The Jews had God but lacked a saving philosophy. [1]
The Jews loved justice, wisdom, truth, and righteousness uniquely, yet had minimal influence on the intellectual and spiritual understanding of these qualities compared to other peoples. [2]
The Jews, who took their religion too seriously, failed to evolve a nontheologic philosophy of life, leading to a struggle with their original concept of divine rewards and punishments, as seen in the drama of Job and the pessimism of Ecclesiastes. [3]
Freed by the Persians but enslaved by their own priestly laws, rituals, and sacrifices, the Jews forsook spiritual truth for religious bondage and tyranny. [4] The contrast between the religious philosophy of Jews, Greeks, and Romans illustrates the impact of institutional church on cultural progress. [5] The theology of faith may define and dogmatize, but Jesus' personal, living, and original faith was unshakable and deeply spiritual. [6]
The misconception of the promised Messiah led to vibrant expectation among the Jews, despite their spiritual retrogression and increasing bondage. [7]
The Jews held a rigid belief in the promised Messiah based on false pride and worshiped the letter of the law, leading to spiritual retrogression and separation from the gentile world. [8] Jesus was not the Messiah anticipated by the Jews. [9]
The Jews, nurtured on miracles, longed for a Messiah who would perform even greater wonders, but Jesus, understanding their expectations, chose not to succumb to the allure of spectacular displays of power and glory. [10]
Throughout his public ministry, Jesus was faced with the constant demands for food, miracles, and the desire for him to become king from his followers, but he remained steadfast in his decisions made during his time of isolation. [11]
Creator Sons always incarnate in a group with the greatest Adamic inheritance, embodying mortal-bestowal adventures in various sectors and universes, culminating in a final bestowal as a member of a higher mortal race. [12] Gabriel chose Jews as the bestowal race for Michael's incarnation on Urantia after careful study and consultation. [13]
Jesus explained to the twelve why Judeans were less willing to believe the gospel, contrasting them with the more receptive gentiles and less orthodox Jews. [14] The majority of Jews refused to receive Jesus, leading to the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. [15] The Jews, as a nation left in accordance with purely human status, no longer bore the torch of divine truth to mankind after rejecting Jesus. [16]
The rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation does not affect the status of any individual Jew before God; followers of Christ should not be prejudiced against Jews as fellow mortals. [17]
The apostles discovered that stagnant Jews had turned truth into a creed, limiting its power to guide spiritual progress. [18]
Judas Iscariot sought revenge after feeling personally rebuked for considering wicked thoughts, sparked by the sum equivalent to one man's yearly income providing bread for 5000. [19]
The temple rulers and officers of the Jewish Sanhedrin questioned Jesus' authority due to his recent actions in clearing the temple, as authority was the watchword of all Jewry. [20] Jews generally advocated impartiality in trials, but in the case of the trial of Jesus, Caiaphas acted as prosecutor rather than impartial judge. [21] Jesus, the last to afford real national leadership, was passive to Pilate's appeals and bore himself with simple dignity throughout the ordeal. [22]
Jews were famed for military valor and theologic peculiarities, spreading the Salem doctrine in Europe through their service as mercenary soldiers in Occidental military conflicts. [23]
The children of Abraham found God as no other whole race of men, and despite their struggles, they progressively revealed a clearer and more truthful picture of the eternal God to the whole world. [24]
Secular history has been disastrously exploited by Jewish and Christian writers, leading to the distortion of Hebrew history and the conversion of fiction into sacred history. [25] The early Hebrew prophets saw God in almost everything that happened, but now we know better. [26]
At the time of Jesus' birth, the Jews were eminently fitted to spread a new religion due to favorable cultural and linguistic settings in the Greek-influenced world under Roman rule. [27]
The truth about the Jewish people reveals that much sacred history is merely ordinary profane history, as Judaism served as the soil for Christianity to grow, but the Jews themselves were not a miraculous people. [28]
