New Book Claims Jesus Not a Jew
A prominent Christian scholar provides proof that that Jesus Christ was not Jewish, but Christian.
LYNCHBURG, VA — For centuries, Christians throughout the world have considered Jesus to be Jewish, but a new book authored by a prominent Christian scholar now puts that belief into question, claiming that Jesus Christ was, in fact, Christian.
In Jew Be or Not Jew Be, Dr. Nicolas Miller, Head Pastor of Liberty University, contends there is “no way” that Jesus was a Jew.
“First and foremost, Jews don’t believe in Jesus,” noted Miller. “If Jesus were a Jew, then he wouldn’t believe in himself. How is that possible?”
Miller said his book should finally put at ease the minds of Christians everywhere, who for over two millennia wrestled uncomfortably with the notion they were praying to a Jewish boy.
Fellow biblical scholars are skeptical, calling Miller ‘s book everything from “a work of theological psychosis” to “the rantings of a blasphemous turd.”
But Miller has his supporters, many of them coming from unlikely quarters. “It’s an accepted fact that Christianity was named after Jesus Christ,” stated Rabbi Moishe Godstein of Temple Jo-Beth Williams in New York. “How could the namesake of Christianity — i.e. C-H-R-I-S-T: Christ — not be a Christian?”
Goldstein said the idea of Jesus being Jewish was like “Henry Ford promoting Chryslers, or Walt Disney encouraging fans to go to Six Flags over Texas.”
“If he were a Jew, you think he would have allowed the Holocaust?” continued Goldstein. “Nonsense. Jewish Jesus would have intervened to save those six million unfortunate souls because they were his people.”
And why didn’t God, himself, intervene to spare the Jews from Hitler’s wrath? “Don’t get me started,” said Goldstein. “That’s kind of a sore subject.”
Miller attempts to make his case with simple logic. “If Jesus were a Jew,” he writes, “we’d all be Jews today — I mean, except for the people who are already Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or what-have-you. But why would the rest of us choose to be in some different religion than our savior?”
The book concludes with perhaps Miller’s most convincing argument. “Jesus was born not on Yom Kippur or one of the other ‘Kippurs,'” he writes, “but on Christmas Day.”
“Case closed,” added Miller. “Jesus was a gentile.”
Using this kind of twisted, stupid, logic Pocahontas wasn’t an Indian because she later became and Englishwoman. What a waste of pixels to publish this fool’s thesis, unless it was to warn us that the hiring standards for professors at Liberty have been lowered to the level of imbecile.
I don’t want to offend anybody but this is how I feel:
I. “First and foremost, Jews don’t believe in Jesus,” … “If Jesus were a Jew, then he wouldn’t believe in himself. How is that possible?”
1. Jesus was born from Mary (Jewish) and father Joseph (Jewish, descendant of King David, Patriarch Abraham, Adam the first man). He have been born in a Jewish home, according to the scriptures.
2. Is not that Jesus don’t believe in Jesus. He believed and accepted His destiny commanded by God, His Father, Our Father and Creator.
3. Hence, it is perfectly possible. I think it shouldn’t harm if Jewish people believed in Jesus Christ teachings.
II. “… who for over two millennia wrestled uncomfortably with the notion they were praying to a Jewish boy.”
Christians don’t pray to a Jewish boy. Christians pray to God and they understand God and their neighbors according to Jesus Christ teachings. Christians have the life of Jesus as the ultimate example, as well as are example other notable Christians along history, that inspire them to be better persons to the eyes of God.
III. “It’s an accepted fact that Christianity was named after Jesus Christ,”
Yes, as well as the fact that it was written and prophesied in The Scriptures.
IV. “The idea of Jesus being Jewish was like Henry Ford promoting Chryslers, or Walt Disney encouraging fans to go to Six Flags over Texas.”
Jesus Christ was born in a Jewish family and Jewish traditions, traditions which Christians believe that Jesus Christ enriched by God’s designations amid a time of turmoul in those days. Jesus did not promote a name or brand, He promoted a new way of life, a new Covenant. We who follow the designations and accept the Covenant are called Christians.
V. a. “If he were a Jew, you think he would have allowed the Holocaust?”…
Jesus Christ was born a Jew about 1940 years before the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a terrible act of perversion of the human nature agains their neighbor. Jesus Christ taught about pardon, mercy, compassion, brother and sister hood, teachings that contradicts by all means the Holocaust events, as well as every other deathly events perpetrated by humans during their existence, before and after,
V. b. “Nonsense. Jewish Jesus would have intervened to save those six million unfortunate souls because they were his people.”
We don’t know if a Jewish Jesus of his time would have probably encouraged an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” act against those criminals, continuing that way wars and annihilation of humans under that philosophy.
VI. “And why didn’t God, himself, intervene to spare the Jews from Hitler’s wrath?”
God did not intervene and Let that happen as well. Why? Why did not protect His own People, their Chosen Ones? That would be an interesting question. We humans will never understand God’s designations but we do understand that God granted us humans, His creation, a Free Willing, something that is constantly abused by the human nature. It is evident that Jesus Christ teachings, like the teachings by others designated by God, is visibly the God’s way to intervene directly among us and so guarantee the continuity of His creation.
VII. “If Jesus were a Jew, we’d all be Jews today — … But why would the rest of us choose to be in some different religion than our savior?”
