The historical Jesus didn't create a new religion!

[andersbranderud]

Hello! My name is Anders Branderud, and I am 23 years old and live in Sweden.

This post will be about the historical Jesus. Who was he? Did he or his followers create a new religion?

According to historical scholarship [sources: see at the bottom of this post] he practised what corresponds to today’s Orthodox Judaism all his life. His followers were called Netzarim (Hellenized to "Nazarenes") – that is Hebrew [it means offshoot (of a olive tree)] and is a name in the Jewish Bible that is used for Messiah.
By practising Torah non-selectively, just like the historical Jesus did, one makes the world a better place to live in!

During the first century those who practised Judaism were very devoted their religion. Just like King David and all other Jews throughout history they practised Torah (Instruction) – the Instructions of the Creator – with joy! The most prominent university professors in this field Prof. Elisha Qimron , author of the most authoritative treatise on 4Q MMT, demonstrates that all three of the major sects of first century Judaism followed both written and oral Torah.

Louis Feldman (”The Omnipresence of the G*od-Fearers,” Biblical Archaeology Review, 1986.09-10, p. 45, 58ff) observes: “the Jews were apparently extraordinarily successful in winning converts”

Year 7 B.C.E Ribi Yehoshua were born in Bethlehem. His father name was Yoseif and his mothers name was Miriam. His parents were practising Jews.

According to world-recognized authorities in this area Ribi Yehoshua was a Pharisee (a Torah-practising Jewish group - who according to 4Q MMT practised both written and oral Torah). As the earliest church historians, most eminent modern university historians, our web site (www.netzarim.co.il) and our Khavruta (Distance Learning) texts confirm, the original teachings of Ribi Yehoshua were not only accepted by most of the Pharisaic Jewish community, he had hoards of Jewish students.

He took care of sick and made it popular to pray in what corresponds to today’s Orthodox synagogues. The genealogically non-priest, Hellenist “Wicked Priest” Temple-Sadducees felt that their power was threaten by Ribi Yehoshua. They decided to get him crucified by the Romans. The Romans convicted and crucified Ribi Yehoshua year 30 C.E.

Ribi Yehoshua’s followers Netzarim were expelled from Jerusalem 135 C.E: together with all other Jews. The first Christian bishop Markos replaced the fifteenth leader of Netzarim. This Christian bishop didn’t have permission to do this. What the Paul the apostate and later the founder of Christianity did was to take some concepts that Ribi Yehoshua had taught; they distorted the concepts and included them in the religion which they practiced – Hellenism – the religion of the Greeks. (Sources: See Ecclesiastical History (EH IV.v.1-4; EH V.xii.1) )

Anyone educated in this field knows that the only sect of Judaism that had rabbis was the Pharisee and even the Christian NT described him as a rabbi. Parkes, Bagatti, Wilson, Charlesworth; all world-recognized authorities in this area leave no doubt that Ribi Yehoshua was a Pharisee, of the school of Hileil - who was also Pharisee. There is no serious dispute about that among scholars in the field. Ribi Yehoshua taught in "synagogues"; which were a strictly Pharisee institution.

Following the teachings of the Judaic Mâshiakh (Messiah) Ribi Yehoshua – that is doing one’s utmost to practice the 613 commandments of Torah - also brings the inner joy, purpose and happiness of working intimately with him to bring about, and participate in, the Messianic era, enjoying a higher level of communion with ha-Sheim - the Creator - as party to Yirmeyâhu's (Jeremiah’s) New Covenant.

If you want to learn about the Historical Ribi Yehoshua, whom Orthodox Jews can live with (witness the Netzarim Jews in Raanana, Israel, members in good standing in an Orthodox synagogue), you must start with books like How Jesus Became Christian by Prof. Barrie Wilson (most bookstores) and Who Are The Netzarim? (publ. http://www.schuellerhouse.com) by Israeli Orthodox Jew, Paqid Yirmeyahu Ben-David.

From Anders Branderud
Geir Toshav, Netzarim in Ra’anana in Israel (www.netzarim.co.il) whom is followers of Ribi Yehoshua – the Messiah – in Orthodox Judaism

[bret]

Hello Anders, you had interesting comments. If I understand you correctly you believe Jesus (Yeshua) to be the Messiah, but you do not believe in current Christianity. Is this correct? Do you believe the 4 gospels to be true and accurate? It sounds like you believe Paul’s letters to be apostate.

