- Feb 7, 2004
- 5,631
- 3,350
Much concern has been expressed in the Jewish media
regarding the activity of "Jews for Jesus" and other missionary
organizations who go out of their way to convert Jews to
Christianity. Unfortunately, many Jews are ill-equipped to deal
with Christian missionaries and their arguments. Hopefully this
article will contribute to remedying this situation.
When countering Christian missionaries it is important
to base one's arguments on correct facts. Arguments based on
incorrect facts can easily backfire and end up strengthening the
arguments of the missionaries.
It is rather unfortunate that many well meaning Jewish
Studies teachers have unwittingly aided missionaries by teaching
Jewish pupils incorrect information about the origins of
Christianity. I can recall being taught the following story
about Jesus at the Jewish day school which I attended:
"Jesus was a famous first century rabbi whose
Hebrew name was Rabbi Yehoshua. His father was a carpenter
named Joseph and his mother's name was Mary. Mary became
pregnant before she married Joseph. Jesus was born in a
stable in Bethlehem during a Roman census. Jesus grew up
in Nazareth and became a learned rabbi. He travelled all
over Israel preaching that people should love one another.
Some people thought that he was the Messiah and he did not
deny this which made the other rabbis very angry. He
caused so much controversy that the Roman governor Pontius
Pilate had him crucified. He was buried in a tomb and
later his body was found to be missing since it had
probably been stolen by his disciples."
A few years after being taught this seemingly innocent
story, I became interested in the origins of Christianity and
decided to do some further reading on the "famous Rabbi
Yehoshua." Much to my dismay, I discovered that there was no
historical evidence of this Rabbi Yehoshua. The claim that
Jesus was a rabbi named Yehoshua and the claim that his body was
probably stolen both turned out to be pure conjecture. The rest
of the story was nothing more than a watered down version of the
story which Christians believe as part of the Christian religion
but which is not supported by any legitimate historical source.
There was absolutely no historical evidence that Jesus, Joseph
or Mary ever existed, let alo
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/b.txt
regarding the activity of "Jews for Jesus" and other missionary
organizations who go out of their way to convert Jews to
Christianity. Unfortunately, many Jews are ill-equipped to deal
with Christian missionaries and their arguments. Hopefully this
article will contribute to remedying this situation.
When countering Christian missionaries it is important
to base one's arguments on correct facts. Arguments based on
incorrect facts can easily backfire and end up strengthening the
arguments of the missionaries.
It is rather unfortunate that many well meaning Jewish
Studies teachers have unwittingly aided missionaries by teaching
Jewish pupils incorrect information about the origins of
Christianity. I can recall being taught the following story
about Jesus at the Jewish day school which I attended:
"Jesus was a famous first century rabbi whose
Hebrew name was Rabbi Yehoshua. His father was a carpenter
named Joseph and his mother's name was Mary. Mary became
pregnant before she married Joseph. Jesus was born in a
stable in Bethlehem during a Roman census. Jesus grew up
in Nazareth and became a learned rabbi. He travelled all
over Israel preaching that people should love one another.
Some people thought that he was the Messiah and he did not
deny this which made the other rabbis very angry. He
caused so much controversy that the Roman governor Pontius
Pilate had him crucified. He was buried in a tomb and
later his body was found to be missing since it had
probably been stolen by his disciples."
A few years after being taught this seemingly innocent
story, I became interested in the origins of Christianity and
decided to do some further reading on the "famous Rabbi
Yehoshua." Much to my dismay, I discovered that there was no
historical evidence of this Rabbi Yehoshua. The claim that
Jesus was a rabbi named Yehoshua and the claim that his body was
probably stolen both turned out to be pure conjecture. The rest
of the story was nothing more than a watered down version of the
story which Christians believe as part of the Christian religion
but which is not supported by any legitimate historical source.
There was absolutely no historical evidence that Jesus, Joseph
or Mary ever existed, let alo
http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/b.txt