[Pete]

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.

Tell that to Peter.

[Illbay]

However, to be fair, it was equally wrong to gift such a book to an impressionable Jewish youngster.

I'd be interested to know if they distribute condoms in the schools in Israel.

[vmatt]

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.

My impression of Jews up to this time was dedicated, reasonable, studious and tolerant. Why didn't he just reason with the child and convince him why he should reject the Christian teachings of the New Testament and let him make up his own mind? This story reminds me of another famous personage who burned books and then turned to burning people.

[Romulus]

Neither the Catholic Church nor Islam protested.

Why are so many in love with this lie?

[Pete]

A couple of other points:

First, a Christian merely shares the message of the Gospel - any conversion is done by God.

Second, as you well know, Jesus was Jewish. Christianity is based on the fulfillment of the Jewish prophecy of a Messiah. The difference between Jews and Christians is that Christians believe that Jesus IS that Messiah while Jews do not. Although, obviously some Jews have and do believe. Peter was a Jew and the focus of his ministry was to preach the Gospel to Jews. (Paul's was targeted at non-Jews).

It is understandable that some Jews today might characterize Christianity as just "another religion" and the use of the word "sects" betrays the author's bias. The reality is that Judaism and Christianity, while separate, are inseparable. Islam, although an Abrahamic religion, is much more distant and any bundling of it with Christianity, when separating religions from Judaism, is misleading at best.

Having said all that, I, as a Christian, believe that the Jews are the chosen people God. I can believe that without be inconsistent. Further, I do not see a conversion of a Jew to Christianity as contradictory with God's plan. On the contrary, it is completely consistent with Biblical (both Old and New Testament) teaching.

[xzins]

The Jewish/Christian connection truly does pose a dilemma in terms of "conversion." On the one hand, both Christian and Jewish leaders will tell you that the two faiths are different religions. On the other hand, Christianity was founded by Jews...most notably, of course, Jesus, and secondarily by Peter and Paul. These had no difficulty seeing Christianity as an extension of Judaism. Therefore, Christianity has within its roots, for its Jewish adherents only, the possibility of continuing one's Judaism while believing in Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Jewish Messiah. That would certainly be a different BRANCH of Judaism, but Judaism is not unfamiliar with different Branches that work out their Jewishness in strikingly different manners: Hasidism, Reformism, etc.

[sanchmo]

If giving the New Testament to a modern Jew is wrong...
Was is wrong for David and Solomon to give their new Writings to the post-Mosaic Jews?
Was it wrong for Isaiah and Jeremiah to give their new Prophesies to the post-Davidic Jews?
Was it wrong for Ezra and Malachi to give their new Scriptures to the post-Exilic Jews?

Of course it wasn't, because they were all part of the continuing revelation. (Even if you don't presonally believe that, at the very least you must admit that they did). Likewise with the New Testament.

[r9etb]

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.

Translation: Christianity is wrong in its claim that Jesus was the Messiah.

I'd put more stock in what the guy has to say if he'd honestly state his position up front. (Though later he does strongly imply that Christianity is a violation of the First Commandment.)

One wonders whether this fellow would follow the Messiah at all -- given the number of words he's used to avoid clearly stating his real position on Christianity, I suspect he would not.

Which brings us to the real question: was G-d who was wrong, or was it Emanuel A. Winston, Mid East Analyst & Commentator?

[Uglywhiteguy]

A person who is born of Jewish parents doesn't neseceraly believe what the scriptures say..to be born a Jew by race and to believe what the scriptures say are two different things...

Those who are born Jewish by race and believe the scriptures will believe that Christ is the Messiah and be saved just like Abraham...they will still be Jews, but be saved...they can also call themselves Christians because they believe that Christ is the Messiah...it's not really changing religions, just meeting places...

Christians believe just like Abraham, King David, Isaiah: that God would send a Messiah--Christ....

[sheltonmac]

BUMP

[is_is]

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.

The way i see it Jews and Christians worship the same God.....the problem is that the Jewish faith does not "know" him due to their denial of the savoir that God promised them....

God was/is not wrong in choosing the Jewish people as his "choosen people".....the Jews were wrong and missed the boat when they failed to recognize the "promised savior". God still watches over his choosen people and rejoices whenever one comes to "know" him.....God knew before hand that his choosen people would reject him as a whole.....

[BibChr]

Well, this is simple enough, if you believe the Torah:

First, dealing with the title: yes, "G-d" is wrong. There is no Biblical precedent for calling God "G-d." Anyone who does so shows he is not content with Biblical revelation.

Second, here is what the Torah says about Messiah, taken from the old American Standard Bible translation (where Jehovah is used for Yahweh):

15 Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; 16 according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. 17 And Jehovah said unto me, They have well said that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. 20 But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. 21 And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah hath not spoken? 22 when a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Debarim [Deuteronomy] 18:15-22

Now, let us single out three indisputable facts, and one inescapable inference, from this passage:

First, the three indisputable facts:

1. The Prophet will speak the very words of Yahweh (v. 18)
2. In spite of this, some in Israel will reject what He says, thus rejecting what Yahweh Himself says (v. 19)
3. Those Israelites who reject Yahweh's words through Messiah will suffer the judgment of God (v. 19)

Now, the inescapable inference, which I will develop in a four-point progression:

1. Yahweh Himself commands His people to love their neighbors as themselves (Leviticus 19:18)
2. Nobody would want himself, whom he naturally loves, to fall under the judgment of God
3. Therefore nobody should want his neighbor to fall under the judgment of God
4. Therefore those who affirm the words of Yahweh through the Messiah AND who love their neighbors would try to persuade their neighbors who reject His words to repent of that rejection, so as to avoid the judgment of God.

