I really did not intend to post here again as I don’t want to intrude here; however, it was nice of you to say what you said and I am honored that you want to hear more from me, so I can’t ignore that.

I’m bit leery of saying more than I had already said, though. For one thing, I don’t want to cause arguments, and I’m afraid of being misunderstood.

I would like Christians to leave Jews alone as far as the whole conversion thing goes. I think it causes hard feelings, and it is disrespectful for a Christian who doesn’t even understand Jewish beliefs to come along and tell a Jew that they are wrong. When you couple that ignorance with a very disgraceful history of Christian persecution of Jews, it’s no wonder that many Jews are very skeptical of us. I’m somewhat amazed that a Jew will even speak to a Christian.

The problem is that Christians don’t really know much about Judaism except that Jews don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah. But other than that, they are pretty much ignorant and would be hard pressed to tell you anything else other than maybe Jews aren’t supposed to eat pork.

I would like to see more Christians offer Jews unconditional love and support instead of only being interested in them to convert them. I also would like to see Christians try to understand Judaism more instead of just thinking that Jews are condemned to hell because they don’t believe in Jesus.

You asked what my church teaches vs. what I have found to be true. Well, that’s a very heavy question and really I would need to write a book to anwer. But a few things I believe where i part ways with most other Christians is that I do not believe Jews are condemned to hell for not believing in Jesus. and I do not believe that God is “done” with the Jews and that Christians have replaced them as the apple of G-d’s eye.

I believe that Christians have a duty to G-d to protect and support Jews, that we must pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and that God will bless those who bless his people, the Jews.

I also believe in Jesus, and you don’t, and there we will just have to agree to disagree.

I believe that the existence of Jews on this earth proves that G-d exists and it proves that God has not abandoned the Jews. Look at all Jews have gone through in their history: slavery, wars, diaspora, pogroms, persecution, the Holocaust. AND YET THEY ARE STILL HERE as a unique people with a unique culture, even though still scattered all over the world. No other people could go through so much and still retain their identity. But Jews have done it. It proves Gd’s very existence.

I’m sorry you’ve had bad experiences with Christians and find that their friendship seems to come with a knife. And while we Christians do have a lot of atoning to do, I do believe it is important to acknowledge the too-few Christians who have been friends to Jews even when it cost them greatly (for instance Corrie ten Boom and her father and sister, or Diet Emon) and who did so with no ulterior motive but only as an act of obedience and love towards G-d.

Thank you for listening.

I will say that I think there is a lot of truth in what you say, and I also think that Christians really miss the mark in their approach to Jews. Too often, Christians are only interested in Jews if they think they can convert them, and when they realize they can’t, they give up and walk away in frustration. This is inexcusable. But not all Christians are like this, just most of them.

Judaism came first, and I think that Christians have much to learn from Jews. Instead of Christians telling Jews they need to believe in J-sus, we should instead learn about Jewish beliefs. Christians are very ignorant about the Torah, etc., and they do not at all understand the Jewishness of J-sus. In fact, there are Christians who don’t even realize Jesus was a Jew.

I met a woman who said she was going to Israel to try to save Jews. She may have meant well, but what she said sounded arrogant to me. I said, “Instead of going there to tell them what you believe, why don’t you ask what they believe instead?” She kind of gave me a dirty look.

I know that there are things that from a theological viewpoint you and I will disagree on, and I don’t want to try to convince you to think like me. And you know what? I think that God admires your steadfast upholding of your beliefs and He sees it as an act of obedience towards him. I also admire you for it.

And you know what else? I haven’t burned any pork chops since the last time we talked! (Truth be told, I don’t even eat pork.)

So nice to run into you again. Happy Hannukah. My warmest and best wishes to you, DACON9

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(P.S. Is that really you who posted to me on this site? Since it’s not all in caps, I’m concerned it might be an imposter

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