Op-ed: The road to true Christian-Jewish reconciliation starts with Christian repentance
ed note–I add this as YET ANOTHER in a long line of similar examples of the madness of Jewish thinking.
The reader will note in reading this that according to the author, one Dan Calic, Jewish suffering for the last 2,000 years is the result of Christian ‘anti-Semitism’ and that nothing more played/plays a role in the ‘troubled’ relationship between the 2 peoples.
And this, in light of the fact that the relationship between them was cast in stone when THE JEWS REJECTED JESUS’ TEACHINGS OF PEACE, HONESTY, JUSTICE, MERCY, AND ALL THE REST OF THAT GOOD STUFF, allowed their mob-mentality mindset to take over and when given the choice, elected to have Him killed and to have Barrabas, a convicted murderer, freed.
Add to this the fact that the early Christians were hunted down, jailed, scourged, and murdered for accepting the teachings of Jesus over those of the mad rabbis who would have none of this ‘brotherhood of man’ business.
And yet, with a straight face, the author of this UTTER AND COMPLETE RUBBISH tells us that–SURPRISE, SURPRISE, it is the Jews who are innocent of any wrongdoing and that if Christians want to improve upon Jewish/Christian relations, they need to ‘repent’.
ynet
One of the most difficult issues for Christians and Jews to navigate is how to relate to each other while the proverbial 800 pound gorilla is in the room.
What’s the 800-pound gorilla? The desire on the part of Christians to evangelize Jews, and the sensitivity Jews have about uninvited conversion efforts. As one Jew eloquently stated several years ago, “Christians have to understand Jews did not volunteer to become participants in the final act of a play they didn’t write.”
Friends or Foes?
Serious Christians, many of whom have a genuine love of the Jewish people, might consider doing something important if they wish to develop a meaningful, or in many cases a better relationship with Jews. They should consider repentance.
Repenting for the centuries of misunderstanding, abuse, expulsions, and the Holocaust would be an excellent starting point. Doing the same for anti-Semitism and replacement theology would be recommended as well.
Something else Christians should consider is to stop looking at Jews through their own agenda based eyes. Jews should be accepted and loved for who they are, and the unique role they have in God’s plan for humanity.
They should not be looked upon merely as conversion targets. If a Jew senses this the 800 pound gorilla will immediately appear.
It seems far too many Christians have either forgotten or haven’t been taught about some important contributions from the Jews that have had great mutual significance. For example, it is the Jews God chose to reveal himself to.
Jews are not ‘lost’
Moreover, it is the Jews whom God established the Sabbath through, which is Saturday rather than Sunday. A thorough search of both Bibles reveals it was never changed to Sunday. The Catholic Church brought about the change to Sunday in the fourth century, as part of a growing effort by the fledgling religion as it steadily moved away from its birth as a sect of Judaism.
Contrary to what most Christians and many Jews have been taught, Jesus (a Jew, whose given name was Yeshua Ben Yosef) did not abolish Torah. Another noteworthy point is that almost all of Christianity’s doctrine is based on the writings of Paul, whose real name is Saul, who lived his entire life as a Jewish Pharisee and steadfastly considered himself a Jew, in spite of the Church’s effort to portray him as a convert to Christianity.
Given these facts, one could make a strong case that without the Jews Christianity wouldn’t exist.
It would also be mutually beneficial if Christians developed a more objective and respectful understanding of what Jews have contributed to the world, rather than simply looking upon them as “lost.”
With more than 1,800 years of persecution and death having been perpetrated against Jews by Christians, it should be understandable that Jews are skeptical, hesitant, or resistant about entering into a relationship with a Christian, especially if they sense said Christian is singularly interested in converting them to the very religion responsible for long years of persecution against them.
In the final analysis, while there may not be a cookie cutter solution to improved relations, it seems the most appropriate starting point is Christian repentance. If that is done with sincerity and received accordingly, the 800-pound gorilla will become the size of a pigmy.
Related–an older article I wrote when still employed by American Free Press newspaper before being driven out by Editor Jim Tucker who characterized my work as ‘Jew-baiting hysteria’.
CHRISTIANS BRUTALIZED IN HOLY LAND
By Mark Glenn
Some 200 Christian Zionist leaders, representing churches spread throughout America, Europe, Africa and Asia, gathered in Israelís Knesset to “beg forgiveness” for 2,000 years of “Christian persecution” of Jews.