This isn't rocket science.

Dan
Biblical Christianity web site

[asformeandformyhouse]

Galatians 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

[Goetz_von_Berlichingen]

"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."

We will studiously avoid mentioning that the persuecution of the Jews in Spain was largely motivated by their covert support for the Moslems with whom Spain had been at war for several centuries. And gruesome executions were not reserved for Jews: Turks did it to Christians (and vice versa), Protestants did it to Catholics (and vice versa). The Jews were not specifically singled out for egregiously brutal handling. This was just the way of the world back then.

I observe that Jews who do not scruple at condemning Torquemada are quite silent with respect to the treatment of the Canaanites, what with the divinely ordered slaughter of men, women, children, livestock, and housepets. I guess Jews get a "historical context dispensation" but goyim do not.

"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."

The Nazis confiscated and detroyed lots of books; most of them were NOT Jewish. The Nazis also killed lots of people -- 20 million, by some estimates -- and here's the surprise: most of them weren't Jewish either. If anything, the largest block of civilians killed by the Nazis probably consisted of Orthodox Christians. But they don't even merit a footnote in most Holocaust Studies. Maybe it's payback for the pogroms of the Cossacks.

And the Catholic Church was silent? We will ignore all of the contemporary accounts of the Vatican's condemnation of Nazi practices, amply documented in the New York Times during the war. We will ignore the praise heaped upon Pope Pius XII during his lifetime by Jews who were rescued by the Church, and hidden on the very grounds of the Vatican. We will ignore the imprisonment of Christian clergy and laity who resisted the Nazis. Most importantly, we will ignore the Nazis documented war against Christianity and post-war plans to "settle with the Church once and for all." You can easily find this in the writings of Goebbels, Streicher, Rosenberg, and Hitler himself.

And, by the way, Krupp didn't make ovens. It made steel and heavy machinery, including cannon and armoured vehicles.

"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 . . . Similarly, the Muslim nations surged back against the Crusaders, imposing Islam on the Holy Land and into Spain and France.

Rather than simply ignoring history, the author here conveniently reverses it, putting the effect before the cause. A glance at any map will reveal that Islam is not native to either France or Spain (or even North Africa). It was imposed through brutal conquest by nomadic barbarians. The Crusades were a response to Islamic aggression, not the cause.

I see no reason to convert Jews to Christianity, since the original Covenant was not abrogated. But it amazes me that so many Jews (and I am thinking specifically of the membership of organisations like the ADL, ACLU, NEA) continue to propagate lies about Christianity. What point does it serve to continually accuse contemporary Christians of the crimes of people three hundred years ago, or -- worse yet -- accuse them of complicity in the Nazi regime? Frankly, I am surprised that they haven't gotten around to calling the Lenin/Stalin purges and Gulag an anti-semitic plot of the Orthodox Church. Maybe they will, some day, after they can convince us that the NKVD was staffed exclusively by gentiles.

[wai-ming]

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.

This is one of the most absurd statements I've read in a long time. To agree with it, one would have to assume the following:

God selected the Jewish people to serve him.

Okay, I'll give you that one. But God also selected the entire house of Israel, which consisted of 12 tribes. The house of Judah (the Jews) make up only one twelfth of Israel. Why is the author unconcerned about other Israelites who may be under the same covenant to serve God?

One serves God by not converting from Judaism.

Give me a break. There are thousands of ways to "serve God," one of which is doing unheralded acts of Christian service.

A Jewish person should not allow himself/herself to be converted to another religion.

Is the Jewish faith so weak, that mere exposure another religion is something to be feared? Having a Bible doesn't make a person Christian. We have plenty of evidence of that.

To convert a Jew...

This is directed at the converter, not the convertee. How can Jewish law bind those who are not Jews?

God was wrong...

Christians do not believe that God was "wrong" in the Old Testament. Why do Jews believe He was wrong in the New Testament? Someone has a misinterpretation of God's intentions. Perhaps we should ask God what He really meant, rather than attributing things to Him that we want to believe He meant.

Let the kid keep his Bible.

[Free the USA]

Good analysis

[Thinkin' Gal]

Mashiach permutes to shem chai, the 'living name'. Sing along!

Ma'oz tzur y'shuati...

[Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:]

[stuartcr]

God is never wrong, it's the humans that interpret God which are wrong.

[nightdriver]

"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."

Winston uses a lot of straw man arguments to make his points. I would say, "Alright, then. The Old Testament (which all Christians believe) says that the only way to approach God is with a blood sacrifice. Where is your sacrifice?" Without it, their own scriptures tell them they have no right to approach God.

[ArGee]

When a Catholic converts to Baptist, he ceases to be a Catholic (at least in his own eyes. I'm not sure what the Church says). When a Christian converts to Islam, he ceases to be a Christian.

But a Jew can not convert to Christianity because Christianity is a Jewish sect. A Jew can decide to accept Yeshua as Messiah, but the Jew remains a Jew. All of the first Christians were not only Jews, but Torah Observant Jews. Shaul (known as Paul to the goyim) was a Pharisee.

G-d intended to bring worship of Himself and to bring His Messiah to the nations through the Jewish people. Christianity is not proof of the failure of Judaism, but of its success in this mission.

The fact split of the Church from the Synagogue was not G-d's plan. It was not G-d's plan that the Church forbid any Christian from practicing of Jewish customs. It was not G-d's plan to add a curse to the Amidah that would curse Christians. That's what men did.

Jews do not become non-Jews when they accept Yeshua as Meshiach.

So, no, G-d was not wrong.

Shalom.