How can you say you are a Christian and hate Jews?

Question

Now this question is not directed toward people who don't hate Jews. It is directed toward people who call themselves Christians but hate the Jews but all are (of course) free to answer. I would just like to see what your reasoning is.

Several of you have missed my point completely so let me clairify. I don't hate Jews. I don't believe that all Christians (or even most of them) hate Jews. I am in no way trying to criticize Jews or Christians. I am speaking to a small group (such as the KKK) who say they are Christian and yet hate the Jews.

I think that my additional details added at the same time I asked the question I think it is very clear.

Now this question is not directed toward people who don't hate Jews. It is directed toward people who call themselves Christians but hate the Jews but all are (of course) free to answer. I would just like to see what your reasoning is.

I appreciate your honesty though have a great day.

Answer 1

I don't hate anybody

Answer 2

Wow. I don't know where you got this idea. Perhaps you have been unfortunate enough to have run into someone who calls themselves a believer in Christ, but doesn't live a Christian life. There are many people that are like this because no one is perfect - if we were perfect, we wouldn't need God. Christians are fallible. We make mistakes - just because we believe in Christ, this doesn't make us omnipotent. I'm sorry if you have run into people who call themselves believers and act in an offensive way towards Jews. Speaking for myself, I worked for a Jewish family and loved all of them. They are even a family from Israel. I also have had family friends that are Jews and yeah, Jesus was a Jew - you may have the idea that the "Jews killed Jesus". This was a common thought around the time of the Holocaust and used as a reason to "get rid of the Jews". However, I'm pretty much under the impression that the Romans killed Jesus - the Jews asked for his Crucifixion, but the Romans are the ones that actually committed the act of killing Him. Nevertheless, it had to happen for the world and each of us to be saved and to be able to communicate with God freely. There shouldn't be blame in that at all... why would we get mad at the people who killed Jesus when if it didn't happen, we would all be doomed? There would be no salvation..... anyway, that's a long answer, but hope it helps you!

Answer 3

I don't, I actually have a great respect and love for the Jewish people. I pray for their safety while all this turmoil is going on and also for the opposite side as well, death is nothing to be happy about no matter who it happens to. I think that those so called Christians that do hate the jews are sadly off base, they feel that they (jews) killed Jesus but what they miss is if they did not do what they did then the prophecy would not have been fulfilled. I thank Christ for his sacrifice. Without it I would be lost.

Answer 4

I have always wondered this myself! Of course I don't think ALL Christians have problems with Judaism -- but sometimes when the topic of Judaism is brought up, there is a noticeable reaction on some (not ALL!!) Christians. They will tense up, or redirect the conversation, or show some other sign of ... I don't know exactly what the word is -- not "hate" necessarily -- but discomfort, defensiveness, or something like that. Maybe it's because they don't want to call attention to their own unanswerable questions and feel threatened that others might find out that they believe in something they can't fully defend or explain.

It could also be racial as opposed to religious. Jews have historically been looked down upon and even been the victims of persecution as extreme as genocide (and not just during WWII) by many other cultures, and are stereotyped in various unflattering ways like any race -- white, black, or other. Maybe the "hate" you're talking about is actually racism, but because the term "Jews" describes both a race and a religion, it's not clear which they take issue with.

I think people in general often get tired of defending their beliefs (religious, political, whatever kind of belief is being discussed at the time) against other people's objections or put-downs, and maybe it's just that they don't want to get drawn into a debate about what can be proven and what cannot. The bottom line is that none of it can be conclusively, scientifically proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be more "right" than any other belief system. That's what faith is all about -- choosing to believe and not requiring evidence or accepting whatever evidence is available. There is "proof" that every religion is the "right" one and that every religion has it "wrong" depending on which proof you're looking at, and even more, which proof you choose to accept.

I've also met people unthreatened by the idea of discussing religion in an open way with the goal of understanding & accepting one another. They tend to be so strong in their faith that they carry a certain serenity in their demeanor which allows them to accept that there are unanswerable questions -- their faith tells them to love one another regardless, and to trust God to answer their questions in time if He means for them to have the answer at all -- and if He doesn't, they can accept that, too. Their faith is strong enough that talking about it and hearing the evidence contrary to their beliefs won't shake their foundations, and may give them an opportunity to share their beliefs with other open minds.

I hear a lot of people saying that religion -- especially Christianity -- is under attack by the government, the media, and popular culture. For some people, recent legal cases over separation of church and state as well as the media attention given to "The DaVinci Code" have added to that threatened feeling people sometimes have when in the company of someone of another religion.

