Apologetics to Judaism

[Nathan]

I recently had a Jewish friend of mine tell me that he didn’t acknowledge Jesus as the messiah because Jesus praised and worshiped God. He said “so you want me to believe that God worshiped himself? That’s just self dignifying, God would never do that.” All I could really offer up at the time was the Catholic belief in the Holy Trinity, I’m really unsure how I should best respond to this and defend Christ as the messiah.

 

[fredystairs]

I’d suggest that you mention that the Church teaches that Jesus is both fully Divine and fully human. He has two natures in the Hypostatic Union. Thus when he praises God (and I don’t know which verses in Scripture this is referring to) he could be talking from his human nature. When He says “I and the Father are one “ he is talking from his Divine nature.

Blessings

 

[Sir2v4]

There’s a basic difference in point of view, with a Christian professing the doctrine of the Trinity. The actions of Jesus to pray to the Father and worship and adore Him require the understanding of the Trinity.

 

[jfz178]

Here is a good description, from a very intelligent Orthodox Jew, of the traditional Jewish view of Jesus.