angelo, I certainly didn’t mean to sadden you, for that I apologize. I don’t rejoice over the “’deliverance’ of such Jews from their covenant with God.” I do rejoice in what I see are Jewish people coming into a full relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the Messiah.
Jewish people who accept Yeshua as the Messiah do not cease to be Jews. They may cease being under the Mosaic Covenant, Moses himself said that a Prophet was going to come and you should listen to Him rather than Moses, but they are still a part of the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant mentioned by Jeremiah.
The Christian Church is not a Gentile organization, it may be dominated by Gentiles today, but that is more of a reproach on us than anything else in that we are failing to outreach to the Jewish people with the message of the Messiah. The Christian Church is founded on the Jewish Messiah, and in the early years was completely made up of Jewish people from all walks of life, Pharisees, Priests, etc.
As an aside, what are your thoughts about Messianic Jews. Have they betrayed their Jewish faith? Are they destined for Hell? (I forget if you believe in a literal Hell or not) Are they barred from getting into Heaven?
Again, I want to apologize for saddening you.
-ksen
My experience with messianic Jews is that they have had little or no exposure to the religion of Judaism (i.e. they were brought up completely secularized). As usually happens, at some point they begin to search for something spiritual. Not atypically, they look outside of their 'own' religion (the way many spiritually adrift westerners look to buddhism rather than Christianity). They don't understand their own scriptures--many have had no exposure at all to them. So they may be led to believe that the Christian interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures is correct. Really, they have no basis for comparison, so the Josh MacDowell types sound convincing.
Have they betrayed their Jewish faith?
They are still considered Jews by blood, but they are considered apostates. In fact, most converted Jews (well, voluntary conversions) assimilate into the general Christian body sooner rather than later, and lose all connection with the faith of their fathers. I've seen it happen in my own family. My great-grandmother married a gentile and abandoned Judaism. Of her descendants, only myself and one second cousin of mine are practicing Jews.
Are they destined for Hell? (I forget if you believe in a literal Hell or not) Are they barred from getting into Heaven?
No, unless they are also very evil.