Science vs. The Bible

In 1860, archaeological expeditions in the ancient city of Babylon proved, conclusively, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Belshazzar was not the king of Babylon at the time of the Babylonian exile, but that his brother was.  This shook the biblical world to the core, because here, science had finally, conclusively proven, that there was an error in the Bible.  There could be no disputing it, there could be no arguing, the Bible was in error and science had proven it so. 

This idea stood for 90 years, until, in 1950, further digging in the same area discovered that, while Belshazzar's brother was indeed king, he spent his whole reign out of the kingdom.  He was elsewhere, and his brother, Belshazzar, acted as king in his stead. 

When this was discovered, we suddenly, for the first time ever, understood the phrase at Daniel 5:29 which reads:

"Then Belshazzar gave the command, and Daniel was clothed with purple, a chain of gold was put around his neck, and a proclamation was made about him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom."

Why did Belshazzar only make Daniel the third highest in the kingdom? Because he himself was only the second highest, and he couldn't make Daniel any higher than third. The Bible was right all along.  Our understanding of what the text said simply came more in line with the reality of what it was telling us through science done well.  But science done poorly had convinced people the Bible was wrong. 

The moral of the story is this:  Science changes.  What is scientific "fact" today may be overthrown tomorrow.  If you went to college to study science, and you found out your textbooks were two hundred years old, how much confidence would you have in the quality of that education?  Now, imagine a student two hundred years from now studying science using today's textbooks. 

The Bible, though, was written by a perfect being.  God, who is never wrong, wrote once, for all time.  Our failures to understand what is there may prevent us from seeing the truth, but the truth was there all along. 

A Christian Response to a Jews for Judaism article.

Responding to the article found here:

http://jewsforjudaism.ca/why-jesus-is-not-the-jewish-messiah/



1. "There is no evidence that Jesus really had this pedigree, and the Christian Bible actually claims that he did not have a “birth-father” from the tribe of Judah descending from King David and King Solomon (Matt. 1:18-20)."

This is not the case. The father's inheritance CAN be passed through daughters as well, according to Moses in Numbers 27, if they marry within the tribe. Point 1 refuted.

2. "When the Messiah is reigning as King of Israel, the Jews will be ingathered from their exile and will return to Israel, their homeland (Deut. 30:3; Isaiah 11:11-12; Jeremiah 30:3, 32:37; Ezekiel 11:17, 36:24).
This has clearly not yet happened and we still await its fulfillment."

This is the case, but it misses something essential. Even the Jews believe in two messiahs... one they call "Messiah son of Joseph," and the other they call "Messiah son of David." (To see this on a Jewish website, see Menorah.com HERE.  It will open in a new window.) The Son of Joseph will come and suffer and die, fulfilling some of the prophecies of Messiah. The Son of David will come and rule from His father's throne.
Yeshua fulfills both of these roles. Why did the Jews imagine it would be two men, instead of one? Because they did not count on Messiah rising from the dead. Point 2 refuted.

3. "The Temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt (Isaiah 2:2-3, 56:6-7, 60:7, 66:20; Ezekiel 37:26–27; Malachi 3:4; Zech. 14:20-21).

The Temple was still standing in Jesus’ day. It was destroyed 38 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and it has not yet been rebuilt."

Again, while this is true, it is yet to be fulfilled. But even the Christians believe that the Temple will be rebuilt. Jesus prophesies it in the New Testament. This goes back to the two roles of Messiah... one (son of Joseph) the suffering servant, the other (son of David) the coming king. Point 3 was refuted in the response to point 2.

4."There will be universal disarmament and worldwide peace with a complete end to war (Micah 4:1-4; Hoseah 2:20; Isaiah 2:1-4, 60:18).

Wars have increased dramatically in the world since the start of Christianity."

Again, absolutely true. Again, refuted in the responses to points 2 and 3. Messiah does not reign on earth yet. He will at some point yet future, but He does not now. Point 4 refuted in points 2 and 3.

5. "The Messiah will reign as King at a time when all the Jewish people will observe G-d’s commandments (Ezekiel 37:24; Deut. 30:8,10; Jeremiah 31:32; Ezekiel 11:19-20, 36:26-27).

Jesus never ruled as King, nor have all Jews embraced the commandments of G-d’s Torah."

See points 2-4

6. "The Messiah will rule at a time when all the people of the world will come to acknowledge and serve the one true G-d (Zechariah 3:9, 8:23,14:9,16; Isaiah 45:23, 66:23; Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 38:23; Psalm 86:9; Zeph. 3:9).

This, as well, has not yet taken place and we await its fulfillment."

The Christian bible absolutely agrees with this. "for it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”" (Romans 14:11) Again, this prophecy is wrapped up in the dual roles of Messiah. Yeshua came first as the suffering servant. When He comes again, He will come as conquering King.

7. "Anyone can claim to be the Messiah or a group of people can claim that someone is the Messiah. However, if that person fails to fulfill all the criteria found in the Jewish Bible, he cannot be the Messiah.

According to the Christian scriptures, Jesus seems to have understood this. As he was being crucified by the Romans, he cried out “My G-d, my G-d, why have You forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)."

Once again, the article is only looking at prophecies which have not yet been fulfilled. Dual nature of Messiah. The second coming of Christ. etc.

I do, however, want to address the last claim here made, regarding Matthew 27:46. If you know the Psalms, you'll realize that Jesus wasn't crying out as being forsaken by God, but rather pointing everyone there to a prophecy of the very event they were witnessing. Even without the controversial translation of "pierced my hands and my feet" I can find five fulfilled prophecies of the crucifixion in Psalm 22, which begins "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Response to "The Christian Rebuttal"

"It’s important to understand that this second coming doctrine is an admission that Jesus didn’t fulfill the Messianic criteria. This rationalization for his failure certainly provides no reason to accept him as the Messiah today.

Furthermore, the Jewish Bible does not have a Messianic “installment plan” where Messiah comes, fails in his mission, and then returns thousands of years later to finally succeed."

Why refuse to acknowledge the dual roles of Messiah when arguing with Christians?  Does that seem forthright?  Especially when the actual Jewish belief on this topic supports the Christian response?