How can you believe the Bible is true, when it was just written by man?
How can you not believe the Bible is from God? Can you imagine approximately 40 men agreeing on anything? Then after they write their portion of the Bible, written over a span of approximately 1500 years, it is translated into every language for everyone to study, it becomes the most popular book ever written, with specific forecasts that come true (prophesy) and everyone can study it and try to show where it is false, and it still is regarded as the truth after all of that – that is a miracle that only God could do!!!
Here is an example. In Isaiah 11:11-12 it says: “Then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people, who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” The first time the Jewish people were dispersed was from Babylonian, approximately 100 years after Isaiah wrote this prophesy. The second time God brought the Jewish people back to Israel was in 1948.
The miracle here should be obvious. Imagine if I asked you to tell me something specific about the Jewish people 2500 years from today, place it in the most popular book to have everyone scrutinize it, and then 2500 years later, it comes to pass. There are other verses like this one where amazing prophecies have been fulfilled.
Another example is found in Isaiah 40:21-22: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not under-stood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grass-hoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.” At the time of Columbus, people thought that the world was flat, however, from the above scripture, we see that God had already said in His Word that the world was round. How would the biblical writings know the world was if it was written by man?
How can you say you are Jewish and believe in Jesus?
When Yeshua was on the scene 2000 years ago, one million Jewish people followed after their Messiah, and were still Jewish.
If Jesus is the Messiah, why don’t the non messianic Rabbi’s believe it?
There have been non-Messianic Rabbi’s that have come to believe that Yeshua (Jesus) is the Jewish Messiah. However, it is correct that most have not come to that realization. We can look at this from two points of view.
Scripturally, (prophetically), in the New Covenant it talks about blinders that would be put over our Jewish peoples eyes so they would not see. In Romans 11:25-27 it says it this way, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion (gentiles), that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." Another example is that about a year ago 70 Orthodox Rabbis in Isrrael accpeted Yeshua as their Messiah.
I am Jewish, aren’t all my sins forgiven at Yom Kippur?
For many people, “sin” is viewed as a “moral lapse in judgment” and is “atoned” for with something between a sincere apology and a life sentence. God’s way of forgiving sins is as misunderstood as the problem of sin. When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 BCE, the place of sacrifice for atonement ceased to exist also. Years of traditional teaching has erroneously taught our Jewish people that we don’t need blood atonement for sins. The Scriptures, however, state only blood sacrifice can atone for sins.“The life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).
Yom Kippur is only a Day of Atonement if God’s way of atonement (Leviticus 16), the blood atonement is observed. Just acknowledging our sins can not remove those sins any more than an “apology” can get rid of a murder charge. Sin is horrific to God.
God provided the final, perfect sacrifice in the Messiah Yeshua. All of the sacrifices in the Tanakh point to the blood atonement provided in the Messiah.
Aren't messianic synagogues just churches dressed up in Jewish window dressings?
Messianic synagogues are diversified, but they reach out to both Jews and non-Jews, as they did in the first century.
If I don’t believe the way you believe, am I going to hell?
I would be glad to discuss this with you, please call me at 1-352-687-4434
Judaism believes in one God, what is this 3 gods business all about?
Messianic Jews, along with Christians, believe that there is only one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4) However, in the Hebrew, the word that is used is “echad” which indicates a plural nature of one. If the writer would have wanted it to be singular one, they would have used the word “yachid”. There are other examples of this like Genesis 1:26: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, or Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
As Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus) we believe that the Bible is our authority. We see in Genesis 1:2 it says, “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” Here the Bible separates the God the creator from His Spirit which hovered. There are also many places in the Hebrew Scriptures that refers to God’s son. Here is one example from Proverbs 30:4 “Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son's name, If you know?”
To summarize, we believe because the Hebrew Scriptures indicate that God is one God and manifests Himself in three ways:
- Father, the Creator
- Son, the Messiah
- Spirit, the Helper
Since you say the Messiah came - where is the peace?
Many Jewish people believe that Yeshua cannot be the promised Messiah because He did not fulfill the prophecies that say Messiah will bring peace on earth. We still have wars.
The peace that Messiah brings is a peace of heart spoken of in the Scripture . There cannot be real peace on earth until people have had a change of heart so as to make the Kingdom of God on earth possible. Eventually, this will be true when the whole nation of Israel receives a new heart as spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel (26:36), "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” When Messiah returns to rule on the throne of David, He will establish peace on the earth. Until then, those who have accepted Yeshua as Messiah can have peace of mind and peace with one another. If all people would accept Messiah Yeshua as their personal savior there would be no war; only peace.
How could God have allowed the Holocaust?
How can someone like Hitler kill six million Jews? On the other hand, twelve million were left alive. If Hitler had had his way, there would be no Jewish people today. God has miraculously preserved the Jews through 3800 years of history while many other nations have disappeared off the earth. This included consistent persecution with the intentions of eliminating us as a people.
Suffering is caused by men not by God. Man’s inhumanity to man results in atrocities we hear about every day. God has given man freedom of choice. He has not made us robots. God does not motivate or approve of man’s evil actions. Men can choose to love or to hate. Collectively, men have decided to live apart from God’s righteousness and when that happens, evil can be unleashed in unimaginably ugly ways. The Psalmist said it this way, “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”
The Holocaust is more a question of why men sinned against men rather than why God kept silent. There is no answer to the question as to why millions of innocent Jews died unjustly.
However, even the Son of God, Yeshua, was allowed to die. God didn’t stop that crucifixion, rather, He used Yeshua’s death to set the world free. What God will do is use the awful things that people do and turn the consequences for good.
I am looking for a Rabbi that will perform a wedding for my spouse and I. One of us is Jewish and one of us is not. Do you do this?
Please call me at my office at 1-352-687-4434. Ask for Rabbi Jerry and I will be happy to discuss this further with you.
We are an interfaith Jewish/Gentile couple with children and have many issues because we are interfaith. Would you be willing to meet with us and/or do you have any good resource material suggestions?
I would be happy to meet with you and discuss any personal questions you might have. Just for your information, we just married a lovely interfaith couple who would like to meet you.
All of the above questions have been sent in by people like you. If you have other questions, I would be glad to speak to you. Please call Rabbi Jerry at the Mishkan Congregation. There will be informative meetings beginning in march.
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