(December 19, 2012 at 2:31 am)Undeceived Wrote: How do you explain the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53?
It's not.
Funny how Christians always accuse atheists of taking passages out of context.
Isaiah 53 is referring to Israel as the 'Suffering Servant'. The preceding passages of Isaiah demonstrate this:
Isaiah 41:8, "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham my friend"
Isaiah 44:1 "But hear, now, O Jacob My servant, Israel whom I have chosen!"
Isaiah 44:21 "Remember these things, O Jacob for you, O Israel, are My servant"
Isaiah 49:3 "And he said to me, "You are My servant, Israel in whom I glory.
Isaiah 52:14 states, “So marred was his appearance, unlike that of a man, his form, beyond human semblance”
When does the NT claim he was so marred that he was unrecognizable as a human?
Isaiah 53:3 contains, “A man of suffering, familiar with disease.”
Isaiah 53:10 states, “But the Lord chose to crush him by disease”
When does the NT say Jesus was diseased (the Bible only refers to Leprosy as disease)?
Isaiah 53:10 also states, “That, if he made himself an offering for guilt, he might see offspring and have long life”
What passages in the NT mention any of the following: Jesus made a guilt offering, he had offspring, he had a long life?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
