The Pope's book on Jesus

[Lewis]

The Pope Says That Jews Did Not Kill Jesus




Pope's book on Jesus challenges Christmas traditions

see video here
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/22/world/europe/vatican-pope-jesus-book/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

(CNN) -- It's Christmas, but not as you know it: a new book released this week by Pope Benedict XVI looks at the early life of Jesus -- and debunks several myths about how the Nativity unfolded.
In "Jesus of Nazareth -- The Infancy Narratives," the pope says the Christian calendar is actually based on a blunder by a sixth century monk, who Benedict says was several years off in his calculation of Jesus' birth date.
Read more: Egypt's Coptic Christians pick new pope
According to the pope's research, there is also no evidence in the Gospels that the cattle and other animals traditionally pictured gathered around the manger were actually present.
He also debunks the claim that angels sang at the birth, a staple theme of Christmas carols.
The book, which is being published in multiple languages in time for Christmas, is the third in a series by the pontiff. The previous two volumes dealt with Jesus' adult life and his public ministry.
Read more: Jews did not kill Jesus, pope writes in new book


Jews did not kill Jesus, pope writes in new book

The Jewish people are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI writes a book to be published next week.
Many Catholics and other Christians blamed Jews for Jesus' death for hundreds of years, but the Catholic Church formally repudiated that assertion in the 1960s.
Benedict underlines the new position in his book "Jesus of Nazareth."
"Who has insisted on the condemnation of Jesus to death?" he asks in the book, referring to scenes in the Gospels where the people of Jerusalem demand that Roman governor Pontius Pilate have Jesus crucified.


The Gospel of John says the people in question were "the Judeans," but the pope says the term "does not refer to - unlike the modern reader may tend to interpret - the people of Israel as such, and it doesn't even have a 'racist' connotation."
Far from meaning all Jewish people, Benedict writes, "the circle of prosecutors pursuing the death of Jesus" is the "aristocracy of the Temple," or the priesthood.
"Even that is not without exception," he adds in the book, excerpts of which were obtained by CNN.
Benedict has had a difficult relationship with Jews during his six-year papacy.


He infuriated many by welcoming back into the church a rebel bishop who is on record as saying that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler did not have a systematic plan to murder Europe's Jews. The rebel bishop also minimized the role of the Auschwitz death camp in the Holocaust.
Benedict later ordered the bishop, Richard Williamson, to recant his views, saying the Vatican was not aware of them when it decided to lift his excommunication.
Benedict also put his predecessor, Pius XII, on the path to sainthood, further antagonizing many Jews, who believe the World War II-era pope did little to save Jews from Hitler.
But Benedict also last year became the first pope to visit Rome's main synagogue since 1986, trying to smooth feathers on an annual "Day of Dialogue" with the Jewish community.


The Jewish community "believes that Benedict's desire to continue dialogue is sincere," said Lisa Palmieri-Billig, the American Jewish Committee's liaison to the Holy See, just before the January 2010 meeting. "They believe the dialogue and the relationship are very important."
CNN

 

[tim-from-pa]

I'm not a big fan of Popes, but I must admit it takes guts to admit to the error about xmas they been perpetuating all these years --- that's one Pope I can congratulate.

Of course I know that xmas is a solstice festival, and I don't take it seriously at all. I "celebrate" it with family like any other secular holiday e.g. Memorial Day or Independence Day and is a nice mid-winter day to kick up, relax and get very drunk. But as a Christian, I know it does not have anything to do with Christ, and as long as we keep that in mind we are on the right track. Jesus was born in the fall, and I believe at the Feast of Trumpets based on biblical and other sources.

Paul warns us about keeping any pagan holiday, but the feast days of the Lord are OK as they are (prophetic) shadows of things to come.

 

[jasoncran]

so,lol channukah will come again?purim?

 

[for_his_glory]

Here the Pope is right that it was not the Jews that had Jesus killed. It was the Religious leaders that plotted to kill him. Actually read the whole Chapter in Matthew 26.

Matthew 26:
1 And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,

2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

3 Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,

4 And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him.

5 But they said, Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.

The Pope also talks about the Nativity an also right.

Actually the Pope is right except for the animal and shepherd part as Christ being born in a manger and a manger would be found in a stable would be that of where animals were kept so we can almost be sure there were animals stabled there. In Luke 2:8-15 we see the angels and the Heavenly host come to where the shepherds were tending their flocks, but after the announcement they immediately went back to Heaven not the stable.

Now for the Kings, there were no Kings, but only Magi. Matthew 2:1-12 gives us the account of the Magi who were a priestly sect from Persia bringing their best gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to honor the Messiah’s birth as they symbolically acknowledged Jesus as being the prophesied King of the Jews.

Magi were renowned in their knowledge of astrology with regard to it being science and related their knowledge to the Star of Bethlehem. Even though the area of Persia was predominately Islam the Hebrew prophet Daniel was highly regarded by the Persian court. In Daniel 9 the Magi had been given the prophecy of Messiah being cut off in the midst of His 35th year. They knew this event would occur 483 Babylonian years of 360 days after the Persian King Artaxerxes issued a decree. With this piece of information they deducted the Messiah would be born 32B.C.

There was also a Mesopotamian prophet named Balaam who foretold the coming of the star that would signify the rise of Messiah for the tribes of Israel. It was foretold that the Hebrews would receive a King Messiah and that his coming would be noted by a sign in the heavens specifically in the constellation known to Magi as Virgo. One of Daniels pupils, Zoroaster, incorporated these prophecies in his bible called the Zend Avest. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of Persia at the time of Jesus’ birth.

In Matthew 2:9-11 indicates that something would be marking the very place of Messiah’s birth and it is possible that Magi witnessed the Shekinah Glory Cloud, the same cloud described in Genesis at the entrance to the garden of Eden, in Exodus 13:21, 22 as the Pillar of Cloud by day and Pillar of fire by night and in Job as he witnessed the Shekinah when God spoke to him from a whirlwind of a bright and shining cloud.

The trip from Persia to Jerusalem by camel had to take at least three weeks as a camel can travel 500 miles in ten days plus giving time for rest along the trip. Being that the path they took could have been the Silk Road, which was an unsafe road especially when you were traveling with goods of worth, the Shekinah Glory Cloud not only led their trip it protected them until they reached the site where Jesus was born so they could humbled themselves before the King of the Jews and worship him with their best gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

 

[Davies]

Good morning,

Luke 23:18-23

New King James Version (NKJV)

<sup class="versenum">18 </sup>And they all cried out at once, saying, “Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas”— <sup class="versenum">19 </sup>who had been thrown into prison for a certain rebellion made in the city, and for murder.
<sup class="versenum">20 </sup>Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. <sup class="versenum">21 </sup>But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!”
<sup class="versenum">22 </sup>Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.”
<sup class="versenum">23 </sup>But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed.<sup class="footnote" value="[a]">[a]</sup>

The role of the Jews in the death of Jesus is unmistakable. I might add that we should see our own role in the death of Jesus. It starts with Adam and ends with our own dirty hands that can't be cleansed by washing them in water.

- Davies