How can Jews not believe?

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Yet he rose from the dead. Hundreds of people saw him, even some of his enemies, like Saul (St. Paul) witnessed him. Christianity would not have continued if Jesus had stayed dead, it would have died out like any other Messianic movement. It should have. But it didn’t. Jesus literally conquered Rome through the Church and the majority of humans worship the God of Israel because of Christianity. He fulfilled the prophecies, in an unexpected way sure, but nonetheless, God doesn’t work the same way human beings work. Time is nothing for God, 1000 years is but a day to him. If we’re going to argue over time, then we might as well argue there is no Jewish Messiah at all since for Jews he hasn’t come for the last 3000 years, and as far as I’m aware, in some Jewish sources the deadline is about to be reached in the year 6000 (2239). If there is no Jewish Messiah, then the prophets were wrong and all Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, are wrong.
 
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While he was on the road to Damascus, about to arrest a whole bunch of Christians, Jesus appeared to him. By his own testimony in 1 Corinthians 15, where he is quoting an early creed from the original Jerusalem Church (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), he says Jesus appeared to him. He also seems to imply that Jesus appeared to him a few more times afterwards too, such as in 2 Corinthians 12.
 
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Yes, you could say so. Luke says Jesus did take his place at the right hand of the Father 40 days after his resurrection but clearly the appearances did not stop. Paul writes that over 500 people witnessed the risen Jesus and he says that most of them were still alive as he was writing his first letter to the Corinthians.
 
YHWH_Christ said:
Yes, you could say so.
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I have to say it’s the first time I’ve come across the suggestion that ‘Damascus’ took place at the same time as the ‘Ascension/Resurrection’.

Still, it’s your book, you should know.
 
The resurrected Jesus appeared to Saint Paul while he was on the road to Damascus. The posters above aren’t phrasing it correctly. Jesus wasn’t being resurrected at the exact moment Saint Paul was going to Damascus to persecute Christians.
 
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What Salibi said. Saul’s encounter took place 3-5 years after the initial event itself.
 
Blimp said:
Was this really necessary?
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What was wrong with that? Of course a Christian should know the NT better than I would.

And do remember that I’m a Jew talking to several people at the same time.
 
The conversion of Paul took place after Resurrection of Our Lord and before His Ascension.
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Do you think the 40 days in Luke might have just been allegorical for a long time as they are in the Old Testament? Either way, even if it was after the ascension the appearances clearly didn’t cease as St. Paul’s experience is the most prime example of. And Paul had more than one encounter with the risen Jesus as well.
 
To start, the Christian view of the word messiah is very different from the Jewish conception. Because Jesus is both God and the Messiah, you place a definition upon it that carries much more weight. Messiah just means anointed…there have already been many messiahs. One can even stretch messiah to mean any leader that has been blessed by his people.

Different Jews have had many different views of what the messiah will do. Most consider him to be a leader that will once again unite Israel and the Jews and be a light unto all nations. Nothing less and nothing more…just a man that is a great leader, guided by God. During Roman occupation many Jews were hoping a messiah would remove the Roman government occupation of Israel. Some wanted conquest, some just wanted them gone. They had no desire to conquer all of Rome. They just wanted them out of Israel.

Looking forward to a coming messiah isn’t really some high priority these days…he’ll come when he comes. The same with placing great store in Prophets. It just isn’t a great concern and the faith isn’t dependent upon Prophets for living the faith. A prophet isn’t declared by his words but by his accomplishments following his words. We’ll recognize a prophet when one says and then does something…meanwhile, Jews live by the Torah…or not. Salvation, which is everything to Christians, is another non issue for Jews. These are just two completely different religions with some original ancestors in common.
 
Ah, CAF: where new users harass long-time, established (10+ years) users with resounding-gong-and-clashing-cymbal apologetics.
 
Salibi said:
Jesus wasn’t being resurrected at the exact moment Saint Paul was going to Damascus to persecute Christians.
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True. At the time of Jesus death and resurrection, Saul was probably still a student under rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem.
 
Yeah, generally I’ve seen a date range of 3-5 years after the first Easter is when Paul encountered the resurrected Jesus. It’s interesting to note the different views St. Gamaliel and St. Paul had on the early Christian movement. St. Gamaliel seems to have been sympathetic to the early movement but St. Paul, even though he was his student, was quite the opposite until he actually saw Jesus for himself. It’s funny because St. Gamaliel never formally joined but St. Paul obviously ended up doing so.
 
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