Messianic Judaism: Difference between revisions

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The phrase Messianic Judaism refers to various Christian groups with outreach to the Jewish community; their goal is to convert Jews to Evangelical Christianity. Most of these groups are officially funded by and related to Protestant Christian Churches. These groups teach that Jesus Christ was God incarnate, part of the Trinity, and the messiah.

All denominations of Judaism hold that members of such groups are not practicing Judaism, but are simply practicing Christianity. Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity is dealt with in its own separate entry.

"Messianic Jewish" groups state that the religion they teach is Christianity, which is spread by people of Jewish descent. The website for "Jews for Jesus" states that "Jews for Jesus is an outreach by Jewish Christian evangelists. Our methods vary from conventional missionary work like personal visitation and tract distribution to large display media ads proclaiming Christ in secular newspapers and magazines." http://www.ecfa.org/mbrprof.asp?memberid=207

The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. states that their religion "is an evangelical faith ministry proclaiming the need for personal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to Jewish people and their Gentile neighbors."

In order to make Jews comfortable in convert to Christianity, these groups often use Jewish terminology. For example:

They do not call their places of worship churches, and instead call them a synagogue or "Beit Knesset".
They hide crosses, and use Menorahs or Stars of David.
They use Torah scrolls while praying to Jesus.
Many wear kipot (Jewish head coverings) and prayer shawls.
They call their clergy 'rabbis'.
They only refer to Jesus by his Hebrew name (Yeshua).
Instead of using the name "New Testament", they use the Hebrew phrase "Brit Hadasha" (which is Hebrew for New Testament.)

Some Christian groups disagree with "messianic Jewish" groups, not because they disagree with their beliefs, but because they feel that these groups are guilty of false advertising. In 1977, the Board of Governors of the Long Island Council of Churches (New York) accused "Jews for Jesus" of "engaging in subterfuge and dishonesty," and of "mixing religious symbols in ways that distort their essential meaning." "Jews for Jesus" filed a suit in a State Supreme Court in Manhattan against a 600-member Council. The Rev. Jack Alford, the executive director of the Council, said the suit "proves the point we were making about their tactics." He added: "The mentality of 'Jews for Jesus' is the kind of mentality that has been spawn in some fascist and communist countries." Eventually, the lawsuit was rejected by court. (The New York Times, July 2, 1977)

The Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (1997) has dealt with this issue. This inter-faith group was made up of Protestant Christian, Catholic Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. They released a consensus statement on this issue saying:

We condemn proselytizing efforts which delegitimize the faith tradition of the person whose conversion is being sought. Such tactics go beyond the bounds of appropriate and ethically based religious outreach. Examples of such practices are those common among groups that have adopted the label of Hebrew Christianity, Messianic Judaism, or Jews for Jesus. These groups specifically target Jews for conversion to their version of Christianity, making claim that in accepting Jesus as the savior/messiah, a Jews 'fulfills' his/her faith. Furthermore, by celebrating Jewish festivals, worshipping on the Jewish Shabbat, appropriating Jewish symbols, rituals and prayers in their churches, and, sometimes, even calling their leaders 'Rabbi', the seek to win over, often by deception, many Jews who are sincerely looking for a path back to their ancestral heritage. Deceptive proselytizing is practiced on the most vulnerable of populations - residents of hospitals and old aged homes, confused youth, college students away from home. These proselytizing techniques are tantamount to coerced conversions and should be condemned." (Summer, 1997, Washington, D.C., Interfaith Connector" Vol. 8, No. 2)

The efforts to convert Jews to Christianity, and the receptiveness of some Jews to it in the past few decades, is a parallel phenomenon, although in an obviously different context, to the Baal teshuva movement that has witnessed a vigorous outreach effort by Jewish Orthodox institutions to reach out to Jews alienated from, or ignorant about, the Jewish faith.In fact the Orthodox are very conscious of the fact that they are competing with the Messianic movement for the same audience. Specific organizations ,such as Jews for Judaism and Outreach Judaism, are devoted to getting Jews out of the Messianic churches with limited success. The fascination with Hinduism and Buddhism , and a willingness to join these movements by previously secular young Israelis and American Jews is also part of this over-all phenomenon. What all share in common here is the fact that a "market" exists for all these efforts, which in turn is indicative of a zeitgeist that indicates a strong receptiveness to religious and spiritual notions, and a willingness to "buy into" an alternate religious experienece and a radical new way of life leaving the Jewish establishment mystified by the succes of religion-based outreach and recruitemnt.

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 :We condemn proselytizing efforts which delegitimize the faith tradition of the person whose conversion is being sought. Such tactics go beyond the bounds of appropriate and ethically based religious outreach. Examples of such practices are those common among groups that have adopted the label of Hebrew Christianity, Messianic Judaism, or Jews for Jesus. These groups specifically target Jews for conversion to their version of Christianity, making claim that in accepting Jesus as the savior/messiah, a Jews 'fulfills' his/her faith. Furthermore, by celebrating Jewish festivals, worshipping on the Jewish Shabbat, appropriating Jewish symbols, rituals and prayers in their churches, and, sometimes, even calling their leaders 'Rabbi', the seek to win over, often by deception, many Jews who are sincerely looking for a path back to their ancestral heritage. Deceptive proselytizing is practiced on the most vulnerable of populations - residents of hospitals and old aged homes, confused youth, college students away from home. These proselytizing techniques are tantamount to coerced conversions and should be condemned." (Summer, 1997, Washington, D.C., Interfaith Connector" Vol. 8, No. 2)
-The efforts to convert Jews to Christianity, and the receptiveness of some Jews to it in the past few decades, is a parallel phenomenon, although in an obviously different context, to the [[Baal teshuva]] movement that has witnessed a vigorous outreach effort by Jewish Orthodox institutions to reach out to Jews alienated from, or ignorant about, the Jewish faith.In fact the Orthodox are very conscious of the fact that they are competing with the Messianic movement for the same audience. Specific organizations ,such as [[Jews for Judaism]] and [[Outreach Judaism]], are devoted to getting Jews out of the Messianic churches with limited success. The fascination with Hinduism and Buddhism, and a willingness to join these movements by previously secular young Israelis and American Jews is also part of this over-all phenomenon. What all share in common here is the fact that a "market" exists for all these efforts, which in turn is indicative of a ''[[zeitgeist]]'' that indicates a strong receptiveness to religious and spiritual notions, and a willingness to "buy into" an alternate religious experienece and a radical new way of life leaving the Jewish establishment mystified by the succes of religion-based outreach and recruitemnt.
+The efforts to convert Jews to Christianity, and the receptiveness of some Jews to it in the past few decades, is a parallel phenomenon, although in an obviously different context, to the [[Baal teshuva]] movement that has witnessed a vigorous outreach effort by Jewish Orthodox institutions to reach out to Jews alienated from, or ignorant about, the Jewish faith.In fact the Orthodox are very conscious of the fact that they are competing with the Messianic movement for the same audience. Specific organizations ,such as [[Jews for Judaism]] and [[Outreach Judaism]], are devoted to getting Jews out of the Messianic churches with limited success. The fascination with [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]] , and a willingness to join these movements by previously secular young Israelis and American Jews is also part of this over-all phenomenon. What all share in common here is the fact that a "market" exists for all these efforts, which in turn is indicative of a ''[[zeitgeist]]'' that indicates a strong receptiveness to religious and spiritual notions, and a willingness to "buy into" an alternate religious experienece and a radical new way of life leaving the Jewish establishment mystified by the succes of religion-based outreach and recruitemnt.
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