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When many Christians pray, they pray to Jesus. Why do they not pray directly to G-d?
Again forgive my ignorance.
I’m Christian, and I pray to God. I really don’t know the answer to your question. I further wonder why Catholics pray to saints instead of the main guy.
I have only enough patience to address this one statement of yours:
Quote:
Originally Posted by justbyfaith
And I would say that while Jews don't care whether or not Gentiles believe in Jesus, they do care if a family member converts; enough to shun them for the rest of their lives, at least.
Apparently, all you know about Jews and Judaism probably comes from watching Fiddler on the Roof. It's a great movie, but also apparently responsible for a lot Gentiles thinking that all Jews and Jewish communities are like the shtetl folk of Anatevka.
Jews are people just like everyone else. There are Jews who get mad at family members who leave the faith, just as there are Christians who get mad at their own family members who disavow Christianity or who choose to become Atheists.
I'm sure a visit to the Atheism forum here on this site will enlighten you to the stories that many Atheists have to tell about their Christian families who have chosen to shun them.
This sounds like the usual antisemitic conspiracy-theory nonsense about the so-called "forbidden" chapter of Isaiah.
For any rational people reading this thread who are interested, a complete explanation as to the nonsense of this so-called "forbidden" chapter can be found at this link:
Jesus is God. We pray to him, or the Father. Or the Spirit. There is only one God, but all 3 persons are completely and wholly God.
My sect always quoted the verse, "There is one mediator between god and man ... Christ Jesus." So Christians pray to Jesus because he's their appointed go-between. He "pleads their case" with the heavenly father when a person prays for something. Jesus is more sympathetic, and is there to remind the more irascible Heavenly Father that he has paid the price for our sins already, so less smiting and more blessing, if you please, Dad.
In this interpretation, it is technically incorrect to pray directly to the Father. Or at least impertinent. In practice, though, even we would usually switch all the time between addressing "our heavenly father" and Jesus. We were rather sloppy about it.
Since some of the posters here are Jewish, I should also remind them that we had this doctrine of the Trinity, which Jews may find confusing where God is one being, but three persons or aspects: God the father, the son, and the "holy spirit". The role of the Spirit was that of comforter, enlightener, and general cheerleader if you will. He was the source of the inner sense that god was "with" you.
I'm sorry to have to explain that confusing word salad, but it is what it is ;-)
Yes, they did use the term New Testament, I guess since they are specifically refuting the Christian interpretation of their scripture.
You are correct in that they did not address the "iniquities" part of that verse, which is unfortunate. I know that what you say "it means" is a Christian interpretation and not the Jewish one.
So, since you did not respond to my request for link to what you claim about Jews omitting that passage from their Bible, I did some Google searching myself. I included the word "Jews" in my search term so that I would not just get Christians sites, and lo and behold, that pulled up more Jewish Messianic sites, real or pretended, than I knew existed.
So I checked Chabad.org, and sure enough, Isaiah 53 is indeed included.
I kept looking, however, for a genuine, non-Messianic Jewish source that addresses your claim, and I found this one. The article is pretty interesting. I learned a few new things. You might, too. Learning is good.
I still would like to have rosends remark on this, but he's likely spending time with his family the next few days, as Passover began at sundown and he doesn't post on Shabbos anyway.
Thanks for posting that. The audio on the 2nd link was very interesting. Good to have the Jewish perspective straight from a Rabbi.
This sounds like the usual antisemitic conspiracy-theory nonsense about the so-called "forbidden" chapter of Isaiah.
For any rational people reading this thread who are interested, a complete explanation as to the nonsense of this so-called "forbidden" chapter can be found at this link:
In regard to why Jews generally mistrust Messianics, it is because Messianics have a mission to convert Jews to Christianity. And, historically, Christians who have sought to convert Jews have dealt unkindly (to say the least) with Jews who resisted conversion.
Your own antisemitic statement here bears witness to this:
The antisemitic trope of the "deceptive Jew" that you employ here reveals what is in your heart, and what I am seeing is something very ugly.
For your information, Jews don't care if you believe in Jesus. We have more than enough to contend with in seeing to our own spiritual needs and survival in the face of the rise in antisemitism these days.
I'm not even going to get into the accusations being tossed around, but I will simply ask: Do you believe Isaiah 53 points to Jesus? If not, why not?
I'm thinking of a few Scriptures now...Jesus said, "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father."
In Him all the fullness of Deity dwelt in bodily form.
"Peter, have I been with you so long and you still do not know Me."
I AM the resurrection and the life. I AM the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for the sheep.
Jesus referred to Himself as I AM. He received worship, healed the sick, raised the dead, and I understand there are so many prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled every one of them.
He Himself paid for the sins of the World, died and was resurrected and lives forever. The thing is that some people think oh good, then everyone is forgiven and going to Heaven when they die, but it's not like that. The Scriptures also say that "To as many as received Him, to those He gave the right to be called the children of G-d. So salvation is a gift and like all gifts, it has to be received. For those who died before Jesus showed up on Earth, the Bible says that "They believed G-d and it was credited to them as righteousness...them meaning the Jewish or Hebrew people, Israelites.
Happy Passover my friend! Before the foundation of the World, He knew you. There's a movie from way back when called Jesus of Nazareth with Robert Powell. I think you might like it. May G-d bless you and your family. If you ever do receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, of course you will always be Jewish, G-ds chosen people. Being Jewish as you know is a bloodline. The bloodline of Jesus is written in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew going all the way back to Adam. Jesus was part of that bloodline. Mary was the one told about in Isaiah. Joseph was Mary's husband, and the Father of Jesus is G-d. "A virgin shall give birth to a son...G-d with us" Isaiah 7:14 Jesus did not come to abolish The Law, He came to fulfill it.
What the hell? What Jewish person would believe that? If someone believes Isaiah 53 points to Jesus...they are Christian, not Jewish.
I'd hate to make assumptions, so I phrased it as a question.
Quote:
As per Post 63, let's get back to topic; i.e., why do you/do you pray to Jesus/God.
He's God. I pray to Jesus because He is God.
And Isaiah 53 does point to him being the Messiah.
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What Jewish person would believe that? If someone believes Isaiah 53 points to Jesus...they are Christian, not Jewish.
