[Sinaites VAN and BAN, husband and wife, used to be active members in a huge and successful Church ministry . Recently, the ‘Head Elder’ [HE] of this church invited this couple for a get-together during which time he requested them to reconsider their current faith choice and reminded them of the fate of all who reject the Christian Savior, Jesus Christ. He handed them a letter he had written when he first heard about their decision to embrace Abrahamic faith and worship the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, YHWH. That letter is featured here as the springboard for a discussion of the specific points presented by [HE].
We feature these exchanges because we believe exposure to two differing views on any issue is helpful and informative so that our readers can arrive at a decision for themselves. It is like listening to a debate where neither side wins, really, if “winning” means one side is convinced by the other. Defnitiely, Sinaites can no longer be convinced to return to Christianity and it is only reasonable to expect, based on previous similar appeals from other Christian pastors, that this Christian Church leader will stand his ground based on arguments coming from New Testament text. The reader is the ultimate judge of what he will decide to believe for himself, after following the progress of the discourse. —Admin1.]
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Dear VAN and BAN,
I have gone through the writings you shared with me and have thought about some points mentioned in these articles. After meditating on my faith and my personal knowledge of God and His word (including the New Testament) I am more convinced than ever that Jesus is who He said He is, that He is the Lord and my Savior.
Issues like the ones raised in the artilces you shared with me are good topics intellectually and academically. These are opinions of men –Rabbis are men.
The God of the Torah is what Jesus preached and I believe in that God, too. But I have not confined myself to the Torah. God Himself led me to the New Testament as the fulfillment and interpretation of the Old Testament. And He has confirmed the New Testament message to me through my life and experience with Jesus.
You are familiar with the New Testament and have read about Jesus Christ. As a lawyer, you know the importance of evidence. And the preponderance of ancient testionies and recent archeological discoveries clearly point to a real person who lived with men at the time that the New Testament records.
To throw away the authenticity of the New Testament is not logical if you consider the science of determining the authenticity of ancient manuscripts and documents. Why do we accept the writings of the rabbis, Plato, Aristotle, etc. and throw away the authenticity of the writings of the apostles and early church fathers?
Jesus was a historical figure who preached and taught. He who claimed to be the Son of God, a term that is always used of Jesus in the New Testament. Whether or not you accept the views of some rabbis that Messianic prophesies never indicated that Messiah would be divine, the point is Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to God exept through Him. we are all sinners in need of forgiveness and redemption. We cannot escape this issue.
Here is the point. A person who taught what Jesus taught and lived a life that Jesus lived and claimed to e the Son of God would either be a lunatic, a liar, or Lord. I know that you are familiar with this line of reasoning from C.S. Lewis and I will not bore you by repeating this. But you must seriously consider your view on Jesus simply because your belief in God is at the center of the issue. At the end of the day, you must decide if Jesus is lunatic, liar, or Lord. The eternal destiny of your soul depends on it.
Why will you choose to believe the Rabbis or other human opinions and close your minds to the evidence of the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus? Consider this. Why did the early disciples and followers of Jesus who were eye witnesses of His death and resurrection, willingly choose to die a martyr’s death for Jesus? Why did they keep on preaching His death and resurrection and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah if they knew that was not true? ‘People may die for their faith if they believe it is true but no one will purposely die for something if they know it to be false.’ The Apostles died for their belief.
The death and resurrection of Jesus is one of the most well documented events in human history. Sir Lionel Luckhoo and Simon Greenleaf, two of the most notable lawyers in history did not believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection at first. But after a careful investigation, both of them came into the conclusion that the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is overwhelming and thus, leaves no room for doubt.
Eventually faith is a choice. I choose to believe in Jesus, the New Testament scriptures and the Old Testament. I respect the opinion of the rabbis — but not agree with their interpretations. To me Jesus was the greatest Rabbi. The early apostles such as Paul, Peter, etc. who were Jewish and familiar with the Old Testament scriptures knew the issues at hand and the importance of who Jesus is.
My friend I write this to you in love and concern. I pray that you will reconsider your position. Please study the book The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel and The Reliability of the New Testament by Josh McDowell. Let me know what you think. God bless!
Much love in Christ,
Signed: [HE]
1. On the view that Jews never lost a single debate to Gentiles or Christians, the very first recorded debate between Jews and a Christian was decisively won by the latter, according to Acts 18:28 [‘for he [Apollos] vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ’).
2. Jews say that Christians shot an arrow and then drew a bulls-eye where it stuck and said, ‘O look! Jesus hit the bulls-eye. He fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies when in fact, He fulfilled none. The truth is that Jesus did hit the bulls-eye perfectly and later, Judaism moved the target away where the arrow was and said that He fulfilled nothing.
3. On the view that tribal affiliation to succession comes only through the paternal line, this is not true a tribal affiliation and succcession could come from the woman if the father is not around or has passed away (Numbers 36). Jesus was a descendant of David through Mary (Luke 3:23ff).
4. Jesus did not condone Sabbath-breaking but condemned binding Sabbath traditions. Nothing in rabbinic literature said that rubbing grain in one’s hand was work. Jesus did not break Jewish dietary laws. In fact years after the resurrection, one of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, would say, “I’ve never eaten anything unclean.”
5. Views of respected Jewish leaders (even those who violently opposed Christians) on Jesus are positive.
Joseph Klausner (Jewish scholar). “Jesus was a Jew and remained a Jew until his last breath. Jesus was more Jewish than most Jews. He was more Jewish than Rabbi Hillel.”Former President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, Hyman Enelow noted: “Who can compute all that Jesus has meant to humanity? The love he has inspired, the solace he has given, the good he has engendered, the hope and joy he has kindled —all that is unequaled in human history.
6. In truth, it is the Rabbis who by their writings contradict God and the Torah. For example, Moises Maimonides (a 12th century rabbi) wrote in his introduction to his commentary on the Mishna: “If a prophet, proven by God with miracles, says to you, ‘Follow the plain sense of the Scripture and that plain sense violates the Tradition of the Sages, he is a false prophet. He should be put to death.” A classic passage in the Talmud Bava Metzia 59b, states that God Himself can be overruled by the majority of the Sages (revered scholarly rabbis).
7. There is a rabbinic tradition that 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, God no longer accepted sacrifices in the Temple. Why? Because Messiah had already died on the cross.
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