Why Jesus is not the messiah.

[John V]

And yet...he was Jewish and didn't believe Jesus was the messiah...

...You don't see an issue with the guy who wrote this and knew of Jesus and all his stuff not believing Jesus was the messiah despite writing that?

Of course not. When considering a complex question which is dependent on multiple factors, people can agree on particular factors and yet reach different overall conclusions.

There still lies the problem that there is a bunch of the other messianic prophecies that Jesus did not fulfill. You didn't address any of those.

I addressed most of them by noting that they will be fulfilled in the second advent.

That's the thing, though, I'm only using those sites for quick reference. I've gone over this before years ago, and I admit, it's been about as long since I read through the bible again. I'm not exactly equipped to quote passages by heart. But needless to say, I've heard the Christian arguments before, and they just don't address some of the most glaring issues. The lack of historian acknowledgement of Jesus' existence doesn't help matters much, especially given how long after his supposed death the gospels were written.

Whoa, where did that come from? Seems desperate to try to change the conversation to historicity of Jesus.

Gotta be honest, John. I really, truly do not understand the appeal of what you believe in. I really cannot fathom who in their right mind would call themselves a Christian and then call their values and beliefs "good." I just. I just can't. I once thought I could and then I realized what it was I was adhering to. You'll have to try to explain what the appeal is to me. Cuz...I just don't. I just I don't! I don't. That's all I've got is I just...I don't.

That's your shortcoming. While you can disagree with people, if you can't understand the mindset of a really big group of people, there's something wrong with you. I can understand why people might be atheist or Muslim. Politically I'm a little right of center, but I can understand the far left and far right, while disagreeing with them.

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What would really impress me is if there is at least one clear unambiguous passage in the Old Testament that predicted the Messiah would be crucified and rise from the dead within three days.

That wouldn't make sense, as the people who crucified him knew the Scripture. If it were that clear and ambiguous, they would kill a claimant in a different way.

Obviously, as someone who's extensively read the Old Testament several times, I really doubt someone could provide me with such a passage, but it does show you something is just not right when the New Testament stresses on the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah but the Old Testament doesn't even hint at it.

That's a different standard. You should be able to find hints of a suffering messiah.