This website dismisses the dismissals.

Thus the Virgin Birth is often compared with virgin births in the Ancient World.   Yet the Virgin Birth has several differences and there was no tradition in Jewish history associating the Messiah with the Virgin Birth.

There are several possibilities about the Star.   Each has   its adherents: a super-nova, a comet. a planetary conjunction…

The Shepherds.   Most appropriate considering that the scene is Bethlehem, David’s city and David was originally a shepherd.

The Magi.   Astrologers, possibly of the priestly caste, from Persia or Arabia.  (Suetonius and Tacitus record that there was an expectation of a world ruler who would come from Judaea)

Herod.   The massacre of the holy innocents is all of a piece with what we know of Herod.

Gold, frankincense and myrrh.   Traditionally gold represents kingship; frankinsense represents worship.   Myrrh is thought to represent a forecast of burial in the West but in the Orthodox East is taken to be healing.

The census.   There has been considerable debate as to the date of the Census.

There are, however, three translations of the Greek:
The first census was under…..
This census was earlier than the one under….
The census was before the governorship of Quirinius.

In the history of the saints of the Catholic Church there are very few references to it.   St. Teresa of Avila, St. Rose of Lima and St. Clare of Assisi are among those in this tiny group.

Perhaps the best-documented multiplication of food was recorded within relatively modern times of St. John Bosco (1815-88). He is best remembered for his work among under-privileged boys in Turin.   Together with his mother he ran a hostel for them.

One morning Bosco was informed that there was not enough bread to provide for the 300 children under his care.   It was noted by one of the boys, who later testified to the Church authorities, that from 15 to 20 rolls at the most in a basket remained in the basket from the beginning to the end while the 300 were fed. No other rolls had been brought and the basket had not changed.

Another case relates to Dr. Philip Haley.   His fascination with the multiplication of food stemmed from his experience of food in his own home regenerating itself.   He decided to get his wife and a friend to witness what he regarded as his psychic ability to multiply food.   He set out food – slices of bread and apple – counted them and asked his sitters to eat what they wanted.   At the end of the meal the amount of food had gone down by only one slice of bread.

Dr. Haley conducted over twenty successful experiments between 1933 and 1934.   He sent private reports on his experiments to the American Society for Psychical Research in New York.

It does not appear that scientific research is being conducted into this subject.   The foregoing merely indicates what might be the case.

• Professor Stephen Hawking claims that God is redundant in explaining the origins of the universe, stating that “the big bang rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity”.
• Hawking’s new book states: “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist…It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe alight”
• It seems Hawking believes that a law of nature (i.e. the law of gravity), rather than an immaterial deity, explains the existence of the natural order.
• But what is a law of nature?   Some philosophers hold that the laws of nature are grounded in the causal capacities of physical objects: the capacity of water to boil at 100oC and the capacity of salt to dissolve in water.
• Other philosophers claim that laws of nature are simply brute regularities in the natural world, which have no ultimate explanation.
• On either conception, it is difficult to see how laws could explain the natural order, as they seem to depend for their own existence upon that natural order.
• Hawking has never told us what he thinks a law of nature is and until he has it is impossible to assess his claim.
• The opening page of Hawking’s book proclaims that “Philosophy is dead” but he then goes on to engage in Philosophy.
• Hawking’s has certainly not provided us with a good response to the cosmological argument for the existence of God, the argument that begins from the demand for an ultimate cause or explanation of the natural order.

What are the counter-arguments?

