Anyone Knowledgeable about the Jewish Faith?

[Morphidae]

I've been reading the Bible over the last year. It's something I wanted to accomplish at least once in my life. I'm near finished with it. I'll be done June 3rd. I've not been doing it in depth but rather a surface reading.

During my "light" perusal of the Bible and some accompanying reading (Bible for Dummies and The Complete Bible Handbook), I became curious why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. It seems like an obvious progression from the Old to New Testament. I'm clearly missing something. What is it?

ETA: I believe that whatever the reasons, they are perfectly valid. I'm just curious what those reasons are.

[Ula]

I've been reading the Bible over the last year. It's something I wanted to accomplish at least once in my life. I'm near finished with it. I'll be done June 3rd. I've not been doing it in depth but rather a surface reading.

During my "light" perusal of the Bible and some accompanying reading (Bible for Dummies and The Complete Bible Handbook), I became curious why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. It seems like an obvious progression from the Old to New Testament. I'm clearly missing something. What is it?

I can't speak for the whole Jewish people but my impression has been they believe the Messiah would be for them, not everyone.

[Marilyn/Absentminded]

I can't speak for the whole Jewish people but my impression has been they believe the Messiah would be for them, not everyone.

I know very little about Judaism, but on purely logical grounds I don't think that could be the reason. In the early years of the Christian faith only Jews could become Christian. It wasn't until later that a decision was made to allow gentiles to convert too. That would indicate that originally he was only for them, not everyone.

I think it had more to do with the politics of the time, and the fact that Jesus was not the only one who 'fit the profile', and that he did things, or things were done in his name, to make him fit it. Politics, not religion.

However, there are people on this board who are far more knowledgeable than I, and hopefully they will come in on this.

Absent

[Nachtigall]

I've been reading the Bible over the last year. It's something I wanted to accomplish at least once in my life. I'm near finished with it. I'll be done June 3rd. I've not been doing it in depth but rather a surface reading.

During my "light" perusal of the Bible and some accompanying reading (Bible for Dummies and The Complete Bible Handbook), I became curious why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. It seems like an obvious progression from the Old to New Testament. I'm clearly missing something. What is it?

ETA: I believe that whatever the reasons, they are perfectly valid. I'm just curious what those reasons are.

1) Jesus wasn't David's descendant (Joseph was, but he is not recognised as his father).
2) Jesus didn't rebuild the Jerusalem temple, as the Messiah should have done.

And, of course, there's the issue of Christians persecuting the Jews, which is the reason that some Jews even say, that Jesus was their enemy on the level of Hitler.

[Darkhawk]

I became curious why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. It seems like an obvious progression from the Old to New Testament. I'm clearly missing something. What is it?

The bit about not fulfilling the expected prophecies would likely do.

[Tana]

1) Jesus wasn't David's descendant (Joseph was, but he is not recognised as his father).
2) Jesus didn't rebuild the Jerusalem temple, as the Messiah should have done.

Plus Messiahs were a dozen a dime in those times.
Every other week a new one came out of the dessert.

[Morphidae]

The bit about not fulfilling the expected prophecies would likely do.

Could you tell me what some of those were? Any others such as not being David's descendant and not rebuilding the temple?

I originally was under the impression he had fulfilled the prophecies. Were there any that he did fulfill? Or was it all the early Christians trying to stick a round peg into a square hole?

Plus Messiahs were a dozen a dime in those times.
Every other week a new one came out of the dessert.

Any particular reason Jesus Christ got picked out as "special"?

[Tana]

Any particular reason Jesus Christ got picked out as "special"?

Difficult question, because the recordings started decades after his presumed lifetime.
So there is centuries of writing, re-writing, and finally deciding who and how this messiah should be.

I am no expert on this, just knowing about stuff I've heard and read.
Guess you have to find some serious bible research stuff, the non-religious type, that can answer questions about the situation in the different times and the reasons behind it.

[Selendrile]

I've been reading the Bible over the last year. It's something I wanted to accomplish at least once in my life. I'm near finished with it. I'll be done June 3rd. I've not been doing it in depth but rather a surface reading.

During my "light" perusal of the Bible and some accompanying reading (Bible for Dummies and The Complete Bible Handbook), I became curious why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah. It seems like an obvious progression from the Old to New Testament. I'm clearly missing something. What is it?

ETA: I believe that whatever the reasons, they are perfectly valid. I'm just curious what those reasons are.

What I've been told is that the Jews believed the Messiah would be a king on earth that would save them in the physical world from their repression. Jesus was more about the next world. His followers would not be given freedom in this world, but in the next. That is not what the Jews were expecting. On top of that, Jesus never came straight out and said that he was anyone's savior. He hinted around it and came really close a few times, but mostly he let his followers make up their own minds and spread the word. Anytime he was asked directly if he was the savior, he asked what the person believed. Anyway, it's just a matter of how one reads and understands the old testament and the prophesy's about the messiah. I guess it's the same reason that their are so many types of christian denominations and followers. Everyone is different and processes things differently.

[Morphidae]

why Jews don't believe that Jesus Christ was their Messiah

I really appreciate everyone's replies so far. I was a little nervous about asking it on a Pagan message board but I've found that Pagans, in general, tend to be pretty religiously literate.