
     So much for the caveats. There are basically four reasons we approach Tanakh/Old Testament very differently. The first is:
     
    1. Language. No serious Jewish biblical scholarship is done using anything other than original sources which are all in Hebrew or Aramaic (which is linguistically related to Hebrew and uses the same alphabet). Aside from the obvious difficulties of translating an ancient language into a modern one, there are two other difficulties:
     
     a. Roots. Hebrew words typically have three-letter roots, and those roots have their own translations and connotations. A Hebrew reader will get these, but they aren’t always easy to get into translation.
     
     b. Lack of vowels. Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) is written without vowels. This means that some words can be more than one word, depending on what vowels you plug in. We have to take all possible translations into account, so you not only have to get the subtleties of multiple connotations into translation, you have to get simultaneous alternate meanings into translation, which is basically impossible. The way we do it is when providing an English translation in temple (Reform Judaism) or synagogue (any other branch of Judaism), the translated text literally takes up less space on the page than the footnotes do. (See Gunther Plaut)
     
     If you’re using the King James version, you have a third translation issue:
     
     c. Translation from Jacobean English into Modern English. The King James bible has a reputation as an excellent translation into English,although many words are mistranslated,past,present and future tence is changed in a few places, and the order of the books isn't the same, but it was done into Jacobean English. The meanings of some words in English have shifted in the centuries between that translation and the present, and some readers aren’t aware that they have to worry about English to English translation to get to the original meanings.
     
    2. The Oral Law. We believe that Moses was given two sets of laws on Mt. Sinai: one that he wrote down (Torah) and one that he didn’t. The Oral Law was to help with the written law and also to remain more fluid so it could adapt to change over time better. The Oral Law was included in commentary and in legal decisions. Eventually, during the Roman occupation, the Oral Law was in danger of disappearing because the Romans were prohibiting Jewish religious education, so a famous rabbi wrote it down to preserve it. What he wrote is now called the Mishnah and includes the law itself plus commentary by rabbis about it and Torah and Haftorah (Old Testament scripture after the first five books). Because Christianity doesn’t recognize the Oral Law, there’s a big difference in how we approach Tanakh.
     
    3. Further commentary. Over the nearly two millennia since the Mishnah was codified, rabbis have continued to write commentaries on the Torah itself, the Haftorah, and the Oral Law. As was true in the Mishnah, commentaries include expert minority opinion, so we can trace arguments and see where consensus was reached and where it wasn’t. Essentially, every detail was questioned to death and still is, right down to arguments over single letters in words. Judaism is heavily based on study and this is how. The combination of Oral Law and commentary is called the Talmud.
     
    So, Jews read Tanakh in a different language, influenced by Oral Law, and through a rabbinic lens. Points 2 and 3 have to do with our lens; point 4 has to do with yours.
     
    4. Supporting Jesus with the Old Testament. Jesus’ life is the central event in Christianity and many Christians view the Old Testament as a sort of preamble to Jesus, giving him a framework and proving his inevitability. Adam and Eve are important because they give you the source for Original Sin which you need in order for Jesus’ salvation to be necessary. Abraham and the Binding of Isaac story is important to you but you draw the exact opposite conclusion from ours – we view the story as God’s telling us that, unlike the surrounding pagans, human sacrifice is forever off limits; many of you view it as a preview of a later father’s sacrifice of a son. For some of you, the giants of the Old Testament are Daniel and Isaiah because their predictions can be interpreted as predicting Jesus. Daniel and Isaiah are considerably more peripheral to us (Isaiah perhaps less so), but we also view Isaiah differently  - we view him as a flowery writer rich in imagery and metaphor while you view him as a sort of biblical Nostradamus.Isaiah is also one of the books that is mistranslated and tences changed in your bible.
     
    In conclusion, don’t be surprised by how different Jewish and Christian conclusions are from what looks like the same source text.

January 3, 2010

  • Jesus' Family and Lack of Holy Awe

     Jesus' birth name might have been Y'shua ben Yoseph.It may well have been the Greek name of Jesus, since Greek names were popular as well after the time of Alexander the Great.He was the first born in a large family and had brothers and sisters.His mother,therefore was not an "eternal virgin".Yoseph,his father was known as Jesus' father and a carpenter.Four brother's names are given and he had at least two sisters.The word brethren relates to his brother's and sisters,not his disciples.His family was never far from him during his life.

    Matt 1:25(Luke 2:7),"...till she had brought forth her firstborn son;and he called his name Jesus.

    John 6:42(John 1:45,Luke 4:22),"...Is this not Jesus,the son of Joseph,whose father and mother we know?"
     
    Matt 13:55-56(Mark 6:3)Is this not the carpenter's son?is not his mother called Mary?and his brethren,James, Joses, Simon,and Juda? And his sisters,are they all not with us?...."

    John 2:12,"....he,and his mother,and his brethren,and his disciples..."

    Luke 8:19-20 (Matt 12:46-47,Mark 3:31-32),"Then came to him his mother and brethren,and could not come to him for the press.And it was told to him,'Thy mother and thy brethren stand without,desiring to see thee."'

        This establishes his family and family background.Now let's examine the concept of the revelations that were supposedly given. Shouldn't such a message of heavenly dimension have affected his life and relationship to his family?

        Luke 1:26-35 has an angel appearing to Mary and telling her of having a child though a virgin,and that the child is the awaited Messiah.In Matt 1:20-21,an angel tells Joseph the same thing.

        Obviously they would have understood this amazing occurrence since in Luke 1:48-49,Mary is shown to say,"...for,behold,from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.For He that is mighty (G-d) hath done to me great things."

       Shouldn't her and Joseph's relationship with Jesus been one of awe considering this amazing background?If it was revealed to them that he was the Messiah,wouldn't his whole family have followed him as his first believers?Yet,they were not. Shouldn't there have been a special relationship between Jesus and his mother of total respect and awe,her for him by his origins and he for her as the chosen vessel to bring the Messiah into this world.

    Matt 12:46-50  when his mother and family came to see him,he said,Who is my mother?Who are my brethren?And then pointed at his disciples and said this is my mother and brethren. Those that do the will of G-d.