If you believe in the 4 gospels then some of your writings do not correlate with their accounts. Two of the writers were Jesus closest friends (Matthew and John). John is arguably “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and possibly was Jesus' first cousin (some believe Mary and Salome were sisters). The gospel of Mark is generally regarded as “Peter’s Gospel as told by Mark“, a close associate of Peter.

I can not discount the witness of these gospel writers testimony. I can see your argument for Paul; however I do not believe Paul to be an apostate since he was a contemporary of the original apostles, and they did nothing to discredit Paul. I know there was an apostasy, this apostasy was for told by Paul along with the other Apostles (some of their predictions 2 Thess. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 4:1-3, 2 Tim. 3:1-7; 2 Tim. 4:3-4; Acts 20:28-31). The great apostasy had its beginning in the first century and did not become complete until possibly the late second century.

In my studies it amazes me how the apostles and most of the church leader were martyred at some point in there lives. Jesus for told this in John 16:1-3 . There were problems with converted Jews and Gentiles. There were discussions if the law of Moses should continue to be kept. With the new gentile converts old religious belief and customs were difficult to break and eventual, I agree, there was a Hellenized and Paganized set of beliefs that were introduced to the pure new covenant.

With careful study, and research it is easy to ascertain that the original church that Jesus establish had become something quite different by the mid third century. The people though well intentioned had “broken the everlasting covenant” and were believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ with some major distortions. With lack of communication, and education, along with the death of leadership and travel problems, not to mention intense persecution. It is understandable, but sad to see that there was an apostasy and removal of the Priesthood (authority to act in God‘s name). I just do not believe this happened until after the first century. This also explains why there are hundreds of different Christian denominations, all with varying doctrines.

Anders, from the way to are pronouncing Jesus' Hebrew name do you recognize Him as Hashem? Answer these questions and tell us more what you think.

[hawkinthesnow]

An interesting post. I would like to address all the points that you have made, but that would take a long time. I will restrict myself to just a few remarks.

1. Nobody disputes that Jesus was Jewish, nor that he practiced Torah. All reliable scholars acknowledge that. However that is not the real issue. The real issue is whether Jesus was no more than a Jewish prophet.

2. Our main source of knowledge about Jesus is the Four gospels. Following that we have of course Josephus who gives us alot of incidental historical detail about the era in which Jesus lived. We also have the writings of the church fathers, and for history of course, Eusebius, who you appear to cite with approval. There are refences to him in Jewish Talmudic sources, but these are dependent upon the gospels and not to be relied on for historical accuracy.

3. It is true that Jesus followers were called Nazarenes, we know that from the Book of Acts. This is because Jesus was called a Nazorene in the gospel of Matthew, and it is likely that "Matthew" was written for a Jewish group of Christians based in Syria (not Jerusalem). It is noteworthy that according to Acts they were also called Followers of "the Way" or "Christians".

3. It is simply not the case that Christians = Gentiles in opposition to Nazarenes who maintained a purer tradition. In Acts 24: 5 Paul is described by the High Priest as "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes". It would seem then that this term has some degree of flexibility, and was interchangeable with the name "Christian". And more importantly, it would appear that the "Nazarenes" were not at all popular with the other Jews. Rather than being opposed to Paul, it would seem that Paul was identified as one of them!

4. You cite Eusebius IV v 1 - 4. However, Eusebius does NOT call Mark the first Christian Bishop of Jerusalem, but the first GENTILE Bishop of Jerusalem. And the reason for this is that the Jews had been expelled from Jerusalem, so only non Jewish Christians were left. It was of necessity that any leader appointed would have to be non Jewish.

5. To call someone "Rabbi" which means teacher was simply a mark of respect. It does not mean that Jesus was a Pharisee. It was Jesus followers who called him Rabbi. The gospels simply record that fact. And even if Jesus was a Pharisee what follows from that?

Your post is entitled Jesus and his followers didn't create a new religion. Jesus did not intend to create a new religion, nor did his followers. Had the Jewish nation as a whole accepted Jesus as Lord and Messiah, then Judaism itself would have had a different history and would be a different religion today. A distinct Christianity arose in part because most Jews could not accept what the earliest followers of Jesus taught, and also in part because following the twin disasters of the sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the final expulsion in 135 AD, Second Temple Judaism was effectively destroyed, leaving the field to Rabbinic Judaism and the emerging Christianity.