| Anti-Semitism, the hatred of the Jewish people. Millions upon millions of Jews have been killed due to Anti-Semitism. Adolph Hitler may epitomize the Anti-Semite, but he is only one of many leaders among world history who have tried to destroy the Jewish people. Among those leaders, one cannot ignore that many were of the Christian faith, who killed Jews for their beliefs. For instance, many people do not realize that in the Crusades, the marching crusaders wiped out thousands of Jews in their travels, even though the Jewish people were not their enemies. Over centuries, popes, bishops, priests and other Christian leaders have taken their turn decrying the Jewish people, spreading lies about the Jewish people, calling for their death and spurring on pogroms (church and state-sponsored attacks against the Jewish people), all in the "name of Jesus." Most Jews at least know some of this history of hatred created by the Church, so is this why Jews do not accept Jesus? Is it learning that Jews died because Jesus that stops Jews from converting? If you read many Messianic Jewish sites, the answer given is "yes". They clearly state that Anti-Semitism is the core reason why Jews do not accept Jesus. But, are they correct in their claims? Actually, a brief review of history shows that their claims are false. I will proceed to cover a brief history of Anti-Semitism and conversion, and proceed to explain the real reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus. The Reasoning The Messianic movement is not the first movement to theorize that Anti-Semitism is the root cause for a lack of conversion of the Jews to Christian beliefs. Martin Luther, the founder of the Protestant branches of Christianity, had previously offered this theory. In the early 1500's, Martin Luther was an ordained Catholic minister teaching at a Catholic university in Germany. He was upset at corruption and dishonesty in the Catholic Church, such as the practice of indulgences. The idea behind indulgences is that if you give money to the Catholic Church, the soul of your loved one leaves purgatory rather than remaining in purgatory (purgatory being an idea akin to Hell). Martin Luther nailed a list of changes he believed were necessary within Catholocism on to All Saints Church in 1517, an action that eventually led to him leaving the church and founding the Protestant movement of Christianity. The Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals and various other denominations of Christianity are all the descendants of this movement. Now, with that in mind, Martin Luther theorized that the reason why the Jews had refused to convert to Christianity is because of the poor treatment of the Jews by the Catholic Church. However, he soon found that even when the Jews were treated well by Christians, the Jewish people did not convert. Frustrated at his lack of success, he, too, became Anti-Semitic. He advocated for actions such as destroying synagogues and burning Jewish books. But, ultimately, either way he tried, the Jewish people did not convert. This leaves us with our first piece of clear evidence that Anti-Semitism is not the reason why Jews do not convert. However, we can go even farther back in time to learn that Anti-Semitism is not the answer. On a simple level, prior to Rome adopting Christianity in the 4th century under Emperor Constantine, there really would not be an opportunity for Christians to act out Anti-Semitism in any large-scale violent fashion. After all, without being in power, there would be little that the average Christian group could do to a Jewish group. Neither was in power, so neither could physically dominate the other. So if Anti-Semitism was the answer, then prior to the adoption of Christianity by Rome as the official state religion (when Christians would have the power to engage in Anti-Semitic violence), Jews should have been flocking to Chrisitanity. In reality, the opposite is the case. Though the original adherents to Christianity were Jewish, by the end of the 1st century, less than 70 years after the death of Jesus, the majority of Christians were of non-Jewish lineage. If the only reason Jews did not believe in Jesus was Anti-Semitism, clearly in the beginning of Christianity, Jews should have been the majority. However, since the start of Christianity, non-Jews have comprised the majority of individuals who accepted Jesus. This comprises another important piece of evidence that Anti-Semitism is not the root cause for the lack of Jewish conversion. There is a third proof that Anti-Semitism is not the reason why Jews do not accept Jesus. On a logical level, it is hard to be Jewish. The Jews are a minority in every country except for Israel, and Israel has only been in existence since 1948. Judaism is a difficult religion to follow (the Bible alone contains 613 rules, without counting all of the different applications and permutations) and Anti-Semitism has historically made it more difficult to follow Judaism. In reality, converting away from Judaism generally allows Jews to escape Anti-Semitism and have an easier life. For instance, acceptance of Jesus during the time of the Spanish Inquisition allowed a Jew to keep his property, his home, and most importantly, his life. Many Jews converted to Christianity in pre-WWII Germany to give them greater opportunities in the German business world. Historically, Anti-Semitism has caused some Jews "to cave under the pressure." Logically, making someone's life more miserable (as the Anti-Semities surely have done) generally induces the unhappy person to change their ways so he or she can be left alone and no longer be made miserable. So why, despite all of this pressure and misery, did the Jews stay Jewish when it would be so simple to accept Jesus and avoid these difficulties. Clearly, there must be powerful reasons why the Jewish people do not accept Jesus. The Real Reason Since Anti-Semitism is clearly not the answer, then there must be other reasons why Jews have kept their beliefs. When examined, there are a tremendous number of reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus. Here are just a few reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, based on the Bible: 1. The Messiah must have a birth father (adoptive father and/or mother does not qualify) who is a descendant of King David, through his son King Solomon (2 Samuel 7:12-13) 2. G-d states in the Bible that G-d is not a human (Numbers 23:19, Hoshea 11:9) 3. The Messiah will be preceded by Elijah the Prophet (Malachi 3:23). Messianic Judaism-Christianity claim that John the Baptist was "like an Elijah", but the Bible is clear that it will be Elijah himself who will come. Moreover, John the Baptist was born just before Jesus, while Elijah never actually died in the Bible; he was carried to Heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:14). 4. Jesus did not fulfill major Messianic prophecies such as world peace (Isaiah 2: 2-4), the gathering of all of the Jews into the land of Israel (Isaiah 11:12) and the rebuiling of the Holy Temple (Ezekiel 37:26 - 27) These are just a few reasons why the Jewish people have not accepted Jesus, below are links to sites that review the topic in more details. There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions. An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them: Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism. Escape From Counterfeit Judaism Talking to Kids About Missionaries
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