Posted on 09/15/2002 5:20:45 PM PDT by jstone78
Portland Jews Brace for Assault by 'Jews for Jesus'
By Paul Haist, Jewish Review
Portland’s Jewish community has mobilized to resist a two-week assault by Jews for Jesus who will unleash a sizeable squad of trained proselytizers on the city at the beginning of June. A former Eugene rabbi who now specializes in combating Jews for Jesus returned to Oregon May 7 and 8 to help the Jewish community here prepare for the assault. The campaign is planned to coincide with the annual Portland Rose Festival when thousands of people will be on the streets and accessible by pamphleteers.
Rabbi Efraim Davidson is the director of Torah Atlanta, a counter-missionary group that serves the southeast United States. Davidson, who lives in Atlanta now, was a founder and the spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavas Torah in Eugene.
ANTI-'JEWS FOR JESUS' FLIER
The Jewish Federation of Portland and its Community Relations Committee have been aware for several months of JFJ plans to bring their crusade here now to take advantage of the large public gatherings that will occur during the Rose Festival.
Davidson said that the Portland campaign is part of a JFJ five-year program called “Behold Your God.” He has confronted similar JFJ campaigns in other cities, including Tampa, Fla., and Atlanta.
“Behold Your God,” is, according to Davidson, “a very well coordinated, multi-million-dollar campaign” focusing on 66 cities worldwide with Jewish populations of 25,000 or more.
He said that the Jews for Jesus use aggressive proselytizing to target disenfranchised or unaffiliated Jews, Russian immigrants and college students. He said their techniques are manipulative, deceptive and anti-Semitic.
Jews for Jesus have had some success in recent years. Davidson cited figures that show the group has grown from a mere seven U.S. congregations in 1975 to 478 today. There already are at least five so-called messianic congregations in Portland, according to the Web site www.missionportland.org, although Davidson identifies only three messianic congregations here.
Davidson added that in 1973 there were an estimated 10,000 born Jews in the United States who were practicing Christians. Today, 29 years later, he put that figure at about 250,000.
Davidson said the JFJ typically names a coordinator for a particular city that is part of its campaign plan. That person, who he identified as Sue Pearlman in Portland, does the groundwork for the upcoming campaign.
That groundwork includes, said Davidson, “hooking up with a messianic congregation and using it as the physical base for training.”
The coordinator also usually contacts local Baptist churches to recruit lay Christian volunteers. Davidson said the JFJ relies on the Baptists because they are “very motivated evangelicals.”
(Excerpt) Read more at torahatlanta.com ...
But the question is what Christians are supposed to believe. Jorge's point is that, if Christians do not proselytize among Jews, they will be denying their own beliefs -- or at least what they claim are their beliefs.
"Davidson added that in 1973 there were an estimated 10,000 born Jews in the United States who were practicing Christians. Today, 29 years later, he put that figure at about 250,000."
My hat goes off to the Baptists. They are the ones making the most progress with the Jews.
As an "atheist" you'd be better off being silent on things you don't know and don't accept.
You couldn't be more wrong. Clues of the coming of Jesus are all over the Old Testament. It's all in how you interpret the evidence. The Jews didn't expect their Messiah to have a humble birth and they also expected the Messiah to free them. Neither happened, so Jesus did not meet their expectations hence the disbelief. All I can say from a secualar point of view is the NO human has had such a dramatic impact on the human race. No one! Sure they can change A.D. and B.C. to common era but it will not erase Jesus.
What does the Old Testament teach about how the Jew obtains salvation/forgiveness?
By tv, which I change the channel. So far, they haven't infiltrated our schools here. I don't have them knocking on the door.
Jesus said;
"For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me. For he wrote of me"
But when Jews here in the U.S. evince a distrust of these same evangelicals' proselytizing efforts, suddenly they're "anti-christian bigots"!
Excellent observation!
I believe that if you've accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you ARE a Christian. It seems that is the #1 requirement for being a Christian. You might be a Christian with a Jewish Heritage, but let's call a spade a spade.
Since one of the main tenants of the Jewish religion is believing that the Messiah hasn't arrived yet, I don't really see how these diverging requirements can co-exist.
On the other hand, if someone wants to paint themselves blue and call themselves a blueberry, who am I to tell them what they can and can't do?
Next, the question, what's wrong with "Jews for Jesus." Well, if you believe in "truth in advertising," see my first paragraph. Historically, as bad as every calamity that befell Jews were, the greatest danger to the continuation of the Jewish faith is intermarriage and integration into "secular society" (there's a word for it, but I just can't come up with it right now). This is a major point that is mentioned in the Bible (which the white supremecists use for decrying interracial marriage).
The fact is, that in deeply religious Jewish communities, you'll find that there's no problem with it. It's in communities where there is far less belief in their religion, and when people attemtp to get others to convert, it's taken as a direct assault on their religion.
Mark
I believe they offered animal sacrifices every year in the temple.
I've often wondered what the modern belief is. The Jews don't have a temple in Israel (right now), and they don't make sacrifices anymore, so how are they redeemed?
The muslims now have that big ugly dome thing where they worship one of those rocks on the site of where the Jewish temple used to be. I've heard that there are certain factions of Ultra-orthodox Jews who want to rebuild the temple there. I've always felt that if the tension got too high in the Mid-East, that dome will disappear with a loud BOOM...
Precisely!
Hyperbole of the left...hardly an "assault"...but this makes it sound so much more threatening and their bigoted response more legit
I don't think that says it well at all. The Messianic Jews are not driving their beliefs out (asking rabbinical Jews to abandon their Jewish roots). And their proselytizing does not have a sinister motive behind it, either.
As for offensive lengths, how "offensive" is the following conversation/technique?:
(knock knock)
(Jewish person opens door)
Jew for Jesus (JFJ): Hi, I'd like to tell you about the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Jew: No, thank you. I'm not interested.
JFJ: Well, here's my card. Please call me if you ever change your mind.
What would really be offensive is if the JFJ came to the door and said, "Accept Jesus right now, or you're burning in Hell, you filthy Jew!" If he/she said that, not only would they be a bad evangelist, but I doubt they would get any converts.
One more thing. It is not possible to correctly equate homosexuality with being Jewish; they are light years apart. God never condemned being a Jew as a sin from which one should repent.
Like it or not, the Old Testament says no such thing.
For starters:
I'm no expert on what the main tenets of Judaism are, so I will accept your claim that this is one of the main tenets of Judaism.
But jstone78 made the point -- which I believe is correct -- that a "Jew" can be an atheist, and nevertheless be accepted as a Jew, whereas a "Jew" who accepts Christianity is not accepted as a Jew. Is it really true that belief in God is not a main tenet of Judaism in the same way that belief that the Messiah has not yet come is? If true, it does seem mighty peculiar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.