Judaism stands in its own right as the world's oldest "monotheism", and it is the anchor of Jewish faith. But One God who speaks in "plural", not in "singular": "And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... male and female created he them" (Gen.1:26)... "let us"... "in our"... "our likeness"... and the reason, is that in God there are three persons... He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob (Ex.3:6, 3:15, Luk.20:37)... later on, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, symbolized by the 3 patriarchs... symbolized also by the "three men" who visited Abraham in Gen.18:2...
God, Who is God?-
Does God really exist?- How can we know?- If God
made everything, who made God?- the I AM
God the Father in
Christianity, in Judaism, in Islam, in polytheistic religions
The Most
Holy Trinity, God is a Family, only One God
Exodus Alliance, the 10
Commandments, Images
Code of
Holiness: Mosaic Law of Holiness, Law and Grace, Gospel of Grace.
Mosaic Law and the Gospel
of Grace
Every man and woman are very special, made to the "image" and
"likeness" of God (Gen.1:26). There is an important distinction between
"image" and "likeness":
- Your picture is your "image"... but if your picture could talk, and love, and
laugh like you, then it will be "like you", your "likeness"...
... every man and women is "like God", with an spiritual and immortal soul, like
God, eternal like God, made to love like God... When we look ourselves into a mirror we
only see our body, our soul only is seen by God and Satan, and that's why they want us so
much!... we will also see our souls eternally in Heaven or in Hell!... on earth we can
only see its attributes, like God's... if we could see our soul, we would be overwhelmed,,
without a chance to test our faith in God!.
SIN:
Sin
in Judges and in the Bible - the Worst sin in the
Bible - Horror of Sin
Repentance:
"Repentance" in Judges and in the Bible... Confession of Sins - Bible Lists of
Sins
Punishments of God:
In Judges and in the Bible - The 4 Reasons for Suffering in the Bible - The
Secret of Happiness in the Bible - Two Ways to Pray Constantly
Deliverance of God:
In Judges and in the Bible - Sin and Satan-Drugs-Alcohol-Smoke-Obesity-Sexual
Habits-Errors-Exorcism
Judgment of God:
In Judges and the Bible - Last Judgment - Your Particular Judgment - Can a Jew a
Muslim a Hindu an Indian go to Heaven?
Human beings form a family, because God made them all from a single pair.
All have the same Father: The one who made the hands of a Jew, made also those of a
Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu... we are all brothers of the same family!, we all have
the same Father...
- That's why the second commandment of the Lord is "to love your neighbor as
yourself"... because your neighbor is your "brother", made by the same
Father... and , on top of it, you have to love your neighbor in "justice",
because your neighbor makes your shoes, and house, and your pants, and car, and streets,
and roads... your neighbor does wonderful things for you!...
- We are all descendants of Noah, with whom he made a "covenant". But even that
short document of 7 laws was regularly broken. So, God brought into being a special
"covenant nation", from which will come the "Messiah", to save Israel
and the whole world. The Covenant was made with Abraham... and with Isaac, Jacob, Moses,
David.
Covenants of God
What is a Covenant
The 10 Covenants of
God: Edenic, Adamic, Noah's, Abrahamic, Mosaic...
Covenants of God,
continuation: Palestinian, Priestly, Davidic, Solomon's, New Covenant
Davidic Covennt
The New Covenant, the
climax of Biblical Judaism
King David as Shepherd
of the People of God: The Eternal Kingdom of David.
The "Messiah" is an idea and hope that runs through every page of the Holy Scriptures... with 300 prophecies about his "First Coming", and 500 about his "Second Coming"... announcing his character, his time of coming, the type and details of his church... and the Messiah is the core of the heart of every Jew... He was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David... he shall save Israel and the whole world!...
The Messiah hope with the Sabbath have been
some important reasons for the perseverance of the Jews in the middle of so many
trials and tribulations for centuries.
- There have been many who claimed to be the Messiah... the one who "will establish
the throne of God's Kingdom for ever" (Psa.12).
Jesus of Nazareth was one of those who claimed to be the Messiah... racially and religiously
Jesus was born, lived, and died a loyal Jew. He at all times observed the Jewish religious
ceremonies rigorously. His first commandment was a direct quotation of the
"Shema", in Debt.6: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind, and with all your strength" (Mar.12:29-30).
