Jews Attempt to Rip Southern Baptists
I had a hard time believing what I was reading when I read this article.
I want to explore a couple of thoughts, and hopefully won't seem anti-Semitic. Firstly, it seems that "political" Jews have been nothing but troublemakers for centuries. The Bible is rife with these individuals--theological and political. I wonder sometimes if such behavior can be traced to Maccabean times, since once one reads the Apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, the language sounds a lot like the one the ADL's representative used. We certainly know that these Jews did a lot to ensure that Jesus was crucified. I think these sorts of Jews do the Jewish people a grave and serious disservice. They're like the fanatics that give Christians a bad name.
Second, I wonder a bit at the whole concept of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship. Let me post a quick excerpt for those of you who won't read the article:
The fellowship is made up of about a dozen congregations in the United States. Its Web site says its mission is "to encourage Jewish believers that their ethnic and historical heritage need NOT be lost upon their commitment to Yeshua (Jesus)."On the surface this sounds great. It even sounds like what the early church was--effectively a group of practicing, strongly devout Jews who believed Messiah had come. It is wonderful that new Jewish believers can enter into the joy of the Lord without feeling they are abandoning their heritage and practice. But for some odd reason I keep thinking of the Judaizers. This was a group in the infant church (during the time of the book of Acts) that said you had to become a Jew first before you could become a Christian. This made it difficult for Gentiles (non-Jews) to become Christians, because of such things as circumcision and ritual diets and such, not to mention the whole deal about following the Law of Moses. I'm sorry, I like my pork. Fry up that bacon! I don't know, maybe I'm reading too much into this. Especially since it's pretty clear this is a Jewish Christian group, not a Gentile Christian group. But anyway, more power to them if they want to witness to their Jewish brothers and sisters about the glorious Savior, Jesus Christ. And shame on those rabbis who want to act like children about other people sharing their faith. Totally immature, they are.
posted by Stephen Newell at 9/30/2005 05:07:00 PM
4 Comments:
Boy, so much to say here and so little time. I wonder how you would feel if there was an organized effort to convert Xtians to some other religion.
I wonder how you would feel if we approached them on Easter and Xmas and told them that their beliefs were wrong and that they risked eternal damnation.
I wonder what you would do then and how you would react if people said that your people had a history of causing trouble and that it was not big deal.
Something tells me that you would be singing a different tune.
First of all, if some other religion wanted to target Christians, that would be perfectly fine with me. That's their right. In fact, Muslims and Mormons have been actively evangelizing Christians (Muslims for centuries, Mormons for the past 150 or so years) using the exact tactics you describe. Christianity is still around. Hmm.
Second of all, nowhere did I say that Jews in general are troublemakers. Read it again. I said that "political" Jews are the ones making trouble, not the rank and file Jew. These individuals do a grave disservice to the faith, as they make Jews look stupid and silly. And that's not exclusive to Jews--there's plenty of those people in every religion.
Something tells me you don't like to read carefully and thoughtfully; instead you like to jump to conclusions to fit your limited worldview, putting words in people's mouths. Shame.
Read it again. I said that "political" Jews are the ones making trouble, not the rank and file Jew.
That is not real useful. It is similar to saying that you can use racial terms because you have "black friends."
Beyond that it is not real descriptive. What is the difference between "Political" and "rank and file" Jews. You don't provide any distinctions and without those your statement is questionable.
That's their right. In fact, Muslims and Mormons have been actively evangelizing Christians (Muslims for centuries, Mormons for the past 150 or so years) using the exact tactics you describe. Christianity is still around.
There are still a number of large distinctions. Look at the populations of each group. How many Xtians are there compared to Muslims and Mormons. How many are there compared to Jews. From a number standpoint you guys are exponentially larger than Jews and that has a real impact.
There are not huge and heavily funded organizations whose purpose is to try and convert you.
I am not someone who waves the Holocaust around,but frankly it is relevant to this. There is something like 15 or 16 million Jews in the world.
A little more than 50 years ago Six million were murdered. That is almost half of the current Jewish population in the world.
There is almost 2000 years of history of persecution. Multiple crusades, the Inquisition, pogroms and more. They all focused upon on us and not you. For that matter most of those events were orchestrated by Xtians.
You may think that this is crazy, but I wonder what the bible thumpers really think about people who do not agree with them, people they say are going to hell.
It makes me question their friendship because it feels like there is an agenda.
The Baptists method of proselytization is at best questionable and considering the vast numbers of Christians who do not agree with the manner in which they act I feel quite comfortable that they have a problem.
Shame on people whose provincial view of the world does not allow them to understand that their tactics are divisive and shameful.
Who are these "vast numbers of Christians?" Why haven't we heard from them? Why aren't we having a massive internal debate about the nature and purpose of evangelism? No, really, I'm interested in knowing.
No, it isn't about race. This is much much less about race than it is about certain individuals--in this case Abraham Foxman and the ADL--politicizing a purely religious matter. That's sad--their identity as a person of a certain heritage can't stand on its own just because someone has decided to pray for their salvation or has witnessed to them. And just because someone happens to disagree or believe differently, automatically they are anti-whatever; that's even sadder.
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