A NATION OF WITNESSES
Yisroel Blumenthal
The Christian mission to convert the Jews is as old
as Christianity itself. The Church spared no effort in her campaign to bring
the Jews into Christianity. Every conceivable method was brought to bear
against the Jew’s loyalty to the God of Israel. Jews were crowded into stifling
ghettoes, they were prohibited from engaging in most trades. Jews were denied
citizenship, and land-ownership was forbidden. Every opportunity was utilized
to denigrate the Jew. All of these pressures, and many more, were applied in an
attempt to coerce the Jew into accepting Christianity.
The Jewish communities successfully resisted the
pressures applied by the Church. Complete Jewish communities went to their
deaths in order to avoid conversion to Christianity. For long centuries the Jew
patiently endured the torments to which the Church subjected him. But the Jew
would not consider the option of allowing Jesus to intrude upon his
relationship with his Creator.1
The Church has also engaged in less brutal methods
to win over the Jewish people. Missionaries have launched a multi-media
propaganda campaign in the ongoing attempt to entice the Jewish soul. Thousands
upon thousands of agents spend their time trying to persuade individual Jews to
join the ranks of Christendom. In spite of all the effort invested in this
crusade, the Church only reaped frustration. Over the years many individual
Jews may have converted to Christianity, but the Jewish community as a whole
stands resolute in its rejection of the Christian belief system. The Jewish
soul still remains the ultimate prize of the missionary.
The Jewish resistance to Christianity has not gone
unnoticed by the churchmen. The ancient books of the Christian scriptures give
expression to the missionary’s frustration with the Jew. The authors of the
Christian scriptures attribute the Jewish rejection of Christianity, to
supernatural national defects. Jesus argues2 that the Jews
are children of the Devil. As children of darkness, the Jews naturally resist
the "light" (which he claims for Christianity) that exposes their
essential evil. Paul claims3 that the Jewish nation is
affected by a spiritual blindness that prevents them from seeing the
"truth" (again, which is claimed for Christianity).
But what does the Jew say? Consider the Jew of
medieval
The goal of this small booklet, is to articulate
the age-old Jewish rejection of the Christian belief system. We will examine
the basic structure of the Jewish belief system. Through the acquisition of
clarity in the foundations of Judaism, we will see why Christianity was never
an option for the Jew.
DIFFERENCES
Before we explain the Jewish rejection of
Christianity, it is necessary to define what it is that the Jew believes, and
what it is that he rejects. Indeed, a common tactic employed by the missionary,
is the obfuscation of the differences that separate Judaism from Christianity.
It is this technique that is being employed when the common missionary question
is posed; "why won’t you accept Jesus as your Messiah?" This question
implies that the differences between Judaism and Christianity are limited to a
simple dispute about the identity of the Messiah. The missionary would have you
believe that the only issue separating the Jew from the Christian is the
question "who is the Messiah?"
These introductory paragraphs present some of the
deep differences that separate Judaism from Christianity. Judaism and
Christianity are two very different belief systems. While there are indeed
certain similarities shared by these religions, yet, at their very roots,
Judaism and Christianity are diametrically opposed.
GOD
Jews only
worship the God who revealed Himself at Sinai.
Christians
worship Jesus together with the God of Israel. Judaism views such worship as
idolatrous.
THE LAW OF MOSES, or, THE TORAH
Jews
accept a complete body of living law, as the divinely ordained law of Moses.
Christians accept
no law in the name of Moses other than that what is explicitly recorded in the
five books of Moses.
RELEVANCE OF THE TORAH
Jews
accept that the Law of Moses in its entirety is eternally relevant.
The
majority of Christians believe that the greater part of Law of Moses is no
longer relevant.
SCRIPTURE
Jews
accept the twenty-four books of Jewish scripture as divinely inspired.
Christians
accept the twenty-four books of Jewish scripture as divinely inspired together
with the books of Christian scripture. Judaism does not attribute any divine
authority to the books of Christian scripture.
ATONEMENT
Jews
accept that the expiation of sin is achieved primarily through repentance.
Christians
accept that expiation from sin is achieved primarily through faith in Jesus.
MESSIAH
Jews
accept that the chief role of the Messiah is to rule over a world united in the
service of God.
Christians
accept that the chief role of the Messiah is to atone for the sins of the world
with his death.
It
should be fairly obvious that the differences between Judaism and Christianity
are more significant than the argument as to whether the Messiah is one person
or another. Neither are the differences between Judaism and Christianity
limited to slight variations in abstract theology. Each set of beliefs
represents a totally different world-view. It is hard to imagine a greater
difference of opinion than the argument concerning worship of Jesus. Jews
consider this worship - idolatry, the greatest moral corruption. While
Christians consider the same activity, the virtue to end all virtues.
Now
that we have before us some of the basic differences between these two
belief systems, we can begin evaluating the Jew’s acceptance of the one system
and his rejection of the other.