- Without any question, Jesus is the most famous and influential person in the history of
the human race... He never wrote a book, but millions of books have been written on him...
He owned no property, won no medals, never held any political or religious office,
commanded no army... Yet no person in history has had such an influence on the human race.
Even the present year is dated from his birth.
- He said that he had come not to destroy, but to fulfill the Jewish Laws. He announced
his purpose in Luk.4 with the words of Is.61:1-2: "The Lord anointed me to preach
good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and
recovering of sight to the blind.
During his life was a stormy one: The multitudes flocked to him, and many
of them acknowledge him as the Son of God and the long-awaited Messiah (Christ). But the
powerful forces in the Jewish congregation, Pharisees and Sadducees, jealous of his
popularity, incensed by his denunciation of some of them, and bitterly critical of his
disregard for formalism, his willingness to violate some of the minor laws, and very
specially for his heretical claim that he was the Son of God, the Messiah, repudiated him,
and conspired to kill him... their final conspiracy was not after doing something bad, but
after resurrecting a 4 days death, Lazarus! (Jn.12)... they were blind!, they could not
see that he was really God... and eventually they saw him crucified, fulfilling the
scriptures, as he had announced 3 times before... and after learning of his resurrection,
they persecuted his followers!...
Born in Bethlehem, from the Tribe of Judah
and the house of David...
... without question, the most famous and influential person in the history of the human
race, the greatest asset of Israel...
... the "lamb of God" who takes away the sins of the world, of Isaiah 53 and St.
John 1...
... the long-awaited Messiah (the Christ, in Greek)... the only one God incarnated!
5- "LIFE" OF THE JEWS ON EARTH:
For most Jews, all things on earth are to be enjoyed by man now, not later
in Heaven.
- The Hebrews see hard work and education as God-given routes to a good life on earth. The
accumulation of wealth is not evil so long as wealth is used wisely in the practice of
moral living and charity.
- Honest sex and marital life are among God's blessings. Adultery, premarital sex,
homosexuality, and abortion are evil. The pleasures of life, dancing, drinking, sports,
and festivals are all deemed good if not done in excess... we will see
"Festivals" later.
- Deuteronomy 28, shows that if you are faithful to God, you will have everything good, on
earth!... but if you are unfaithful to God, you will have a very bad life, on earth!...
- The goodness of life on earth is expressed also in the messianic hope for a new
Jerusalem, which is to be established on earth and not in Heaven.
- The main problem of this concept of life is that not even Moses could fulfill the Law...
and if you brake one commandment you are guilty at the eyes of God, no matter how well you
keep the other commandments... so, actually, everybody, Jew or Gentile, is guilty unto
God, the wrath of God is on him... only the mercy of God can save us all... and, really,
this is the history of Israel: When they rely on their works, instead of in the
"faith to God", they are severely punished on earth... and when they repent and
"trust in God" they are rewarded on earth...
- In the times of Jesus, the "Sadducees Shammai" believed that
the righteous would enjoy eternal life and the wicked would suffer eternal damnation. The
"Sadducees Hillel" believed that the wicked would return to eternal life after
having been purged by a fire in Hell, a concept similar to the Christian
"Purgatory".
Today, in the rabbinical literature, Hell appears as a pit of fire, a place of punishment
for the wicked... however, the eternal fire is not surely eternal punishment. The rabbis
at times see the possibility of annihilation of the wicked or even of their release after
a period of punishment (like the Christian Purgatory).
- For many Jews today, Heaven and Hell are only symbols, and nobody knows what they
are!... indeed a very poor concept about the after-death...
- But Heaven and Hell exist in the Jewish Scriptures:
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” says the Book of Daniel 12:2 , written around 165 B.C. This is the first full-blown reference to resurrection in the Bible, an enormously dramatic historical event and “an act of incredible theological chutzpah,” says Neil Gillman, professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
The Second Book of Maccabees is a theological jewel, with the teachings on the
resurrection of the just on the last day (2Mac.7:9,11,14,23; 12:43, 14:46).
