Posted on 05/19/2006 7:10:46 PM PDT by SmithL
We were driving in the Galilee, waiting for a red light to change, when they came up to the car. Their smiles were engagingly open as they wished us a fine trip. Then they offered us the flyer.
Jews for Jesus. Who says that evil can't be imported, and delivered, free of charge, direct to your car door?
Don't get me wrong. The members of Jews for Jesus are pure souls. They are among the most wholesome, guileless, truly well-meaning, fundamentally lovely people you will ever meet.
More's the pity, therefore, that there's a special place in hell just for them.
I would like to begin by saying that I have nothing personal against these people. But that would be a lie.
The reason is that, grinning all the way, they want to take something personal from me. My history, my belief system, my ancestry. The flyers say they are concerned for my soul, and I believe them with all my heart. It's precisely my soul they're after, all right, mine and as many others as possible.
They're out to harvest Jewish souls in the name of Christ. And they're out to do it right here.
Make no mistake, I believe that these Christians must have every freedom to worship Jesus as their lord and messiah, perform every ritual, celebrate every holiday that they see fit. If they want to do Born-again Kiddush and Last Supper Kneidelach and Savior Shalosh S'eudes - gezunterheit.
And if missionary activity is a commandment in their view, I wish them every success - just one thing:
Leave the Jews alone.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
This "hell" business was imported from Zorastrianism wasn't it? ~ not an original Jewish belief at all ~ talk about having your history taken from you ~ sounds like somebody took his Hebrew school lessons as well.
Who says Jews can't be whiners??
Fortunately for all of us, that decision is not his to make.
Muleteam1
No it's not. It can be an annoyance or an amusement, but it's not persecution.
I've been proselytized by some and condemned to Hell to by others and I really couldn't care less. Nice of people to be concerned for my soul, but I'm very comfortable with my faith, however heterodox it may be, however secular my lifestyle may be. Drop it, when I say, "No, thanks," and we're fine. (I've also been told by others that I'm one of "God's chosen people," and that can be really strange.)
There are individual proselytizers who are annoying, but those who are upset by the idea in general are, I think, showing a certain lack of security in their own faith.
Heck, Woody Allen made a successful career of it.
Well, the original Apostles and all of Christ's followers who were the first Christians were also all Jews for Jesus.
Not that big deal IMO.
Until one day I decided to answer the door totally naked and invite them in for some coffee.
They haven't knocked on my door since. Oh they still walk the neighborhood. They just give my place a very wide berth.
L
What about Gehenna?
Not quite up to the Demon Realm the Persians picked up from Indian missionary types.
Our local JW walker calls later. My wife and her often get in extended, friendly chats, while not expecting to change each other's minds. I think she sometimes comes over to unwind, when she's had a particularly tough day.
One afternoon, my wife was out shopping when she called on us. So I chatted a bit. Then, suddenly she started laughing. I was wondering why, until I realized I was wearing my "Caffeine Psalm" T-shirt that reads:
Caffeine is my shepherd; I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures;
it leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.
It restoreth my buzz;
it leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction,
I will fear no Equal(tm): for thou art with me;
thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the prescence of Juan Valdez;
thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the House of Maxwell for ever.
The regular JW woman cracked up. The woman she was training had this uncertain smile, unsure how to deal with it.
The looks on the JW faces when I pulled my little trick were priceless. I told them I had a pot of coffee on and that they could come in to talk over what was in the latest issue of the Watchtower.
They left skidmarks on my doorstep.
L
There's a circumcision punchline in there somewhere, I just know it :D
I read that and wondered about the difference between these two camps, the Jews for Jesus I doubt would say that to this person who thinks he speaks for all Jews. A false quilt trip for personal ends is disgusting! Who in the heck does he think he is , saying there is a special place in hell just for them??? is that like an adolescent having a fight with his sibling or what!!!!
All those folks who are up in arms about it somehow destroying the faithful and all that. It seems to me if they've got faith it should take a great deal more than a poorly made, poorly acted movie made from a mediocre murder mystery.
I don't know if you're old enough to remember when The Exorcist came out, but there was a lot of the same nonsense going on. Everyone believed in Satan all of a sudden. All it took was a little girl coughing up some pea soup and voila! everyone believed.
Not only that, but the whole 'demonic possession' thing took off like a rocket.
Faith is supposed to be just that. Faith. Didn't Jesus say something like "Blessed are those who do not see, but still believe"? Does it really only take a movie to 'shake' someones faith?
If that's all it takes it's hard for me to believe they were all that faithful in the first place.
Nice chatting with you.
L
however, did you all know that Jehovah Witnesses were one of the other groups, including gypsies, that the Germans arrested and took to the camps? I figured they have suffered enough, I gladly take their magazine and listen to their polite talk, hospitality, even Christ said is a must, I am just learning.......
one is blaspheming a church, the other is exhibiting films adaptation of an out of control exorcist, but there are exorcisms, the devil is real, he may not make your head go all around, but the rest is only common sense, get it , Satan does exist, but the code does not, it is all fabrications and lies, just like the New Age German Volk who aided Hitler in persuading Germans it was time to call the final solution. some are enlightened, given insight, with some, it is bypassed..........
meaning, the Volk did exist, the German Volk was fond of New Age crap and would have taken in DaVinci Code and kissed it!
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