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No Sunday services take place here; this congregation meets only on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. You will never see a cross or an altar; there is an Aaron Hakodesh (holy ark) with a star of David adorning its velvet cover, and a Bimah (stage for prayer services) in the center of the sanctuary. The majority of the men who worship here wear kipot, and their tzitzit hang down the sides of their pants. This congregation's rabbi, among many other functions, reads from the Torah and makes Kiddush every Shabbat. Most of the women are modestly dressed. Joyous shouts of "Shabbat Shalom" and "Baruch Hashem" can be heard as young couples greet each other. The sanctuary pulsates to a modern Israeli musical beat.
If this sounds like a description of a traditional Jewish house of worship, think again. The above is actually a description of any one of the hundreds of Messianic "synagogues" which flourish throughout the world.
Confused? Many are.
Fundamentalist Christian churches use traditional Jewish symbols to lure vulnerable Jews.
Such congregations are designed to appear Jewish, but they are actually fundamentalist Christian churches which use traditional Jewish symbols to lure the most vulnerable of our Jewish people into their ranks. Messianic "rabbis," many of whom are Jewish by birth, are committed to bringing the Jewish people to know Jesus. Their agenda is to make Christianity more palatable to the uneducated Jew, and to the astonishment and horror of the Jewish community, their marketing ploys are proving to be successful.
Twenty-two years ago, twelve Messianic congregations existed in the United States. Today, more than 300 actively attract and recruit Jews who, because they lack a sound Jewish education and support system, are buying the manipulative rhetoric and persuasive techniques of the Hebrew-Christian missionary movement.
Additionally, there are over 600 Christian missions dedicated to converting the Jewish people. It is estimated that there are more than 200,000 Hebrew-Christians in North America and Israel. As an exit-counselor who works with families to reclaim their Jewish family members from these churches, I can testify that the cost in terms of Jewish souls is dear.
WHO ARE THESE MISSIONARIES?
In order to understand the dynamics of the missionary problem, we must first understand who exactly these missionaries are.
To the Jewish community, the word "missionary" is a charged word, with a multitude of misconceptions attached to it. Typically, the word "missionary" is associated with those people who stand on street corners, annoyingly and ubiquitously distributing literature that tries to persuade individuals to believe in Jesus.
When we think of missionaries we might think of an organization with members, mailing lists, secretaries, and buildings to which we can point and say, "You see that building on 31st street, between Lexington and Park (New York headquarters of Jews For Jesus)? They are the missionaries."
This is merely one of a variety of misconceptions we have about missionaries and how they operate.
A number of years ago I lectured at a large university campus in Ohio. In my conversation with a dean we began to discuss the work I do. He immediately reassured me that at his university, they did not have a missionary problem. He recalled how years earlier there were indeed missionaries on his campus who distributed pamphlets and misused traditional Jewish symbols for the purpose of evangelizing. "But we don't have that here anymore," he insisted.
"Tell me, are there any fundamentalist born-again Christians on your campus?" I asked.
A serious missionary problem exists on any campus where fundamentalist Christians are present.
He quickly snapped, "What? Are you kidding? This is the Midwest! We're packed with them!" I then told him that indeed he had a serious missionary problem on his campus because, in reality, fundamentalist, born-again Christians are dedicated to the idea of bringing every Jew to a belief in Jesus.
Our second mistake is that we tend to view the Christian world as a monolithic group of gentiles who all essentially believe the same thing. In fact, the Christian world -- with hundreds of variant denominations that differ on numerous fundamental theological issues -- is far more diverse than the Jewish world. At a baseball game, it is sometimes difficult to know who the players are without a scorecard. Let's break down the Christian world for a moment so that we know precisely to whom we are referring.
THE COMPLEX CHRISTIAN WORLD
The Roman Catholic Church is by far the largest denomination in Christendom. Yet despite its past often-bitter relationship with the Jewish people, today Catholics are for the most part not interested in converting Jews. I need not worry that a Catholic priest is going to evangelize any of my patients at a hospital. If anything, he is one of the people who will show me where I can secure a kosher meal.
Another significant segment of the Christian world, especially in North America, is the Protestant community. For our purposes, we will over generalize and divide the Protestant world into two groups.
One group, the mainline or liberal Protestants (Methodist, Unitarian, etc.), is not at all interested in converting Jews. Liberal leaning Protestant denominations tend to shy away from any form of Jewish evangelism. It is, however, the other highly motivated and vocal segment within the Protestant community -- the fundamentalist, born-again Christians -- who are unyielding in their staunch commitment to convert the Jews.
