This one is very odd indeed! In Luke 1:72 the speaker is John the Baptist’ father. This is part of a song he supposedly wrote -- possibly about Jesus and his new born son, John (or possibly only about John). For the sake of argument, let’s say he was singing about Jesus. . . along with calling the subject merciful he goes on to say G-d will “remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies.” Luke 1:72-74. Yet Christians believe that their "new" covenant replaced G-d's holy covenant with Abraham and the Jews. Far from "remembering" the Jewish covenant, Christianity says about the Abrahamic / Jewish covenants "By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:13. Ergo if John the Baptist's father was making a prediction in his song, it was a false prophecy (at least as far as Christians are concerned) -- because per Hebrews G-d not only forgot his holy covenant and the oaths he made to the Jews -- he replaced it with Christianity. Notice that John's father goes on to say that G-d will "rescue us from the hand of our enemies." This would be the Romans, and this "rescue" did not happen. Let's not forget that not only was John supposedly beheaded, but Jesus was supposedly crucified by the Romans as well. The Romans battled with the Jews until around 135 CE when they defeated Bar Kochba's army and exiled most of the Jews to other lands. Nope, there was definitely no rescue here! But the main focus of this supposed "prophecy" that the list maker had in mind was "His Character - Merciful" -- and the "character" in question is Jesus, not G-d. Let's look at the text in the T'nach (Jewish bible) which is referenced as "predicting" that Jesus would be merciful. Sh’mot / Exodus 33:19 has G-d speaking to Moses saying “I (G-d) will have mercy and show kindness to whomever I desire.'” The biblical definition of prophecy (discussed here) is G-d communicating a message to a person who will relay that message to the people of his generation. It need not have anything to do with predicting the future. By that definition this statement IS prophecy. G-d gave Moses a message that He would be merciful and kind. Is it a messianic prophecy? Is it about the messiah? No to both questions. G-d is simply saying to Moses that He will be merciful, compassionate. This is not a messianic prophecy, it has nothing to do with Jesus. This is not about the messiah – it is about G-d. Yet again the list maker has linked together a passage from the Torah which has nothing to do with the messiah (let alone Jesus). Another on the list of 365 bites the dust as false. This claim from the list maker does beg the question -- was Jesus merciful? Sometimes yes -- but more often no. While Jesus spoke often of mercy, he more often did not show it. As my mother used to say "actions speak louder than words." His actions showed he was not at all merciful. There are many examples in the Christian bible of cruel things in the name of Jesus. For example Luke 19:27: Take my enemies, who would not have me rule over them, bring them here, and kill them before me. Killing people who disagree with you is not merciful. There are other passages which show a lack of mercy: (Matthew 5:22), Anyone who nurses anger against his brother must be brought to judgment. . . If he even sneers at him, he will have to answer for it in the fires of hell. And (Matthew 10:34), Think not that I have come to send peace to the world. I come not to send peace, but the sword. And (Matthew 23:33), You snakes, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Whenever G-d castigates people in the T’nach the sinners are told that they can avoid the punishment by atoning for their sins and repenting. In his anger Jesus in the Christian bible offers no such redemption to people if they do not believe in him personally. . . In Judaism one may be “cut off from the people” (כרת / kareit) if your sin is done on purpose and not repented, but there is no eternal damnation of hell. There is no hell at all (possibly a temporary place of spiritual improvement, but no place to be sent to be tortured permanently). Christianity’s lack of forgiveness seems to be eternal: one weeps. One gnashes one’s teeth. One burns in eternal torment. ETERNAL. “Anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5:22). Continuing in the same vein in chapter 5: “You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that .anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” (Matthew 5:27-29). Eternal torment folks. The thought is as bad as the deed, folks. See the difference yet in the Christian versus Jewish view on repentance, forgiveness – and even the ramifications of the lack of repentance? "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” (Matthew 12:30-32) Do you see the difference between repentance (or a lack thereof) in Judaism as compared to Christianity? We can bring many such contrasts between Jewish and Christian ethics. In every case, the margin seems to be on the side of Judaism. Jesus may have taught many beautiful ideals, but unfortunately, he never seemed to be able to live up to them himself – and the thought that he was merciful falls in light of his actions in the Christian bible, as well as his own words. Missionaries can explain away the words and actions of Jesus saying they were parables, or taken out of context (they are not) – but just one look at Jesus’ teachings about marriage and divorce show his lack of sympathy and mercy. In Matthew 5:31-32 Jesus says that “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” This is changing the mitzvot of the Torah which says divorce is permissible – and it is also cruel to tell a couple they cannot divorce. This alone proves that Jesus was not the messiah or a prophet. A prophet must undergo the tests of Deuteronomy 13. He can't just say things nilly-willyA prophet CANNOT undermine, change, or abolish a Torah commandment except in dire consequences. Elijah had offerings made on Mt Caramel due to the fact that Israel was slipping into idolatry and under the regime of Jezebel. By temporarily suspending the injunction that offerings could only be brought at the Temple, Elijah was able to save Judaism/Torah observance D'varim / Deuteronomy 13: [2] If there should stand up in your midst a prophet or a dreamer of a dream, and he will produce to you a sign or a wonder, [3] and the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying "Let us follow gods of others that you did not know (at Sinai) and we shall worship them [4] do not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of a dream, for HASHEM, your G-d, is testing you to know whether you love HASHEM, your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul. [5] HASHEM, your G-d, shall you follow and Him shall you fear; His commandments shall you observe and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve and to Him shall you cleave. [6] And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be put to death, for he had spoken perversion against HASHEM, your G-d Who takes you out of the land of Egypt, and Who redeems you from the house of slavery to make you stray from the path on which HASHEM, you G-d, has commanded you to go; and you shall destroy the evil from your midst. (Artscroll) D'varim / Deuteronomy 13. If someone adds to or subtracts from the Torah -- changing any of its lessons and mitzvot -- they are a false prophet. Jesus changed quite a few mitzvot (per the Christian bible), with Paul changing more. . . but Matthew 5:31-32 alone shows that he was a false prophet if he said what the Christian bible claims he said about divorce. . . Jesus is saying that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, is making the woman an adultress. Anyone who marries a divorced woman is an adulterer. Well, per Jesus' standards about 50% of the American population are adulterers. . . This statement about divorce is not merciful. What if the husband is abusive? No divorce without adultery says Jesus. What if the couple is totally incompatible? No divorce without adultery says Jesus. Jesus says that a man cannot divorce his wife (except for sexual immorality) forcing them to stay together. This message is repeated in Matthew 19:9-10 “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.” G-d says it is a mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply Jesus again changes the mitzvot (reverses it – proving yet again he is not a prophet let alone a messiah) and says “For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others—and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.” So Jesus is saying it is better to not have sex, and those who can refrain from sex “should accept it." This is breaking yet another of G-d's mitzvot -- it is in direct violation of the mitzvah to be fruitful and multiply. Denying sex, a normal human function and a gift from G-d, is the opposite of merciful! Jesus himself sinned by not marrying and fulfilling this mitzvah. So yet again we have a verse (Sh’mot / Exodus 33:19) taken from the Torah about G-d taken out of context and said to be about Jesus. The Torah verse is not prophecy, it is a simple statement about G-d’s mercy. Jesus’ merciful nature has also not been shown – he often spoke of mercy, but his words were often implacable and harsh.
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