    His mother came to see him and he brushed her off.For any son this is disrespectful and for Jesus to do so to the woman that supposed bore him through the direct intervention of G-d is astonishingly disrespectful.He could have made the point that all that follow the will of G-d are his family without being disrespectful and disparaging to his mother.How could he speak in such a manner to her if she was the "holy virgin mother of Christianity"?

    Luke 11:27-28,"....a certain woman ...said to him,Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps which thou hast suckled.But he said.Yea,rather,blessed are they that hear the word of G-d and keep it."

      He reiterates his belief that those that do G-d's will are blessed in the world,but evidently denies the exclamation by Mary in Luke1:48,where she says all generations will call her blessed. Where is the reverence?

    John 2:4,"Jesus said unto her (Mary), Woman,what have I to do with thee?"

    This shows total disrespect to Mary.She is his mother and he calls her woman as though she were a stranger and separates himself from her. In fact,there is nowhere in the NT that Jesus uses any endearing term to his mother.Not only is there a lack of reverence but there is a strange lack of the simple affection between a child and parent.

    Luke 2:43-50 has to do when Joseph and Mary were looking for Jesus when he was at the Temple after they had left Jerusalem for home and had to return to find him. After they find him they express they're frustration at his staying behind and causing them worry.He replied to them,"How is it that ye sought me?Did you not know that I be at my Father's house about my Father's business?

    The next line is "And they understood not the saying that he spoke"

       First we see that Mary and Joseph did not understand Jesus' alleged mission.We see here that they did not understand that Jesus must do G-d's work as he is supposedly the Messiah.If the scene with Gabriel was true about appearing before Mary and telling her about Jesus' upcoming birth and being Messiah they would have fully understood Jesus' mission and special nature, but they didn't.

    Mark 3:21,"And when his friends heard of it,they went out to lay hold of him;for they said,He is beside himself."

         From this phrase,it gives the impression that Jesus' friends thought him crazy,not holy. Don't you think that they,as his friends,would have heard of his miraculous birth or that he was the Messiah from his parents,family or Jesus himself?

    John 7:3,5,"His brethren said to him. Depart and go into Judea,that thy disciples also may see the works thou do.For neither did his brethren believe in him."

    His brethren are his brothers,not his friends,cousins or disciples.His brothers had no belief in him.If the story of the divine revelation of his birth and Messiahship were true,his home would have been filled with wondrous awe.His brothers did not believe in him.It is clear that when James was in contact with Jesus at this point that he knew nothing of Christianity's miraculous event of the virgin birth or Jesus being the supposed Messiah.Why such a lack of knowledge within the family? No secrecy was declared about the happenings. Galations 1:19 does not contradict this because it deals with James at a later date,after the crucifixion,when other factors were involved.

    Mark 6:4(Matt 13:57,Luke 4:24,John 4:44),"But Jesus said unto them,a prophet is not without honor,but in his own country,and among his own kin,and in his own house."

      We read here that Jesus says his own family did not give respect They lack understanding about who he is? Even though the message was supposedly given to both Mary and Joseph by an angel? Obviously they knew nothing about any miraculous birth nor revelation that he is the Messiah even though the NT says they did.Why isn't anything mentioned in the other books? Paul's writings predate the others ,yet not a word.
     
    The fact is that there is no virgin birth prophesy.When missionaries are confronted with the glaring problem that the context of Isaiah 7:14 does not support Matthew's claim that Isaiah is referring to Jesus' virgin birth, they often argue that Isaiah 7:14 is a dual prophecy. In order to fully understand what missionaries mean by a dual prophecy, let's first explain why the context of Isaiah 7:14 does not support Matthew's use of this verse as a proof-text of his virgin birth story.

    It should be said at the outset that the word "virgin" does not appear in the seventh chapter of Isaiah. The author of the first gospel deliberately mistranslated the Hebrew word ha'almah as "a virgin." This Hebrew word ha'almah does not mean "a virgin." It means "the young woman," with no implication of virginity. Most modern Christian Bibles have corrected this erroneous translation, and their Bibles now correctly translate this Hebrew word as "the young woman." Let's now examine the context of Isaiah 7:14.

    The seventh chapter of the Book of Isaiah begins by describing the military crisis that was confronting King Ahaz of the Kingdom Judah. In about the year 732 B.C.E. the House of David was facing imminent destruction at the
    hands of two warring kingdoms: the northern Kingdom of Israel and the Syrian kingdom. These two armies had laid siege to Jerusalem. The Bible relates that the House of David and King Ahaz were gripped with fear.
    Chapter seven relates how God sent the prophet Isaiah to reassure King Ahaz that divine protection was at hand - the Almighty would protect him, their deliverance was assured, and these two hostile armies would fail in their
    attempt to subjugate Jerusalem. Let's read Isaiah 7:1-16:

    And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king
    of Judah, that Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of
    Israel, marched on Jerusalem to wage war against it, and he could not wage
    war against it. And it was told to the House of David, saying, "Aram has
    allied itself with Ephraim," and his heart and the heart of his people
    trembled as the trees of the forest tremble because of the wind. And the
    Lord said to Isaiah, "Now go out toward Ahaz, you and Shear-Yashuv your son
    to the edge of the conduit of the upper pool, to the road of the washer's
    field. And you shall say to him, "Feel secure and calm yourself, do not
    fear, and let your heart not be faint because of these two smoking stubs of
    firebrands, because of the raging anger of Rizin and Aram and the son of
    Remaliah. Since Aram planned harm to you, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah,
    saying: `Let us go up against Judah and provoke it, and annex it to us; and
    let us crown a king in its midst, one who is good for us.' So said the Lord
    God, `Neither shall it succeed, nor shall it come to pass...'" And the Lord
    continued to speak to Ahaz, saying, "Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord,
    your God; ask it either in the depths, or in the heights above." And Ahaz
    said, "I will not ask, and I will not test the Lord." And he said, "Listen
    now, O House of David, is it little for you to weary men, that you weary my
    God as well? Therefore the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; Behold
    the young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call
    his name Immanuel. Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows to reject bad
    and choose good. For, when the lad does not yet know to reject bad and
    choose good, the land whose two kings you dread, shall be abandoned."