The entire structure of the Jewish belief system is
rooted in 4 two basic pieces of information. These are the
simple facts that; God is One, and Moses is His prophet. All of Judaism flows
forth from these two essential articles. It was God Himself who imparted both
of these items of information directly to the Jewish nation.
At
At
For forty years, Moses lived among the Jewish
nation. During those forty years the nation lived in seclusion. They ate bread
that rained down from heaven, and they drank water that poured out of a rock.
And during that time, Moses taught them the law that God had revealed to him.
When Moses died, he left behind a complete body of law. Nothing can be added to
the teaching of Moses, nor can anything be detracted from it. 9
Moses’ teaching contains the full structure of Jewish law.
After Moses, Judaism had many prophets and
teachers. But these prophets and teachers did not introduce a new law. The role
of the 10 prophets who followed Moses, was to encourage the
people to uphold the Law of Moses. The prophets were appointed by God to
reprove the nation when they went astray, and to guide them in the process of
bringing their lives back in line with the Law of Moses. The prophets also
expounded on the basic themes presented by Moses, and illustrated how those
concepts would be played out (an example of this sphere of the prophet’s
capacity would be the lengthy scriptural depictions that describe the suffering
of the Jewish nation, and their ultimate redemption). But never do the prophets
add to, or detract from, the Law of Moses.
The teachers who followed Moses guided the nation
in the practical application of the Law of Moses. Using the methods of
deduction that were laid down by Moses, the teachers of Israel draw from within
the Law of Moses precise instructions which render the Law of Moses applicable
to every situation. The Law of Moses also authorizes the teachers to institute
enactments for the purpose of protecting the spirit of the law. But the
teachers did not introduce a new law, nor did they affect any change in the structure
of the law. Moses remains the only man authorized by God to deliver His holy
law to the people.
Judaism recognizes the limited authority of the
prophets and the teachers, only because Moses taught that these men should be
granted this measure of authority. It is the Law of Moses that defines the
terms: teacher and prophet, and it is the Law of Moses that delineates the role
of the prophet and the teacher. Based on the guidelines set down by Moses, the
Jewish people recognized many great teachers and prophets. But these men did
not affect the basic structure of Jewish law. At the time of Moses’ death the
Jewish people possessed a complete body of Torah law.
Jews worship the God who revealed Himself to them
at
God designated the living Jewish nation as the
medium of communication through which Judaism will be transmitted throughout
the generations. By the time Moses died the entirety of the Jewish belief system
was firmly planted in the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. This belief
system was the focal point of their daily lives. Every subsequent generation of
Jews was born into a nation that lives by the teachings of Moses, and that
worships the God who revealed Himself at
The written word is also utilized in the
transmission of the Jewish belief system. Moses himself recorded the core of
his teachings in the Five Books. The words of some of the prophets were also
recorded for posterity. Together the Five Books and the books of the prophets
make up the Jewish scriptures.
The books of the Mishna and the Talmud also play a
role in the process of communicating the Jewish belief system to the future
generations. The Mishna and Talmud contain a record of decisions made by the
teachers pertaining to the application of Moses’ law. These books also contain
many teachings of Moses that were not recorded in the Five Books.
The books of scripture, Mishna, and Talmud, enabled
the nation to retain a vast amount of knowledge. But the role of these books is
secondary to the living testimony of the Jewish people. It is only through the
testimony of the Jewish people that we learn about the existence of these
books. And it is only our confidence in the testimony of the Jewish people that
allows us to accept the authenticity, the accuracy, and the authority of these
texts. Furthermore, it is only through the living legacy of the nation that we
can hope to arrive at a true understanding of the spirit of these books. The
written word, no matter how explicit, is always subject to misinterpretation.
The Jew can be confident that the testimony of his
nation is true. Both the formation of the belief system, and the transmission
of the belief system were national experiences. In order to assume that the
Jewish belief system is false, one must accept that an entire nation is
unanimously lying.
A Jew is born into a nation of witnesses. A child
born into an observant Jewish community enters a world of living Judaism. The
Jewish educational system is not limited to the scholastic experience. The
keystone of the Jewish educational system is the Jewish home. Long before the
child can read, he has come to know the Creator of the world. Through the
straightforward faith of his parents, the child begins to develop a
relationship with the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. The living example of his
parents teaches the child what Sabbath means to the Jew. Passover, Pentecost
(Shavuos), and Tabernacles (Succot), are living realities in the Jewish home.
Through the observance of these holidays the Jewish child learns about the
Exodus from
As the child develops, he is introduced to the holy
books of Judaism. The child learns the position that each of these books
occupies in the mind and in the heart of his people. The meaning and the spirit
of these books come alive for the child through the example of his parents and
teachers.
