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       Thread[.post]: 5.10
       TACKER:  sjlawson (sjlawson)
       SUBJECT: .. Prophesies about Jesus in Tanach (Old Testament)
       DATE:    22-Jan-26 22:05:17
       HOST:    ryo
       
       |What is the Jewish understanding of Messiah?
       |What is the Christian understanding of Messiah?
       
       I would argue there isn't one understanding in either of those religious 
       umbrellas, and neither of those (Jewish & Christian) describe one single 
       religion. 
       
       In Christianity, Jesus isn't even always considered one with God - the very 
       idea of Trinity wasn't talked about for several hundred years after the 
       events of the N.T. 
       
       What I find fascinating about the scriptures is that they provide a window 
       into how various people chose to cope with finite lives in an infinite 
       cosmos. God may be a real entity, or maybe God describes something that 
       exists, but not in a way we call 'real', and that distinction has never 
       really been important. 
       
       At present, the Christian understanding of Messiah is that Jesus lived, 
       taught, and was martyred but defeated death (how and what form that took 
       has been up for debate since before that party even started) and through 
       that whole process somehow ensures a pleasant afterlife so long as you 
       acknowlege the aforementioned events and sort of "sign up". 
       How one does the signing up is not generally agreed upon, though it usually 
       
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       acknowlege the aforementioned events and sort of "sign up". 
       How one does the signing up is not generally agreed upon, though it usually 
       involves baptism and saying a few words at the front of a church, or in 
       some cases, confessing to a priest on one's death bed as did the Roman 
       emperor Constantine. 
       
       The whole crucifixion / resurrection is rather important but in no way 
       unique. It's possibly important, at least for the story to have propagated 
       through the millennia, but I often wonder if that's just what people 
       *think* is important because people do like a show. 
       
       However, the non-uniqueness is just as fascinating. Suppose this God person 
       decides, "Hey, this humanity mess could use a bit of cleaning up," and 
       manifests in several times and places like a sort of 'undercover boss' who 
       happens to be not so great at staying under cover. Each civilization who 
       encounters such a person is inevitably going to call them by a different 
       name. Regardless of this, the teaching and the incarnation connects the 
       deity to the extended family tree of humanity which, in the ultimate 
       eventuality of time, connects every living being to some kind of universal 
       demiurge.
       
       I tend to think that is the real point of a Messiah. Emphasizing every 
       person's connection to every other person who ever lived and will live, as 
       well as to God or the gods whomsoever he/she/they may be. With this in 
       mind, any kind of belief that puts race or national borders above taking 
       care of other people is not only the ultimate hypocrisy, it's the only 
       thing in the world that is truly sacrilege. 
       
       
       
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