Jesus Christ on the hot seat

This is something that has been energizing my brain cells over the past few days. Three hours of sleep was a testimony that I’ll be restless until I carve my insights here in my little space. Religion – perhaps one of the greatest mysteries that we have.

Caution: This topic is sensitive so this requires an open mind... And oh, this is long - longer than my previous posts. Haha!

My other brain which Dad takes possession of, sent me a message of the possibility that Filipinos may have Jewish blood running through our veins. Don’t ask me how many drops have been mixed to our domineering Aeta or Malay or Spanish blood, just ask me how this logic came to existence. A pretty straightforward reasoning is that, when the temple at Jerusalem was destructed, Jews escaped, scattered through the parts of the world, significantly in Spain and stayed there for like 1500 years. Needless to say, we all know how Rizal or Bonifacio fought for our freedom from the likes of Padre Damaso.

Skeptic, I run through the face of internet and googled things about the self-acclaimed “Chosen People”. I am hoping for anything that can be an element of awakening my interest again. Ah, Judaism - something that is intertwined with the Jews. Point of inquiry now was shifted from Jewish blood to Jewish religion.

I am a Christian touchbased with two of its major sects – Catholic as a religion of all the institutions I set foot on and Baptist as our household faith. For the longest time, I have unanswered questions that linger on my mind. Ironic that I have two uncles who are pastors but I did not get hold of that advantage. Scrolling through each of the articles that tickled my senses, I particularly get intrigued on why Jews do not believe on Jesus. Simply put, the difference between Christianity and Judaism. They have questions same as the ones who leased that space in mind since time immemorial. Moreso, they have insights that made my big eyes bigger.

In my attempt to narrow down debates, I got these three “rules” when I did my questioning:

One assumption – Old Testament is based on true accounts. I call this the Mother Book.
Crossing my fingers to be correct – there is no bias when the Mother Book says Jewish people
Fact – Old Testament is the source of Koran, Bible, and Torah.

Enter the first point of argument. Jesus did not fulfill the prophecy as a Messiah. This honestly narrowed down my ignorance. So there is such thing as Messianic prophecy. There were four accounts in the Mother Book. Christians acknowledge that these are yet to be fulfilled by Christ in the second coming. Second coming does not exist in the mighty minds of Albert Einstein’s lineage.

My little query: what does the mother book states about it? Is there such thing as Him going back to earth?

My ring finger stands up to count on this another Jew’s claim. Jesus did not qualify to posses the personal qualifications of a Messiah as:

A prophet – Jesus appeared after the prophecy ended
A Son of David – Christians’ account that He is a product of virgin birth does not support the four-bold words
A Mother Book observer – Jesus’ violation of Sabbath; new versions of the 10 commandments

Perya’s thoughts:
The concept of prophecy is unclear to me. The frequent opposite directions of the Old and New is one classic puzzle for me. Why are there differences? I don’t concede to the reasoning that the Mother Book should not be interpreted word for word like the classic “an eye for an eye”. Maybe, just maybe, killing is not part of the likes of Eve’s eating the apple. After all, killing plants and animals is accepted. Digging my logical mind further, given that the New Testament is correct, does it render that the Mother Book has long been practiced BUT was actually off beam? Knotting it to God’s superiority, can we assume that He was WRONG and that He sent Jesus Christ to correct them?

Third point to eat my inquisitive mind is the claim that there are many mistranslated verses “referring” to Jesus. One crucial point is the renowned virgin birth where Jews claim that a verse in the book of Isaiah refers to an “alma” giving birth. Alma which means a young woman, but theologians interpreted it as “virgin”. Focusing on the virgin birth itself, this accords to practice of “paganism” – where mortals are impregnated by gods!

Two other points that they stressed are trivial for me. The points of crucifixion and suffering servant.

So how do I react to this? The concept of virgin birth as presented here enabled me to link it to the stories of the gods of Egypt and Greece. If such birth really did exist, can we say that Jesus and His followers were pagans? If on the other side of the bed proclaims this not being true, I raise two points. One – Jesus was purely human, born by mortals. In this case, the reasoning that He is not a Messiah because He is a demi-god is now eradicated, dropping one argument / claim by the Jews. Two – what was the intention of the people who inscribe the notion of virgin birth? Is this to elevate His status and make Him unique so as to allow Him to take the seat of a Divine Being or Messiah?

Now I spill the fourth, and for me the major divergence of this saga – how Christianity contradicts the Jewish theology.

Man as God. This is strengthened by the New Testament’s line that says: I and the Father are one. The Mother Book says: God is not a man, neither a son of man.

The involvement in the physical world. We know how the priests and nuns became eligible to stand in front of the altar and to wear that something-on-the-head, respectively. Mary as the holiest woman. Monks situated the far-flung area. All these because of one reason: avoidance of the evil, physical world. Judaism relates the physical world as God’s gift for our pleasure, not for our frustrations.

Liaison for prayer. “No one comes to the Father but through me” vs. “You shall not have other gods before me”. The former presents the concept of a “mediator, the latter does not.

The famous Holy Trinity.

These four strong points actually coincide with most of the entries in my chronicle of confusion. My thumb really refuses to wave an agree sign on the concept that Jesus is both human and divine - the longest and perhaps the only topic we had in Religion class during second year high school.

I cannot see the logic of the “sacrifice” that our saintly brothers and sisters have to dive in order for them to be considered the servants of the Lord. Should it not be the other way around? That for them to be really tested, they have to conquer the “evilness” of the infamous physical world? What then are we, yes, we who remained in the physical world, doing in this place? Should we all not go to a secluded parameter as well?

I long refute the idea of the Catholics regarding confession and acknowledgement of saints. I always believe there should be no one qualified enough to act between me and God. Reading this portion of Judaism put me into a questioning mind again. I concede to the idea that Jesus, too, is an intermediary.

Back then during Sunday school days, I always pose an issue on Holy Trinity. This is the prime conviction that I cannot really really fathom. It spells c-o-n-f-u-s-i-o-n for me. Logic is an alien word for me. I settled for the “this is where your faith comes in” answer. Funny/ignorant as it may seem, why did this Holy Ghost fills the power of three? Who is it/he/she by the way? To add up, I clearly recount how I do my prayers when I was a kid (even today). When I realize that I have been repeatedly using Holy Father or God in the first few lines of my prayer, I will quickly budge into Jesus. I always ensure that I regard them equally. Yes, this was how confused my then-little-now-audacious mind was.

A lot of questions have sprung into my mind. I know I have posed strong, bold, and “ruthless” questions and conclusions. But when you unmask my heart, you would see that it has been hard for me to even think, much more to ink all these to paper. Yes, this is a flamboyant example of questioning my Christian faith. But friends, I just want to ask, just want to get some insights, and I just want to exercise my wits.

I’ve eaten bundles of time from my friends – Hope, Malou, Gelan, and Rolla, from my family – Dad and Tito Nonoy, and from Levy of course. I thank them for shedding lights and for throwing intelligent debates on this intriguing tale. =)

As Levy has quoted (while munching on Wendy’s salad), after all these and you have “proven” that Christianity is a deception, would it make Judaism, or Islam, or Buddhism, or Atheism, or any ___ism correct? No one or nothing, even the Mother Book is absolutely correct. No one is holy or brilliant enough to prove that what he believes is the unqualified truth. What is important for me is we believe that there is One Supreme Being present in this so-called world. As to how people regard who this superstar is, it does not matter.

Oh, there’s wisdom in the pier. Right kargador a.k.a. Levy? *grin*

I might be a bad storyteller, so please visit http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jewsandjesus#3 for the unmodified critique.