Tuesday, April 01, 2008

More good news from the religious right

Evangelical leaders: Jews need Jesus Christ:

"Dozens of prominent evangelical leaders have endorsed a statement declaring a fact that many Christians already hold to be true – that Jewish people need the Gospel and Jesus Christ to receive eternal life. ...Some of the key declarations made by the statement include: [snip]

• Recognizing that it is good and right for those with specialized knowledge, history and skills to use these gifts to introduce individuals to the Messiah, and that includes those ministries specifically directed to the Jewish people ( I Corinthians 9:20-22)

• Denouncing the use of deception of coercion in evangelism but rejecting the notion that it is deceptive for followers of Jesus Christ who were born Jewish to continue to identify as Jews (Romans 11:1)"

You know what Jews really need at this late date in history? To be left alone. For 2000 years Christians have been defining us, negating us and telling us what to believe. They've killed us, raped us, destroyed our communities and broken up our families. The violence may have ceased, but the toxic spark hasn't been extinguished: They still insist that our rejection of Jesus constitutes a defect. The horrible idea lives.

There are those who tell me that it's time to forgive, but we have no authority to absolve their ancestors for crimes committed against our ancestors. More importantly, we must remember what was done to us, because so long as they express an unrepetant desire to win our souls the danger of a new conflagration remains real.

HT: Jameel

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