    It is clear from this chapter that Isaiah's declaration was a prophecy of the unsuccessful siege of Jerusalem by the two armies of the Kingdoms of Israel and Syria, not a virgin birth more than 700 years later. If we interpret this chapter as referring to Jesus' birth, what possible comfort and assurance could Ahaz, who was surrounded
    by to overwhelming military enemies, find in the birth of a child seven centuries later? Both he and his people would long be dead and buried. Such a sign would make no sense.

    Verses 15-16 state that by the time this child reaches the age of maturity ("he knows to reject bad and choose good"), the two warring kings, Pekah and Rezin, will have been removed. In II Kings 15-16 we see that this prophecy was fulfilled when these two kings were suddenly assassinated. With an understanding of the context
    of Isaiah 7:14 alone, it is evident that the child born in Isaiah 7:14 is not referring to Jesus or to any future virgin birth. Rather, it is referring to the divine protection that Ahaz and his people would enjoy from their impending destruction at the hands of these two enemies, the northern Kingdom of Israel and Syria.

    This is where the Christian response of a dual prophecy comes in. Missionaries attempt to explain away this stunning problem of Matthew's complete indifference to the biblical context of Isaiah 7:14 by claiming that Isaiah's words to Ahaz had two different applications. They concede that the first application of Isaiah's prophecy must have been addressed to Ahaz and his immediate crisis. This child that was born contemporaneously, the first leg of this dual prophecy, was fulfilled at the time of Ahaz, 2,700 years ago.

    Missionaries insist, however, that the second leg of this dual prophecy applied to Jesus' "virgin birth" about 2,000 years ago. With this elaborate explanation, missionaries maintain that Matthew's use of Isaiah 7:14 is entirely appropriate. In short, these Christians claim that Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled twice: once in 732 B.C.E., and a second time in the year 1 C.E. Problem solved. Or is it?

    The troubles created by this explanation are manifold. To begin with, the proposal of dual prophecy is entirely contrived and has no basis in the Bible. Nowhere in the seventh chapter of Isaiah does the text even hint of
    a second fulfillment.2 The notion of a dual prophecy is thoroughly unbiblical. and was fashioned in order to explain away a stunning theological problem.

    Moreover, if, as missionaries argue, the word ha'almah means a "virgin," and, as they insist, Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled twice, who was the first virgin to conceive in Ahaz's time? Were there two virgin births? That is to
    say, if these Christians claim that the virgin birth of Isaiah 7:14 was fulfilled twice, who then was the first virgin having a baby boy in 732 B.C.E.? Bear in mind that these missionaries insist that the word ha'almah can only mean a virgin in chapter seven even though Isaiah uses the actual word b'thulah in his book a few time. Are they claiming that Mary was not the first and only virgin to conceive and give birth to a child?

    Furthermore, if they claim the seventh chapter of Isaiah is a dual prophecy, how does Isaiah 7:15-16 apply to Jesus when these verses continue to speak of this lad? Remember, Isaiah 7:14-16 reads:
    (14) Therefore the Lord, of His own, shall give you a sign; "Behold the
    young woman is with child, and she shall bear a son, and she shall call his
    name Immanuel. (15) Cream and honey he shall eat when he knows to reject
    bad and choose good. (16) For, when the lad does not yet know to reject bad
    and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread, shall be abandoned."

    If Isaiah's words are the substance of a dual prophecy, at what age did the baby-Jesus mature? Who were the two kingdoms during Jesus' lifetime who were abandoned? Who dreaded the Kingdom of Israel (Northern Kingdom) during the first century when there had not been a Kingdom of Israel in existence since the seventh century B.C.E.? When did Jesus eat cream and honey? Does any of this make any sense? It doesn't because this argument of a dual prophecy was born out of the desperation of Christian missionaries and essentially makes a mockery out of the Book of Isaiah.

January 2, 2010

  • Don't tell me what my religion says Pt 2

     

    Missionary claims that the Greek text is in harmony with the Tanakh are, in the least,outrageous in their complete untruths. Statements in the text completely contradict what the Prophets have foretold in their writings, locations of places are changed, and concepts altered.
     
    On the subject of Elijah,The Prophet says that Elijah would come to announce the Day of the L-rd
    Mal 4:5: Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
    6: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
    The Greek text has Jesus saying that Elijah has come in fulfillment of Malachi's prophesy.
    Mt:17:10: And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come?
    Mt:17:11: And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
    Mt:17:12: But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.
    Yet the one that Jesus refers to,John the Baptist,denies that he is Elijah.
    Jn:1:21: And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
    Obviously John the Baptist knew he wasn't Elijah. Since the Tanakh states that Elijah must come BEFORE the messiah,this idea that Elijah has come contradicts the Prophet. Christian Apologists attempt to say it was the spirit of Elijah that was in John yet nothing in the original Hebrew text of the Prophet even remotely infers that it would be anything except the Prophet in the flesh.
    On the subject of sacrifice,the book of Hebrews states that Jesus is the final sacrifice.
    Heb:10:12: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
    This clearly contradicts what it says in the Prophets. Ezekiel's prophesy of the Eternal Temple and the re-establishment of the sacrifices, including sin sacrifice
    Ezek:37:26: Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
    Ezek:45:17: And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the Sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel.
    Another contradiction is in Revelations in that it says there will be no courtyard of the Eternal Temple
    Rv:11:2: But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
    Yet Ezekiel gives the measurement of the courtyard from the main building to where the wall is erected
    Ezek:42:1: Then he brought me forth into the utter court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was before the building toward the north.
    Ezek:42:16: He measured the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
    Ezek:42:17: He measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.
    Ezek:42:18: He measured the south side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed.
    Ezek:42:19: He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.
    Ezek:42:20: He measured it by the four sides: it had a wall round about, five hundred reeds long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place.
    Ezek:46:21: Then he brought me forth into the utter court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court; and, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court.
     
    The only mention of Gentiles in Ezekiel is in chapter 4 before the Eternal Temple comes: 4:13.  And the Lord said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
     14.  Then said I, Ah Lord God! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
     15.  Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
     16.  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
     17.  That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.
    One would also imagine that the promised Messiah would ,at least, be somewhat familiar with the existing scriptures and his own family history since the story of David is written down.
     
    Jesus quote:Mark 2
    25. And he said unto them, Did ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry, he, and they that were with him?
    26. How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the showbread, which it is not lawful to eat save for the priests, and gave also to them that were with him?