There are two rules about Jewish evangelism that must always be kept in mind.
- The first rule is that the Christian who makes the very first critical and successful contact with the Jew is never a professional missionary. It will not be a paid staff member of Jews for Jesus or Chosen People Ministries. Rather, it is almost always a layperson -- perhaps a secretary at the office, a roommate in college or someone on the same swim team -- who makes that initial connection. Only after the lay evangelical Christian has made this preliminary contact will the professional missionaries step in to the conversion process.
- Secondly, the Christian layperson who makes that all-important first contact with the Jew is invariably a gentile. It is extremely rare for a "Hebrew-Christian" to successfully make that initial contact with a Jew. The perceived betrayal of the Jewish people by the Hebrew-Christian's apostasy sullies his message in the mind of a Jew. Only after the lay gentile born-again Christian has made that first crucial and successful encounter with a Jew will the Hebrew-Christian missionaries step in to finalize the conversion.
In essence, the central role that Christian missions like Jews for Jesus plays is to act as a clearinghouse and support system for evangelical churches around the world. As a result, these "Jewish missions" spend much of their resources and manpower teaching lay missionaries in gentile churches.
How serious a problem are these Protestant fundamentalist Christians? How many born-again Christians are there in the United States?
Their numbers are not small. According to most estimates, there are well over 50 million Americans who identify themselves as born-again Christians. That is, approximately one in five Americans is part of this army of lay people dedicated to "share" their faith with a Jew. When I spoke in Nashville a number of years ago, an Assemblies of God minister bluntly told me that he would rather convert one Jew than 50,000 gentiles.
WHY THE JEWS?
A question that naturally comes to mind is: Why the Jews? Why are these fundamentalist Christians so consumed with bringing the Jewish people to "know Jesus?" Why has the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, the Southern Baptist Convention, passed numerous resolutions encouraging more than 15 million American members to target and evangelize the Jewish people?
There are several reasons.
Jesus said: "Go not into the way of the gentiles ... but only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Firstly, the New Testament specifically prioritizes Jews for conversion. In the book of Matthew (10:5), when Jesus is instructing his apostles, he warns them, "Go not into the way of the gentiles ... but only go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The Apostle Paul echoes the identical sentiment in the first chapter of the book of Romans when he declares, "Go to the Jew first, then to the Greek (i.e. gentile)." We find a recurrent and unique emphasis on reaching the Jews in the New Testament, especially in the Gospels, almost to the exclusion of the gentiles.
A second reason for this obsession relates to the Church's fascination with eschatology, the study of the End of Times. Fundamentalist Christians are consumed by the prophecies surrounding the end of days. They want to know when the Messiah will come/return. How will this take place? To which nations did the prophet Ezekiel refer when he described how apocalyptic nations would wage war against Jerusalem before the final hour leading to the messianic age (Ezekiel 38-39)? Christian bookstores typically set aside an entire section dedicated to eschatological inquiry.
How does all this apocalyptic speculation and discussion relate to our subject?
At the end of the book of Matthew (23:39), Jesus is quoted making a very important statement. He says, "I will not return until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" Because Jesus was speaking to a Jewish audience at the time he made this statement, Christians have always understood this statement to have one meaning: Jesus will not make his second coming until the Jews are converted.
The Jews, therefore, are holding up the show.
Fundamentalist Christians also believe that Jesus is going to make his second coming in or about the year 2000 (counting from Jesus' birth); therefore, the Jews must be converted by then, en masse, in order to enable Jesus to return.
(Bear in mind that there remains considerable controversy among Christians as to the year of Jesus' birth. Many Christians -- largely based on Luke's narrative -- place the 2,000th year from Jesus' birth in the year 2007).
Finally, the most significant reason for the church's preoccupation with the Jews stems from the credibility problem that the faith of a Jew presents to Christendom.
THE MESSIAH COMPLEX
Jesus was a Jew and Christians claim that he is the promised Messiah about whom the prophets spoke. The idea of the Messiah -- who will come at the end of days to usher in a utopian society of love, peace, and the universal knowledge of God -- is exclusively Jewish. Fundamentalist Christians insist that if the Jews would only look in their own Hebrew scriptures they would find Jesus literally bouncing off every page. It, therefore, stands to reason that the Jews should have been the first to embrace Jesus and his teachings, if in fact Jesus was the prophesied Messiah. Yet, the Jews were the very people who did not accept Jesus.
Jews should have been the first to embrace Jesus, if in fact Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.
