Monday 23 February 2009

Jews for Jesus and Sarah Palin's church


I have received the following comment on the post "Gates of Hell".

I am a staff worker with the Jews for Jesus organization. Most blogs and news services have quoted the same snippet of the 30-minute message that David Brickner of Jews for Jesus delivered at Sarah Palin’s church, giving the false impression that he believes that terrorist attacks are God’s judgment on Israel for not believing in Jesus. Please read or listen to the entire message for yourself at www.jewsforjesus.org/blog/20080817 so that you can hear Brickner’s remarks in context. Please also take a look at Brickner’s comments concerning his message at Wasilla Bible Church, as well as interviews by Christianity Today and MSNBC with Brickner about this issue, at www.jewsforjesus.org/blog/20080912. Among other things, Brickner says, "The comments attributed to me were taken out of context. In retrospect, I can see how my rhetoric might be misunderstood and I truly regret that. Let me be clear. I don’t believe that any one event, whether a terrorist attack or a natural disaster, is a specific fulfillment of or manifestation of a biblical prediction of judgment. I love my Jewish people and the land of Israel. I stand with and support her against all efforts to harm her or her people in any way."

Dear staff worker, I read the transcript of the Wasilla address. Brickner says the conflict throughout the Middle East is a an ongoing reflection of judgement. He says again and again and again that Jesus talked about judgement, that people cannot escape the judgement until they acknowledge that Jesus has come and he's the Messiah. To quote Brickner: "When Isaac was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment—you can’t miss it." Brickner created the context of an inescapable judgement, citing the Middle east conflict, to place his revelation that Jesus is the Messiah and the only salvation. Coming back later to say things were taken out of context is the oldest trick in the book. It's what people do when they can't "unsay" things, when they've had a bad episode of foot in mouth syndrome.

*****
Just out of curiosity, please visit their website and read their Statement of Faith, go through all their staments, have a good look around.

Correct me if I'm wrong: a group of people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah and his message the one that reflects true faith is not a group of Jews, it is a group of Christians, regardless of how they try to dress it.

As I understand it, Christians have not repudiated the Old Testament, they take it in conjunction with the New Testament. Together they constitute the Christian bible, which is the basis for what they believe and follow.

The Jewish faith does not incorporate the New Testament as the basis for their beliefs and teachings.

I have no religion, but I believe that religions should be able to co-exist peacefully. Faith is a very personal matter and cannot be imposed. Either you have it or you don't. Either you believe in one thing or you believe in another. There's no need to fight about it or to place one faith above the other. I repeat: it's a deeply personal choice. If we are to believe what many churches preach as absolute truth, that those who don't follow their teachings to the letter are going to hell, then we're ALL in big trouble! They have already condemned each other and the rest of humanity to eternal damnation...

Now, why do Jews (Christians) for Jesus, whose aim is to frighten Jews into embracing Jesus Christ, feel the need to go to Sarah Palin's Wasilla Bible Church to preach to the converted?

Jews for Jesus
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4 comments:

  1. The last few sentences of your post says it all.

    Thanks,
    majii

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  2. I'm always amazed that ppl took Jesus and credited him with a religion he did not preach or follow...that this same so-called religion, of Christianty claims to speak for Jesus...

    That these same ppl have made him first the Son of God, and at the same time, God in the flesh...did they not forget the 1st commandment...
    JUST WONDERING...Jesus prayed using the following words [among others], "Oh Father"...was he talking to himself? And the most amazing part, Jesus has a mother, was birthed from the womb...how was his Mother a mer human birth a GOD?

    As I've said a 1000 time or more, these are the ppl who think that Jesus was/is White & that the bible was reveled in English...

    The same ppl who preach things Jeses never included in his sermons/teachings...They dare to speak for God, on Gods behalf, they call it Open Interpentation. Don't let me tell you what I call it...Plzzzz.

    Wanna worship as Jesus did, then study as the Jews study, adopt that way of life instead of the by-product....

    Islam does not reconise Jesus as the Son of God, either and that's the main part that was changed by the Christiand [in the name of Jesus]...

    Anyways, sorry off topic a bit...

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  3. Regina,

    Thank you for posting my comment. You state, "The Jewish faith does not incorporate the New Testament as the basis for their beliefs and teachings." That is certainly true of modern Judaism. But let me quote Dr. Michael L. Brown, Old Testament and Semitic scholar, with a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University: "The plain truth about the New Testament is that it is a thoroughly Jewish book. It tells the wonderful news about Jesus—the Jewish Messiah—and all of its authors, save one, were Jews. Its pages are filled with citations from the Hebrew Scriptures—there are approximately three hundred direct quotations from the Tanakh and well over one thousand allusions to the Hebrew Bible in the New Testament—and most of the religious conflicts it records (such as debates about healing on the Sabbath) can be understood only on the basis of Jewish law and tradition."

    So why doesn't modern Judaism incorporate the New Testament into its teachings? Very simply, because the rabbis have decided that Jesus is not the Messiah of Israel. However, what if they are wrong? Let me again quote Dr. Michael Brown: "Who says Judaism is the faith that is in harmony with the Hebrew Scriptures? Who says Christianity (or Messianic Judaism) is not for Jews? Who says your interpretation is right? If Jesus is indeed the successor of Moses and the prophets, the Messiah spoken of in our Hebrew Scriptures, then the faith that acknowledges him is the proper faith for those who claim to adhere to those Scriptures."

    If you have not yet read the New Testament, I would encourage you to do so. See for yourself if Jesus could indeed be who he claimed to be.

    Matt Sieger

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  4. Messianic Matt,

    I appreciate your efforts to enlighten me on the subject of Judaism x Christianism.

    I have read the whole bible, old and new testaments.

    However, I'm not going to embark into a long discussion on the merits of Jesus Christ as the Messiah on this blog for two reasons: it is not the remit of the blog and I do not wish to offend some of my readers.

    Religious or not, the majority of the visitors to this blog have issues regarding Sarah Palin and that's what we're trying to discuss, not the ins and outs of any particular faith.

    ReplyDelete