    Tanakh quote 1 Sam 21
    1. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
    2. And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
     
    Ahimelech was High Priest, Abiathar was his son and David was alone and didn't have "they that were with him".
     
    Matt 27:9 says that Jeremiah prophesied about a potters field and thirty pieces of silver. There is no reference to a potter's field nor thirty pieces of silver in Jeremiah.
     
    Matt23:35 says that Zachariah,son of Barachiah was killed. There is no Zachariah mentioned in the Tanakh. There was a Zechariah that was stoned , but his father was Zahoiadah. There is no mention of a Barachiah in the Tanakh at all.
     
    John 17:12 mentions a "son of perdition;that the scripture be fulfilled."There is no reference to a son of perdition in the Tanakh.
     
    Acts7:15-16 says that Jacob was buried in Shechem when the cave that Abraham bought was Mam're(Gen50;13,Gen25:9).
     

  • Don't tell me what my religion says Pt 1

    It really gets a bit iritating having people try to tell me what my religion says when trying to sell me their's.

     Most Christians are taught that "Jesus died for their sins" and that the Jewish bible, which they call the "Old Testament," says that ONLY blood sacrifices can atone for sins. This falsehood is repeated by deceptive Christian missionaries to Jews they are trying to convert with  monotonous regularity.

    However, Jews who read their bible know that there are SEVERAL ways to atone for sins -- not just "blood sacrifices," 

    In fact, the sentence most quoted  is Levitcus 17:11    . However, Jews who read their Bible know that Leviticus 17:11 is not a chapter about atonement. Rather, when one views
    the context, it describes the prohibition of eating blood.

    The verse directly preceding verse 11 makes this very clear. It says, "    If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood I will set my face against that person who eats blood, and will cut that person off from the people." The next verse goes on to explain why G-d has prohibited us from eating blood.
    "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your lives on the altar; for, as life, it is the blood that makes atonement."The verses are speaking about blood of sacrifices not being permitted for eating.In other words, although we were given permission to eat animal flesh, the blood of sacrifices was set aside from the flesh for a specific purpose. To be used in the Temple service for atonement. No where in this verse does it say that blood is the only way, or even the best way to achieve atonement. Only that, since it was set aside for the purpose of atonement, we are forbidden
    to eat it. With animals slaughtered just for food the Torah states the blood is poured on the ground and covered up.That is not allowed to be eaten either.In each verse below the word used is kippur, atonement. Missionaries to Jews leave that little fact out.

    THE VERSES
    READ Exodus 30:12 "Every man shall give God an atonement for his soul ... this shall they give ... a half shekel." Thus, we are taught that charity can,in fact, provide atonement.
    READ Exodus 30:16 "Money of the Children of Israel [may be used] to make an atonement for your souls."
    READ Leviticus 5:16 which teaches that returning something to it's rightful owner and "he shall be forgiven."
    READ Numbers 31:50 "Jewelry of gold [may be used] to make an atonement for our souls."
    READ First Samuel 15:22 which reads: "And Samuel said: 'Does the Lord delight as much in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?' Behold,     obedience is better than any sacrifice, and to comply [better] than the fat of rams."
    READ I Kings 8:46-53 which teaches that prayer and repentance are both valid forms of atonement.
    READ I Kings 48:50 in which King Solomon, at the dedication of the first Temple, knew that the Jewish people would someday be without the Temple and the sacrificial system. He described a time when the Jews would be carried off into the land of their enemies. He then proceeded to tell us exactly what we should do in such a case in order to achieve atonement. He said "And pray to Thee towards their land, which Thou didst give to their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name: then hear Thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause, and forgive Thy people that have sinned against Thee, and all their transgressions in which they have transgressed against thee" (I Kings 48:50).
    Clearly King Solomon was telling us that, through repentance and supplication, we can be granted atonement.
    READ Isaiah 27:9 which references to breaking altars to idolatry will atone for the sin.
     We see that fighting idolatry can provide atonement.
    READ Jeremiah 26:13 "Depart from evil, and do good, so you will abide forever." (see also Psalm 37:27; Ezekiel 33; Zechariah 1:3)
    READ Jeremiah 36:3 "That every man will turn from his evil way, then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin."
    READ Ezekiel 18:21-30 which proclaims that "If the wicked man turns from his sins and observes My statues, he will live."
    READ Hosea 6:6 "    For I desire goodness; not sacrifice.Obedience to G-d, rather than burnt offerings."
    READ Hosea 14:2-3 which states that all of our sins will be forgiven, in exchange for which we can give prayers instead of sacrifices.
    Some Christian bible translations are so bothered by that verse that they actually change it
     to read "... and we will offer the fruit of our lips." instead of bulls of our lips. If their doctrine is so solid, why must they change our scriptures?
    READ Jonah 3:10 "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not."
    This verse discusses how G-d saw the people of Ninveh turn from unjust acts of disdain to righteous acts of kindness. Because of the people's repentance  (T'shuva) the  forgiveness they sought was granted to them by G-d.
    READ Micah 6:6-8 which proclaims: "With what shall I come to the L-rd, and bow myself before the G-d on  high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the L-rd take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the L-rd require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d." (see also Amos 5:22-24; Jeremiah 7; Psalm 69:31-32)
    READ Psalms 40:7 "Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; but my ears You have opened; burnt offering and sin offering You have not required." (Psalm 40:6 in
    Christian Bibles)
    READ Psalms 51:18 which says: "You do not want me to bring sacrifices; You do not desire burnt offerings."
    READ Psalms 69:30-33 which says that "song" [words, prayer, and study] is better than sacrifices."
    READ Psalms 78:22-39 which says that even though the Jewish people "believed not in G-d and trusted  not in his salvation," which resulted in many earthly trials and tribulations, and even though "their hearts were not right with Him nor were they steadfast in His covenant," G-d nevertheless "being full of compassion forgave their sin     because they were but flesh."
    READ Psalms 86:5-6 "For You, L-rd, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon You. Give ear, O L-rd to my prayer,  and give heed to the voice of my supplications."
    Thus, we discover prayer is a form of atonement as stated by  in Psalms.
    READ Proverbs 10:2 which says that: "Ill-gotten wealth is of no avail; But righteousness saves from death."
    READ Proverbs 11:4 which similarly states that "Wealth is to no avail in the days of wrath,     But righteousness saves from death."
    READ Proverbs 16:6 (JPS Version) "the practice of mercy and truth atones for sin."
    READ Proverbs 14:22 which teaches that merely "devising [planning] good deeds is considered to be mercy and truth."
    READ Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteous charity ('    tzedakah') and judgement is more acceptable to G-d than sacrifice."
    Therefore, we are taught, that righteous, charitable acts are not only effective in achieving atonement, but they are actually preferred by G-d over animal sacrifices.The Hebrew word Tzedakah means both righteousness and charity.
    READ Job 22:23-27 "If you return to G-d you will be restored; if you remove unrighteousness far from your tent.... then you will delight in G-d."
    READ Daniel 4:24 "Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged" (This verse appears as 4:27 in a Christian Bible.)
    READ Second Chronicles 6:36-42 explains that after a person sins, if he repents, he will be forgiven by G-d.
    READ Second Chronicles 7:14 which states "And if My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
    Hence, we learn again that repentance is another form of atonement. If you admit to your sinning and seek to improve it with righteous acts of charity, G-d will forgive you.
    READ Second Chronicles 30:18-19 "G-d pardons everyone that prepares his heart [whose intent is] to seek G-d even though he not be cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary" (an "unclean" person is unable to offer sacrifices).
    =====================================
    DID YOU KNOW?
    Did you know that Psalms, chapter 51, verses 18 and 19 (verse 17 in the Christians Bible) show that repentance is preferred over blood sacrifices when it states: "The sacrifices of
    G-d are a broken spirit, and a contrite and crushed heart"?
    Did you know that even during the years that the Temple was standing, and sacrifices were offered on a daily basis, sacrificial offerings NEVER atoned for sins committed against human beings? For example, wounding another person's body or hurting someone's feelings could not be atoned for using sacrifices?
    Did you know that even during the years that the Temple was standing, and sacrifices were offered on a daily basis, sacrificial offerings did NOT atone for deliberately committed sins?
    Did you know that Deuteronomy 24:16 warns that a father cannot be put to death for a son,
    and a son cannot be put to death for a father?
    Did you know that Jeremiah 31:29 says that "every man shall die for his own iniquity (wrongdoing) thus disenabling Jesus of dying for anyone else accept himself!
    Did you know that the prophet Ezekiel warned against Christendom's central doctrine that an innocent human being can die for the sins of the wicked (Ezekiel 18)?
    Did you know that Second Chronicles 25:4 states that "every man shall die for his own
    sin" thus eliminating Jesus from atoning for the sins of anyone but himself?
     
