Tuesday 11 March 2014

Rabbi Singer vs Jews for Jesus

Hello all,

Samuel here!

Whilst my bro is on his romantic 3 days away, I'm trying to keep up the blogging front (and look after my bros kids, all 16, less 1). Speaking of that 'less one' this is a post for my fab niece, Natasha, who is at university and has been approached targeted by groups who say they are Jewish , are   a particular wacko Proddy  version of Christianity  sect of Christianity. So this post is for you, in which Rabbi Tovia Singer debates and explains why Jews might have a problem with devout Christians a funny mishmash of Judaism and Christianity, justifying manipulating  Judaism  to convert Jews by any possible means : 



8 comments:

  1. That's a big family...

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    1. I've been married twice and my second wife has also had children in her first marriage.

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  2. Was I willing to seek God on His own terms? Could I set aside my prejudices and preconceptions and believe that the Almighty could show me the truth if I were willing to receive it and follow it wherever it would lead me? I later discovered that the Scriptures encourage this kind of wholehearted, totally abandoned seeking of God. In the Prophecy of Jeremiah, God declares to Israel, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

    As I sketch my experience, I am aware that it differs from that of others. I am also aware that we Jews tend to dismiss Jesus or resist His messianic claims because so much that bears His name seems alien to us and contrary to our best interest. We are very sensitive to the experience of Jewish suffering at the hands of so-called Christians. This history of suffering tends to fortify our allegiance to Jewish identity and to harden our resistance to Christianity and to Jesus.

    However true this may be, (and I would not be one to deny or dismiss it,) my own experience helped me see another side to the question of Jewish allegiance and Jesus. My basic personal concern revolved around the question of my relationship with God. A deep crisis emphasized a spiritual void which religious observance did not fill. How could I get in touch with God? This question became paramount. But what did this have to do with being Jewish? For the first time, some questions occurred to me. Do we Jews exist as a separate people for some other reason than just to be different is our existence as a separate people intended to point to some greater reality?

    Quite honestly, my sense of a need for a personal relationship with God, and not my concern for the meaning of Jewishness, was the controlling factor in my spiritual search. But this search afforded an amazing discovery. The desire to know God led me to those who pointed me to the Scripture and to Jesus. And faith in Jesus brought me into a vital relationship with the God of Israel. In the light of this relationship, I discovered that Jesus is inextricably linked to the greater reality to which the existence of the Jewish people points.

    I also discovered that in embracing Jesus I had not rejected my Jewishness. I had rather discovered its larger and deeper meaning. I see that the faith of Israel, as understood in the light of the Sacred Scriptures and the ministry of Jesus, finds its climax, not in a religious tradition, but in a Person in whom the God of Israel has uniquely manifested Himself. God did this, not only for the blessing of Israel, but for the redemption of all mankind. He had promised that in Abraham and his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). In Messiah Jesus, the blessings of the sons of Abraham and the God of Abraham spilled over to the Gentiles.

    I Couldn't Dismiss Jesus

    Events led me to realize that being Jewish was not a justifiable reason for dismissing Jesus. It would have been easy to allow a bland acceptance of religious tradition to decide the case for me. But the harsh realities of life unsettled this bland acceptance.

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    1. As Sam notes I am away at the moment. I may respond to you fuller , later in the week.

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    2. Messianic Jew. Judaism is steeped in tradition (so is Christianity for that matter) but it is more than tradition. And you don't need Jesus to know God and you certainly don't need Jesus to have a relationship with the God of Israel. The other problem is that Christianity, whilst it has its roots in Judaism, essentially means that you don't have to be a Jew or follow Jewish traditions and they've all apparently been replaced by a 'new' covenant. So you are really kidding yourself there and have a religion, Christianity, with some inferences into Judaism as a culture. Not sure why you'd want to do that if Christianity and Jesus are the only way to be 'saved' etc.

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    3. MJ, The very FACT that you dismiss Judaism as 'tradition' pretty much sums up where you are wrong and also where you are clearly thinking as a Christian. If Judaism was simply 'tradition' to you, then I am not surprised that you ended up converting to something which you seem to think is far more exciting. I still do not get, though, why you feel the need to continue with Jewish festivals if they are just about tradition and if you are a Christian why you'd feel obligated to do so anyway.

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  3. Whilst I am biased, I think that the Rabbi comes off better in this conversation.

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  4. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

    STOP TROLLING HERE, I WON'T LET YOUR ABUSE THROUGH TO BE PUBLISHED.

    TAH AND THANKS VERY MUCH!

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