As the child matures, he comes to recognize that
the world of Judaism is the same all over the globe. Wherever Jews who are
faithful to the teachings of their ancestors can be found, the belief system is
the same. Jews all over the world worship the Creator of the world who is
absolutely one. Wherever Judaism is alive, Sabbath is the same, kosher food is
the same, and family purity is the same. Whenever a Jew has a question
concerning the Law of Moses, he will consult with the teachers of the law. All
over the world, the teachers of
There is no Jew alive today, nor is there any
record of a Jew who claims to possess a deviant tradition that goes back to
Moses. All the Jews throughout history, who deviated from the unanimous
practices of the nation, admitted that they did not receive their deviant
doctrines from the previous generation. There is only one belief system that
can claim that it goes back in a living chain to the generation of Moses. And
that is the Judaism into which the Jewish child is born. He knows that his
people are not lying, and he will pass the testimony on to his own children.
Throughout history many people rejected or ignored
the national testimony of the Jewish people. The Jew faced the rejection of
these people with equanimity. The Jew saw that no one else possesses a belief
system that claims to have been established by God on a national scale. No
other belief system began its journey through time on a national level. Every
other belief system places its trust in the testimony of individuals.
Individuals can lie. Individuals can be mistaken. The unanimous testimony of a
nation cannot be a lie, nor can a nation make the same unanimous mistake
concerning concrete events collectively experienced. As long as no rival belief
system claims a national revelation, the Jew can be confident that only Judaism
is true. As long as Moses remains the only prophet who had God attest to the
truth of his mission on a public and national scale, the Jew can be confident
that Moses’ teachings still stand.
When the Jew comes across a belief system that
worships a god other than the one revealed to his ancestors at
When the Jew comes across a doctrine that runs
contrary to the law taught by Moses, he recognizes that this doctrine does not
originate with God. This applies to Christianity. Christianity advances a
doctrine that clashes with some of the basic principles of the law of Moses.
The Jewish Sabbath is ridiculed by Christianity, as are the laws of kosher and
family purity. Christianity rejects the authority of the court system
established by Moses. The testimony of his nation tells the Jew that Sabbath,
kosher, and family purity are eternal directives from God. The living practice of
his nation bears witness to the fact that Moses empowered his disciples to pass
judgment on matters relating to religious law. In view of Christianity’s
rejection of these basic elements of God’s law, the Jew recognizes that the
doctrines of Christianity do not originate from God.
The fact that Christianity acknowledges the divine
origin of the Jewish scriptures does not weaken the Jew’s rejection of
Christianity. The precise opposite is true. Christianity’s acceptance of the
Jewish scriptures only serves to strengthen the Jew’s negative assessment of
Christianity. By accepting the validity of the Jewish scriptures Christianity
has moved from the realm of the simply erroneous into the realm of the
self-contradictory.
Christianity’s acceptance of the Jewish scriptures
on the one hand, and their rejection of the basic principles of Judaism on the
other, is seen by the Jew as an unjustifiable inconsistency. If Christianity
recognizes the divine authorship of the Jewish scriptures, then why do they
reject some of the basic scriptural themes? The extensive scriptural
description of the messianic era clearly contradicts the Christian doctrines
concerning this issue. The scriptural emphasis to the effect that it is
repentance and repentance alone, that is necessary for the expiation of sin,
clashes directly with the Christian denial of this principle. Christianity’s
acceptance of Jewish scripture only serves to incriminate her in the mind of
the Jew.
The fact is that Christianity does not merely
accept the Jewish scripture as an authentic document. Christianity sees in the
Jewish scriptures the very basis of their faith. Jesus is considered to be the
Messiah by Christians only because they believe that he fulfilled the
predictions recorded in the Jewish scriptures. If the Christians would realize
that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies of the Jewish scriptures, they would
be forced to admit that he was not the Messiah. All of Jesus alleged miracles
would be disregarded if his followers had perceived that his mission did not
conform to the predictions of the Jewish prophets.
Who were the prophets of the Jewish scriptures that
Christianity should place so much trust in their words? How is Christendom so
confident that these prophets truly existed, and that these are indeed the
books that they wrote? What assures Christians that these men were indeed
messengers of God, and not impostors deluding a naïve populace?
These prophets were all Jews. They lived, taught,
and died amongst the Jewish people. Had the Jewish people not recognized these
men as authentic prophets, their words would have been lost forever. It is only
through the testimony of the Jewish people that the world knows of the
existence of the prophets, and of their works.
But Christianity places no trust in the testimony
of the Jewish nation. The Church charges that the Jewish nation is unanimously
lying when they testify that God revealed Himself as an absolute unity. How is
it then that the Church is so steadfast in their trust of this same nation when
it comes to the existence of the prophets? All of Christendom believes that the
Jewish people falsely attribute to Moses, a massive body of law that he never
wrote. So how can Christendom be assured that this nation of liars is not
falsely attributing the books of scripture to prophets who never wrote them?
