Posted on 01/17/2002 5:35:50 AM PST by Israel
Recently, as a result of an article I posted, I was asked to comment on a recent event wherein a Hebrew teacher in a Jewish school in Israel burned a copy of the New Testament given to a 6th grade student by a Christian missionary. Clearly, it was wrong to burn the Bible of another's religion. However, to be fair, it was equally wrong to gift such a book to an impressionable Jewish youngster. The book burning will, no doubt, sort itself out but, the matter of Christian missionaries trying to convert Jews to some sect of Christianity remains a problem.
To convert a Jew to another religion plainly states that the all-seeing G-d was wrong in selecting the Jewish people to serve him. Most, if not all, religions agree that G-d is perceived to be clear-minded about the future all the way into what is called the 'End of Times'. Therefore, He knew the Jewish people would ebb and flow in their mission. He allowed the Jewish Prophets to glimpse the future so that they could issue warnings for the people and their Kings to mend their ways and stay steady on the path intended as a "light unto the nations".
Sometimes they succeeded and sometimes they failed but, either way, G-d was not unaware of these lapses yet to be. The successes and failures were both well documented in the Hebrew Bible, the first five books of Moses as given by G-d to Moses on Mt. Sinai. There was no attempt to hide the weaknesses (or the strengths) of Jewish leaders and these failures were held out as a lesson for future generations. Men are not angels although in different ages a handful have reached the level of Tzadikim (righteous ones).
There are other religions whose level of expectations was to minimally accept the seven Noahide laws which have indeed marked the progress of Christianity. One can reach higher and adopt more advanced levels of behavior but, too often religion has been used as an excuse to persecute, torture and even destroy "the other" of different religions. Domination via conquest of others was always viewed as a sign in primitive thought that their god was more powerful and theirs was the only correct god to follow. Regrettably, that belief seems to prevail even today as exemplified by our struggle in Afghanistan and the Middle East. It is ramping up even now between India and Pakistan.
The Jews were not instructed to proselytize or press other religions into accepting the Jewish 10 Commandments plus the additional 603 'Mitzvot' (rules of conduct) which the Jews had accepted to live by. They were merely to be servants to HaShem (lit. "The Name" of G-d) and, in doing so, to be a light (example) unto the nations. Granted, they (we) failed frequently and were duly punished for our inability to stay the course. Jews were also not instructed to tell those of other religions that they too were able to cross the threshold of entering the Covenant given to the Jews IF they adopted the laws of Torah.
However, it was not up to men who chose other pathways to G-d to instruct the Jewish people in the belief that G-d had made a mistake in selecting them for this difficult mission. It is understandable that the evolvers of new religions wished their followers to worship in their own ways. It is NOT understandable for them to presume that G-d was mistaken in putting the burden or privilege of servitude on the Jewish people. Moreover, not having spoken directly with G-d as did Noah, Abraham, Moses, how is it possible to challenge or to correct G-d's pronounced judgement in the Torah from these ancient Prophets?
Within the Roman Catholic Church it is believed that the Pope is infallible. Can the one G-d be less so? Can mankind presume to fathom G-d's Mind, Plans and His Vision through all infinite eternity and conclude that He was in error? The hubris of men, to presume to probe the Mind or Intentions of G-d - who rules billions of galaxies out into infinite space - beyond what He has said to do, is presumptuous.
Is it right and proper for various Christian sects who surely believe in their G-d then to come to Jewish youngsters and, in effect, tell them that their Jewish history, their destiny was NOT pre-ordained but the Christian version is? That G-d has changed his mind because He did not or could not see the future. Can anyone say to the Jewish people that "it is our destiny to replace you because, in our opinion, you have failed your mission and G-d's judgment was misplaced"?
The Jewish people are deeply familiar with book burning. During the Church-inspired Inquisition, Torah parchment scrolls were wrapped around rabbis and those who refused forced conversion to Christianity and then set on fire. The parchment was dampened with water so the Jewish victim being burned at the stake would burn to death more slowly and have the opportunity to repent his stubborn dedication to G-d's Covenant and accept conversion.
We recall Hitler's thugs confiscating Jewish holy books and scrolls, using them to create huge bonfires. Later, they burned knowledgeable Jews in the Krupp ovens - with children often thrown in alive. Neither the Catholic Church nor Islam protested. In fact, the world remained curiously silent. Here the motive was not conversion but disposal of a people who would always remain Jewish.
