GeneralJet Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I had a question i wondered if i may ask. I recently read a book which claimed the salvation and teachings of Jesus were originally(by Jesus), meant only for the Jews. It was only at a later time that MAN decided to make the message/salvation available to all corners of the world. Is this true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davka Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I had a question i wondered if i may ask. I recently read a book which claimed the salvation and teachings of Jesus were originally(by Jesus), meant only for the Jews. It was only at a later time that MAN decided to make the message/salvation available to all corners of the world. Is this true? If you accept the biblical account of Jesus' life, it's not true. If you figure that other people came along later and tweaked the gospels so that they would follow accepted doctrine, then who knows what's true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dagan Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 I had a question i wondered if i may ask. I recently read a book which claimed the salvation and teachings of Jesus were originally(by Jesus), meant only for the Jews. It was only at a later time that MAN decided to make the message/salvation available to all corners of the world. Is this true? Looking at his words in the gospels, it's quite likely. Jesus spent most of his ministry preaching to country bumpkins in a small area, and was killed shortly after entering "the big city." The gospels only record a few instances of non-Jews interacting with Jesus, and usually they are presented in a way to make the Jews look bad for not believing. For example, there's the story of the faith of the Roman centurion. But the real smoking gun is this story from Matthew about a Canaanite woman who asks him to heal her demon-possessed child: Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." 23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." 24He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." 25The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said. 26He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs." 27"Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." 28Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour. There you have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Davka Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Yeah, except he also talks to a Samaritan woman, and talks about having sheep from outside Israel, and sends his disciples to all the "nations" (in Hebrew "nation" and "gentile" are the same word) to preach the gospel, and heals a Roman soldier's child long-distance while telling everyone that the Roman has more faith than any of the Israelis, and gives the Jews hard time for saying "we're special cuz we're children of Abraham" and jesus sez "big deal, God could make these rocks into children of Abraham if he wanted to." If you take the gospel accounts as - er - gospel, then it looks more like jesus slowly started to include gentiles over the course of his teaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Yeah, except he also talks to a Samaritan woman, and talks about having sheep from outside Israel, and sends his disciples to all the "nations" (in Hebrew "nation" and "gentile" are the same word) to preach the gospel, and heals a Roman soldier's child long-distance while telling everyone that the Roman has more faith than any of the Israelis, and gives the Jews hard time for saying "we're special cuz we're children of Abraham" and jesus sez "big deal, God could make these rocks into children of Abraham if he wanted to." If you take the gospel accounts as - er - gospel, then it looks more like jesus slowly started to include gentiles over the course of his teaching. Yea, but doesn't jesus also say elsewhere that they are not to preach to the gentiles? Or am I confusing it with his commandment to preach the resurrection, and then elsewhere to not tell anyone of the resurrection? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skankboy Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I'm pretty sure Christianity didn't become a "gentile religion" until Paul changed all the rules (dietary injunctions, circumcision, etc.) to make it more acceptable to them specifically because it was failing to gather followers amongst the Jews (for whom it was intended in the first place). So I'd frame it as "Jesus was preaching to/for the Jews", "Paul was preaching Jesus to the gentiles". That make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 Matthew 15:24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." Then later Peter has a vision about unclean animals, and God telling him to eat, and thus: Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." My understanding is: Jesus supposedly was only for the Jews, and Apostles changed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RationalOkie Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 In Bart Ehrman's new book 'Jesus Interupted' he claims that Jesus was an Apocalyptic jew who was himself waiting for the messiah. For those who haven't read it there's a post on this in the Lions Den called "Bart Ehrman - Jesus Interrupted ". Buy the book and read it, it's very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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