The Church maintains that the Jewish nation corrupted the very essence of their
belief system. So how can the Church rely on the Jewish people to sort out the
genuine prophets from the frauds? If the Church considers the testimony of the
Jewish nation to be untrustworthy, then the Church should be consistent and
reject the Jewish scriptures as well.
When we examine the issue beyond the superficial,
the inconsistency of the Christian position only becomes more apparent. If the
Christian were to arbitrarily reject one part of the national Jewish testimony
and accept a different part of the testimony it would be incriminating enough.
But the Christian position is mired in self-contradiction in a far more serious
way. It is the very same item of testimony that the Church rejects, which
serves as the only basis for the acceptance of Jewish scripture. In other
words, the Church is both rejecting and accepting the very same articles of the
national Jewish testimony.
If one accepts the Jewish testimony concerning the
oneness of God and concerning the establishment of religious courts of law, he
can then accept the authenticity of Jewish scripture. The Church rejects these
two articles of the national Jewish testimony. They must then reject the books
of Jewish scripture as well. The national testimony concerning the oneness of
God, and concerning the authority of religious courts of law is the only basis
upon which the acceptance of scripture can be established.
We must realize that it is no simple matter to
accept that any given book was written by divine inspiration. Nor can we so
readily embrace every claim to prophecy. The pages of history are full of
claims to prophecy as well as claims to divine inspiration. Few terms were
misused in the history of mankind more often than the terms
"prophecy" or "divine inspiration". How are we to separate
the authentic prophets from the frauds? It would be difficult enough if the
original claimant to prophecy were to appear before us and present his claim.
When we are evaluating the claims of men who died thousands of years ago, we
have moved into the realm of the impossible.
This problem is further compounded by the fact that
scripture itself 11records that some of the scriptural prophets
were accused of being impostors. Scripture identifies other claimants to
prophecy12 as frauds. Some of these imposters
attracted large Jewish followings. The followers of the frauds certainly
presented some seemingly logical justification, explaining their acceptance of
these charlatans. Yet their words were not included in the scriptural canon.
There can be no doubt that the opponents of the scriptural prophets propounded
a rationale justifying their rejection of the scriptural prophets. All these men
are dead today, and their arguments are lost forever. The only record we have
today is the record of the scriptural prophets. The writings and the arguments
of their opponents are gone. So how can we honestly pass judgment on these men
without hearing both sides of the story? How can we be so certain that the
prophets of the Jewish scriptures were indeed speaking the word of God?
The only basis for the acceptance of Jewish
scripture is by acknowledging the legitimacy of the process through which the
Jewish scriptures were canonized.13 There is no way to
justify the embracing of Jewish scripture without depending on the judgment of
the men who canonized the Jewish scripture.
So what in fact was the process employed to
separate the genuine prophets from the frauds? What methods were used in the
canonization of Jewish scripture? What was the criterion demanded of any given
book before it was included in the scriptural canon?
More important perhaps, is the question of
"who". Who were the people that implemented this process? Who decided
which books were written with divine inspiration and ought to be included in
the scriptural canon, and which books should be left out? Who determined which
men were authentic prophets and which men were frauds?
Furthermore, we must ask ourselves, what authority
did these people have to make such weighty decisions? Why should we accept the
judgment of these people? Why should we allow their verdict to affect the way
we lead our lives?
The answer to all of these questions is quite
simple. A prominent teaching of Moses, is the concept of courts of religious
law.14 Moses established courts of law, and these courts were
authorized to pass judgment on questions arising in relation to the application
of the law. The people were instructed to direct their questions to these
courts, and the decisions of these courts are binding upon the Jewish people.
These courts were instructed in the methods to be utilized in the establishment
of new courts. Every generation of Jews had disciples of disciples of Moses to
whom they could turn to with their questions. The decisions of these courts are
adhered to, because that is what Moses taught in the name of God.
Another teaching of Moses deals with the acceptance
of a prophet. The Law of Moses provides instruction as to how a claim of
prophecy should be examined. Whenever there was a serious claim to prophecy,
the courts deliberated the matter and issued a ruling. The Jewish people abided
by the decisions of the courts. That is how we have scripture today. Aside from
the Five Books of Moses (which were presented to the Jewish people by Moses
himself), all of the books of scripture were accepted only after the courts
(authorized by Moses) issued the ruling that they ought to be accepted. Any
book rejected by these courts went lost (unless preserved by groups who
deviated from the foundations of Judaism).
One of the criteria used by the courts to test the
authenticity of a claim to prophecy, was a simple comparison. Is this claimant
to prophecy advocating worship15 of, or speaking in the name
of, an entity 16 other than the God whom the Jewish people
know from the Sinaitic experience? If the deity of this prophet is different
than the one our ancestors taught us about ─ than
no further examination is necessary. Such a claimant to prophecy is certainly a
fraud.
