Jewish-Catholic debate, please help!

[Nickless]

I just spent about three hours of debate with a Jewish rabbi that ended up in both of us beeing stuck; he refuses to read translations of the Old Testament and reffers to St. Jerome as an “unalphabet”. How should I react? What solid proofs from the Old Tsetament can I supply him? And what should I do with his refusal to read English texts?

Please help!

 

[Aelred_Minor]

Learn Hebrew or get him to agree to read and argue in terms of English translations, allowing him of course to bring up when he thinks the translation is poor like anyone with knowledge of the original languages might do.

Or just give up using Scripture itself as part of the debate. You could limit yourselves to more philosophical matters like debating whether the Trinity is polytheism, whether belief in the Incarnation is idolatry, the different senses of Scripture (without using concrete examples), that sort of thing.

 

[AssisiFollower]

By “solid proofs in the Old Testament,” do you mean OT passages that prefigure Christ? On what subject are you looking for proofs?

Have you read Life of Moses by Gregory of Nyssa? He speaks of some specific imagery prefiguring Christ in Exodus, as one particular you could use, if that is what you meant to say that you needed.

 

[JM3]

mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0.htm

 

[CHRISTINE77]

just forget about it - the Jews wrote the Bible!

 

[StudentMI]

This might not be the most positive sounding answer, but I would suggest finding something more productive to do.

 

[irenaeuslyons]

I just spent about three hours of debate with a Jewish rabbi that ended up in both of us beeing stuck; he refuses to read translations of the Old Testament and reffers to St. Jerome as an “unalphabet”. How should I react? What solid proofs from the Old Tsetament can I supply him? And what should I do with his refusal to read English texts? Please help!

Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews is probably the best document for him to read.

 

[Mathetes2010]

I just spent about three hours of debate with a Jewish rabbi that ended up in both of us beeing stuck; he refuses to read translations of the Old Testament and reffers to St. Jerome as an “unalphabet”. How should I react? What solid proofs from the Old Tsetament can I supply him? And what should I do with his refusal to read English texts?

Please help!

Before you re-engage him you must prepare because you will go through much unnecessary consternation. I would recommend the following: 1) learn about the Masoretic text, 2) learn about the Septuagint, 3) study Daniel’s prophecy concerning the coming Messiah, and 4) get as much material from the Association of Hebrew Catholics as you can which will help you understand where your Jewish opponent stands. You cannot expect to simply cite Isaiah 7:14 and “presto” think that you will convert someone. Although our Christian NT and OT state that a “virgin” will conceive, their Hebrew OT states that a “maiden” will conceive in this verse. Hence you will prove nothing. Once you learn 1 and 2 above, it will be more evident to you that you can still prove that a “virgin” was meant in this verse but you will have to go thru each verse where “maiden” is used in the Hebrew OT and that it’s used as a synonym for “virgin.” Again, only preparation will get you there.

 

[Kaninchen]

I just spent about three hours of debate with a Jewish rabbi that ended up in both of us beeing stuck; he refuses to read translations of the Old Testament and reffers to St. Jerome as an “unalphabet”. How should I react? What solid proofs from the Old Tsetament can I supply him? And what should I do with his refusal to read English texts?

Please help!

Perhaps a trawl through some of the dialogues we’ve had here might be enlightening - as an introduction to the idea that there’s a lot more to it than the wording of few proof texts, or to the world of apologetic pointlessness or just for entertainment, or all three?