This has always been a troubling reality to the Christian Church since its inception. It is for this reason that only the conversion of a Jew to Christianity can lend credibility -- never the conversion of the gentile.
Peering back into world history, it would probably be quite difficult for any of us to think of another program that has been a more miserable failure than the church's persistent effort to convert the Jews to Christianity.
Bear in mind that Christianity swept through Europe almost overnight. The same is true for Latin America. Yet the Jews, with all their problems of persecution and forced exile, still would not convert.
With the approach of the end of the second millennium, evangelicals were faced with a serious dilemma: How were they to finally bring the Jewish people to accept Jesus?
This quandary was no small theological challenge to the church. With the year 2000 in sight, two critical conferences were convened a little more than a quarter of a century ago. The first was held in Switzerland and the other in Thailand. The main questions that were asked at those two symposiums was: Why has the Church been so unsuccessful in their past efforts to convert the Jews, and what new techniques can be employed to attract masses of new Jewish converts to the church by the turn of the century?
It was at these two unlikely locations that devout evangelists placed the Jewish people under a microscope. Indeed, it was at these symposiums that those Christians understood that the church had a number of serious challenges with respect to converting the Jews.
PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM
The first problem they discovered was that the church had a significant public relations problem. They concluded that Jewish people historically tend to equate Christianity with persecution. Jewish people often feel somewhat uncomfortable just hearing the words "Jesus Christ," and when they see a cross or a church icon, it rarely conjures up warm, affectionate feelings. On the contrary, whereas Christians tend to feel quite comfortable in synagogues, or observing Jewish ceremonies, Jewish people tend to feel alienated by churches and their icons.
Taking this public relations problem head on, these evangelists initiated a unique approach. It goes something like this, "You're Jewish? We Christians just love the Jewish people! Persecution? Oh, no! Any Christian who persecuted a Jew in the name of Jesus couldn't be a real Christian. A real Christian only loves the Jewish people!"
This novel technique enables Christians to freely evangelize Jews by distancing themselves from their Christian forbears. In this way, potential Jewish converts will not feel alienated by Christendom.
Jews would not simply start converting to Christianity because evangelicals condemned anti-Semitism.
These evangelists realized, however, that simply smothering us with love could not in itself be totally effective. Jews would not simply start converting to Christianity en masse because evangelicals loudly condemned anti-Semitism. They understood that the essential reason why Jews do not convert is because they do not want to stop being Jewish, and Jews view Christianity as antithetical to Judaism.
With this realization, these highly motivated missionaries developed an entirely new and remarkably simple approach to Jewish evangelism. It goes like this, "When you're becoming a believer in Jesus, you are not converting to another religion. On the contrary, you're becoming a 'fulfilled Jew' or a 'completed Jew.' After all, Jesus was a Jew and his followers were Jewish; therefore, believing in Jesus must be the most Jewish thing you can do."
Messianic "synagogues" do not observe Christian holidays. You will never find a Christmas tree or blinking colored lights around December in a Messianic congregation. Instead, these missionaries celebrate Jewish holidays with a "Christological" spin. Throughout the world, Messianic congregations hold elaborate and well-publicized Passover Seders.
A MESSIANIC "SEDER"
At first glance, a Messianic Seder table appears quite traditional, with all of the customary essentials: Seder plate, matzah, and wine. Once the ceremony begins to unfold, however, even the most uninitiated will immediately realize that something is askew. Participants are told that the wine at the Seder table represents the blood of Yeshua/Jesus, and the matzah represents his body. Do you know the real reason why Jews have three matzoth at the Seder table? To represent the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Do you know why the matzahs are perforated? Because Jesus was pierced through when he was crucified. Why does the matzah have stripes? Because Jesus had stripes across his back as a result of the beating he endured during his trial. Why is the middle matzah broken? Because Jesus was brutally broken on the cross. Why is the matzah wrapped in a white towel? Because Jesus was wrapped in a white burial shroud. Why is this middle matzah hidden? Because Jesus was hidden away in the tomb following his crucifixion. Why is the matzah brought back at the end of the meal? Because Jesus will return in the Second Coming at the End of Days.
Messianic congregations will never be listed in the Yellow Pages under churches. They are always listed with the synagogues. Additionally, the Messianic movement has created a remarkable tool for Jewish evangelism called a "communications card." This card carefully guides evangelicals on how to talk to a Jew in a manner that will not alienate them as potential converts. A two-column card which is usually wallet-sized for easy transport and access reads:
- "Don't say Jesus Christ; Do say Messiah Yeshua,"
- "Don't say convert; do say "Messianic, completed, fulfilled Jew."