The Church rejects both the authority of the Jewish
courts, and the Jewish testimony concerning the revelation at Mt. Sinai. The
Church would have us believe that no one has the authority to pass judgment on
matters relating to the Law of Moses. The Church claims that the collective
Jewish understanding of God is totally erroneous, despite the fact that it was
God Himself who instructed them on this matter. So whose decision is the Christian
accepting when he pledges allegiance to Jewish scripture? And what criteria
does he believe these judges used to render such weighty decisions? If it is as
the Christians claim, that the Jewish religious leadership has no authority to
pass judgment on matters of religious law, then why is their scriptural canon
accepted?
The Jew recognizes that the Church’s rejection of
the national Jewish testimony coupled with their acceptance of the Jewish
scriptures, is an exercise in absurdity.
With this simple information available to us, we
can appreciate the Jew’s utter disregard for the missionary’s sales pitch. The
inherent contradictions apparent in the very basis of the missionary position
preclude any serious consideration. From every angle the Jew viewed Christianity,
he saw a violation of the human sensitivity to truth ─ the
greatest gift granted to mankind. Furthermore the Jew recognized that
conversion to Christianity would be the most direct violation of his duty as a
Jew. To be born a Jew is a tremendous privilege, but even more so it is a
tremendous responsibility. No nation had their kinship to God so openly
confirmed, as did the Jewish people at the time of their Exodus from Egypt. Nor
did another nation merit a national revelation, as did the Jewish people at Mt.
Sinai. The only man in the history of humanity, who had a national audience
listening in while God spoke to him, was Moses. 17 The
miracles God preformed through Moses were so stupendous in magnitude, so
enduring in duration (some lasted forty years), and done so publicly, that
nothing in history can compare. No other prophet had God so openly attest to
the truth of his mission. And this trustworthy one of God’s household lived
amongst the Jewish nation for forty years. God’s guiding hand allowed no rival
religion to make a claim of anything remotely similar. This obligates the Jew.
The Jewish nation was clearly chosen by God to preserve His sacred message. As
God’s witness, the Jew has a duty not to betray the trust. And this holy
calling empowers the Jew to go through fire and water in order to remain
faithful to his God.
CONTRAST
It is not necessary for the Jew to investigate the
basis of Christianity in order to honestly reject it. All that the Jew needs to
rebuff the missionary is a clear understanding of Judaism. Still, an
examination of the foundations of Christianity will clarify this issue from
another angle.
Missionaries often quote the words of the Jewish
prophets in an attempt to lend support for their doctrines. This missionary practice
demonstrates that the missionary accepts the authority of these men. This
practice also makes evident the fact that the missionary believes that these
Jewish prophets shared his Christian belief system. By quoting the words of
Moses to support Christian doctrine, the missionary is in effect saying that
Moses believed in those Christian doctrines.
This represents a serious accusation against
Judaism. Judaism looks to Moses as the one through whom God established their
belief system. Jews invoke the name of Moses to justify their rejection of
Christian doctrine. If Moses truly preached Christian dogma as the missionary
would have us believe, then the Jews must have corrupted their belief system.
The missionary accusation is then that Judaism does not conform to the
teachings of its founder. In the world-view of the missionary, Moses’ teachings
were not accurately transmitted to the present generation.
The Jew cannot seriously consider this accusation
for several reasons:
a) The scriptural quotations presented in support
of this accusation, do not in fact uphold this accusation. When examined in
context and in the original Hebrew, many of the verses quoted by the missionary
are discovered to be the strongest evidence against the missionary position.
b) It was God Himself who established the medium
through which the Jewish belief system should be transmitted to the future
generations. If the all-knowing God commissioned the national testimony of the
Jewish people to bring His word to the future generations, we trust that He
knew what He was doing.
c) From its inception, the Jewish belief system was
in the hands of a nation. The allegation that an entire nation unanimously
corrupted the very core of its belief system, does not seem very credible.
d) There is only one belief system claiming a
direct line of tradition going back to Moses. If Moses really taught a doctrine
that opposes the Judaism that we know, one would expect to find some record of
a deviant philosophy claiming a direct line of tradition going back to Moses.
e) The accusation is self-contradictory
(Christianity accepts the Jewish scriptures, while rejecting the testimony of
the Jewish nation which is the only basis for accepting the authenticity of
Jewish scriptures.)
f) There is no historical evidence presented to
substantiate the accusation. (There is no point in Jewish history that the
missionary can point to and say, "here is where the Jewish medium of
communication failed them.")
In spite of all these factors, Christianity places
its full faith in the accusation that Judaism distorted the teachings of its
founder. If this accusation is false, and Judaism truly succeeded in preserving
the integrity of its message, then Christianity must be the greatest fraud
perpetrated upon mankind. Still, Christianity puts its entire trust in this
flimsy accusation.
Let us now turn the tables. What medium of
communication does Christianity trust to transport its own message through the
generations? How does Christianity attempt to preserve the original teachings
of Jesus?