The Jews did not fulfill their destiny as people with a spiritual mission due to their inability to break the fetters of tradition and their rejection of the new gospel of religious freedom and spiritual liberty. [29] The kingdom of heaven taken from the Jews is now given to those who will receive it with joy and gladness. [30] The revelation of God's love and mercy brings about improved relations among all nations, as individuals are seen as children of God. [31]
Through national egotism, false faith in a misconceived promised Messiah, and the tyranny of the priesthood, the voices of spiritual leaders were silenced, yet the Jews never lost the concept of the Universal Father. [32]
The father's custom of his son's ring symbolized forgiveness and restoration of his lost son. [33]
Jewish children in the times of Jesus had a circumscribed play life, often mimicking the serious activities they witnessed their elders partaking in, such as weddings and funerals. [34]
Jews had just inaugurated a compulsory education law, with pupils choosing a «birthday text» to guide them through studies, as exemplified by Jesus with Isaiah's words. [35]
In Judaism, inheritance laws govern the distribution of possessions between siblings, highlighting the importance of responsibility and harmony within the family. [36] The Jews buried their dead on the day of demise, embalming them and placing them in tombs to prevent decay before the third day. [37] The Jews owned slaves and profaned the temple with an extensive system of banking and commercial exchange. [38] The Jews objected to public nakedness, so the Romans provided a loin cloth for all crucified individuals at Jerusalem, including Jesus. [39]
The Jews believed their history began with Abraham, leading to the Messiah in various forms. [40] The Jews, descendants of the southern kingdom of Judah, sought to tarnish the reputation of their northern Israelite counterparts from Ephraim. [41] The Jewish people, under Roman suzerainty, enjoyed considerable self-government and eagerly awaited the arrival of the Messiah. [42] During the fore part of the first century after Christ, the Jews were the most influential Semitic people due to their strategic geographic position. [43]
The survival of the kingdom of the Jews in Palestine was intricately tied to Roman foreign policy, aimed at maintaining control over crucial trade routes and preventing the rise of any power that could challenge their expansion in the region. [44]
The Jews had a settled concept of their history and destiny, creating a rigid separation from the gentile world and developing preconceived notions about the Messiah. [45]
The great cultural stability of Jewish society lies in the strength of their family groups, where family devotion and natural affection far transcended that of gentiles. [46] Jesus greatly regretted that the Jews lacked humor, unlike the gentiles he encountered. [47] The history of ill-feeling with Samaritans shaped the relationship between Jews and Samaritans for centuries. [48]
The Jews, looked upon all others as Gentile dogs, due to their attitude of racial superiority and rigid wall of separation from the gentile world, struggled to accept Jesus' teachings about spiritual brotherhood. [49]
Despite being rooted in Palestine, Jews were dispersed across the Roman world, with over 200 synagogues serving as cultural hubs for the early spread of Christianity. [50]
The gentiles were morally inferior to the Jews, yet possessed the potential for the seed of Christianity to bring forth moral character and spiritual achievement. [51] The Jews were unwilling to share Yahweh with gentiles, hindering their acceptance of Jesus' teachings on spiritual brotherhood. [52]
Jews opposed taking a census, viewing it as unlucky and taboo, in line with their belief in avoiding superstitious practices. [53]
Pilate's disfavor with the Jews stemmed from his failure to respect their deep-seated prejudice against all images, leading to a loss of prestige and submission to the whims of Jewish leaders. [54] Pilate's failure to understand the depth of the Jews' willingness to die for their religion led to his surrender to their demands. [55]
The apocalyptists of Judaism taught that the sufferings of the Jews were a result of the nation's sins, predicting the end of Roman rule as the end of the world. [56]
The Jews and early Christians resented emperor worship, leading to bitter persecutions by the Roman government. [57] Christian prejudice against Jews is inexcusable, as the rejection of Jesus by some long ago does not justify mistreating individual Jews today. [58]
The Jews have endured the sorrows of a misunderstood and despised people, yet their persistent search for God has revealed an ever clearer picture of the eternal truth. [59]