The surge of radical religions has an unhappy past. The Christian Crusades swept through Europe and the Holy Land, killing everyone in their path always proclaiming this was being done in G-d's Name. Christianity raged at that time - certain they were doing G-d's work. Had they actually received G-d's Word or was this merely the zealous imagination of self-anointed clerics thwarted in their self-appointed mission?
Similarly, the Muslim nations surged back against the Crusaders, imposing Islam on the Holy Land and into Spain and France. They also believed that conversion by the sword was what Allah would applaud. Each in their time of glorious conquest demanded obedience to their gods as did the earlier Romans.
Now, in the present, we see Christians being driven out of most Arab and Muslim-dominated countries. They would be allowed to stay IF they accepted conversion to Islam and the correct pathway to their G-d who the Muslims called Allah. This same formula would, of course, apply to the Jewish nation as it always has down through the centuries.
Pursuing other religions with the intent to convert them by aggression or stealth is a sure fire way to inspire hatred and war. Is it not passing strange that down through the ages first Christianity and later Islam sought to meld the lineage of the Jewish tribe of Abraham through conversion with their growing religions even as they proclaimed the Jew had failed the Covenant G-d gave them? Is it possible to dismiss and demonize a people and yet still claim to be the correct heir to their heritage back to their first conversations with G-d?
A Hebrew teacher in Israel, protecting his students from what he considered undue dangerous influence of missionaries using a New Testament book drafted in the Hebrew Language as a tool of conversion, chose the wrong response. He should have visited the school or offices of that Christian sect and returned the book with a public protest.
I have often thought that it would be right and proper for Jewish students, knowledgeable in Torah law, to gather around those who come to proselytize and provide them with an education of why a Jew follows HaShem's laws of instruction in how to lead his life. They must be reminded that HaShem (G-d) had specifically instructed the Jews that: "There shall be no other G-d before Me." Shall a Jew leave G-d's Covenant and break his obligation to the one G-d who revealed Himself to the Jewish people? Has the lesson been forgotten wherein Eve was seduced to break G-d's instructions, resulting in great punishment for all?
Shall we listen to creative men advocating their religions because they can finesse language and thought so they are entirely convincing to others? Perhaps it would be better if they choose as their opponent the G-d who made the rules. I grant you that may be difficult, since G-d seems to have stopped talking to us humans in voice or even through Prophets.
However, if He spoke to us once, perhaps he will do so again. Until that time, wherein He comes to judge us and issues rulings, I think the effort to convert Jews to other ways should be put aside. Presently, we have the Ten Commandments, included in the 613 Mitzvot, and the ethical/moral judgement of wise men who instruct us to treat each other with respect. That is sufficient for now. We are not, however, unaware of the assistance our Christian friends have given Israel during its difficult times and for this we thank you. We understand your efforts to save us are according to your beliefs.
As for the material actually given to the Jewish youths for the purposes of conversion, simply gather it up and return it to the entrance of the institution from whence it came.
By the way, it makes no sense to lie at somebody's hands like a lion, does it?
Who said this? Here was my corrected translation:
like a lion they are at my hands and my feet.
The implication and context (surrounded by them, mouths open, ravening and roaring) being that they are attacking him.
Don't ask me why but in part he blamed "Christians" for the Holocaust.
Whenever the name "Jesus" was heard, he would turn his head and spit. He said "my people have suffered for centuries because of that d*mned turncoat."
And he was partly right. As a Christian, I'm still waiting for the Catholic and the Protestant church to 'fess up. Then maybe most of Christendom could get a clue about many of the church fathers that they idolize so much,(and what did Jesus say about idols and about calling men fathers?)and stop pointing their fingers at the Jewish people for their anti-missionary stance.
Sid Roth, a Messianic Jew writes in Time is Running Short:
Warped Theology: A Tragic Heritage (Christian Anti-Semitism)
Trouble in the Family
Who can hurt you the most? Can a complete stranger get to you as much as a member of your immediate family? Jews and Christians are from the same family. We have the same God. A Jew is the physical seed of Abraham; a Christian the spiritual seed. We believe in and accept the same Holy Scriptures (OT). All the events described in all the Gospels, except for a short visit to Egypt by Joseph, Mary and Jesus took place in a Jewish land, Israel. Every one of the New Testament authors was Jewish, except Luke, and he was a proselyte to Judaism. Jews and Christians are forever connected by deep mishpocha (family) relationships and yet there is trouble in the family.
