With palms together,
There is an interesting article in the N Y Times today about a stone tablet found amid the Dead Sea Scrolls. Apparently it suggests that the notion of a suffering messiah who would rise in three days was a common belief in the century prior to the Christian Jesus.
The article suggests:
If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.
Hmmm. The death and resurrection myth prior to Jesus' birth? It would seem this adds to the notion advance some decades ago by a Jewish scholar suggesting this whole Jesus script was a scheme to get Jesus recognized as the Messiah, that Jesus was aware of the things that needd to happen before they happened in order to meet the criteria.
And later:
Mr. Knohl said that it was less important whether Simon was the messiah of the stone than the fact that it strongly suggested that a savior who died and rose after three days was an established concept at the time of Jesus. He notes that in the Gospels, Jesus makes numerous predictions of his suffering and New Testament scholars say such predictions must have been written in by later followers because there was no such idea present in his day.
But there was, he said, and “Gabriel’s Revelation” shows it.
“His mission is that he has to be put to death by the Romans to suffer so his blood will be the sign for redemption to come,” Mr. Knohl said. “This is the sign of the son of Joseph. This is the conscious view of Jesus himself. This gives the Last Supper an absolutely different meaning. To shed blood is not for the sins of people but to bring redemption to Israel.”
Strange.
Link
Be well
God has always been accessible without a mediator. One need only be still and pay attention. Ancient shepherds knew this, ancient Jews practiced this, ancient Buddhists practiced this. The gift of prayerful meditation is nearly universal.
As to the renting of the Temple veil, there is no evidence outside of people who had a vested interest in creating a Christian religion. Remember, these are stories developed to tell a tale and make a point. That's what the original theme of this article was about, that Jesus was simply following a recipe so that he would be proclaimed the messiah. Unfortunately, the prophecies were not fulfilled, the world did not get better, and the early Christians fully expecting cataclysmic changes had to scramble to create an alternative story line. Which they did. Today we call it Christian theology.
See ya.
No, it's because Luke the writer on the early history of the Christians said so. I don't base what I say on my own opinion. When it is my own opinion I would say so. I keep asking you where you get your info from and you ignore me. I'm pretty upfront and straight where I'm getting my info from.
Luke wrote:
"And the word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greaty; and a great company of the PRIESTS were obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7
"The curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple (Ex 26:33, 38:18, Heb 9:3) was torn trom top to the bottom showing that Dod did it not man. It signified tht the new and living way was now open nto the presence of God. One probably result of this supernatural tearing of the veil is the conversion of these priests who witnessed this.
As far as Christ fulfilling prophecies from the OT. If you really really were interested or open minded about this you'd read them and see for yourself. The following is just to get you started and are prophecies concerning just his death written hundreds of years before the event took place.
Gen 3:5,
Psalm 22:1,2,6,7,8,13,14,16,17 (Ex 12:46, Ps 34:20), 18 (2), 21;
Psalm 35:11; 38:11, 41:9, 69:3, 19,21; 109:25
Daniel 9:26
Isaiah 50:6, 52:14, 53:1-3, 4-6, 5-6 (2), 7 (2), 53:9, 12 (2)
Zechariah 11:12, 13, 12;10, 13:7 (2)
How do you suppose those prophets connected with God? The Torah is full of references to the practice of meditation, the Hebrew word is, hitbodedut. See Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, a very famous biblical scholar, who wrote, Meditation and the Bible (I found a review sample on Google books) for a rather extensive and detailed study of this.
The Holy of Holies was not the only access to the divine. Are you suggesting that David did not pray? Or that God did not hear the prayers of Jews? What were all those psalms?
Goodness.
Be well.
This reasoning has always mystified me. How does one "fulfill" a law? I mean just what does that actually mean? Don't eat pork. How does one "fulfill" that so we can now eat pork? God makes a law. A law is a law. God isn't in the habit of changing His mind.
Ok, that I can get my mind around, but it is using the "Law" as something other than what it is, a set of clear commandments made by God to the Jewish people in his covenent with them. Christians seem to think that their "New Covenent" with Jesus allows them to disobey God's Law. I suppose this is true as they are not Jewish and not subject to the Torah. Its exactly what sets them apart from us. If this is the case, they should let go their attachment to the Hebrew scripture since it apparently no longer applies to them.
Just thinking out loud here.
Nightshades, I do understand your point. We live in one reality with many windows. We are all subject to this reality, call it Dharma, the Kingdom of God, or whatever.
As you know, my point is in regard to Christian interpreters having it both ways. On the one hand they quote Hebrew Scripture to bolster their moral/ethical point of view, and on the other hand, when its not convenient, argue that the "Old Testament" is fulfilled and no longer applies, since they have a "New Covenant". I really don't see it that they can have it both ways. Unless they take a Reform Jewish POV and say they can use reason to decide which laws they will follow and to what extent they will follow them. But that creates problems on the fundamentalist side, you know, God means what He says and the bible is inerrant, and all.
Just confused.
Lula, Observant Jews follow 613 commandments given at Mt. Sinai to Moses. Here is the list and each commandment's source:
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