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Group Dynamics, Black Sheep, and Likeability: Why Chabad is Effective in Making Believers Reject Yeshua

Should Christians Evangelize Jews?

"In light of Auschwitz, any deliberate attempt to convert Jews to Christianity can be seen only as a more subtle form of Hitler's 'final solution'--the plan to erase Jews from the face of the earth,"  Eva Fleischner



Christians hold to an anti-Judaism, a belief that Judaism is bad and Christianity (any of the Christianities) should be normative--even for Jews.

For this reason, I believe Christians should not evangelize Jews in the way they currently view evangelism.

Evangelism is proselytization, making someone conform to your lifestyle--essentially making clones of yourself and your religion.  Christianity teaches that the mitzvot of Torat Moshe (a.k.a. Jewishness) has been abolished and that one should follow the customs of Christianity (i.e. pagan customs mixed with Biblical customs).  So when a Christian proselytizes, the result is an anti-Semitic, anti-Judaic rampage of destruction.

So Eva Fleischner was correct.

What should Christians do then?  They should devote themselves to studying Torah and Jewish tradition, to forming One Law communities.  Only then can they proselytize and achieve a result that does not involve, in the aggregate, a second holocaust.

Spending the Shabbos at Hasidic Rabbi's House

So this past Shabbat was interesting.  After talking to Judah and Zion, I decided to visit a local hasidic shul.  Before I went, Zion said "Just remember you're a guest."

Flash forward to the drash:  the rabbi says "This week's parsha is about welcoming guests...the story of Abraham and the three guests..."

It was a funny coincidence.  : )

We had a good time, davening, singing.  Then we went to a house and had the meal.  Discussion was good.  The question for discussion before the food was served was this:

"So why do we pray...the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob?  Why not just say 'G-d of Abraham?  Why say it three times?  What are your thoughts?"

And so it was a good question and we all talked and ate and drank.  It was a lovely time.

And today we went to a Baptist Church again.  :  )

What a schedule.  But both are my people so why not?

Oh, I almost forgot.  There was a natural segue at one point and so I asked the rabbi "When did Israel transform from Am Yisrael to the nation of Israel?"

He explained that it was through Passover.  That Passover was the first of the months, the Spring, everything about birth, even the kabbalistic texts describe the blood on the doorposts and the emergence of the people as similar to a birth, etc.  So there was no question in his mind that Passover established Israel as a nation.

Shalom,

Peter

Going to a Non-Messianic Synagogue Tonight

Taking the family to a non-Messianic synagogue tonight.  Should be interesting.  I wonder how the conversations will go...  

The Christian Argument Against the Jews (Adversus Judaeos): A Brief Overview of the Ancient Christian Origins of Anti-Semitism

Alphabetized Topical Index is Now Complete

See the new tab at the top of the home page.  I hope it will assist people in navigating the site.

How Do You Know If You're Saved?

So I was having a conversation with someone close to me today and they expressed a measure of disdain with my assertion that it was possible to know with great confidence whether one was saved from eternal punishment.

But I must confess that I believe salvation is, in essence, a straight-forward proposition.  We believe that Yeshua has the power to forgive our sins and that if we ask Him for forgiveness and we genuinely repent and try to follow Him that He will forgive us of our sins and spare us from eternal punishment.

I believe I'm a sinner---present tense.  I sin every day.  But I TRY to not to sin.  I ask Yeshua's forgiveness for my transgressions and I make every effort to better myself.  Thus, I'm confident that I will be saved from eternal punishment and that I will dwell in the Messianic Kingdom in the world to come.

Pyles Makes a Good Point

Here's something from James Pyles blog (link).  He takes me to task for something I said about rescuing Christians from anti-Judaic doctrines.  And he actually makes a good point.  Here's the relevant portion from his blog:

"I see church as a less than ideal environment for anyone who wishes to follow Torah…I see the need for rescue missions but for everyone in churches…I think they all need to be rescued — rescued from anti-Judaic doctrines…I see those anti-Judaic Christian doctrines as negatively affecting both Jews and gentiles. There is only one faith and it’s a Jewish faith — it’s the Judaism proposed by Yeshua and the authors of the New Testament.

-a comment from Peter
on Gene Shlomovich’s blog post
One Law Gentile Has a Change of Heart

Peter suggests that Christians need to be rescued out of the church and returned to…what?

Well, let’s go back a step. Rescued from what?

rescued from anti-Judaic doctrines…

So you get a small army together, raid a local church during Sunday services, scoop everyone up in a big net, and fly them via helicopter to…where? A late Second Temple era “ekklesia?”

