history of...?

[henrikhankhagnell]

If feel that the Bible talks about the history of the Jews, not the history of my forefathers. could you explain this?

 

[cd89]

The people of Israel are our spiritual forefathers. They were the ones who preceded us in the faith. Just like the Bible calls us now brothers and sisters in Christ, we also have fathers and mothers, those who came before us, as well as spiritual sons and daughters--those we pass our faith onto.

 

[Dark_Lite]

If feel that the Bible talks about the history of the Jews, not the history of my forefathers. could you explain this?

Err.. Because that's exactly what it talks about? Most Israelites probably had no idea that people even existed in northern Europe. Or if they did, it was only a very vague knowledge.

 

[henrikhankhagnell]

Err.. Because that's exactly what it talks about? Most Israelites probably had no idea that people even existed in northern Europe. Or if they did, it was only a very vague knowledge.

When I read the Bible it's like Judaism was the big religion of the past but I am not so sure. There must have been other religions. The bible must have been written in a way to show how great the Jewish saints were, but still I think the Bible doesn't do it in a 100% good way. For example, when the Bible talks about Jesus it's like he was the only Messiah claimants but there were many. The bible writers really tried to make thing too simple.

 

[dcyates]

When I read the Bible it's like Judaism was the big religion of the past but I am not so sure. There must have been other religions.

I'm intrigued, not so much by the question you ask in the OP of this thread, as I am by your tagline re: your search for real Christianity. This, of course, should be a goal we all share. That said, please allow me to throw in my own two cents here.
First things first, Judaism was by no means the "big religion of the past." The Hebrews never made up more than, at most, a couple percent of the world's entire population. This just further goes to show how, as Martin Luther once said, God deals with his people in a very "left-handed" manner; that is to say, he does the unexpected. One would most readily think that if God wanted to be represented by any nation, it would be by some large, mighty, and influential empire. Instead, God chose as his primary representatives the one nation of the ancient world that bore the dubious distinction of been stomped on by virtually every major imperial power of the ancient Near East. Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Mede, Persian, Ptolemaic Greek, Seleucid Greek, Roman (and, even though Parthia never actually conquered ancient Palestine, it possessed a very sizable Jewish population), Byzantium, Islamic/Ottoman -- there was hardly an empire of any significance anywhere near there that couldn't at one time or another claim sovereignty over Israel. Yet God chose to make known both himself and his plan of redemption for all of humanity through them.

The bible must have been written in a way to show how great the Jewish saints were, but still I think the Bible doesn't do it in a 100% good way. For example, when the Bible talks about Jesus it's like he was the only Messiah claimants but there were many. The bible writers really tried to make thing too simple.

In point of fact, I find the Bible to be quite unique in how it portrays its heroes -- feet of clay, warts and all:
- Let's face it, Adam disobeys a rather simple prohibition.
- Noah is a drunkard.
- The very first words of Abraham that are actually quoted in Scripture are of him trying to lie and, what's more, to get Sarah to go along with his lie about her being his sister. Why? To save his own skin. He apparently wasn't too concerned about what might happen to her, his own wife, while a concubine in the harem of another.
- Later, when Sarah gets jealous of Hagar's fertility in the face of her own infertility, we're told that she cruelly mistreated her. Here is this (presumably) young Egyptian girl, sold into slavery, far from home, is sexually used by her owners, and after she is actually successful in complying with Sarah's scheme to have a child through her, Hagar is rewarded with physical and mental abuse to the extent that she actually flees into the wilderness rather than stick around, despite this meaning virtually certain death. And all this is done with Abraham's expressed consent -- hardly gallant of him, especially considering she's carrying his child!
- Jacob is depicted as, at best, a swindler and cheat.
- Judah (the tribal forefather of Jesus himself) reneges on his promise to his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and then sleeps with her himself through her disguising herself as a roadside prostitute.
- Jacob's children are also cheats and swindlers, and murderers besides, having massacred an entire city because of the actions of one man. They also get jealous of their own kid brother and, after having relented at the last minute and deciding not to kill him, they instead do the next best thing and sell him into slavery -- and then lie to their father about it afterwards, in spite of this breaking his heart in the process.
- Moses is a murderer.
(I could get into the various judges, but we'd then be here all day -- AND there might be children about.)
- David, despite being described as a man after God's own heart, is both an adulterer and a murderer -- AND a rather poor parent, as well.
I could go on and on.
Compare this with the literature of other ancient peoples and you'll find their heroes are virtually flawless, both physically and morally, and all walk about three feet off the ground.
In point of fact, at least in this regard, I find the Bible anything but simple in its portrayal of its heroes.

 

[cubinity]

Context.
The answer, for me, is context.

Jesus was a Jew.
He presented himself as a Jewish Messiah.
He did this in a Jewish culture.

If he is the one true king, then the context of that king's history should matter.
Even to non-Jews.
The history of...?
Jesus.
It is the history of Jesus.