If Christians are in an echo chamber, so are Jews. The more theological you get, it seems the further away from Christ you become. Because the bible just becomes a pattern of words and skeptical meanings. You response to my question was weak at that and you only referred back to Rabbi's, rather than honestly viewing this with your own head. You're not going to find truth only through the lens of men.
Before I possibly remark further, I'd like for the original poster to honestly answer my question: Do you want to find Jesus Christ in the Old Testament? Because if you don't, this is nothing more than a sporting event for you and a waste of time for us.
You say that I only referred back to the Rabbi's. I did not do this at all, so you are being totally dishonest. I also gave another explanation. Those explanations are the 2 most likely explanations that I can see. It sounds to me that you don't like my response because i did not say: "Its about God & Jesus", which appears to be exactly what you wanted me to say, am I correct? I did not say that, because there is no evidence for that. However there IS evidence for the other 2 explanations.
You also say "rather than viewing this in my own head". Thats exactly what the problem is here. When I read Genesis 3, I read & interpret exactly what it says, AS it says it. I am NOT trying to put my own interpretation or spin on it. I am not trying to argue against anything that the text says. I am arguing exactly for the text, as it is written.
The story is about why mankind & snakes are in enmity against one another, & why the snake has no legs like other animals. It may seem to be a simplistic, even childish explanation, but that is EXACTLY what it says, & that is the most likely explanation of the verses.
IF I am going to re-interpret everything I read "in my own head" so I can come up with an alternative interpretation to what it actually says, so that it suits my OWN beliefs, or my OWN theology, then I am no longer reading "the word of god". I am creating a frankenstein text in my own head. If you believe the interpretation of somebody else, who can not back up their interpretation from the biblical text, then again, you are not reading & believing the word of God, you are believing the word of the person who told you to reinterpret the text to what they believe that it means.
I am not trying to prove that MY interpretation is correct. I am merely saying, the TEXT says THIS, so I am going to believe the text. I have nothing to prove. The person who is re-interpreting the text has all of the work to prove that THEIR interpretation is correct.
IF you want to reinterpret the text, you have to have a valid reason to reinterpret it. So if Genesis 3:1 said something like:
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made, because it had the Spirit of Satan inside of it", then I would have no choice but to agree that the Snake represents Satan. It does NOT say that, so I have no reason at all to re-interpret the text that way.
IF it said in Genesis 3:15 something like:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[
a] and hers;
he will crush[
b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.
"And Eve understood that a Messiah will be born who will strike down Satan"
Then I would have no choice but to interpret the text the way that Christians are interpreting it. But it DOES NOT say that.
The problem is the interpretation that Christians are coming up with has NO biblical support at all. Because some guy at some period in time said "I think that you can reinterpret this text to fit Satan & Jesus into it" & because the interpretation suits Christian theology, Christians are just accepting the alternative translation, without even questioning how they arrive at the alternative explanation.
You ask: "Do you
want to find Jesus Christ in the Old Testament?"
That is totally the wrong question.
The correct question is: "Do you want to understand the Old Testament accurately & truthfully, & interpret it correctly?" My answer is YES to the correct question. I do not accept that YOUR question is a valid premise.
IF Jesus is in The Old Testament, then I will accept that & say, "I never realized that Jesus was in this verse, but the evidence you have presented is overwhelming, so I accept it."
If however you ask somebody "Do you WANT to find Jesus Christ in the old testament" & i already believe in Jesus, then I am going to do what you are already doing 're-interpreting the text without justification, so that you actually DO find Jesus in the old testament.'
You wrote: "If Christians are in an echo chamber, so are Jews. The more theological you get, it seems the further away from Christ you become."
You do realize that the majority of Jews don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah, don't you? If a Jew believes that Jesus in the Messiah, then are they still a Jew? Surely that makes them a Christian. So why would you expect the jewish theology to get CLOSER to Christ, when the Jewish theology doesn't accept the Christian concept of who the Messiah is? That would be like expecting the Christian theology to get closer to Mormonism.
So far, the only claimed prophecy I have looked at that is supposed to support Christianity is Genesis 3:15. I find the Christian explanation totally unconvincing, as they cannot support their interpretation through any biblical text. So it appears to me that the re-interpretation is nothing more than wishful thinking on their part. IF I find other prophecies MORE convincing, I will probably change my view, but it has to be more than "I believe this verse is about Jesus because, even though there is nothing biblical to support the interpretation that I am giving. I believe it because (they said it was about Jesus in bible study / my pastor said it was about Jesus / my feelings say that it is about Jesus / it was in a list of prophecies saying it is a prophecy about Jesus / etc.).
I was given a list claiming 327 prophecies of Jesus, or similar (I forget the exact no.), so I have a lot of research to do.