However, although I understand why some Christians might bristle at the mention of Judaism, I think it's sad because it seems to contradict the fundamental message of love that is the basis of Christianity. Maybe the answer is simpler than I think -- maybe it is as simple as the human tendency to avoid, distrust, and even fight with others who are different than them and need no other reason than that they are different.

Edit: To JC and MIKEBAYAREA who posted just before me -- Well said! I agree. :-) I'm glad to see so many other people responding to this question this way -- like in so many situations, it's the "hate" that gets publicity, but it's usually not the majority who embraces the hate. Hooray for humanity! It's not all bad! ;-)

Edit #2: I think I interpreted your question the way you meant it, didn't I? I mean, I'm not answering as a person who hates Jews, because I certainly do not, but having encountered the same contradictory anti-Semitism you described, I just tried to imagine some of the possible reasons that contradiction exists. I didn't think you were generalizing, just that you were interested in hearing other people's thoughts on the issue. Hope I interpreted correctly. I think most of the people who chose to respond were not your target demographic, because there's not a lot of folks here fessing up to any racial or religions bias. :-) (and we all know the haters are out there somewhere, but for some reason they're awfully quiet on this issue right now...)

Answer 5

I do not hate Jews or Judaism. . .my wife was raised Jewish but does not practice now. . .and I believe for very specific reasons (based on how Christianity was founded) that hating Jews should be grounds for excommunication for Christians!

That said, the roots of “anti-semitism” (which, btw, does not exclusively mean anti-Jewish only) are longstanding and complex.

In a nutshell:

*A longstanding tribal orientation that, to this day, continues to debate on whether you can become a true Jew through conversion or only by birth. (This is not an issue for any branch of Christianity. And there are ethic oriented branches of Christianity. . .Orthodox Christianity. . .that have learned how to deal with so-called "outsiders". . .in a way that some branches of Judaism are still struggling with. . .because of a deeply held distrust, perhaps a remnant of the Holocaust, that no one with Gentile roots can be trusted entirely.)

*From the time of Moses, it became an ethnic and religious group that chose to break the established rules of religious courtesy and tolerance by saying, in effect: “my G-d is greater than your g-d.” In effect creating a type of religious intolerance that its world had not yet known.

*A. . .perhaps unwise. . .choice to become the influential “pawn brokers” to kings and governments in Europe and portions of Asia and the Middle East. . .at a time that the practice of usury (charging interest for lending money) was forbidden. . .at least within one’s own religious/ethnic group.

*Personal and collective envy. . .from so-called foe. . .for the core of Judaic thought is an ethical and progressive life of progress.

But the root of anti-semitism is NOT because Jesus was killed by his fellow Jews.

Answer 6

Have you personally ever met a Christian who hated Jews? I hope not, because Jesus was a Jew. It would be kinda hard to be a Christian and hate the one who started it... But I have heard that there are people who hate Jews because they killed Jesus, which is just stupid and un-biblical reasoning.

Answer 7

No one of The Christian Faith can hate...period... Jews or any one else. But Jews are God's chosen people and our Lord and Master is The King of The Jews. Thus if any one Hates Jews they are not of The Christian Faith... And their fate is the same as all who deny God.

Answer 8

Truthfully I'm not sure you can. Biblically speaking Christians should love Jews, and to really simplify, Christians should love everybody.(Mark 12:30-31) The only excuse (actually it's not an excuse) is that Christians, like all people are not perfect. To hate anyone is merely a flaw. But the Bible also does say we are to forgive one another as God forgave us. So all I can say is please be patient and forgive those who are wrong.

Much love.

Answer 9

Christians CAN'T hate Jews first and foremost because CHRIST WAS A JEW! Christians love the Jewish people. I am not sure what makes you think Christians hate Jews.

Answer 10

I can't answer as I do not hate Jews or anybody. I don't know of any Christians that do. Of course the KKK does but then they seem to hate anybody. I think they may be surprised one day........

Peace Of Christ Be With You,
Debra

Answer 11

I'm not sure about your comment, but if you've encountered 'Christians' who say they 'hate' Jews, then you're dealing with hypocrites and not 'Christians', plain and simple.

I do have a problem with 'Christians' who use religion to justify their own warped, misguided beliefs based on half-witted interpretations of the 'Bible'.

Christianity only makes up approx. 20% of the entire world's religion, and I do not see the other 80% going to h*ll because they are not 'Christian'...it defies common sense.