- Don't say "Christian; do say Bible believer," etc.
In essence, the Messianic movement's fundamental approach seeks to blur the distinctions between Judaism and Christianity in order to lure Jews who would otherwise resist a straightforward Christian message. To the horror of the Jewish world, it is a tactic that has achieved remarkable success with the most vulnerable segments of our community -- the very young, the very old, and our Russian brethren.
(137) Nicole , June 28, 2008
Sad.
I am 17 years old and I would do anything to keep myself JEWISH!
I was born in the US and grew up in Guatemala,I was raised christian and 98% of my friends were Catholic. My mom being desperate from many troubles in life turned on the T.V and found a Jewish channel, after 5 minutes of listening to a Chabad.org *or* Aish.com ( not sure) Rabbi talk she knew what was she missing in life. My mom , my listtle sister and me studied about Judaism for 2 year by ourselves and even practiced certain Jewish rituals. We finally moved to Dallas Tx. and after 2 years of intense studies we were able to convert to Judaism through a Conservative movement.I was able to attend a Jewish high school (Moder orthodox) for the last 2 years of high school(with a big schoalrship)and my sister to a Jewish middle school. Today, one year after my conversion, I am attending an Orthodox synagogue,I am Shomer Shabbat,Shomer Negiah,keep 100% kasher, and even have a Jewish Israeli boyfriend. In September Be''ezrat H'' I will be going to Israel to a Midrasha for 1 year, all thin with the support of my mom and very few Jewish individuals. I would have to say that Chabad.rog and Aish.com have been two of my biggest Jewish best friends.I have to disagree with someone that said that all christianity is not focused on Evangelizing the Jews its true, and it''s very clear int he article and i believe that Rabbi Singer''s point wasn''t to make people believe that, that is all Christianity. I would have to agree with another person that made a comment on "high priced high holidays seats" its true! The only reason why my mom , my sister and I were able to attend to high holiday services in shul was because the Rabbi form the conservative synagogue paid the tickets from his own pocket. and i have many other examples. I n my opinion the most religious movements in Judaism reject other Jewish movements, which at least in the Jewish diaspora its necessary to have something else than just the Chareidim due to the exact same issue mentioned in the article by Rabbi Singer, some people just dont feel comfortable been 80% religious, and being a teenager i would dare to say that sometimes, being conservative is better than being Orthodox due to peer pressure and the secular life. Judaism has the way to teach people but Judaism shouldn''t demand people because that is were the issue starts,the ones that should demand are parents and we can''t expect Rabbis to do all the job. I think that parents and synagogues are not preparing teenager well to face such situations in college *or* even in high school, we need to understand that we cannot be raised in a bubble of " the world is about Judaism" becasue when we got to college Judaism is the last thing we have, *or* the bubble of "my children, live in a "free" country they can do whatever they want", every extreme is dangerous. i have many orthodox friends dating goyim becasue there parents don''t care *or* becaseu they got tired of being religious. I know several OU recognized Rabbi''s that rejected us from even start learning about Judaism because my mom was''t able to afford $500,ooo home in the Eruv ( as you may know, most commuities are ine xpensive areas) and all these things makes some people get away from Judaism. Until today we can''t afford to live in the Eruv therefore almost eveyr Shababt i take 1 hour walks each way to go to shul, and i will do more than just this to be JEWISH!! It''s a shame how many recognized peole in charge of big organizations at least in Dallas are rejecting even Jews that are birn Jewish becasue they cannot afford certain things. DON''T get me wrong certain communities in Dallas are just AMAZING! nevertheless my goal is to STAY in ISRAEL! We have also gotten a lot of support from people. Most of my family is Christian and we talk the most once a year and they call to tell me " merry christmas, your making a big mistake being Jewish" and I answer " Thank you! I love you too , talk to you next year". My brother believes there is a god bot is kinda consfused, my other brother is pure christian and my oldest sister also converted to Judaism (she now lives in Paris, tough life for many Jews). I think that we Jews are making a big mistake by rejecting Jews from Reform , Conservative etc movement, we are againss each other and that is one of the reasons why the second temple was destroyed we should help each other in order to prevent any type action such as the ones mentioned in the article. (By the way we even found out that from my moms side her father was 100% Jewish and they were originally from Spain and Israel). We should teach,help and support and prepare each other to face certain situations that many generations in the past never imagined that we would have to face. Should we welcome every single person that wants to convert? DEFINITELY NOT! could be DANGEROUS. I have a lot more to say but I will get ya''ll bored. I very much appreciate Rabbi Singers work and all the Aish.com staff. Let''s make an effort to be PROUD JEWS!!!! We need ACTIONS not only words! and its also MY job!