• As mentioned elsewhere on this Website, there is very much better manuscript evidence for the existence of Jesus than there is for Caesar, Livy, Pliny. Plato , Tacitus , Aristotle etc..   The earliest copy we have for the New Testament is dated 100-250 years after its composition whereas for the above the gap is 850-1400 years.
• Pagan writers who mention Jesus are Pliny, Suetonius and Tacitus.   Most scholars accept this view but there  is a minority view (e.g., from Professor George Wells) that these writers were simply recording what they had learned from or about Christians.
• A stronger card is Josephus, a Pharisee writing in the latter part of the 1st.century A.D..   There is debate about what he actually wrote about Jesus but most scholars accept that he wrote about Jesus and believed in His existence.
• In the modern world there is no shortage of Jewish scholars who believe in the historical Jesus.   In fact, many of these compete to reclaim Jesus as one of theeir own.   Thus we have Klausner, Montefiore, Vermes,  Maccoby,Flusser, Goldstein, Goodman,Jacobs, Lapide, Baeck,Ben-Chorin,Sandmel, Schonfield etc,
• What about the originality of the Jesus’ teaching?   A liberal scholar, Professor E.P. Sanders states that there are sayings in the gospels which could not conceivably have been created in the early Church: e.g.,”Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good ?’ “.
• Ernst Kasemann says of the 1st, 2nd and 4th antitheses of the Sermon on the Mount (not being angry; not lusting; not swearing) that they could not be regarded as normal Judaism, since it could not tolerate such sayings.
• Professor Geza Vermes, a Jewish scholar, has this to say:   “A negative, but significant, feature of Jesus’ representation of God consists in the absence of any royal figure”.
• The kernel of Jesus’ message was the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.   There were very few analogiess in the Judaism of His day.   The ministry of Jesus shows that who He and what He did were closely related to His message of the Kingdom.   In this there is clear blue water between Him and other prophetss and charismatic figures in Jewish history.
• Professor B.Gartner has drawn attention to 5 feaatures of Jesus’ ministry:  He acted in the place of God in forgiving sins; He considered Himself to be greater than Moses in separating the rule of God from acceptance of the O.T. Law; He  claimed divine authority to exorcise demons; He spoke authoritatively of God’s judgement on sinners; and in His activity He manifested the actual presence of the Kingdom.
• Dr. Christopher Rowlands speaking of Jesus’ uniqueness, says that the parables found in the gospels contain teaching which is neither the minutiae of the lawyer nor the ethical maxims of the sage.   (For fuller information on the parables see elsewhere on this website)
• Professor J.Riches states that Jesus strikes a subversive note with the call of the disciples and appointment of theTwelve to sit on the twelve thrones of Israel
• It is contended that St. Paul did not know about the earthly ministry of Jesus.Consider the following:
  1. Paul said that Jesus was descended from Abraham (Gal 3:16)
  2. He said that He was a Son of David (Rom 1:3)
  3. He was born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal 4:4)
  4. He welcomed people (Rom 15:5,7)
  5. His lifestyle  was one of humility and service (Phil 2:7,8)
  6. He was abused and insulted (Rom 15:3)
  7. He had a brother named James (Gal 1:19) and other unnamed brothers (1 Cor:5)
  8. He was betrayed (1 Cor 11:23)
  9. He was killed by Jews of Judaea (1 Thess 2:14-5)

• For the uniqueness of Jesus’ healings see “Miracles” elsewhere on the Website.
• With regard to pre-Christian antecedents of the after-life Professor G.R. Osborne states: For Israel the after-life is Sheol – a rather shadowy existence; immortality; national resurrection; an incorruptible existence; etc..   It will be seen that none of this tallies with the redemptive death and rising again of one man,
• Professor Geza Vermes refers to the various strands of Messianism among Jesus’ contemporaries:  The Messiah will be victor over the Gentiles, a saviour and restorer of Israe; will appear in trappings of royalty; will be associated with the image of the Priest-King; will be a Prophet Messiah; and will be slain as an unsuccessful commander-in-chief of Israel in the first phase of the war against the final enemy.   With the possible exception of the Prophet Messiah Jesus’ concept of Messiahship is quite different.
• If  the gospels are a concoction of various mythical tales, it is surprising that the authors should have portrayed themselves in such dark colours.
• One issue which embroiled the infant Church was the question of tongues.   Why did Jesus not speak about this, if it was to be so important in the Church’s life, assuming He was a mythical figure?

Jesus And World Religions

In this article a comparison between the World Religions and Jesus is made.   This shows the similarities and dissimilarities

There are basically two typessof religion:  those who believe in Resurrection and those who believe in Reincarnation.

MONOTHEISM: Jews, Christians and Muslims are monotheists and believers in Resurrection

• For all three faith means an unconditionally trusting commitment to and reliance on God and his word by the whole person here and now
• Jews, Christians and Muslims are at one in their faith in the God of history.   God certainly transends history but is immanent in it.
• For all three religions God is someone they can talk to.
• For all three God  is a gracious and merciful God.
• All three are  the joint representatives before the world of faith in the one God

JUDAISM: Jesus was born and brought up in Judaism and longed for His native soil to accept Him.   There were diivergencies between Him and most of the leaders of Judaism.   These came to a head on Calvary, where, in Christian eyes, Jesus died for the sins of the people.   The idea of His resurrection was a bridge too far for Judaism.   His earliest disciples and some after the Resurrection were Jews.

