Making A List And Calling It Twice?
I can understand the Christians in the Austin Messianic community who want to ostracize me and run my name through the mud under the guise of “protecting” others who may be vulnerable (some are going so far as to call as many people on their lists as they can to talk about me and my recent rejection of Jesus/Yeshua as messiah). I can also understand their huddling together like lost sheep trying to continue on with a few very green pseudo-leaders at the helm who are trying to protect and steer the “scattered flock.”
But I don’t understand and cannot excuse the cruelties they have committed against my godly wife. One of the former elders of the community is sending demand emails for his charity monies to be returned at my own personal expense. Never mind he is clueless about non-profit law–has he considered the effect this would have on my pregnant wife and child? Another elder in the community comes face to face with my wife at the Kosher Randalls in town and shuns her. All he can do is stare her down. This same man is the ring leader who has taken it upon himself to make this call-list and to get in touch with folks (to commit lashon hara) and he hasn’t even spoken to me and my wife to get all the facts. Rather than judging us fairly, he assumes I have ill intent (which is idiotic–I’m going into Orthodox Judaism–we don’t proselytize). Rather than consider that my wife is still a believer in Yeshu (a fact that he is well aware of), and treat her as a “sister,” he punishes her right along with me. There are no courtesy calls to ask for clarity. No words of love or encouragement. No pleas to repent. No offers to comfort my wife. She gets blacklisted right along with me as if she too is a heretic.
I’ve even made it clear publicly that I will continue to influence her to shed her belief in Jesus and none of them have lifted a finger to assist her or advise her. Yes, these are Christ-followers in modern times at their finest hour. These are of the same ilk who murdered and persecuted Jews for rejecting their misguided “savior.” These are not children of Abraham. Their fathers are the Goyim who ran the Shoah. How do I know? Because I have heard some of them confess that they believe Jews are under the Mosaic covenant and therefore have a share in Olam Haba (the World to Come). Why are they concerned about me then? Why do they need to be so angry and persecute? Shouldn’t they be able to control their fears and rationally deal with my wife? No, they cannot. To paraphrase their master: they will be known by their fruit…and the fools have built their houses upon sand.
An Image From The Necropolis Under The Vatican In Which Jesus = Mithras
Yeshu meant well but he was wrong. He died and his good intentions went to the grave with him. But if any of his teachings have merit (and some do) his followers should try to practice them a little better. If they had any chutzpah, they’d call that list of theirs again to confess their wrongdoings and make it right with my wife, at the least.
And may her eyes be open to the truth of the Shema so that she will proclaim with clarity and tranquility the Oneness of Hashem along with the Jewish nation.
My Journey to Judaism 
When the mask of Edom comes off to expose a murderer filled with hatred, it can be a little scary. There is an anti-Semitic klipah in Christianity/Messianism that just never seems able to be shed or discarded. I am sorry that you are going through such a difficult time right now. I wish you all the best as things progress.
Does your wife see in this what kind of people she is dealing with? Maybe some of this negative behavior will help her see the illusion of love that is on the surface of many “believers.”
Stay strong, it will pass.
Chanukkah Sameach,
Yehudah
Yehudah, so good to hear your strong voice loud and clear on this topic. I had known this klipah was there in these people and figured that it would come out. I do think my wife is starting to see it and the “illusion of love” as you put it so well. If Jesus had any real substance these things would not happen repetitively over history. Who hates others in the name of Moshe or Ezra, chas v’shalom?
Hope to talk soon. Chanukkah Sameach!
“Yes, these are Christ-followers in modern times at their finest hour. These are of the same ilk who murdered and persecuted Jews for rejecting their misguided “savior.” These are not children of Abraham. Their fathers are the Goyim who ran the Shoah.”
No offense, but don’t you think you’re being a little over-dramatic? We don’t call you kikes. Why insist on calling us goyim? There’s profound hatred, distrust, and ignorance in minority camps on both sides. The majority, however, are reasonable people who have outgrown such childish games. I pray you belong to the latter and not the former, because otherwise, you’re part of the problem.
Geoffrey, you’re a little ignorant to Hebrew. The term “Goyim” simply means Gentile and is not derogatory. Goyim does not equal Kike.
Right. That’s why you used it in the context of essentially laying the blame for the holocaust on them. The dictionary disagrees with you and lists goyim as pejorative depending on context. I’d certainly say the context requirement was met.
