Dougg,

Not only is there no evidence of Trinitarians from 80-380 ACE, there is no evidence Jews before Jesus ever thought in Trinitarian terms. Ergo, Jesus as part of a Godhead would be a god they and their fathers never knew - and as any other god, would rightly be rejected.

In addition, since you and Mark are now bringing up blood-atonement again, I point you once more to this thread which received zero christian responses. A thread showing 2nd Temple atonement coming by means other than blood.

THE UNANSWERED THREAD RE: 2ND TEMPLE ATONEMENT

In that thread (and article) you'll find references to Tobit 4:9-11, 12:8-10, and 14:10-11. Also Ben Sirach 35:1-15 (focus on verses 1-3 and 6), and also 3:3, 3:30; 20:28; 45:23, 5:6; 16:7; 28:5; 34:1.

I could go on but the point is that historical sources outside our very own (obviously biased) scriptural interpretations shows that Jews never knew of a Trinity and they believed in other forms of atonement besides blood even during Temple times, some 150 years before Jesus.

So much for any Rabbinical conspiracy due to Jesus, huh?

But here's the real money question for Dougg, Mark, Aad, Rebecca, Thomas,, etc:

Based on above evidence, why would you expect Jews to believe what the NT teaches about blood atonement and Trinitarian belief (which the earliest church fathers never taught)?

And further, doesn't it now look like everything taught about Jesus was "new" to the Jews and should have rightly been rejected as things never known to them - and therefore false?

How can Jews be accused of being evil for rejecting a god they obviously never heard of before? How can Jews be accused of being evil for denying that atonement came in many ways centuries before Jesus?

Does it not seem fairly obvious now that we reject Jesus and the teachings of the NT because they're far-fetched? Not only to us, but to the Jews of the 1st century also?

Can you guys at least acknowledge the problem we have with Christian doctrine - and see where we're coming from in our interpretations of scripture - some of which are so clear and unambiguously against the Trinity and blood-atonement-only? Why can't christians here acknowledge that Jews stay Jewish due to faithfulness to God, rather than evil rejection of Jesus?

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"He who saves one life... it is as if he saves an entire universe. He who destroys a life... it is as if he destroys an entire universe"

TALMUD - Sanhedrin 4:5

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