    All this stands in  contradiction to the Christian doctrine that the only way a person can truly repent and be forgiven is to accept Jesus as his sacrifice or rather the Christian book is what contradicts the Torah,writings and Prophets.

    As the "New Testament" Book of Hebrews declares (9:22), "...Without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness." Apparently the author never read the Hebrew scriptures.

December 31, 2009

  • Arab lies about the Israeli/Arab conflict

    All you ever hear is Israel kicked out Arabs and caused the refugee problem, that the land has always belongs to the Muslims, and a large assortment of propaganda from Arab papers and other media that would make Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany proud since he said:

    “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

     

     

    Below rufutes all the unrefined bovine plant food that the world seems to accept since it is said over and over.

    #1 The root of Arab hostility is not Israel, but rather anti-Jewish feeling for hundreds of years, past & present "peace" efforts that don't recognize this are doomed to failure.

    #2 Mecca was probably founded by Jews, and Mohomed's hatred of Jews was partly based on financing his endevors by plundering Jewish  wealth, just as Henry VIII & the Protestants plundered Catholic monastaries in
    the 1600s to fund English operations.

    #3 "Palestine" never existed as a country, language or people

    #4 There were really very few Arabs in "Palestine" before the 1890s (less than 600,000 in Israel and Jordan for several hundred years). Jews did not displace Arab farmers.

    #5 Arabs settlers flooded in *after* the Jews came in a ratio sometimes approaching 10 Arabs to 1 Jew. The massive Arab settlers caused the British to say that Palestine was "full", and in a sense displaced potential
    Jewish refugees from Europe.

    #6 The British were in violation of their mandate when they created Jordan, and the Mandate Commission, the U.S. and several others vigorously opposed this at the time. Four out of the seven overseers on the Mandate Commission were going to vote to reject the British "White Papers" but then WWII broke out.

    #7 The British ignored Arab immigration and purposely assisted Arab to come into what would be Israel. They actually told the French to *stop* policing the Syrian-Lebanon border. The British foiled all efforts to enforce border control with Jordan.

    #8 In spite of a vigorous British campaign to stop Jewish immigration into Palestine "because there was no room for more Jews", the British brought in thousands of Arab workers who settled in Palestine.

    #9 The British carried out a campaign of Arab appeasment in violation of the Mandate, even firing on Jewish immigrant boats, before -during -and even after the holocaust.

    #10 When war broke out in 1948, about 600,000 Arabs left Israel because they had only been there for a couple of years.

    #11 The Arab states, especially the Mufti (Arafat's uncle) worked close with the Nazi's. The Mufti set up office in Berlin.

    #12 The U.N. Changed their definition of a "refugee" for Palestinians to include anyone who had lived in Israel for *two years*

    #13 After the war in 1948 about 600,000 Jewish refugees left Arab countries for Israel after being persecuted there.

    And leaves the point that the Arabs, and especially the British (by dividing Palestine twice, and imposing strict quotas) were largely to blame for not providing an escape for Jews of the holocaust.

    Quotes from Arab papers:

     ON APRIL 23, 1948 Jamal Husseini, acting chairman of the Palestine Arab Higher Committee (AHC), told the UN Security Council: "The Arabs did not want to submit to a truce ... They preferred to abandon their homes,,belongings and everything they possessed."

    ON SEPTEMBER 6, 1948, the Beirut Daily Telegraph quoted Emil Ghory, secretary of the AHC, as saying: "The fact that there are those refugees is the direct consequence of the action of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agreed upon this policy unanimously..."

