Christianity 101

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Before proceeding to show how David is Jesus' paternal ancestor, I think it
reasonable to emphasize that much of Christianity cannot be proven true by
means of empirical evidence. In other words; many elements of Christianity
would never hold up in an unbiased court of law wherein facts are afforded
far more value than the words of any one particular holy book; whether the
Tanach, the Koran, the Sutras, the Book Of Mormon, or the Veda, et al.

Using the Bible's statements to prove the Bible's statements are true is sort
of like what would be a jury acquitting defendants based solely upon the
accused saying they didn't do it, viz: the Bible is true to a Christian, but we
cannot sensibly expect it to be true to critical thinkers, i.e. the Bible is our
truth, but not necessarily everybody's truth. So let's not be going about in a
manner similar to inflamed fanatics waving placards, shouting, baring our
teeth, and spraying spittle; demanding that people defer to our way of
thinking.
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20) Jesus' genealogy is relatively unimportant to the average Gentile,
whereas very important to Jews because only David's biological posterity
qualify to ascend his throne and govern the people of Israel.

● Ps 132:11 . .The Lord has sworn in truth unto David; and He will not turn
from it: "Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne"

The New Testament alleges Jesus' biological connection to David.

● Acts 2:29-30 . . Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the
patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us
unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he
would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.

● Rom 1:3 . . . His son; descended from David according to the flesh

FAQ: Jesus is alleged to have been miraculously conceived (Luke 1:27-35)
How then did he in any way at all descend from David's loins, i.e. his flesh?

REPLY: Mary wasn't Jesus' surrogate mother, viz: he wasn't implanted in her
womb, rather, he was conceived in her womb. Seeing as how Joseph wasn't
Jesus' father, then conception by means of his mom's flesh became the
default path to David's flesh.

Although women are rare in Bible genealogies, they still matter. For example
Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. ( Matt 1:5-6)
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21) In the centuries leading up to Jesus' time, the land of Israel was
conquered by Nebuchadnezzar whereby Jerusalem and the Temple were
destroyed, and many of the people were taken into slavery for a period of
seventy years.

During his years in slavery, the prophet Daniel predicted the people would
return and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple; but not for keeps. The day
would come when the city and the Temple would once again be destroyed;
which they were in 70 AD by Titus. (This is all too much to explain in detail
so I'm just painting the broad strokes.)

Daniel also predicted that David's ultimate successor would show up and
then be taken away before Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple; which
means that Israel's long-awaited king has been here once before already.

Some of the Jews in Jesus' day were under the impression that their king
was supposed to be immortal (John 12:34) but Daniel predicted their king
would not be immortal. (Dan 9:26) That error in their thinking has led quite
a few Jews even in our time to dismiss Jesus as David's ultimate successor.

● John 7:31 . .When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than
this man?

Torah-trained Jews circumvent that question by citing Deut 13:1-5 which
says, in so many words, that miracles are no guarantee that a prophet is
working together with God. In point of fact, some of Israel's top spiritual
counselors were convinced Jesus was trying to mislead the people with his
miracles.

I kind of sympathize with their doubts because some of the things Jesus
claimed about himself were very much on a level of madness the likes of Jim
Jones, David Koresh, Sun Myung Moon, Charles Manson, Mary Baker Eddy,
Joseph Smith, L. Ron Hubbard, Muhammad, Ellen G White, and Charles Taze
Russel, et al.

But still; the fact remains that according to Daniel, the Jews' king has been
here once before already. So if it wasn't Jesus, then who else from that era
might be a likely candidate for us to consider?
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