• The two religions share a belief in one God; the Resurrection at the “end of the age”; the Old Testament…
• Some Jewish scholars and quite a large number of liberal rabbis speak highly of Jesus, going as far as reclaiming Him for Judaism.   They generally accept Him as prophet but not the Messiah
• Christians have little difficulty in accepting the Jews’ Bible – the Old Testament, which Jesus also accepted.
• Unlike Moses (and Muhammad) Jesus was not a detailed legislaator

ISLAM: Mohammed himself can to a certain extent be viewed as a witness for Jesus

• He reminds the Jews that Jesus fits into the continuity of Jewish salvation history.
• He conspiicuously refrains from passing over Jesus in silence.
• Muhammad is said to have had a supernatural birth,to have worked miracles. to have been without sin and to have gone up to heaven.
• Jesus (to whom Muhammad bore witness) has a message of lasting importance for Muslims.
• Jesus is the most important prophet after Muhammad in Islam.
• The Koran calls Jesus “the word” of God and the bearer of the “gospel”
• The free spirits of  Islamic mysticism found in Jesus not only the example of piety, love and asceticism but also the Christ, who exemplifies fulfilled humanity.;

HINDUISM: A religious tradition developed over several thousand years and intertwined with the history and social system of India.   It does not trace its origins to a particular founder; has no prophets; no set creed and no particular institutional structure.   It emphasises the right way of living rather than a set of doctrines and thus embraces diverse religious beliefs and practices.

• For purposes of comparison Krishna is selected here.   According to Hindu tradition, he is eighth incarnation, in human form, of the deity, Vishnu.   He was a great hero and ruler.   He delivered the great moral discourse of the “Bhagavad Gita”.
• Jesus is not, like Krishna, one revelation or incarnation of God among many.   From a Hindu point of view he might be easily absorbed into the dynamic system of Indian mythology and cultic practice.   Some Hindus do this – often in a spirit of great tolerance and understanding.
• If Christ’s state of being (as seen by Hinduism) is to be preserved, then He would need to be placed in relation to Brahma himself. – the personified creator god.   As seen  by Christianity He would need to be placed higher.

BUDDHISM: A tradition of thought and practice originating in India c.2’500 years ago and now a world religion, deriving from the teachings of Buddha, who is regarded as one of a continuing series of enlightened beings.   A central tenet, in Hinduism, is the law of karma, by which good and evil deeds result in appropriate reward or punishment in this life or in a succession of rebirths.

• A number of broad ethical are common to Buddhism and the entire Jewish-Christian-Islamic tradition: Do not kill, do not steal, do not lie, do not indulgein sexual vice
• Jesus shows a greater similarity to Gautama than to, say, Muhaammad, the warrior and statesman.
• Like Gautama, Jesus was a wandering preacher, poor, homeless unpretentious, who experienced a crucial turning-point in his life that moved him to go out and proclaim his message.
• Like Gautama, in preaching that message Jesus did not use a sacred language that had become unintelligible but the colloquial language of His area.
• Like Gautama, Jesus points out a way of redemption from self-seeking, fallenness, blindness,   This liberation is achieved through religious experience and inner transformation: a thoroughly practical way to salvation.
• Like Gautama, Jesus occupied no formal office.

It is not intended in the foregoing to present indifferentism.   Rather it is hoped that there will be a greater appreciation of World Religions: their similarities and dissimilarities.

Through Christian eyes God loves all His creation and longs for them to be saved.   Where Christian and other Faiths co-incide that must be cause  for rejoicing, it means that God’s will is being enacted.   There remains the need for full Christian enlightenment.

In Fundamentalist circles it is common-place to come across claims that forecasts made in the OT are fulfilled in the NT.   This restss on a misunderstanding of what the OT is about,   Those books which are referred to as the prophets are not so much forecasters of future events as proclamations, speaking forth.