In the Story of the Martyrdom of the Mother and her 7 Children (2Mac.7):
The second said: "You accursed wretch, you dismiss us
from this present life, but the King of the universe will raise us up to an everlasting
renewal of life, because we have died for his laws." (2Mac.7:9)
The fifth child, looked at the king, and said, "Because you
have authority among men, mortal though you are, you do what you please. But do not think
that God has forsaken our people. Keep on, and see how his mighty power will torture you
and your descendants!" (2Mac.7:16-17).
Over the
centuries, the mainstream Jewish concept of an afterlife has evolved into something like a
spiritual journey; Jews also believe that at the end of time, paradise will exist on earth
and souls will be reunited with their bodies. Theologians stress, though, that the here
and now is what matters for Jews, not the hereafter.
-The issue is essential, because "Sister-death" is waiting for all of us... and
he who goes to Heaven, did everything good on earth; but the one who goes to Hell, made an
idiot of himself on earth, no matter how much money or power or honor he accumulated... he
left it all when he died!... "reincarnation" has no place in the Hebrew
Scriptures nor in Judaism.
- Psalm 73, is most enlightening:
A "just man" almost stumbled envying the prosperity of the
wicked: "For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked...
piling up wealth without any worries... until I entered the sanctuary of God and came to
understand their end... they are like a dream after waking, Lord, dismissed like shadows
when you arise... I was stupid and could not understand; I was like a brute beast... You
guide me with your council, and at the end receive me to glory".
... Indeed, many honest, hard-working persons, live a very poor life on earth, and many
crooked people live in opulence on earth... is got to be some kind of reward and
punishment after death!... otherwise this life would be an open injustice, and it will pay
more to be a wise crooked person on earth!...
Insists in the "eternal" reward of the "just", "everlasting joy" (Is.51:6,8, 61:7)... and he ends his book describing the eternal and universal "new heavens and new hearth", and the eternal horrors of those who rebelled against him, "they shall go out and see the corpses of the men who rebelled against me; for their worm shall never die, their fire shall not be extinguished, and they shall be held in horror to all mankind" (Is.66:24).
Also prophecies eternal reward and punishment for the good and the wicked: "those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting horror and disgrace. The wise leaders shall shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path shall be like the stars for ever and ever... for all eternity" (Dan.12:2-3).
Gives clearly the concepts of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory: "You are
depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will rise us up, to live
again forever" (7:9)... "you, by judgment of God, shall receive just punishment
for your arrogance" (7:36)... "if he were not expecting the fallen to rise
again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did
this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in
godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they
might be freed from this sin" (12:44-46).
Are two clear concepts after Jesus, in the New Testament, but they are not
clear in the Jewish Scriptures, because they do not correspond to the "Heavens"
and "Sheol" of the Old Testament:
- The word "Heaven", "samayim" in Hebrew, is a grammatical plural,
that corresponds sometimes to the place of the stars above, or to the dwelling of the
deity. And the Jewish literature distinguished a number of heavens or stages, varying
between 3 and 10... so, Paul was taken up to the third heaven, in 2Cor.12:2, identified
with Paradise. The word "Glory", in the Jewish Scriptures, identifies sometimes
more with the "Heaven" of the N.T., as we saw in Psalm 73.
- The word "Sheol" ("Hades" in Greek) is "the abode of the
death" in the Jewish Scriptures, and corresponds sometimes to Heaven, or to Hell, or
to Purgatory. There is not the word "Hell" in the Old Testament, but
"eternal punishment", with "eternal fire".
The 13 fundamentals of Jewish belief of Maimonides has come to be accepted
today as something like the official creed of Judaism:
1-5: The first 5 have to do with "God": Creator, One, Incorporeal, Eternal, and
Worship.
6-9: The next 4 have to do with "revelation": God communicates by means of
prophecy, Moses, Torah, and the Torah will not be changed.
10-11: Deeds, and rewards and punishments by God to good and bad deeds... in view of the
Holocaust, and the daily life, it is obvious that most of these rewards and punishments
have to be "after death".
12- Coming of the Messiah or Anointed One.
13- The resurrection of the dead.
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Edited 1998 Home E- Mail to: J. Dominguez, M.D. Last edition: May, 2006