Based on the forum rules I'm confused as to whether this is a Christian-Jewish forum or a Christian forum where Jews are considered guests.

1. Participants are expected to show respect or reverence to Jesus. Yet in Judaism, Jesus is not considered to be God, messiah, or prophet. By what standard is a Jewish participant expected to show reverence toward a person whom Judaism considers to be a false god and false messiah?

2. A forum axiom states that the scriptures as final authority consisting of both the Tanakh and the New Testament. This recognition aligns with traditional Christian doctrine; it is, however, contrary to that of Judaism, in which the Tanakh alone is the final authority. By what standard is a Jewish participant expected to show respect toward the NT? Are Jewish participants expected to extend greater respect toward the NT than Christian participants toward the Talmud?

3. Moreover, the rules state that the scriptures are to be treated with respect and not misused or removed from their context. However a great many theological disagreements between Christians and Jews revolve around whether one side or the other twists the meaning of certain passages out of context, whether deliberately or otherwise. Who gets to decide what constitutes out-of-context?

I ask these questions in all sincerity; I do not wish to cause problems, but seek to understand the purpose of this forum. Thank you.

aunursa

one word answer from myself at least - dialogue.

when the forum was set up it was to allow followers of jesus (whom many believe to be the messiah) to discuss openly with either other christians and Jews things that matter about the world in which they live, from the secular to the spiritual (it is to be expected that there will be more christians on the site than Jews simply due to population figures).

The sites primary interest is dialogue (but not for any pre-determined end). The site ought not to be used by followers of Jesus purely as a way of evangelising jewish people, nor should it become a place for Jews to engage in anti-missionary work. (that said though there is nothing wrong with an open discussion of the scriptures, but from the start the motives of the heart should be weighed, in case we be found to be wanting).

in answer to number two, yes the site was set up by a christian, who accepts only the hebrew bible and the b'rit chadashah as the final authority in all things. Whilst extra biblical writings are useful, they are considered only good guidance from a christian POV (though most christians have never heard of many jewish writings, let alone read them). It would be nice if this forum could go a long way to addressing this. There is a hint in question two that somehow the b'rit chadashah teaches things not found in Torah, but this only appears to come with a superficial reading. As the Torah says in not so many word... if a prophet comes along and leads you away.... he is a false prophet.

It is expected that jews will show the same level of tolerance as christians when it comes to what they deem 'their holy book'. All sides have always felt (and between our two paths this has been a bloody history which should not have happened) that their scriptural corner must be defended at all costs. I personally think G-d is more than capable of defending his scripture.

I am all up for people poking holes in christian theology (after all it is a man made subject). That said, argument for the sake of argument neither glorifies man nor G-d. So let our words be few, unless we put both feet in our mouth and say something we will regret now or in the future.

point three - i do not think we will ever resolve. Even in judaisms past present and future there have been disagreements between great intellects on the meanings of well known passages (and they have had the books longer than christians) (a subject i will not discuss at this time in this post).

Now these are my answers of what I want from the site, what you may want and others may want are seperate issues which only they can say, and it would be nice if they did.



Steve