How has the devil managed to build such distrust between close family members? Primarily through his very nature--lying. The big lie did not start with Hitler, but the devil. A warped understanding of theology taught by the early Church said the Jews were solely responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Few Christians are aware of the horrors inflicted on the Jewish community because of this teaching. If only they had read the Scriptures, and THOUGHT FOR THEMSELVES. Jesus put it this way: "If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit" (Matt. 15:14)
For the record, God tells us who killed Jesus in Acts 4:27:
For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both HEROD, and PONTIUS PILATE with the GENTILES, and the PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, were gathered together...
So who killed Jesus? When you get the Jews and Gentiles together you have the whole world. And yet even the whole world could not have killed Jesus unless it was part of God's plan. The Scriptures say: "For GOD so loved the WORLD that HE GAVE his only begotten son...(John 3:16)> And Jesus said, "...I LAY DOWN MY LIFE for the sheep" (John 10:15. No one person or group killed Jesus; He laid down His life voluntarily as the Passover Lamb that takes away the sins of the world. Jesus died because of sin, not because of Jews. ""Christian" Anti-Semitism
The second major strategy to divide Jews and Christians was introudced by an influential early church leader, Origin of Alexandria. He was the first to interpret all Scripture allegorically rather than literally. Certainly there are biblial passages that have an allegorical meaning. However, this method of interpretation replaces the literal meaning with an allegorical one. It claims that the Israelites permanently lost all their blessings and calling by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. These covenants now belong only to the church--the "new Israel" Then it goes on to say the Jews have no future as a chosen people.
Through the centuries, accusations and statements by church leaders against Jews have led to a vicious form of Christian anti-Semitism. Here are a few examples:
Justin Martyr (d. AD 167) was one of the first to accuse Jews of inciting to kill Christians.
Origen (d. AD 254) accused Jews of plotting in their meetings to murder Christians.
Eusebius (c. AD 300) alleged that Jews, each year at the holiday of Purim engaged in ceremonial killing of Christian children.
St. Hillary of Poiters said that the Jews were a perverse people, forever accursed by God.
St. Ephraem wrote many of the early church hymns, some of which maligned Jews, even to the point of calling Jewish synagogues "whore-houses".
St. John Chrysostom said there could never be expiation for the Jews and that God had always hated them. He said it was "incumbent" on all Christians to hate Jews. The Jews were assassins of Christ, and worshippers of the devil.
Malcolm Hays writes "The violence of the language used by St. John Chrysostom in his homilies against the Jews has never been exceeded by any preacher whose sermons have been recorded" In one of these homilies, St. John Chrysostom stated: "The synagogue is worse than a brothel...it is a den of scoundrels and the repair of wild beasts...the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults...the refuge of brigands and debauchees, and the cavern of devils."
St. Cyril gave the Jews within his jursidiction the choice of conversion, exile or stoning.
St. Jerome, translator of the Latin Vulgate, "proved" that Jews are incapable of understanding the Scriptures, and that they should be severely persecuted until they confess the "true faith".
St. Augustine called Judaism a corruption. The true image of the Jew he said, was Judas Iscariot, forever guilty and ignorant spirtually. Augustine decided that Jews for their own good and the good of society, must be relegated to the position of slaves. This theme was later picked up by St. Thoams Aquinas, who demanded that Jews be called to perpetual servitude. According to Professor F. E. Talmage, St. Augustine believed that "because of their sin against Christ, the Jews rightly deserved death. Yet, as with Cain who murdered the just Abel, they are not to die...For they are doomed to wander the earth..the witnesses of their iniquity and of our truth, the living proof of Chirstianity.
Crusaders (AD 1099) rounded up all Jews into the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem. When they were securely inside the locked doors, the synagogue was set afire. And the misguided Crusaders, with the lies of perverted sermons fresh in their ears sang as they marched around the blaze, "Christ, we adore Thee."
