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 ...
ALL Israel of course means ALL ISRAEL. Not just the Jewish Israelites, but the Celts/NorthernKingdom/European/American Israelites as well.
Precisely! It is also written:
Isaiah 45:25 In the LORD* shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
*"LORD" is JHVH - the one who said unto my Lord, "Sit at my right hand..."
You cannot take this verse out of context, nor should you misquote scripture. Romans does NOT say "...not to the gentiles" That is your interpretation, and you improperly ascribed it to Paul.
Romans:
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
The correct context is the oracles were given to the Southern Kingdom for safekeeping while the Northern Kingdom went off into Assyrian captivity and diaspora, losing virtually all links to their Israelite heritage. No more, no less.
You interpretation suggests it is Jews vs Gentiles, while in fact it is the Southern Kingdom (known as Jews by the time of Paul) vs. the the Northern Kingdom (who were the Celts by the time of Paul). The Northern Kingdom Israelites were never called Gentiles. Nor were they ever called Jews..
Well, the first thing that you need to understand Jews, is that if there are 4 Jews in a room, you'll typically have at least 5 views on any given topic!
Seriously, there are different "types" of Jews, for lack of a better term. There are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. However, the are subdivisions of those as well, and it's rare that they can agree on anything! For instance, there are some Ultra-Orthodox who refuse to accept converts as Jews, unless they went through their conversion under the supervision of Orthodox Rabbis, which actually threatened support of Israel from Conservative and Reform Jews!
There IS a basic tennant that is a child is born to an intermarried couple, that the child is considered Jewish if the mother is Jewish, but not the father. The reverse is NOT true. The reason being that the mother is responsible for raising the child. Depending on who you talk to, that child may or may not be considered Jewish. Even if he was raised Christian, Moselem, Hindu, etc...
There are a lot of different view on what exactly makes a Jew, and luckily, there IS a congregation that will accept you, if you just look for it.
If you deny the existance of G-d, I doubt that you'd be accepted into an Orthodox or Conservative congregation, if you voiced those opinions. On the other hand, a Reform temple might accept one who voiced those views, although for the life of me, I can't understand why someone who denies the existance of G-d would go to services!
Mark
No, you're just a bigoted prick. Don't foist your prickish nature off on your religion.
Did you know that God, Himself, called Ezekiel "Son of Man?"
Huh?
Show me where Jesus says if the Jews don't believe in Ezekial that they will die in their sins.
Show me where Ezekial claims he is King of the Jews, as Jesus says of Himself to Pilate.
Show me where the disciples say that there is "One name" under heaven by which men might be saved and it is Ezekial.
Nothing you say has a thing to do with the numerous claims that Jesus is the ONLY Son of God and the ONLY WAY to salvation.
I was where you are at about 1957. I have read and studied the bible since 1945 (I learned to read out ot the KJV.)
That makes it even more surprising you know so little about the teachings of Christ.
Long ago I learned that ALL of the seed of Israel will be saved. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.
You are deceived.
Both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ began their ministries with the message "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand".
Ask me who I believe, them or you.
Pestering people incessantly at 7am on a Saturday is not a way to win converts.
One might ask what goes on in these services, however. Similar to the way many Methodist churches have gotten dumbed down to a social and self spirituality gospel.
Are you in the habit of deliberately misquoting the Bible? No Bible translation reads that way. A special place in Hell is reserved for people who reword the Bible to say what they want it to say!
Add to that regenerate Christians. Even then some won't be happy.
Sure, if that's what it takes. How do you feel about people who deliberately MISQUOTE the Bible? Not people who may disagree with you about something, but who RE-WRITE the Bible to say what they want it to say, to support their position on something?
Funny you should ask that. I guess it's the same way that some blacks (such as myself) are denied the right by other blacks to call ourselves true blacks.
See what I mean?
Whatever the reasoning, it's nefarious, to say the very least.
It doesn't read that way at all. 2sheep is trying to pass off his interpretation of Romans 3:2 as the direct words of Paul.
There are several such posters on FR. IMHO they should be permanently banned on the grounds of inherent untrustworthyness.
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