The Protestant Church will point to the books of
Christian scripture. According to Protestant Christianity, these books should
have accurately preserved the teachings of their founder.
We will note that:
Jesus, the god of Christianity did not write any of
these books. Neither did he specify that any of these books be written. Jesus
did not designate any of these books as the medium of communication charged
with the transmission of his message.
The entire Christian belief system rests on the
testimony of individuals.
The early years of Christianity saw several
disparate groups, all claiming a direct tradition going back to the disciples
of Jesus. Each of these sects had a distinctly different belief system. Some of
them possessed their own gospels. (These divergent gospels did not survive the
centuries of Church censorship, but the Church’s own writings testify to their
existence. 18)
In spite of all this, Christianity places its full
faith in these books of Christian scripture. Protestant Christianity is totally
confident that these books represent the original teachings of Jesus.
An unbiased reading of the Christian scriptures
will reveal that this confidence is misplaced. Not only do the Christian
scriptures reveal that Jesus did not teach Protestant Christianity, but these
books also provide the historical evidence necessary to substantiate the
accusation that the Church distorted the original teachings of Jesus.
In order to make this accusation against Christianity,
it is not necessary to grant that the Christian scriptures are anything more
than the words of biased men. The men who wrote these books believed in Jesus
and desired to present Christianity in the most positive light. We do not have
to believe a word they say. But their futile attempts to cover up the failure
of the early church to preserve Jesus’ teachings, is clear evidence that such a
failure was manifest in the very beginning of church history.
The authors of the Christian scriptures describe
the development of the early church in the following manner: Jesus was a Jewish
man, who lived in the land of Israel. When he was about thirty years old, he
began to travel throughout the country. For about three years, Jesus traveled
and taught. By the time Jesus died, he had created a small following. All of
his followers were Jews. Prominent among Jesus’ followers were his twelve
disciples. These disciples formed a community with its center in Jerusalem. The
community of Jesus’ followers was lead by James, a brother of Jesus. This
community is referred to as the "Jerusalem Church". In the years
following Jesus’ death, the Jerusalem Church grew in size. The authors of
Christian scriptures claim that the membership of this church eventually
included several thousand. But the members of this church were all Jews.
Christianity reached the non-Jewish world through
the person of Paul. Paul traveled the length and breadth of the Mediterranean,
teaching the gentile world about Jesus. Paul founded many churches throughout
the Roman Empire. The churches established by Paul were predominantly gentile.
The Christian scriptures end their narrative at
this point. They leave the reader at the historical juncture where there are
two churches: the Jewish church of James, and the gentile church of Paul.
History tells us that the Jewish church of James
did not survive as a separate entity. By the time Christianity became the
established religion of the Roman Empire, the Jewish Christian community had
become an insignificant entity. The few Jewish Christians that still remained,
were persecuted as heretics by the gentile church. All of Christianity as it
exists today, was transmitted through the body of the gentile church. The books
of Christian scripture were products of the gentile church. They may have
included in these books, material that originated with the Jewish Christians.
But the gentile church was the editor of this material. It was the gentile
church who determined the contents of the Christian scriptures, and who transmitted
these texts to the future generations.
To be convinced that the gentile church is truly
transmitting the original message of Jesus, one must determine that Paul’s
teachings conformed to the teachings of Jesus. The gentile church only learned
of Jesus through the teachings of Paul. If Paul’s teachings were not synonymous
with the teachings of Jesus, then the gentile church does not possess the
original message of Jesus.
To determine Paul’s connection to Jesus, we will
turn to the books of Christian scripture. It is clear that the editors of these
books were strongly motivated to present Paul as one who is faithfully
transmitting the original message of Jesus. Yet these biased writers, were not
able to accomplish this.
The Christian scriptures describe the basis of
Paul’s mission in the following manner. Paul never saw Jesus in real life.
Neither did Paul learn of Jesus’ teachings through the disciples of Jesus. Paul
emphatically states (in the 1st and 2nd chapters of Galatians19)
that no living person was involved in transmitting Jesus’ message to him. Paul
only learned of the teachings of Jesus through a series of visions. In these
visions, the dead Jesus appeared to him and imparted his teachings. Paul’s
entire message was the product of these visions.
The only way we can verify the truth of Paul’s
claim, is by determining the reaction of Jesus’ disciples to Paul’s message.
These men who lived with Jesus and heard him teach could compare the teachings
that they heard, to the prophecy of Paul. How did the Jewish followers of James
react to Paul’s claim to prophecy?
Paul makes the claim (Galatians 2:9) that the
leaders of the Jerusalem Church acknowledged the fact that he was appointed (by
the dead Jesus) as a messenger to the gentiles. But Paul was lying. James and
the Jerusalem Church never acknowledged the validity of Paul’s visions. It is
the Christian scriptures themselves who contradict Paul’s claim.