    ON JUNE 8, 1951, Habib Issa, secretary-general of the Arab League, wrote in the New York Lebanese daily al-Hoda that in 1948, Azzam Pasha, then League secretary, had "assured the Arab peoples that the occupation of Palestine and of Tel Aviv would be as simple as  a military promenade ... Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of  Palestine to leave their land, homes and property, and to stay temporarily in neighbouring fraternal states."

    IN THE MARCH 1976 issue of Falastin a-Thaura, then the official journal ofthe Beirut-based PLO, Mahmud Abbas ("Abu Mazen"), PLO spokesman, wrote: "The Arab armies entered Palestine to protect the
    Palestinians from the Zionist tyranny but, instead, they abandoned  them, forced them to emigrate and to leave their homeland, and threw them into prisons similar to the ghettos in which the Jews used to live."

    ON APRIL 9, 1953, the Jordanian daily al-Urdun quoted a refugee,Yunes Ahmed Assad, formerly of Deir Yassin, as saying: "For the flight  and fall of the other villages, it is our leaders who are responsible,
    because of the dissemination of rumours exaggerating Jewish crimes and  describing them as atrocities in order to inflame the Arabs ... they instilled fear and terror into the hearts of the Arabs of Palestine until they fled, leaving their homes and property to the enemy."

    ANOTHER refugee told the Jordanian daily a-Difaa on September 6, 1954: "The Arab governments told us, 'Get out so that we can get in.' So we got out, but they did not get in."

    THE JORDANIAN daily Falastin wrote on February 19, 1949: "The Arab states... encouraged the Palestinian Arabs to leave their homes  temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies."

    ON OCTOBER 2, 1948, the London Economist reported, in an eyewitness  account of the flight of Haifa's Arabs: "There is little doubt that  the most potent of the factors [in the flight] were the announcements
    made over the air by the Arab Higher Executive urging all Arabs in  Haifa to quit ... And it was clearly intimated that those Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades."

    THE PRIME Minister of Syria in 1948, Khaled al-Azem, in his memoirs, published in 1973, listed what he thought were the reasons for the  Arab failure in 1948: "... the fifth factor was the call by the Arab
    governments to the inhabitants of Palestine to evacuate it and leave for the bordering Arab countries ... We brought destruction upon a million Arab refugees bycalling on them and pleading with them to leave their land."

    "FOLLOWING a visit to refugees in Gaza, a British diplomat reported the following: 'But while they express no bitterness against  the Jews...they speak with the utmost bitterness of theEgyptians and other Arab states: 'We know who our enemies are,' they will say, and they are referring to their Arab brothers who, they declare, persuaded them unnecessarily to leave their homes."
    -
    British Foreign Office Document #371/75342/XC/A/4991
    [From "Revising or Devising Israel's History" by Prof. Shlomo
    Slonim in Jewish Action, Summer 5760/2000, Vol. 60 #4]

    Jerusalem as the third most Holy site in Islam?Jerusalem's role as "The Third Holiest Site in Islam" in mainstream Islamic writings does not precede the 1930s. It was created by the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al Husseini , Hitler's Mufti. The land was in Turkish (Muslim) hands, yet take a good look at the pictures of their so called Holy site.
    The Islamic claim to the Temple is very recent, since 1930

    The land of Israel
    Sura5:19-22 :
    People of the Book!
    "Bear in mind the words of Moses to his people.He said,"Remember,my people,the favour which G-d has bestowed upon you.He raised up prophets from among you,made you kings, and given to you that which He has given no other nation.Enter,my people,the holy land which G-d has assigned for you

    Sura 10:93
    We settled the Israelites in a blessed land and provided them with good things.

    Sura17:103
    Then We said to the Israelites,"Dwell in this land.When the promise of the hearafter comes to be fulfilled,We shall assemble you all together."
     
    Thames Goldman (20 november 2000)

    Muslim critics of Israel often say that Jerusalem's holy sites must be
    transferred to Muslim control, because of the central role they play in
    Islamic theology. For instance, the Dome of the Rock was built on the site
    where Mohammed is believed to have ascended to Heaven to receive the
    revelation of the Qur'an.

    However, these people seldom actually quote the Qur'an itself. This is
    probably because, amazing as it sounds, the Qur'an actually supports the
    Zionist cause.

    Specifically, Mohammed in Sura 5:21 quotes Moses telling the Jews to "enter
    into the holy land which Allah has assigned to you". While Mohammed later
    criticizes the Jews for their sins and their refusal to accept Mohammed's
    message, he never says that, as punishment, Allah has revoked their title to
    the land. Hence the title still stands, and Muslim anti-Zionists are
    apostates.

    Indeed, this is the opinion of Sheikh Prof. Abdul Hadi Palazzi, co-chairman
    of the Islam-Israel Fellowship, who condemns the Palestinian uprising as
    "fitnah" (sedition), which is forbidden in Islam as long as the Muslims are
    granted religious freedom.

    A case could even be made that Israel's victory over the Arabs in the 1948
    war was a judgement by Allah against the Arabs for their apostasy in opposing
    the Zionists.

    This would be their just reward for transgressing Sura 2:190, which says,
    "Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight against you, but begin not
    hostilities."

    Moreover, Sura 60:9 forbids aiding the enemies of the Muslim people. Contrast
    this with the Palestinians' continued support of Saddam Hussein, whose hands
    are red with the blood of Iranian, Kurdish, and Kuwaiti Muslims.

    The Jews' return from 19 centuries of exile is actually the fulfillment of
    Islamic prophecy. Sura 17:104 says that "when the promise of the Hereafter
    comes to pass, We [Allah] shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various
    nations".

    Sura 17:4 says, "And We [Allah] gave (clear) warning to the children of
    Israel in the Book, that twice would they do mischief on the earth and be
    elated with mighty arrogance (and twice would they be punished)!" The
    succeeding verses tell us that the punishment referred to was banishment from
    the land. But "twice" means twice, not three times; hence the Jews, having
    been banished from the land once by the Babylonians and a second time by
    Rome, will never again be banished from the land. According to the Qur'an,
    Israel is an eternal nation.

    Moreover, "twice would they do mischief on the earth" means twice, not three
    times; hence the Jews will never again do mischief on the earth. In
    particular, the Jews cannot bear moral responsibility for the Palestinian
    refugee problem.

    Sura 83:1 says, "Woe to those that deal in fraud"; yet Yasir Arafat reneged
    on his promise to guard Joseph's Tomb in Nablus after the Israeli troops
    withdrew.