To take some examples:

1. Born of a virginIsaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel”In the Hebrew the reference is to a young woman, not a virgin.   The passage  refers to Ahaz’s wife and the child promised will guarantee the dynasty’s future.
2. Son of JacobNumbers 24:17: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall comee forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.”This prophecy is said to refer to Jesus, the son of Jacob (Lk 3:23,34).   However,the passage iis part of  court apologetic llegitimising the reign of David  proclaiming  his rise and defeat of Moab
3. Born at BethlehemMicah 5:2:   “But as for you, Bethlehem….From you One willl go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.   His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity”.The refernce is to a descendant of David as king, which Jesus did not fulfil: He was not a ruler in the sense used by Micah.
4. Herod killls childrenJeremiah 31:15: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more”The reference to the northern kingdom, personified by Rachel.
5. ResurrectionPsalm 16:10: “For Thou wilt not abandon my soul in Sheol; neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to see the pit”.This is inadequate prophecy of Christ’s Resurrection: there is no mention of the Empty Tomb, the appearances to the disciples etc..
6. Accused by false witnessesPsalm 35:11: “Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know”This can hardly be a reference to Jesus as He knew only too well what His opponents were saying.
7. The Suffering ServantIsaiah 53

The Suffering Servant is corporate Israel   In any case, the details of  the Suffering Servant do not conform to those of Jesus on the cross.

• Many, many more instances can be given of prophecies not matching the NT.
• When Jesus arrives on the scene, He is a shock.
• The prophecies provide no information about Jesus’ main teaching theme – the Kingdom of God.
• They provide no information about Jesus being an exorcist.
• They provide no information about Jesus forgiving sins.
• The claimed prophecies are dotted about in the OT: there is no composite whole.
• All OT prophecies are fulfilled in the OT itself, in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, at Pentecost and in the Church.

Addenda
Petra, capital of Edom
Forecast: “No-one will live there…..” (Jer.49:18)
Reality: Tourists, hotels, local tribes in tents,,,,

Nineveh
Forecast: Completely destroyed, no prophecy as to its being revived
(Nahum)
Reality:  Suburbs rebuilt

Babylon
Forecast:  Never inhabited again (Jer.51:25; Is.13:20)
Reality:   Saddam Hussein set in train the re-building

Sodom
Forecast: completely destroyed forever (Passim)
Reality:  Dead Sea minerals operation.   In plain to the South a few
springs and 2 agricultural villages

Joseph Klausner, writing in the Twenties rejects the idea that Jesus is not an historical figure.   He speaks glowingly of Jesus, although he does not  accept Jesus as the Messiah.   He writes: “Everything which Jesus ever uttered on ethical teaching is Jewish but his over-emphasis was NOT Judaism and, in fact, brought about non-Judaism”; “It is universally admitted…that Christ taught the purest and sublimest system of ethics, one which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of antiquity far into the shade”; and “In his ethical code there is sublimity, distinctive-
ness and originality in form unparalled in any other Hebrew ethical code; neither is there any parallel to the remarkable act of his parables”.

Another prominent Jewish scholar, Claude Montefiore,writes:
“The rabbis see both sides: their counsel. is, therefore, cooler and better balanced than Jesus.   Jesus teaches an excess of virtue, an excess of forbearance, an excess in forgiveness, an excess in gentleness, an excess in giving and yielding….Jesus teaches the same thing as the rabbis with burning passion and as part of a rounded whole of self-sacrifice and devotion…

“We can find rabbinic parallels to each of the beatitudes but as a whole they seem original.

“To call sinners to repentance, to denounce vice generally, is one thing.   To have intercourse with sinners and seek their con-version by counselling and comforting them – that is quite an-other”.

The Jewish scholar who has concentrated more than any other on Jesus since WW2 is Professor Geza Vermes.   Beginning in 1973, Professor Vermes has produced a trilogy on Jesus.   These are some of the conclusions he reaches about Jesus:

“Second to none in profundity of insight and grandeur of character he is in particular an unsurpassed master of the art of laying bare the inmost core of spiritual truth and of bringing every issue back to the essence of religion, the existential relation- ship of man and man and man and God…..

“In  addition to proclaiming the oppressed blessed, he actually took his stand among the pariahs of the world, those despised by the respectable.   Sinners were his table-companions and the ostracised tax-collectors and prostitutes his friends”.

“Thanks to the sublimity, distinctiveness and originality of his ethical teaching he stoodd head and shoulders above the known re- presentative of this class of spiritual personality”.

Another Jewish scholar, Dr Pinchas Lapide, goes so far as to claim that the Resurrection of Christ actually happened.   Dr. Lapide does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.   He believes that God brought Jesus back from the dead in order to bring the knowledge of Himself to the Gentile world.

Quotations could be supplied from other Jewish scholars, such as S.Sandmel, S.C. Reif and D. Flusser, to show that Jesus stands above His contemporaries.