(February 17, 2014 at 10:18 pm)Lek Wrote: I didn't say the Jews accepted Jesus. In fact, all but a few rejected him as you pointed out. That doesn't mean they were correct. As for the eschatology, most Christains are waiting for the same things when Jeus returns for the final judgement. In the time since Jesus came until the final judgement we're in the time when the knowlege of God fills the earth. All the first Christians were Jews also.
They had good reasons. He didn't fit the qualifications to be the Messiah.
For a start, the Messiah was supposed to accomplish the following:
1. Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
2. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah 43:5-6).
3. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
4. Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King over all the world ― on that day, God will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
Even failing to accomplish one of these, disqualifies him as being the Messiah.
And please, don't give us the standard apologetic, "he's supposed to fulfill these in the 2nd coming". There is no concept of this in the OT. It's supposed to happen in the Messiah's lifetime.
There are quite a few more reasons why he doesn't qualify.
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.