The well publicized ceremony took place under the auspices of the “Knesset Christian Allies Caucus,” just one of a growing number of partnerships springing up in recent years between organized Jewish and Christian Zionist groups for the purpose of funneling Christian money and political support toward Israel. Part of the statement reads as follows:
“On behalf of millions of Christians, we repent before you for crimes committed against the Jewish people throughout history in the name of Christianity.…We have sinned against God and against you.… To you we owe much.… Through you, God gave us the Holy Scriptures, and because of this we have a heritage, a destiny, a hope and a compass for living.…What a treasure you are in the sight of our God! You are His chosen and the apple of His eye.…”
But despite the fact that Israel was built (and continues to live) off of handouts from Christian countries—principally the U.S. and Germany—and for all the inherent groveling and breast-beating that this mea culpa was meant to convey, it obviously did not “cut the mustard” in improving Christian/Jewish relations in Israel, the birthplace of Jesus Christ and the 2,000-year-old religion created in His name.
Besides the fact that Israel has now become a haven for international gangsters—meaning rampant prostitution, drugs, human trafficking and money laundering to name a few—there are other indicators surrounding Israel’s political and social character as well that show she is anything but friendly to the morals and precepts of Christian teachings. Christian churches that were not taxed are now being sent heavy bills. Media outlets featuring Christian programming on television and radio are having their license renewal applications rejected.
More telling though is the fact that physical attacks on Christians, their symbols and institutions continue in Israel unabated, and not by “Islamo-fascists” (so much discussed by the likes of Norman Podhoretz, Daniel Pipes, John Hagee, Bill O’Reilly, et al.) but rather by a more fanatical sect that has nursed a hatred for Christianity since its inception, the people who collectively call themselves “the Israelites” and whom Christians are told to “bless.”
Pastor Hagee has been an avid supporter of the state Israel since his first visit there in 1978. “I went to Israel as a tourist and returned home a committed Zionist,” he said. His book says that Jesus did not come to Earth to be the Messiah. In what appears to be a growing trend these days, physical attacks on Christians, their churches and symbols are beginning to show a marked rise in Israel.
For nearly a century, since the invasion of Palestine began, Christians of all denominations have suffered bombings, shootings, arsons and wanton acts of senseless destruction of their sacred properties—and all of it by a horde of Marxist/atheist invaders from Eastern Europe calling themselves “God’s chosen.” From the moment they arrived—announcing to the world “We’re baaaack” with all the fanfare that their grip over the Western media afforded them—they picked up where their alleged ancestors left off in attempting to erase the name of the hated Jesus from the Holy Land.
Mimicking the same kind of behavior their Bolshevik cousins exhibited during and after the takeover of Russia and using the “fog of war” as a smokescreen for their actions, Christian church properties have been bulldozed, blown up or burned down on numerous occasions, all of it chalked up to “collateral damage.” Since the Jews of Europe began reconstructing the nation that was destroyed some 2,000 years ago following the predictions of Jesus Himself, priests, pastors, nuns, churches, cemeteries, Bibles, icons, stained-glass widows, all were all fair game as far as the Zionists were concerned when it came to maintaining its exclusively “Jewish character.”
Not long after Israel declared her statehood, legislation was passed outlawing Christians trying to convert Jews to the religion of Jesus Christ with a 5-year prison sentence attached for good measure.
Now, no longer limited to impersonal attacks done in the middle of the night with minimal chance of being caught, Jews (and particularly those in Jerusalem, the city of Jesus’s sham trial and murder by his enemies) are coming out in the open now and displaying their ancestral hatred for all things Christian without any evident fear of what kind of consequences might follow.
Out-in the-open physical attacks on priests, pastors, statues and Christian processions by extremist Jews is now more the norm than the exception. A recent case involving a Greek Orthodox clergyman involved a skullcap-wearing elderly Jew tapping on the window of the clergyman’s car and when the man opened his window, the Jew spat in his face, something becoming a daily occurrence in Israel. Only a few days later, a yeshiva student spat at the cross as it was being carried by the Armenian archbishop during a procession near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and did so under the watchful eye of his rabbi, who did nothing to impede him.
In another recent case, 13 bishops from Austria were barred from praying at Jerusalem’s Western Wall by a rabbi who oversees the site. The Christians refused to remove the crosses around their necks, which the rabbi considered “insulting.” Other Christians who have seen the increasingly bold and violent nature on the part of Israel’s Jews toward them and their faith in a manner up close and personal say that during Jewish religious festivals such as Purim (celebrating the hanging of Haman and the execution of 75,000 Persians) they stay inside and lock their doors, fearing their lives are in danger amid a band of rowdy, drunken and violent Jewish extremists.
One would think that, with all the lecturing taking place during the last half-century by organized Jewish groups when it comes to “hatred” and “intolerance” (not to mention the undeniable influence these groups have wielded in getting “hate crimes” legislation passed in most Christian countries), there would be more concern paid for this growing trend in the “headquarters” of Jewish values in the world—Israel.
With all the fear-mongering to which Christians are subjected on a daily basis when it comes to Islam that is inaccurately portrayed as inherently anti-Christian by the likes of John Hagee, Pat Robertson, Joseph Farah and other Israel-worshipping wolves in sheep’s cothing, one would expect some attention given to this alarming business taking place in Israel. And yet, not a peep from any of them.