Yasher Koach,and Shavua Tov!
(136) Beverly Kurtin, Ph.D. , June 28, 2008
Know the books!
Joy Bryan said that the article made born again Christians (BACs) seem conniving and evil. I agree that most of the missionaries with whom I have come in contact are well meaning, they simply do not realize the enormous damage they are attempting to do to Judaism.
The problem isn't that they are evil, they aren't. The problem is that without realizing it, they misrepresent the scriptures. To take one example, I can, by using one of their "tricks" prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no G-d. Sorry to say that, but in Psalm 14 it starts with "There is no G-d." Bang, case closed, next case, please.
Well, maybe we shouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly. What I did, of course, was take the text out of context. The remainder of the verse says, "the fool has said in his heart." Oh, so there really is a G-d, never mind.
The missionaries, bless 'em, don't even realize themselves what they are doing. Their superiors certainly do, or should know what they're doing when they take scripture out of context.
A favorite of theirs is, "You can't be saved without the shedding blood, see, right here in Leviticus 17:11 it says that the blood was given to us to make an atonement on the altar. Since you no longer have a Temple, you no longer have an altar and you cannot get atonement for your sins. What will you do without the blood?"
Okay, sounds reasonable enough EXCEPT that that is not what is being talked about in Leviticus 17, that important part starts with verse 10 not 11 where it prohibits the drinking of blood and the reason is that the only proper use of the blood is to make atonement.
But it never says that the ONLY way to achieve forgiveness is to make atonement for our sins. It simply prohibits the drinking of blood.
Taking a very quick turn over to the Christian Testament (there is no New Testament, the Covenant Hashem made with us is still very much intact so how could there be a new convenient?". There it says that Jesus was crucified and that his blood saves us if we simply accept his sacrifice. No, no, no, no…a hundred times no!
How can they just dismiss the fact that Jesus was a human being and that Hashem had prohibited the use of human sacrifices? For a sacrifice to be acceptable it had to be a spotless animal (never a human being) taken to the Temple in Jerusalem and painlessly killed by a Jewish priest and the blood sprinkled on the horns of the Altar.
Let's see how that squares with what Jesus supposedly did. First he was a human being, not the "lamb of G-d." Second, he had been beaten and bruised, taken OUT of Jerusalem and painfully murdered by the Romans.
Contestant number one, did Jesus fulfill a Kosher sacrifice?
BEEP!
Thank you.
To make matters even worse, the Christians participate in something they call communion. They drink the blood and eat the flesh of Jesus. WHOA, Jews are prohibited from drinking blood and eating human flesh? That's cannibalism! And to me, at least, it is disgusting to even think about it.
These missionaries have countless "proof" texts to "prove" their case, none of which can hold water. Ask a missionary who the first person in the entire scriptures was to be baptized and they'll tell you Jesus. Here's another BEEP…it was Aaron who first went through mikvah in preparation to become the first high priest.
They misuse Isaiah 7:14 to say that a virgin would give birth when the word almah means young woman, not virgin. They say that Isaiah 53 refers to Jesus when it clearly refers to the nation of Israel. The list goes on and on and on. They see Jesus in just about every nook and cranny of the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, too many Jews do not know Scripture. Either they stopped learning when they hit the magic age of 13 or never learned it at all, that is what makes them such easy targets.
I love "playing" with missionary's minds. I will ask them when Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was they never get it right. Sometimes they'll get close, but no cigar. When I say the Shema, the Veohavto and the love thy neighbor, they say that is what Jesus said. Yup, but it came from the Holy Scriptures, not the Christian testament. Jesus was teaching Judaism, not Christianity.
I ask them when did Jesus say the law was done away with. They stumble on that one. Why? Because he never did. He said quite the opposite, he said that the law would never pass away. One verse, Luke 16:17 says "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." The reason that Christians think that the law has passed away is because the Apostate Paul found that it was too tough to get Gentiles to accept Judaism (which was then necessary before becoming a Christian) so he decided to do away with the laws for the Gentiles. If you have never read the Christian Testament, get a copy from the library or any bookstore. I suggest getting a copy of the New International Version as it is among the best VERSIONS and also one of the best translations I've read.