The 15th chapter of the book of Acts describes how
the leadership of the Jerusalem Church disregarded Paul’s claim to prophecy.
Paul had come to Jerusalem. He had been preaching to the gentiles that they are
not required to practice the Law of Moses. Some members of the Jerusalem Church
disagreed with Paul. They felt that in order for a gentile to join their
following, he should be required to observe the Law of Moses. This question was
brought before the leadership of the Jerusalem Church. The elders of the church
discussed the question, and James handed down his decision. His judgment was
that the gentiles were not obligated to observe the entirety of the Law of
Moses as a prerequisite to joining the Christian community. But he stipulated
that the gentiles were obligated to observe certain dietary laws, and to avoid
immorality.
If Paul was telling us the truth when he claimed
that the leadership of the Jerusalem Church recognized that he was a true
prophet, then this story makes no sense. Here we have Paul, who was personally
appointed by the dead Jesus as his emissary to the gentile world. Whatever Paul
taught was personally revealed to him in these prophetic visions. One of the
central teachings of Paul was that the Law of Moses is not required of the
gentile world. Yet when the leaders of the Jerusalem Church are in doubt as to
what Jesus would have said concerning the gentiles, they discuss the question,
and look to James for guidance. If there was any truth to Paul’s claim, that
these leaders acknowledged the truth of his prophecy, then they should have
simply asked him "what did Jesus tell you?" The fact that they
considered the question ─ and the method that they used
to resolve the question ─ clearly tells us that these
men did not believe that Jesus had ever spoken to Paul. The author of the book
of Acts, his bias notwithstanding, could not hide this simple fact.
The difference between the gentile church founded
by Paul, and the Jerusalem Church founded by Jesus, was not limited to the
question of the authenticity of Paul’s prophecy. These two institutions
espoused two totally different philosophies. The central teaching of Pauline
Christianity is that faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, is the only
valid method through which atonement for sin can be achieved. The entire
philosophy of Paul revolves around this one teaching. Protestant Christianity
is founded upon this basic teaching of Paul. If you were to ask a Protestant
Christian to sum up his belief system in one sentence, he would respond with
this point. That faith in Jesus is the only redemption from sin. In fact the
entire concept of the messiah-ship of Jesus is basically limited to this one
point. Jesus is the messiah of Protestant Christians, only because they believe
that his death provided atonement for sin.
But the Jerusalem Church which was established by
Jesus, and which was guided by his disciples, did not believe in this teaching
of Paul. They did not believe that faith in Jesus could effectively atone for
their sins. This is demonstrated by the testimony of the Christian scriptures.
The 21st chapter in the book of Acts reports that the normal activities of the
members of the Jerusalem Church included the offering of animals as sacrifices
in the Jewish Temple for the explicit purpose of the expiation of sin.20
The book of Acts describes how four members of the Jerusalem Church had taken a
Nazirite vow. This means that they had voluntarily brought themselves into a
situation where they would be required (by the Law of Moses) to bring an animal
as a sin offering. It is clear that these people saw in the Temple offerings a
valid method for the expiation of sin. If they believed as Paul did, that Jesus
died for their sins once and for all, then there would be no point in bringing
a sin offering in the Temple. The fact that the Jerusalem Church still
participated in the Temple offerings after Jesus had died, tells us that they
did not see in Jesus’ death an all-atoning sacrifice. These people were not
Protestant Christians.
The Christian scriptures provide both the
theological and the historical basis necessary to substantiate the accusation
that Christianity has failed in the transmission of its own message. The
Christian scriptures tell us that the disciples of Jesus never believed the
fundamental teaching of Protestant Christianity. These people who lived with
Jesus and heard him preach did not believe, that with the death of Jesus, the
world is redeemed of its sins. The Christian scriptures also tell us, at which
historical point the break in the transmission occurred. These books tell us
that Paul, the father of modern Christianity, had no connection to Jesus.
Christianity is an edifice erected upon the testimony of one man. All of
Christianity stands upon Paul’s word that Jesus appeared to him. The only
people that were qualified to verify Paul’s claim contradicted him to his face.
This emerges from the pages of the very books that Christianity regards as the
true witnesses to its claims. Yet for many centuries the Church has kept up a
chorus of condemnation against the Jewish people. The crime? Failing to
transmit the message of their original teachers.21.
