The Nahal Hever manuscript
Does Psalm 22:16 actually say “they pierced my hands and my feet” as most Christian translations portray? This verse is a major Messianic prophecy. It’s probably the most quoted prophecy after Isaiah 53. If it doesn’t say “they pierced my hands and my feet”, does it say “like a lion” as the Jews claim? Let’s look at this verse.
As an apologist, one of my objectives is to deal with other apologists. I encounter the work of many people and groups. One group is a Jewish group called Jews for Judaism which is run by Rabbi Michael Skobac. They arose shortly after the founding of Jews for Jesus to counter their missionary efforts. At this point in time, I would say that their organization no longer serves a purpose.
I started studying apologetics in depth in 2008. Of course, I had been studying Scripture, Christianity, and Church history prior to that. The interesting thing is that I didn’t start my apologetics with Islam. I mainly dealt with non-Trinitarian cultic 19th century groups such as the Two by Two’s(Google them), Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Eventually I got interested in Old Testament Prophecy so that led me to study the Jewish objections to Jesus. I encountered the work of people like Rabbi Tovia Singer, Jews for Judaism and others.
In my critique of Islamic apologetics, I normally point out that the Islamic critique of Christianity is indeed a critique of Christianity but not an Islamic one. This often includes quoting secular scholars with anti-supernatutal presuppositions for their worldview. Muslim apologists seem to ignore the fact that these same scholars would laugh at the Islamic view of the Quran, Jesus, and Muhammad.
What I found on my old bookshelf back home
I used to be a huge Dennis Prager fan. I subscribed to his podcast, owned his first five books and listened to any talk of his on YouTube that I could find. When I became a Traditional Catholic, I looked to only Scripture and Tradition for my guidance and my trust in Prager started to wane. However, I still regarded him as a “voice of reason” even though he wasn’t as influential toward my worldview as he once was.
Donald Trump has recently announced that America will now recognize Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel. Also, he has initiated a process where the embassy will be moved to Jerusalem. This obviously has huge ramifications for the Arab Israeli conflict. I won’t comment on that here, but I do want to talk about the history of Zionism.
This post is a follow up from my last post. Read it to get up to speed on my refutation of Dr. Brown’s critique of my post.
On November 9, Dr. Michael Brown responded to a post of mine on his podcast. Here is the link:
His response starts at 16:30 and lasts a little under 10 minutes.
Dr. Michael Brown is a very intelligent man. His Biblical scholarship is first rate. I also admire him for exposing Rabbi Tovia Singer as a liar and a charlatan. I’ve probably read a dozen of Dr. Brown’s books. I’ve learned so much from reading what he has written on the Bible. Church history on the other hand is not an area that he excels in. He responded to my October 31 post where I said that the Catholic Church and Martin Luther bear zero responsibility for the holocaust. Keep in mind, I’m only defending the Catholic Church and one Protestant. No one else. Dr. Brown didn’t seem to get that as he was quoting 20th Century Protestant scholars who said Jesus was an Aryan and Nazi Biblical scholars. Obviously I don’t endorse that kind of stupidity, nor do I say they didn’t have a hand in the holocaust.
Luther and the true reformers
Today Protestants and some self-hating Catholics across the globe are celebrating the career of the renegade and apostate monk named Martin Luther. Being Catholic, I oppose his theology and his career as a “reformer”. Regardless, many articles have been popping up on the anti-Semitism of Martin Luther. They say that he paved the way for the holocaust. Of course when people say this, they often take a shot at the Catholic Church as well saying they were no better.
Above is a video of Theodore Shoebat exposing Dennis Prager. The entire video is 90 minutes long but the first minute involves clips of Dennis Prager in an interview with Dave Rubin. Watch the first minute to understand the full scope of this post.