And I will go out further on a limb. People did practice hatred in the name of Moshe. Paul was essentially a religious terrorist before his conversion. And what of the conquest of Palestine? Arguably, that was genocide. There are uneasy parallels between that and Hitler’s pogrom against the Jews, non-Germans, and the genetically “imperfect.” The root problem is the concept of a chosen people who are better than others and somehow favored above them by God or evolution or whatever. It gives people a license to kill.
The remedy is a true concept of God, a God who is not a respecter of persons but loves all equally and infinitely. If this turns out not to be the Christian God, then Christianity too is false. And if God is not like this, worshipping him will profit us nothing because a God who is jealous and petty like a man will turn against us eventually as sure as any man would. We should hope the Old Testament presents an imperfect portrait of the divine painted by fallible human instruments, because if it doesn’t, we’re all screwed.
I’m concerned over your conversion because in my opinion, you’re embracing a dangerous idea which the advent of Christianity at least theoretically corrected, if not always in practice. Tribalism. Most modern Jews reject it too. When the Chinese, Greeks, Germans, Japanese, Hindus, Arabs, etc. all claim to be the chosen people, the claim begins to strain credulity. Especially when political expediencies are noticed.
And please tell me you’re not going with the Jesus=Mithras tirade. These sorts of theories belong to the nineteenth century and History Channel specials. The modern, secular historical community treats them with contempt. They’re on par with Birtherism, 9-11 Conspiracies, and Obama-born-in-Kenya nonsense. Christianity is practically the only reason Judaism is still known and practiced in the modern world, so perhaps a more ecumenical respect and sobriety is in order rather than half-baked polemical pot-shots.
Geoffrey: The things you are saying about the OT would probably be considered heresy even by the Church itself.
By many Protestant evangelical circles, certainly. But I speak from the mainstream of modern Catholic biblical scholarship. And whatever the case may be, truth is truth. You must address it as such, no matter the consequences. If truth doesn’t matter, nothing matters. Besides, there are other understandings of the Jews as a chosen people which may be acceptable and which I have not presented here. I do not feel they are under discussion.
Ploni, I highly recommend you read “The Catholic Study Bible” put out by Donald Senior and John J. Collins. There is also a nice, free book, “A Catholic Guide to the Bible,” available from http://www.amm.org/chss/chss.asp. These resources may serve to elucidate my concerns and better present my viewpoint than a short blurb in a comment. I myself was once hesitant concerning such scholarship, but I now believe older ways of reading Scripture are, in vital aspects, wrong.
The progress of knowledge does not present a danger to true religion, but it certainly acts as a crucible which burns away erroneous and damaging parts of our belief systems. The reason I’m adamant against embracing Orthodox Judaism in its modern form is because of its racist tendencies. It contains the same hatred and xenophobia that its persecutors enact. Both sides are wrong. Until people get beyond notions of divine, earthly kingdoms and superior races, the unscrupulous will continue to use them to commit acts of grave evil against God’s creation.
JM: They’re only doing to you what you may have done to others when they rejected Jesus or his divinity.
It’s common to shun apostates in every religion. Orthodox Judaism is no exception. Such is human nature. I’ve heard the same sort of horror stories of disownment and abandonment from Jews who became Christians. Feel free to attack this sort of thing as a general principle, but attaching it to Christians in particular is ridiculous.
I would not have lied about them. I would have reached out to the believing spouse. I would not have made petty demands for money. Need I go on?
No, I’m speaking in generalities. The fact remains, that’s exactly what most human beings do regardless of creed. I don’t think you’d do it personally. My only protest is that you appear to be attributing it to Christians in particular.
Geoffery: Cherem (excommunication) also exists in Judaism. I think that JM is arguing that the way they’re going about it seems heartless. They (the shuning elders) should have at least had a face to face encounter with JM and his wife. They’re not doing it out of love.
I’m not familiar with the details, but I understand that house churches lack many of the safety structures found in more traditional religious communities and thus things can get pretty nasty.
My favorite part is where you defend the open history of the church murdering their detractors – most often the Jews – by saying, “Well, everyone’s doin’ it.” And then you start to make up lies about xenophobia and Hitleresque pogroms being somehow perpetrated by Jews.
You crack me up. I mean, the ignorance in just about everything you say – and you deliver it up with such confidence as if it were true to reality – is enough to keep me entertained for awhile.
Shaking my head in disbelief while involuntarily chuckling,
Yehudah
The Hebrew word “goy” translates to “nation.” The term is used to speak of Israel itself in the Jewish bible, but over time it has come to mean foreign nations (non-Jews). It is not derogatory. The term goyim is plural (more or less) for goy.