Hey everyone, I made an account so I can see what is up with what you all can do to help me resolve this situation.
Well, my mothers family is israeli, she is a convert to christianity. My fathers family was german and hungarian, and christian. The hungarian portion of his family comes from a jewish background as well. In the beginning portion of my life I was exposed to a little bit of judiasm, but not much beyond how to say my prayers, why i was circumsized, etc. Basically illerate to judaism.
Well, I know how to read the bible like a christian. I've read it for the last 4 or 5 years, and over the last while, I have been reading strictly the "old testament" stuff. So I went to Israel again in Februray and started talking with some of the rabbi's from one of the chabad houses there.
I have a copy of the tanakh published by the jps. I have been using this to do my studies, and have found it to be in some cases not different at all, and in others significantly different. One of the rabbi's at the chabad there gave it to me.
Anyway, after starting to read some commentary from the sage's and rabbis of the ages, there seems to be some contradiction between christian and jewish view's and both of them simply cannot be correct in my mind.
Just for instance, I did a study on satan. In Ezekiel 28, christians say this is clearly talking about Satan. Jew's say this isn't anything at all that has anything to do with Satan. Why did satan all of a sudden become the embodiment of evil, when before he had just been doing his job as a created being?
The suffering servant Isaiah 53 is yet another exmaple. the differences in how we interpert these things bother me.
Anyway, this leaves me with what to me is a very scary feeling. When I compare what the new testament writers are saying to what the old testament writers are saying, I cannot understand why the new testament writers would say what they are saying. Where did they get these ideas from? Why are some of these ideas so foreign to judiasm, and where did they come from?
I mean, shouldn't christians use the place that they come from be the place that is determining how look at them?
I've been talking with some rabbi's from the local chabad house here, and I understand thier point of view, and I understand the christian point of view, but in my mind, the fundamental differences are HUGE, and its simply very frustrating for me to try and resolve them, though I know God wants me to. These are the things that we christians lean on and use as evidence ofthe messiahship of Christ. The nature of sin isn't the same in judaismas it is in christianity, the ways to redemption aren't the same, and
it seems to me that this is a contradiction.
These very same objections are the reason that many have not converted
to christianity for thousands of years, under penalty of death. If in
Judaism, we find Jesus, and we find a divine man who is messiah, come
to redeem all from thier sins, then where does this expectation come
from. Its no where to be found within judaism. God is incorporeal. Why
would he come down to make himself into a man? He says he is one, how
can God maintain his oneness while being Christ and God and the Holy
Spirit at the same time?
When reading the jewish sage's and scholars, they make very clear why
things mean what they do from the original hebrew, and many of these
texts that the new testament relies on are either flat out wrong, have
been changed, or aren't in there at all in some cases.
Over and over again, I seem to come the hebrew scriptures declaring with
clarity in in no uncertain terms that the Almighty alone is God, and
there is no other. I don't see places where things were "screened,"
or "veiled." as I have been taught they were.
In fact, in some places, like Isaiah God says he has not spoken in secret, from somewhere in aland of darknessm he has not said to Jacob's descendants, "Seek Me in
vain." he said that he is the Lord, and speak the truth, and declares what is right. This seems almost oppisite of what we find in the gospels and epistles that make up the new testament documents.
It seems almost that the survival of Israel depends on it.The Torah connects the faith in one indivisible God with the national experience of the Jewish people in thier history. Suffering was the consequence for any defection from the monotheism that the Lord demanded of His people.
Basically, Im not sure what to do, I just keep praying, and God isn't directly answering my prayers, Im left with a very strong impressionthat he isn't going to, he wants me to do what I am doing, and he isn't going to make it hurry along. Whatever I am doing I need to take my time and be sure that i am right and not in the wrong when it comes
to my relationship with God.
My minister does not seem to like what I am thinking very much, and
the rabbi's at the local chabad house are quite patient, but sometimes
a bit condscending as well. so Im not sure how to proceed really.
So, I dunno how much help you guys can be, but maybe some of you have been in my situation before.
The jews for Jesus I would rather not talk to, they are people whose experience tends to be from a christian perspective, and I feel like I may as well be talking to my good buddy Sherm, or a baptist or some other mainstream christian organization, problem being, they can't seem to answer my questions, and get quite frustrated when I ask them. The honest truth is I am frustrated with asking them, but I dont have many answer's right now, and I can't stop asking them, even if it frustrates people.
So you know, I am confused to the point where when I signed up for this forum, I didn't put christian or judaism down as religion, I left other, but apparently I cant post here unless i put christian, so I changed it, and here you are.
Thanks,
Josh
}. I have a friend from another message board. He is a Christian with Jewish ancestory. Right now he is struggling. He has a lot of questions about the interp. of the messiah from Isaih, and about Satan from Ezek. and if they mean what Christians interp them as. He has a lot of other questions also. he has been speaking both to his pastor and to a rabbi. Both pretty much tell him the exact oppisite of what the other is saying{hard to believe isnt it? 