But they don’t exist and frankly, we don’t know how to replicate one. Even if we did, is that our goal? To transport all 21st century Christians back in time twenty centuries to the first “churches” established by Paul in the diaspora? To what end?"

The idea of a rescue mission is to send in a team to evacuate or protect people and transport them back to a safe, home base.  Pyles is saying that the One Law movement either does not constitute such a "home base" or that it is futile to try to recreate the congregations that Paul planted in the first-century because our information about them is limited.  

So do you think Pyles has a point?  

Or how about a situation where there's a town that has no One Law congregations.  Why bother sending out search and rescue missions to the churches if it's not possible to transport the people to a One Law congregation?  

James Pyles Paints a Picture of a Segregationist Apostle Paul

Here's an amusing dialogue I had with James Pyles over at Gene's blog:

Is the New Covenant a National Covenant?

Would anyone care to share his opinion?  Is the New Covenant a national covenant?  If not, what is it?

"Sealed with an Oath" by Paul R. Williamson

I read a book by Williamson today in which he makes the following points:

(1) The Sinaitic Covenant was a national covenant;

(2) The Abrahamic covenant promised a future national covenant;

(3) The Sinaitic Covenant "spells out the type of nation that [Adonai] intended Israel to be";

(4) The reference to "nation" in Exodus 19:5-6 is a fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that his descendants would eventually become a great nation.

Free eBook About Adat YIsrael: The Polity of Israel

So it became apparent to me recently on Gene's blog that even people in my own camp (One Law) did not see the Edah as it is typically seen in Jewish books of political science or history of ancient Israel.  I came across a free ebook today that discusses the Edah from a Jewish perspective and describes it as a federal political institution.  Sulzberger explains that the Edah functions as a "general assembly of Israel" (kola ha'edah), a "national court", a "federal tribunal", "national council."  While this is an older work and much has been learned since this book was written, I think it serves as a good explanation of the political nature of the term Edah.

You can find this ebook here or here.

The Leaders of UMJC Say You Don't Need Yeshua to be Saved

Dan was good enough to provide us with the source for statements made by Mark Kinzer (see his c.v. here) that articulate the false doctrine known as Unrecognized Mediation, the idea that Jews who don't know Yeshua are still saved via an unrecognized mediation offered by Yeshua--in other words, you don't have to know Him in order to be saved.  You can read Kinzer's statement for yourself at the Jews for Jesus Havurah archive (see here).  Here's a quote from the newsletter:

I do believe that the Abrahamic covenant offers Jewish people access to God in and through Yeshua. That does not mean that all Jews, by virtue of being Jews, have a right relationship with God. It does mean that God's favor still rests upon Israel, and He makes a way for humble and faithful members of His people to enter His presence through the unrecognized mediation of Israel's Messiah.

Once again, I thank Jews for Jesus for facilitating this public discussion, and for helping to highlight and clarify the important differences that exist between us.

M. Kinzer

So how do you refute this false doctrine?  I think our friend Zion said it best:

"Too bad Kinzer was not there to inform Paul, that the gospel did not actually need to go the Jew first, or better yet, to the Jew at all. It would have saved him a lot of trouble, especially the lashes and stoning's that he encountered."

Zion highlights the absurdity of Unrecognized Mediation.  If Jews don't need to know Yeshua in order to be saved, then why did Yeshua say to preach the gospel in Judea?  Why did Paul and the other Apostles take such pains (oftentimes quite literally) to spread the gospel to Jews in synagogue?  If Unrecognized Mediation--salvation apart from recognizing Yeshua--is true then Believers don't need to share the gospel with Jews.

So it's just Mark Kinzer, right?  It's not like he's the leader of the UMJC, right?  Check out the link I provided for Kinzer's c.v.  It shows that he really is the man behind the curtain over at the UMJC.  But if you don't think this false doctrine has permeated the UMJC then I invite you to visit a UMJC synagogue.  See if they EVER say anything about how to share the gospel with Jews.  I for one never heard them speak of sharing the gospel.  Which is kind of bad when you consider that it's a gospel to the Jew first.  

Anyway, thanks to Zion for showing us the absurdity of Unrecognized Mediation.  I knew it was a false doctrine but I didn't know how to articulate it until he wrote that comment.  

Shalom,

Peter

How About a FFOZ Type of Ministry But for One Law?

Sometimes when I'm driving I'll ask my wife to write down an idea for me.  The other day we were driving to church and I had an idea for a teaching ministry that would be similar to FFOZ except that it would return to the original mission of FFOZ:  One Law.

This is just something I'm thinking about.  If it seems viable to me then I'll probably write up a business plan for it and go from there.  If anyone is interested then let me know.

Shalom,

Peter