    The Palestinians deny that there ever was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. But
    Sura 17:7 records the destruction of the First Temple by Babylon and the
    Second Temple by Rome, and Mohammed never contests the Bible's claim that the
    Temples were in Jerusalem.

    Sura 16:126 says, "If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith
    ye were afflicted." Yet Ariel Sharon's nonviolent, if provocative, visit to
    the Temple Mount was met with rioting, including the use of firebombs and
    AK-47's.

    The Palestinians are hypocrites. "Allah akhbar!", they chant; "G-d is great!"
    Yet they flagrantly transgress their own cherished Scriptures. Is it any
    wonder that they have allied themselves over the years with such villains as
    Adolf Hitler, Yosef Stalin, and Saddam Hussein?
     
    Fallacies of Islam
       As you will see from the following quotes, the Quran does have the effect, if not
    the design, of promoting disparagement of Jews and Christians. The quotes are from the English version of the Quran and although some content may have been lost in translation, the main ideas of the verses are clear. Upon reading these verses, three things should become clear. That The Quran shows clear animosity toward Jews and Christians.
    That the verses are written in an argumentative style that is more typical of a person than of God. That the overall style and certain references do not conform to the biblical text that (supposedly) contain the roots of Islam. See (Sura 5:44). Surly these issues are subjective, however we must consider what the majority of people would consider reasonable.
       82:62 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
       
        This is nice sentiment, however it will be repeatedly contradicted in later text. Shortly after this was written Muhammad's army slaughtered hundreds of Jews and sold their women and children into slavery.
       2:111 And they say: "None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian."
    Those are their (vain) desires. Say: "Produce your proof if ye are truthful."
       
        Who said that and where is it written? If this refers to a quote from Torah it is God's words and not that of the Jewish people.The language and communication style used in this verse as in all of these verses, is noticibly different from that in both the Torah and in the New Testament. At any rate the verse has a malicious tone thatdisparages other religions. The fact is that Judaism says no such thing in the Torah or otherwise. The talmud states Tosefta,Saheddrin 13:The righteous of all nations have a share in the World to Come and the Zohar (Kabbalistic writings) says Tana DeBei Eliahu Rabbah 9: I call heaven and earth as witnesses:Any individual,whether gentile or Jew,man or woman,servant or maid,can bring the Divine Presence upon himself in accordance to his deeds.

     2:113 The Jews say: "The Christians have naught (to stand) upon; and the Christians say: "The Jews have naught (To stand) upon." Yet they (Profess to) study the(same) Book. Like unto their word is what those say who know not; but Allah will judge between them in their quarrel on the Day of Judgment.
       
       Again the communication style differs from that which we are used to, and again we see language that appears to be intended to discredit Jews and Christians. The main issue here is that Jews and Christians do not in fact profess to study the same book. Certainly God would know this, Muhammad on the other hand, evidently did not. This discrepancy suggests that it was in fact Muhammad that wrote the Quran.

       2:120 Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.
       
       Consider the point of view of the author, although written in the third person it seems as though the author is obsessed with deliberation with the Jewish and Christian people. This verse seems to reflect emotions that are more typical of a man than of God.
       
    2:135 They say: "Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided (To
    salvation)." Say thou: "Nay! (I would rather) the Religion of Abraham the True, and he
    joined not gods with Allah."
       
       Who says this? Certainly, if this text was written by God He would remember that Judaism doesn't teach someone needs to become Jewish to merit the World to Come.
     
       2:140 Or do ye say that Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say: Do ye know better than Allah. Ah! who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they have from Allah. but Allah is not unmindful of what ye do!
       
    This verse like those before it is written in an argumentative style that would be unlikely of God. It also contains the direct accusation that Jews and Christians are unjust. 

      
          4:46 Of the Jews there are those who displace words from their (right) places, and say: "We hear and we disobey"; and "Hear what is not Heard"; and "Ra'ina"; with a twist of their tongues and a slander to Faith. If only they had said: "What hear and we obey"; and "Do hear"; and "Do look at us"; it would have been better for them, and more proper; but Allah hath cursed them for their Unbelief; and but few of them will believe.

       The debasement of the Jews continues in this verse with a supposed statement by God that he has cursed the entire religion. Is this not in direct conflict with verse 82:62?

       4:160 For the iniquity of the Jews We made unlawful for them certain (foods) good and wholesome which had been lawful for them;- in that they hindered many from Allah's Way;

       I assume this verse refers to the Kosher restrictions. If this is the case, the author clearly does not understand the nature of the Kosher restrictions. A good question that comes to mind is, why would God punish the Jews with restrictions if the Jews typically disobey such commandments? ("We hear and we disobey ,4:46).
       
    2:120 Never will the Jews or the Christians be satisfied with thee unless thou follow their form of religion. Say: "The Guidance of Allah,-that is the (only) Guidance." Wert thou to follow their desires after the knowledge which hath reached thee, then wouldst thou find neither Protector nor helper against Allah.
       
    5:18 (Both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are sons of Allah, and his beloved." Say: "Why then doth He punish you for your sins? Nay, ye are but men,- of the men he hath created: He forgiveth whom He pleaseth, and He punisheth whom He pleaseth: and to Allah belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between: and unto Him is the final goal (of all)"
       
       Here the point made by the author possesses no obvious flaws. What is apparent here as in most of the verses, is the anti-Jew, anti-Christian theme. The style also suggests that the sentiments are the words of a personally involved party and not of the King of Kings.
       
    5:41 O Messenger. let not those grieve thee, who race each other into unbelief: (whether it be) among those who say "We believe" with their lips but whose hearts have no faith; or it be among the Jews,- men who will listen to any lie,- will listen even to others who have never so much as come to thee. They change the words from their (right) times and places: they say, "If ye are given this, take it, but if not, beware!" If any one's trial is intended by Allah, thou hast no authority in the least for him against Allah. For such - it is not Allah.s will to purify their hearts. For them there is disgrace in this world, and in the Hereafter a heavy punishment.

       Here we see another clear attempt to slander the Jewish people. Had this been an article published in a newspaper it would surly be condemned as an anti-Semitic assault. If we expect more than this from men, how much more could we expect from God.
           