Martin Luther added fuel to the fire by saying the Jews should not merely be slaves, but slaves of slaves, that they might not even come into contact with Christians...he said the Jews were ritual murderers, poisoner of wells, he called for all Talmuds and synagogues to be destroyed...He wrote, "What then shall we Christians do with this damned rejected race of Jews? Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we cannot tolerate them if we do not wish to share in their lies, curses and blasphemy..We must prayerfully and reverentially practice a merciful severity.
Some may question why I am rehashing this sad history. Let me quote from the Encyclopedia Judaica as it comments on Martin Luter's statements: "Short of the Auschwitz oven and extermination, the whole Nazi Holocaust is pre-outlined here." Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, "Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
We Jewish people know of these poisoned words written by Christian leaders. And worse, our enemies know these words and have used them to kill us. Most Jewish people have lost one or more relatives to anti-Semitism. Rose Price, a Holocaust survivor, lost nearly all of her family to the Nazis. When she entered the concentration camp, on the archway it read, "We kill you because you killed Jesus" When she got out, she wanted to burn churches. I am not excusing this, but can you blame her? What would you have done in her situation?
When I was sharing the Messiah with several of my own relatives that survived the Holocaust, they could not hear my Good News because they were so filled with hurt and anger toward God and Christianity. One cousin told of S.S. troops that ripped her infant son from her arms and threw him out the window to the cement pavement from a second-floor apartment. When I pleaded with them that these were not true Christians, my cousin said: "The belt buckle of the S.S. read, "In God we trust." Try to proclaim the Gospel to some of my family members...
Only the love that God gives can cut through all the sad history of Christian anti-Semitism. Corrie ten Boom saw her father and sister suffer agonizing deaths because they chose to hide Jewish people from the Nazis. One day, many years after the war, Corrie recognized a guard from the concentration camp where she and her sister had been sentfor hiding Jews from the Nazis. The guard was in the audience at a church where Corrie was speaking. He came forward and said, "You mentioned Ravensbruck in your talk. I was a guard there. But since that time," he went on, "I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well...will you forgive me?
What would she do? What would you do to someone who brutalized and killed your sister? What would Jesus do? It would be difficult, if not impossible, to forgive him in your natural strength. As Corrie willed to forgive him, the love of God shot like an electric current through her body, bringing tears to her eyes. "I forgive you brother!" she cried.
Remember Rose Price, the Jewish woman who had wanted to burn down churches because she thought Christians were responsible for killing her family? One day, the love of God reached through all the hurt and anger and she made Jesus Lord. Many years later, she was invited to Germany to share her testimony. She had promised herself she would never go back to the land that had spilled so much Jewish blood. But the love of God compelled her to go to Berlin. In the same stadium where Hitler swore the master race would rule for 1,000 years, she told the German Christian audience, "I forgive you" The stadium was draped with Israeli flags, German youths had Stars of David around their necks and several former SS guards ran up with tears in their eyes asking for forgiveness." Jesus said "Everything is possible for him who believes." Mark 9:23.
Jer 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.
20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?
21 Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.
The Septuagint is indeed a translation. But, in Jesus' time, it was the authoritative text, and accepted as such by all greek speaking Jews, which is to say by 80% of the Jews of the Roman Empire. Your stance is based on revisionist history, not on the texts themselves.
I stand by my own argument: that the Christians did not mistranslate this text, because they copied a Jewish translation that says exactly the same.
So do I, but the story doesn't end there. Click on my Profile to see who else was "chosen", at the same time and same place.
They'd prefer to believe their little myth that "real Christians have always supported the Jews." Obviously, it ain't so.
However, I do not agree that "Christians" are to blame for the Holocaust, nor have I ever subscribed to the notion that any one group has to "apologize" to any other group for things done in past generations. That's a modern-day socialist contrivance meant as a tool to cause division and strife so that their policies can sweep in to "save the day" (c.f. the "African slave reparations" movement of which David Horowitz has written extensively).
And it is not Christ Himself who has perpetrated these things on the Jews. In fact, Christ commanded us to love our neighbors, and He took pains to define "neighbor" as any other person on the earth, not simply those who look, talk and worship like we do.
For much of Christian history, the Latin Vulgate was the 'official' text. Which do you consider more authoritative, the Vulgate, or the Greek 'New Testament'?
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