So why do I know so much about the Christians? Although I do not consider them the enemy, nor do I think that they are out to "get us" in a negative manner, they ARE out to get us and if some Jews don't know what they are going to try to use, they can fall into their trap.
I'll leave off with this: Most Christians haven't the foggiest idea of what their books have to say either. They are clueless. One day while in a restaurant a Christian guy got up and said in a very loud voice, "Would everyone please bow their heads and thank Jesus for the food we are about to eat?" I said in an equally, if not louder voice, "Why don't you open your fetish to Matthew 6:6, read it and then shut up and sit down."
Most Christians are trying to shove two things down everyone's throat, Gentile, Jew, believer or non-believer: Public prayer and the Ten Commandments in every place imaginable. Matthew 6:6 tells Christians that when they want to pray to go into their private space an talk with G-d who already knows what you want. Second, the Ten Commandments were never given to any Gentiles, they were given to the Jews.
Christians were never slaves in Egypt nor do they keep the Sabbath holy, nor do they ever observe it, they worship on the FIRST day of the week, not the SEVENTH.
Folks, you need to know OUR books and THEIR books if you have any hope of keeping yourself and your children out of their churches.
(135) Anonymous , June 28, 2008
Disagree.
I worked for a Jewish family in their store, and I have known other Jewish people, however I have never thought of trying to convert them to Christianity. I study Torah with Aish every Shabbat because I want to learn from you all the lost teachings that we do not have today. I HATE anti-semitism, and I also HATE anti-christianism. God is LOVE. If we love Him, we MUST love all peoples of all beliefs, because we are ALL made in the image and likeness of the Almighty.God called Israel His beloved, to be a light unto the nations - Why are you not doing what God called you to do?
Millions of Christians in the whole world love Israel and the Jewish people, and we stand together with you, lifting you up in prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, and for the ones who hate you to be removed from this world by God himself. That is how I prayed for Yasser Arafat to be removed by God from this world and He did it!
The truth of the matter is that we need you and you need us - we are the people of the Bible - and we ought to be standing together, building each other up in love, instead of bringing each other down.
I love Aish and all my Jewish brethern.
(134) Rosen , June 27, 2008
why Christianity has no monopoly on the world's purpose
Christianity, not necessarily all Christians, doesn't or hardly has a monopoly on the fate of the world, because it tends to come up short by urging non-believers to "believe". I've said before on Aish.com that believing in something is flattering, but learning and practicing mitzvot speak louder and wiser. Just believing often implies that you take the word of the bible without thoroughly reading it thru. The Jewish literature that I have read has encouraged me to read more, similar to non-fiction.
For an educated Jew to see thru the deceptive tactics that fundamental Christians pose, they are aware of Duet. 13 in the Torah, where it indicates how one can spot a false messiah or prophet. Torah stresses that we will not mistaken the Messiah as G-d himself, however, many secular and fundamental Christians don't realize that there is a difference between someone claiming to be the Messiah as they think Jesus is, and G-d.
Christian fundamentalism will always shock and infuriate me, but it will never convince me to convert to Christianity in order to be "saved". - Since when is thinking and reasoning for one's self considered sinful? For the different aspects of Christianity to be true, reason would be invalid, because one would only have to take the word of the bible and believe in order to be saved, which doesn't necessarily add up.
There may be no such thing as the "end of days" since life is very certain of going on. The Rabbis that predicted the future of this world have been more correct than the Christian theologeans who predicted the second coming and they got it wrong every time they predicted it after Jesus' death. Assuming G-d is in control of the world, only good can eventually come of it as long as we are willing to serve Him based on His presence at Mt. Sinai 3000 years ago.
Some interesting websites that offer disproving and dispelling the notions of the fiction of Christianity include www.messiahtruth.com and www.jdstone.org.
We all have choices to make, so it's better to have religion and study it, as opposed to spreading the gospel, which is evidentally more misleading.
I would wish more Jews were educated to fend off the deceptive scare tactics of Christian evangelism, and avoid intermarriage and assimilation. Hence, a Jew may forget about Judaism, but Judaism never forgets a Jew. We shouldn't fall into the traps of spiritual extortion and blind hatred to those one disagrees with.
(133) Ray , June 27, 2008
Common
I have had to endure constant attempts to convert to Christianity. They are not so subtle here in rural California. My wife is Catholic. I have been to her church and have NEVER EVER been made to feel as an outsider nor have I EVER been prosthelicized to. They are accepting of our mix and respectful of my heritage.
The conversion attempts come from subtle pushes at work. People I meet in various social situations. Mostly pushy door to door missionaries.