We humans choose to live under a philosophy of life, we choose to belong to an Institution and follow their directions and participate in their rituals. Jesus Christ delivered a new covenant between God our Creator and Us, and that happened for a reason and a necessity.
VIII. “Jesus was born not on Yom Kippur or one of the other ‘Kippurs,’” he writes, “but on Christmas Day.”
We know that there is not a certainty of the exact date and time of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christians along history have chosen a date to commemorate this event. The chosen date of 25th of December is for several reasons, probably mystic and cosmic and might have several interpretations. We know that, for many events in history, there is not an exact certainty of the official dates that we commemorate, however, Christmas is the Christian’s way to commemorate the beginning of such an important occurrence.
IX. “Case closed,” … “Jesus was a gentile.”
Christians no longer use words such as gentile to discriminate between their neighbors. Christians will see neighbors as Brothers and Sisters to the eyes of God, Our Creator, no matter if the neighbors consider themselves Christians or not. This is according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Is this serious…? This can’t be serious. This is absent of all logic and historical accuracy. Not to mention the Bible! The debate between following the Law of the Torah is central to the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s letters (Galatians, especially). This can’t be serious. Jesus was certainly a Jew. The reason why Gentile Christians no longer convert to Judaism is because of the work of Paul and, supposedly, Peter. So odd for someone to question that when it’s one of the few facts that both Christians and Secular thinkers agree upon. Awkward…
Jesus created Christianity. Therefore he couldn’t been born as a Christian, because the religion was not created yet. It shouldn’t be that hard to understand.
Second, jews believe that Jesus once lived and created Christianity. But that doesn’t make them Christian.
About the Holocaust. How can a dead man prevent something from happening? If I died, I would not be able to save my family from something horrible because I would be dead.
And Christmas day didn’t exist until Jesus was born. Christmas day was created because Jesus was born. How do I explain this for you to understand. Now I know! Let’s take Martin Luther King day for example. What you would actually be asking is “Why was Martin Luther King born on Martin Luther King day, and not an other day?”. And that’s simply because that holiday was created as a tribute to Martin Luther King because Martin Luther King was born on that day. It’s the same with Christmas. Christmas was created as a tribute to Jesus, because he was born on that day.
I really hope that you who wrote this page understand what I’m saying, and if you don’t I would really like to chat with you for a while to understand your opinions on the subject. Maybe you could convince me too?
And furthermore, my father is Christian, my mother is Christian and I am born a Christian too.
Clearly Ignorance is shown here The entire Bible establishes Jesus to be from the Jewish Lineage, anyone who disputes this need to research their Bibles and see it spelled out for them.
The prophet Jeremiah was specific when he wrote in 23:5-6 of the coming of the royal son of David:
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
“In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The Lord our righteousness.’”
The Jewish writer Matthew uses the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth to prove that Jesus had descended from King David and therefore qualified to be Israel’s Messiah (2 Samuel 7:13-16). The promise had been given to King David, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me” (2 Samuel 7:16).
Matthew uses at least forty formal quotations from the Old Testament, and at least sixteen times he uses the formula, “all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying . . .” Matthew traces the origins of Jesus to King David and to the Jewish patriarch Abraham.
Matthew begins his genealogy with Abraham and moves forward through fourteen generations in history to David, and then his descendents through fourteen generations to the Babylonian exile, and another fourteen generations to “Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary by whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Matt. 1:16).
Another genealogy is given by Luke, which moves in the opposite direction. He begins with Joseph and goes back to David, Abraham and Adam (Luke 3:31, 34, 38). He is giving evidence to show that Jesus “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end” (1:32-33).
Both of the genealogies are dealing with the same person, Jesus the Messiah. Both trace the lineage of Jesus through His adopted father Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born.
The Son Of God is indeed of Jewish decent.
God always establishes evidence to refute the foolish.
Clearly the book and this article were written primarily to illicit buzz rather than actually address the age old question. Is Miller basically saying that if Jesus was not a practitioner of the Jewish (Judean?)religion than his Jewish ethnicity is null and void? Silly really. The obvious NEED for some Christians to be anti-semetic is quite hypocritic and has far too much importance. Why is it so important that he not be Jewish? Who cares? Does it have any bearing on following the principles and ideology he is credited with bringing to the world?
If Jesus were asian, african, american or european, what difference does it make?
Also makes one ask, was Buddha a buddhist? Was Mohamed a Muslim? Why does it matter? If the message they espouse is the basis of your individual religious beliefs, where does their nationality or ethnicity come into play? What about their age, height, weight? Exactly, doesn’t matter.
Christianity is the completion of Judaism. It is what God intended for Judaism to become. Not the western version of Christianity mind you, but Jesus is a Jew (He is still one because He was raised from the dead and He ascended to the right hand of God where He is still alive.) Someone is a Jew because it is their race, and they are all God’s people whatever the believe and whether they want to be or not. Jesus, a Jew, being fully Man and fully God, fulfilled the religious system of the Jewish people called Judaism, and established a new covenant between God and man wherein all people groups, including Jews could reestablish right relationship with God by excepting the final sacrificial work of Himself on the cross. This was always God’s plan for his people the Jews, and for all those who would, in the future call on the name of Jesus.