Jewish Bible?
There are several attempts by Christianity, using the Messianic movement, to convince Jews that Christian views are actually Jewish. Some of the more bizarre attempts involve the writing of "Jewish Bibles." There are two prime examples of this that I will highlight.
Dr. David Stern is the writer of the Complete Jewish Bible. Of course, the word "complete" is quite a bit misleading. In the view of Stern, "complete" includes the Christian Bible aka The New Testament. In fact, it is published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Incorporated. Ah, but why would Stern think that the Jews need the Christian Bible? The clue is in his education. Stern has a Master's of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, one of the largest evangelical Christian schools in the country. Stern embraced Christianity in 1972. He has not practiced Judaism in decades.
Dr. Phil Goble is the author of the Orthodox Jewish Bible. It is supposively a Bible that is translated specifically to reflect views of Orthodox Judaism. However, this is not actually the case. The entire function of the book is to convince Orthodox Jews of Christianity, especially the Assemblies of God version of Christianity. Goble is an Assemblies of God missionary to the Jews. He became a licensed minister and missionary in 1973. He has been working as a missionary in New York for about 30 years and runs a Messianic congregation for the Assemblies of God. Moreover, the New York branch of the Assemblies of God gave him money and support to produce this book.
These two books represent just a few cases in which Christianity and Christian ministers use Jewish terms in their attempt to bring Jews to Christianity.
Dr. David Stern is the writer of the Complete Jewish Bible. Of course, the word "complete" is quite a bit misleading. In the view of Stern, "complete" includes the Christian Bible aka The New Testament. In fact, it is published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Incorporated. Ah, but why would Stern think that the Jews need the Christian Bible? The clue is in his education. Stern has a Master's of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary, one of the largest evangelical Christian schools in the country. Stern embraced Christianity in 1972. He has not practiced Judaism in decades.
Dr. Phil Goble is the author of the Orthodox Jewish Bible. It is supposively a Bible that is translated specifically to reflect views of Orthodox Judaism. However, this is not actually the case. The entire function of the book is to convince Orthodox Jews of Christianity, especially the Assemblies of God version of Christianity. Goble is an Assemblies of God missionary to the Jews. He became a licensed minister and missionary in 1973. He has been working as a missionary in New York for about 30 years and runs a Messianic congregation for the Assemblies of God. Moreover, the New York branch of the Assemblies of God gave him money and support to produce this book.
These two books represent just a few cases in which Christianity and Christian ministers use Jewish terms in their attempt to bring Jews to Christianity.
posted by Jason Levinson | 9:41 PM
4 Comments:
And why wouldn't the Bible be Jewish? We do worship the same God of Israel as you, we read the same books in the Bibles that you read, plus we have the New Testament, because we believe Christ Jesus is the prophesied messiah of the Old Testament. Ok, you don't believe in him, ok, I can accept that. But it is a Jewish book by all means. Jesus was a Jew, his disciples were mostly Jewish, and the gospels mainly have to do with him and the things he taught the Jews. The gentiles don't fully come in until Acts in the New Testament. Even after following Jesus and witnessing his ressurection, his apostles were still very Jewish, and because of how much time has gone by, I believe that we as gentiles have lost much of the meaning of the Bible. I feel like getting a Jewish perspective on it does help, especially sincee it is a book filled with many symbolisms. So if every character in the Christian bible is Jewish, was written by Jews FOR Jews, then how is it NOT Jewish? Again, I will have to disagree.
You make it sound like these "Christians" are bad people when they're just doing what our version of the Bible says to do, which is proclaim the Good News to all who will hear it. As a Christian, as I mentioned before, I've found it incredibly helpful to understand Jewish traditions and the way Jews interpret the Bible, because it absolutely has helped me to understand God's word. If Christianity were to try and evangelize Jews, i hope it would lead to everyone FOLLOWING the Jews and become more Jewish! I believe you are God's chosen people. I really believe that, and I do believe God's plan for Israel is to lead us back to the ways he laid out for us all in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. You are and will be the light of all nations, just like it says in the Bible. So being afraid of embracing Jesus wouldn't make you any less of a Jew. That is just my belief. if anything, you would bring many more blessings upon us the gentiles by making us more like you!
ak_nm: Just because something was written by people born Jewish for Jews does not make it Jewish. As an analogy, the sacrifice of the Golden Calf involved many Jews doing the sacrifice (including Aaron the High Priest) for other Jews but the act was clearly an abomination to G-d. There were clearly Jewish-born worshipers of Baal but even though they were born Jewish, G-d sent Elijah to preach against them. Being born Jewish is irrelevant. Whether the writing/message/act is Jewish is the only thing that is important. As such, embracing Jesus is a non-Jewish act since Jesus did not fulfill Messianic prophecy. Here are a few examples of where Jesus failed; if you would like more examples, I am more than happy to give them to you: http://www.messianicjewishtruth.com/JesusMessiah.html
Trotsky was Jewish. What's your point? Deal with the issues http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-FmFDWKohU are the issues
I address issues all of the time on my blog and website, from false claims of being Jewish to Biblical prophecy.....read first then come to me with your questions
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