Footnotes:
1 Where this resistance seems to have broken
down is found in the three major historical exceptions to the general rule of
Jewish rejection of Christianity. The Jewish resistance to Christianity is a
most powerful historical phenomenon. No other religion survived, as a religion,
in Christian Europe. However, it must be acknowledged that there were several
instances; fifteenth century
2 John 3:18 - Jesus is speaking
(about himself in the third person) "Whoever believes in him is not
condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has
not believed in the name of God’s one and only son. This is the verdict: Light
has come into the world but men loved darkness instead of light because their
deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into
the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the
truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has
done has been through God"
John 8:42 - Jesus’ response to the Jews who claimed that God is their
only father. "If God were your father you would love me, for I came from
God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but He sent me. Why is my
language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You
belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s
desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for
there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks his native language, for he is
a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe
me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth why don’t
you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do
not hear is that you do not belong to God"
3 Romans 10:7 - Paul describing
the Jew’s non-belief in Jesus. "The others were hardened. As it is
written: God gave them a spirit of stupor eyes so that they could not see and
ears so that they could not hear."
4 "As soon as a child
begins to talk, his father is to teach him Torah, and Shema ─ what
is meant by "Torah and Shema"? Torah is - torah tziva lanu Moshe, Shema
is ─ the
first verse of Shema." (Talmud Succah 42a). The universal Jewish custom
has always been to introduce the child to Torah with the verses "A Torah
(law ─
guidance) was commanded to us by Moses, an inheritance for the congregation of
Jacob" (Deut. 33:4), and "Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the
Lord is One" (Deut. 6:4). These verses express the bedrock of Judaism, the
fact that God is One, and the fact that Moses is His prophet. These verses also
proclaim the unique position of the Jewish nation as direct recipients of this
information. "The Lord is OUR God", "Torah was commanded to
US". The child is being taught that we are the medium of communication
that God chose to transmit this message to the future generations.
5 Exodus 20:2,3
6 Deuteronomy 4:35
7 Deuteronomy 4:15-19
8 Exodus 19:9
9 Deuteronomy 4:2
10 The last passage in Malachi,
who was the last of the scriptural prophets, opens with the words
"remember the teaching of Moses My servant" (Malachi 3:22). The last
prophecy granted to the Jewish people proclaims the supremacy of Moses’
teaching.
11 1Kings 22:24, Jeremiah 28:1-17
12 1Kings 22:22 Jeremiah 23:14,
28:1-17
13 Some missionaries counter this
claim with the following argument - Perhaps we can accept the words of the
prophets on the basis of the fact that their predictions were fulfilled, with
this basis we can circumvent the reliance on the Jewish national testimony to
establish the authenticity of scripture.
In response we would point out the following; many of the books of scripture
contain no predictions. This method of establishing authenticity would not work
for the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs,
Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Ezra, Nechemia, and
Chronicles. Furthermore, even those books that do make predictions have not had
the majority of their predictions fulfilled. The books of Isaiah Jeremiah and
Ezekiel all predict the advent of an era marked by universal peace, the
rebuilding of the temple, the restoration of all the Jews to the land of their
ancestors, and worldwide knowledge of God. This prediction which occupies much
of these three books, has not yet come to pass. If the only basis of accepting
the authenticity of scripture is the fulfillment of prophetic predictions, then
the canonization of these books ought to be put on hold.
Concerning those predictions that were fulfilled; we only know that they
were fulfilled (or that the prophecy was proclaimed before the fulfillment)
based on the testimony of the Jewish nation. So even if this method is utilized
to establish the validity of scripture we must still rely on the testimony of
the nation.
Finally and most important; in most cases the fulfillment or
non-fulfillment of a prophetic prediction is open to interpretation. Generally
the prophetic predictions are couched in poetic verbiage which preclude any
clear-cut interpretation. Depending on the interpretation, a critic could
easily argue that some of the scriptural predictions decidedly did not come to
pass. If this would be the entire basis for the acceptance of scripture, it
would be a shaky foundation indeed. One would expect that if God wanted to
communicate with us, and He expected us to lead our lives according to this
communication, He would have identified Himself in an unambiguous manner.
14 Exodus 18:25, Deuteronomy 17:9
15 Deuteronomy 13:3,4
16 Deuteronomy 18:20
17 Jews recognize that the closing
words in the book of Deuteronomy (34:10) "there never arose a prophet in
This argument displays a complete lack of understanding of the belief
system that Moses established. The greatness of a miracle is not measured by
our difficulty to comprehend how it was done. Nothing is difficult before God.
The greatness of the prophet is measured by the terms that God in His book set
down to describe the greatness of Moses. God ascribes Moses’ greatness to the
verifiability of his miracles. In this respect Jesus does not come close to
Joshua, let alone to Moses.
18 For example, the opening
phrases in the gospel of Luke (1:1,2) tell us that many people have undertaken
to record the history of Jesus’ life. Paul (Galatians 1:6,7.) tells us that
there were alternate gospels that he considered false. Paul also refers to
people that he considers false teachers of Christianity. (Romans 16:17)
19 Contrast Paul’s declaration in
Galatians with the description of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9:19
20 They were bringing Nazirite
offerings, which included an offering for the expiation of sin (Numbers 6:14).
21 Some missionaries make the
argument that perhaps the members of the
Furthermore,
there is another point in this story. The leadership of the