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If Jesus was Jewish, why do so many Christians try to convert Jews?

2007-11-13 12:34:50 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture Religion & Spirituality

13 answers

Because they believe everybody is going to hell if they don't believe in Jesus. What they don't understand is why Jews don't "believe in Jesus". All the prophecies they say he fulfilled are misinterpretations of prophecy. There was no Jewish prophecy about God sending a son to kinda sorta save the world, only he really didn't cuz he's gotta come back again to do it.

And to all you "you can't go to heaven except through Jesus" folks, read Deuteronomy 13. If that isn't a warning about people coming and trying to change the law I don't know what is. I can say "2 + 2 = 5" and have someone write it in a book but that doesn't make it true. Neither is something true just because someone wrote that Jesus said it.

2007-11-13 12:44:48 · answer #1 · answered by CNJRTOM 5 · 4 0

Based on their own doctrines, traditional Christianity (and Islam for that matter) do not really make sense while Jews are still around and practicing Judaism.

As long as the Jews are still doing their thing, there's going to be a voice in the back of the head of a Christian (or Moslem) saying "hey, maybe that eternal covenant God made with the Jews was for real. Maybe the Jews have been right all along."

2007-11-14 13:24:54 · answer #2 · answered by mo mosh 6 · 1 0

I'm Anglican, and I find that many over-zealous fundamentalist Christians try to convert me. They say I'm not a Christian yet. I have been baptized, had a mystical washing away of sin, I have been annoited with oil, signed with the Cross, and marked as Christ's own forever. had the Confirmation ceremony when I was old enough to understand. Yet, somehow, I am not a Christian.

As much disrespect has been shown to my beliefs as has been shown to the Jewish folks.

2007-11-13 12:48:39 · answer #3 · answered by Pagan Dan 6 · 2 0

From "Judaism for Everyone" by Shmuley Boteach:
Certain beliefs have been deeply ingrained into the Jewish psyche for so many of thousands years that even the most secular and disinterested of Jews accept them as axiomatic. Foremost among these is the simple belief that no man could ever be God. Judaism came into this world to replace paganism with ethical monotheism: replacing the worship of all-too-visible personalities and objects with worship of the invisible and indivisible God who is the unifying force behind nature. And Judaism delivered unto the world a code of conduct by which man must live if he is to draw in closer proximity with his creator. Man is free, but his liberty must not be mistaken for license.
Above all, Judaism established divisions within empirical existence such as the separation between the holy and the mundane, between animal life and human life, and between the Sabbath day and the rest of the week. The strongest distinction it established is that between “Creator” and “created” or, more appropriately, between God and man. The Hebrew word for “holy” is kadosh, literally, “separate” or “distinct.” God is holy by virtue of the fact that He is completely distinct from anything human, just as the Sabbath day is holy by virtue of the fact that it is treated differently from the other days of the week. Ancient pagan worship and Greek mythology are replete with references to human deities, but powerful biblical verses assure us that God is not human and has no corporal form.
There is no more important belief in Judaism that the simple one that God is infinitely removed from anything earthly. Maimonides devoted four of thirteen articles of the Jewish faith to proving that God is an uncaused First Cause, thus has no origin, and therefore cannot be human; that God is incorporeal and cannot have a body; is eternal and therefore can never die; and is alone to be worshipped as something completely above empirical existence. The idea that a man could be God is anathema to everything Judaism stands for an everything that Judaism came into this world to accomplish. Moreover, if God were male, then He would share more in common with men. Therefore, Judaism teaches that God is neither male or female, white or Black, animal or human. Rather, He is the source of all life and relates to all equally.
It is for this reason that along with my deep respect for the Christian faith and my sincere love for religious Christians, I am disconcerted when I enter a church and see the crucifix, a graven image, with God having a head, mouth, hands, and feet. Although in modern times, unfortunately, Judaism finds itself in conflict with Muslims, when I walk into a mosque I feel virtually at home. As in a synagogue, images are completely forbidden. Men and women sit separately, and the prayers take place several times a day.
I suspect that this is the principal reason that despite considerable effort throughout the centuries, Christianity has had negligible success in converting Jews – even very secular Jews – to a belief in Jesus. Tell the Jew that Jesus was the long-awaited Jewish Messiah, and he will probably offer age-old Jewish counterarguments, such as the fact that the prophesied age of global peace and the end of war and disease has yet to dawn. But tell the Jew that Jesus was God and you will probably receive silence in response. The Jew is not prepared to debate this assertion. Believe what you want, you will be told, but we Jews could never deify any man.
The Jews have been around for a long time. There are few places we have not been and few ideas to which we have not been exposed. Any man claiming to be the Creator of the universe incarnate in a body, or even the son of God, is not going to convince us. The dividing line separating God and man is immutable and eternal, and for us there can be no greater heresy than for a man to declare himself to be, or ever be revered as, a deity. This is not to say that Jews do not have a profound respect for Christian belief, but it does serve to explain the uncompromising nature of the Jewish rejection of Jesus.
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2007-11-13 15:30:38 · answer #4 · answered by Hatikvah 7 · 1 0

Personally I see it as a sign of insecurity.

The fact that 99.9% of Jesus' own people (who knew the Bible better than any of them) flatly rejected Jesus makes them question their own faith.

By trying to convert Jews they feel better.

2007-11-13 13:41:17 · answer #5 · answered by Gamla Joe 7 · 3 0

Jesus was the eternal son of God borne to Jewish parents.

He is the promised Messiah and the first believers were Jewish.
He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, not the beginning of a new religion.

2007-11-13 12:38:14 · answer #6 · answered by Gypsy Priest 4 · 4 5

Jesus was a BORN AGAIN Jew....

"But as many as received him (Jesus), TO THEM he gave the power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe in his name, which were born.... not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God"- (John 1:12)

"Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God" _ Jesus

2007-11-13 12:39:56 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2 3

The Jews were God's chosen people but they REJECTED Jesus when He came. So Jews believe in the OLD testament but not the NEW testament and thus do not believe in Jesus' salvation which is required if you want to go to heaven and not burn in hell.

2007-11-13 12:40:47 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 6

The Jewish nation will accept Jesus as their Messiah when it is the perfect timing for them. They will need no "conversion"...they will understand it completely.

2007-11-13 12:39:15 · answer #9 · answered by bwlobo 7 · 3 5

He was jewish before he declared himself the savior and did away with jewish law by making himself the final sacrafice.

2007-11-13 12:39:13 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1 5

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