Posted on 12/14/2005 4:16:59 PM PST by SJackson
My only disagreement was with his use of the word "convert" regarding Christians wanting to convert Jews.
Since the Christian position is that Jesus is Messiah, if a Jew accepts this, he has not destroyed the Law of Moses, but has, instead, apprehended a more perfect faith; like in kind to the faith of Abraham. Abraham believed G_d, and He credited that belief to Abraham as righteousness in His sight. That one who would believe the Jesus is Messiah -- G_d incarnate -- must also, like Abraham, believe G_d -- insofar as G_d has testified throughout scripture concerning Messiah -- and, having done so, G_d will likewise credit it to them as righteousness. For a Jew, this is not denial of either faith or heritage but, rather, a fulfillment of both as the veil of Moses is taken away and the Jew comes face-to-face with his G_d and realizes that, in Jesus' blood, he is now not only an heir, but a participant in all that was promised to Abraham, having now become his descendant after the spirit as well as the flesh, and having seen his religion not destroyed nor cast aside but made complete; all the requirements of the Law having been satisfied once for all in the person of Messiah.
No, we Christians do not seek to "convert" Jews, we seek only to show them that all of the Law has been fulfilled -- it's many requirements fully met -- and that all are now set free from those requirements to simply believe G_d's testimony about The One Whom He has sent and, in so doing, take up the same faith for which Abraham was credited righteousness before G_d Himself. We don't want to convert the Jews; we want to lead them home to the true House and Line of Abraham; the spiritual house of Israel that G_d established when He declared Abraham's faith to be righteousness; that house which all who would enter must enter into by faith like that of Abraham.
And how could a Jew be any more righteous than to share faith with Abraham? So, then ,Christians do not seek to turn Jews away from faith, or to corrupt their faith, but to urge them to perfect their faith through belief in Jesus as Messiah; that they may, at last, know the faith of Abraham and understand what it is to truly be Abraham's heirs.
Ironically, the majority of the leftists in this country are not even aware of the fact that they are being used. Not too long ago, I ventured over to DU. Someone over there actually posted that if they (DUers) were wrong about Islam, then they were in big trouble. But that's as far as the discussion went.
Liberal Jews must realize that conservative Christians are not looking for a theocracy. We are simply tired of what secular humanists, feminists, socialists, and the rest of the "ists" have done to this country. They have not made America stronger. They have weakened it with their moral relativism.
Thanks for posting. It was a great article!
Why when Forte Runningrock is much more amusing while giving me the same information?
It is supposedly the PC way to write it. Like G*D. I don't care for it either.
Ummm....that was a joke, right?
It is the same with the word 'Hebrew' -- the term describes twelve tribes, not just one. Everything that is written in the Old Testament was written for the the House of Israel as a group, not just for a single tribe.
Understanding this is a major key to understanding the Bible.
By the time Jesus was born, only a small remnant of two tribes remained in the Holy Land. The others had all disappeared -- melded into the genetic infrastructure of the human race.
With their disappearance, the Jewish remnant that remained in Palestine came to the conclusion that they were the sole beneficiaries of all of God's promises to the House of Israel. But the prophet Ezekiel told them no. They were simply the last tribe to go into Babylon's exile.
Ezekiel scolded the Jews for their arrogance in trying to usurp the covenant. He told them in no uncertain terms (see chapter heading) that all twelve of Israel's tribes were going to share equally in the fulfillment of scripture's promise.
Ezekiel put the Jews on notice that the missing Hebrew tribes were not missing as far as God was concerned. Jeremiah agreed. "In those days", Jeremiah said, "the House of Judah will unite with the House of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land I gave your ancestors as a heritage." (Jer.3:18).
The Jewish leaders did not believe these predictions because they could not see how those vanished tribes could ever be recovered. The missing tribes of Israel had entirely disappeared. Their genetic identity had evaporated completely and seemed irretrievably lost.
The Jewish scholars could not conceive a divine intervention powerful enough to restore these missing people, because the lost tribes had become indistinguishable from the Gentiles into whose stock they had disappeared. For this reason, the Jews steadfastly see themselves as the sole beneficiaries of all the ancient promises in scripture concerning the House of Israel.
Scripture had long predicted a royal lineage for the tribe of Judah and the rabbi's translated that to mean exclusivity. There were so many prophecies all seeming to say the same thing, who could deny it?
But all those prophecies of royalty were for Jesus, not the Jews. It was not the roots that were royal but the One who sprang from them. The royal heir was Jesus, the Christ -- the princely Son of the Almighty King.
It is not PC. Jews write God as G-d because it's believed that they are not to evoke his name directly.
You contradict even the Apostle Paul on the subject....you are way out on a limb on this one.
You want to argue that there might be a disparately distinct people group in the world consisting of the "10 lost tribes" that God will bring together on the day of "Shiloh", there might be some truth to that....but not all of Mankind descends from the 12 tribes....for why does the Bible speak of the "times of the Gentiles coming to an end" in their subjugation of Israel?
Must have been a freeper lurking on that site
The major problem that most Jews have is understanding just weak their stance of do not try to convert us, makes them look to evangelical Christians. Evangelicals are always trying to convert members of other churches to their version of god's word.
It is not PC. Jews write God as G-d because it's believed that they are not to evoke his name directly.
-- I thought is wasn't a matter of evoking but rather the name of God cannot be destroyed or defamed. If someone types God and prints the paper out, the risk is that it can get thrown out or destroyed - typing G_d or G-d is to preclude the holy name from being thrown in the trash can (this is a paraphrase but this is the gist of it as I understand it).
We should not confuse the Hebrew genetic descendants of Abram with the gentile converts to the religion of Judaism 'Jews' that comprise the bulk of the population of 'Jews' today. They are not Hebrew Israelite descendants of Abram and are not the object of Gen 12:3
Thank you all the same. I consider my religion perfect as it is and don't need to be shown the way by anyone.
If you're trying to say that there is not a single descendant from Abraham that is part of Israel you're not making any sense. If you're saying that God's word that those who bless Israel will be blessed is false, again, you are wrong. Are you trying to push some replacement theology point?
>> I consider my religion perfect as it is and don't need to be shown the way by anyone.
As you wish. Go in peace.
then why did Jesus' brother and leader of the church still worship at the Temple?
I meant to refer to James
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