    5:44 It was We who revealed the law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah.s will, by the rabbis and the doctors of law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah.s book, and they were witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear me, and sell not my signs for a miserable price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers.

       The Quran was written around 6oo AD, yet in this verse we see the attempt by Islam to make the retroactive claim that Jewish history was in fact Islamic history incognito. I assume the Muslims have an elaborate explanation as to why it took thousands of years to get things straightened out. It is important to note however, that Muhammad's people stood to gain a great deal from such a claim. There is also a sub claim here, Islam refers to Torah as "Gods book," this suggests that Torah is in fact a bench mark for discussion of Islam. Therefore, it would be an inconsistency to refute its teachings. This is done in Quran both directly and accidentally. (2:111 And they say: "None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian." Those are their (vain)desires. Say: "Produce your proof if ye are truthful." ).
       
    In verse 5:44 the author shifts from criticism of Jews to pro active Judgment of
    the Jews (by Muslims),( If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers.).


       5:51 O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and
    protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.
       
       I probably don't need to point out the defamation of the Jewish and Christian people in verse 5:51, and it should be clear to the plainest of logic that this verse was written by a man with a great deal of animosity toward these people.
       
    5:64 The Jews say: "(Allah)'s hand is tied up." Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the (blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth (of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them we have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who do mischief.
       
    Here the vilification of the Jews grows more intense with the assertion that God's chosen people are now hated by God. Once again the author reveals his personal involvement with his hostility toward the Jews for rejecting the Quran. One thing that is important to note here is that when Torah speaks of people falling out of grace with God it is referring to small, limited groups of people such as those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Those people were dispatched, and the story ended leaving only history. In contrast, the Quran's affront of Jews and Christians has the very different effect of ongoing malice toward a living race of people. This is unacceptable by today's standards, and is simply not the way of God.
       
    But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth in most of them their
    obstinate rebellion and blasphemy.
      
     This statement was supposedly written before the Jews had knowledge of it, how then could they have rejected it? This is like saying, "I would have sent cash but I already sealed the envelope". Perhaps God was foretelling the future, like when he said he would harden Pharaohs heart? If that is the case, one must ask why God had confidence in the Jewish people for so long only to pre-condemn them this time?
       
    5:69 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures),
    and the Sabians and the Christians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness,- on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
       
    How can any reasonable person expect that this would be possible given the
    damaging statements made in other verses?

       5:82 Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and
    Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, "We are Christians": because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant.
       
    It appears as though the author has changed his mind about the Christians for the time being.

       6:146 For those who followed the Jewish Law, We forbade every (animal) with
    undivided hoof, and We forbade them that fat of the ox and the sheep, except what
    adheres to their backs or their entrails, or is mixed up with a bone: this in recompense for their wilful disobedience: for We are true (in Our ordinances).
       
    This is an obvious misunderstanding of the Kosher restrictions. It is not likely that God would make such a grievous error. Perhaps the use of the term we ( first person) refers to Muslims, of which the author is one. If this is the case than it would seem to imply that the Quran is expressing the views of Muhammad, and not of God. Some may argue that the term "we" was used because God is a Muslim. This idea would not make sense given that the term "Muslim" means "one who submits to God". Similarly it would imply that the Muslims are God's peers. This would go against the most fundamental tenants of Islam.

       9:30 The Jews call 'Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!
      
     The author of this verse clearly has no knowledge of Judaism. I say this because, as every Jew knows the idea that God would have a son beyond the figuative or poety stles shown in the Torah,Psalms and other writings is an absurdity to Judaism.

       16:118 To the Jews We prohibited such things as We have mentioned to thee before: We did them no wrong, but they were used to doing wrong to themselves.
       
    I assume the repeated use of the word "we" is a slip by Muhammad . At any rate the simplicity of the logic here speaks for itself.
       
    22:17 Those who believe (in the Qur'an), those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Sabians, Christians, Magians, and Polytheists,- Allah will judge between them on the Day of Judgment: for Allah is witness of all things. 
       
    The use of the phrase "judge between them" reinforces my assertion that these verses are written in an argumentative format more typical of a human author than of God.
       
    These issues are subject to each persons individual interpretation of what is likely and what is reasonable. What is clear, is that the Quran does contain defamatory remarks toward Jews and Christians, and that the writing style of the Quran differs from both the Old and New Testament. Also clear is that the style of these verses is argumentative and seem to focus on a dispute between men. Of particular significance, is the fact that historical accounts of the time period suggest that Muhammad did in fact, have political reasons that parallel the opinions expressed in the Quran. Does this seem to be an incredible coincidence? Another issue, is the abundance of staked evidence. Of the twenty quotes found regarding Judaism, only two spoke well of other religions and they did so in a precursory manner. As mentioned previously each person must draw his or her own conclusions. As for myself, I am reasonably certain that God would not speak that way of His chosen people.

December 28, 2009

  • Pretty Damn Crude (Oil)

     

    Look at the cost of crude per barrel. The average cost now in 2009 is $36 a barrel and gas is over $2.50 a gal. The cost of crude a barrel in '83 was $34 and gas was under a  buck a gal. Government sanctioned price gouging of the American people?
    http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/txt/ptb1107.html
     
    This site shows crude price averages from 1970-2009 and notice it is a GOV site, not some paranoid conspiracy theory site. Compare the crude price and then think what you paid per gal for gas at the time.
     
    Remember that when crude hit the record at $147, the oil companies were posting the HIGHEST earnings per quarter in the history of their existence yet day after day claimed the high prices for gas was because of what they had to pay for crude.Do they really think that the American people are so blind as to believe they charged themselves $147 per barrel for oil from their own wells in the US?
     
    It is estimated that over 800 billion dollars will leave US shores to oil producing countries by the end of 2009 and our own oil companies,with the ok of the feds, is making it happen so they get their share.
     
    Electric cars? Hydrogen fuel cells? Renewable methane powered cars? Yeah, they have the tech to make them, they even show them off at shows,but you won't see them except as a rich person's toy (check the price on some of the electric models).
     
    As long as the US government is controlled by the oil lobby, the price gouging of the oil companies and allow the arab oil garrot to tighten around the throat of America,We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,will remain owned to maintain a profit margin for big oil and foreign interests.
    NoBS