Support for Jews

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My intent for the thread is to discuss the Christian support of Jews and the state of Israel. I have always felt a kin relationship with Jews and Israel. I suppose born into a Baptist church instilled in me a respect for them and even support for the state of Israel.

There is an organization called, “Christians United for Israel” that I thought was really great. Pastor John Hagee is a staunch supporter. I’m not a fan of his, but I agree with him on the issue of Jews and Israel.

There were two rabbi’s on there who were talking about the need for Christians to support Israel from the terrors of Islam and the need for Biblically based nations in the world.

The question arose as to how Jews respond to support from Christians. Is it favorable considering the history of Jews and Christians in the past? Do the Jews think Christians who support them and Israel are trustworthy and sincere?

So, my questions are the same to Jews on the forum here. If a Christian gives you their support as a nation and as God’s chosen people, is that odd to you? Is it received with skepticism and restraint? Or is it embraced by you?

This is NOT a baiting thread. I support Israel and the Jews and will do so till I draw my last breath. The world has tried to destroy them and they need to be supported.

Sorry for the long post.

Peace…

MW
 
I found an article that explains more of what this thread is about here:

city-journal.org/2008/18_1_evangelicals.html

I had no idea that there was so little support from some sides of Christianity and that the polls show that Jewish support of their Christian supporters isn’t very high. I guess I’m confused :confused: :confused:

Peace…

MW
 
I think there is a long standing issue between the “chosen people” and those who accept Christ as the Savior. I knew a guy several years back who made a point to call up a Jewish rabbi once a year and tell him off for killing Christ. The Jews have been outcast or outsiders for most of their history so having a less than warm fuzzy relationship is not surprising.
 
Obviously there’s been a history of persecution, whether verbal or physical towards the Jews from all sides, including Christians. I personally just don’t see them any other way than how I was brought up. They were looked on with favor and we were always taught at home and church to support them.

I guess I simply don’t understand how one could NOT support them after reading the OT. We were taught to revere the prophets and leaders of Israel. We were taught the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The book of Hebrews is one of my favorite books because it chronicles the lives of the holy men of God in the OT.

Peace…

MW
 
Hello everyone,

I am a Jew who converted to Catholicism several years ago. It was very hard as I was raised by both Jewish parents, but not strict.
I did all the “Jewish” things growing up but somehow, all my friends were Christian, mostly Catholic and I wanted to be like them. I was young and I adored their Christmas and so on. One day I decided to actually open up a New Testament bible and read it. I could clearly see how this man Jesus might of been the Messiah. It was foretold in the Old Testament and I was starting to believe it. Then I started reading about the lives of the saints. Particularly Edith Stein who was also a convert. My life started making more sense. Anyway, sorry for derailing the thread.
I love my Jewish heritage and the Jewish people, I do support them and always will, they are good people. But I have found what was missing in my life and that was Christ. Jesus makes so much sense to me. I use to feel like I am betraying my own people and I almost gave it up, but by the grace of God the urge was to powerful. The Holy Spirit entered me.
I had RCIA and was baptized Easter sunday seven years ago.
I now attend Mass seven days a week and thank the Lord for finding me. I love the holiness of the Catholic church and how people pray, they are so holy. It’s the way it should be. I also went to the Vatican and was blessed by the pope himself.

Thanks for listening. 🙂
 
In reply to Judcath4 - WELCOME 🙂 I myself converted from being Lutheran to Catholicism 3 years ago and I know exactly what you are talking about when you say that the Catholic Church and it’s people are holy. I have believed that since I was little. And I also know your feeling about the Holy Spirit showing you the way to become Catholic. Of course, I came from a Christian religion already so it must have been so much more trying for you. Way to go 👍

I have been a supporter of “The International Fellowship for Christians and Jews” for a couple of years now and I can tell everyone that this is a great organization where you can show your support for Jewish people. They are helping Jews all over the globe and I was very surprised to find out how widespread the persecution still is even these days. It also showed me that the Jewish people do care very much and are very grateful for our support. I was born and raised in Germany and have always felt very embarrassed for what happened during WW II, even though I wasn’t even born yet. And somehow, I have always felt deep caring and love for the Jewish people. Any kind of persecution of these wonderful people is just plain evil and the thought of them being responsible for Jesus’ death is absolutely ridiculous!

Please join me in supporting Israel and praying for Jerusalem 👍

Sorry for the long reply but I needed to speak my peace on this.
 
Politically, Israle is interesting, and odd.

I find it hard to support Israel’s politcs sometimes, since they wasted no time expanding beyond their original UN Mandated terrority after their state was artifically created. On the other hand, the people living there have as much a right to live free of terror as anyone else does.

However, i do not support the state of Israel because of the horrible restrictions it places on Palestinan Christians, a large percentage of whom are Catholic, plus a number of Orthodox.

Israel is not friend of Christianity, and i have never understood why evangelical Christian groups are such strong supporters of israel.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies judcath4, belgian and didi!

Like you Didi, I don’t understand the persecution of Jews.

Peace…

MW
 
Support for Jews and support for Israel are, or can be, different things.

To me at least, Jews are a people who are in a minority everywhere they are, except in Israel. They have been savagely persecuted for being Jews, and, generally speaking, are big believers in education and hard work. For that, they deserve a unique form of respect as a group. Some individual Jews are, of course, skunks, as are some Catholics.

Israel is an ally of the U.S.; a bastion of western rationality and progress in a sea of despotism, thuggery and social chaos. The people are largely Jews, which makes them more predictable and understandable to westerners who are familiar with Jews in their own countries.

I am not sure I would prefer to live in a land in which the majority is Jewish, any more than I would prefer to live among the Mormons in Utah, and for the same reason. But if I were a Christian Arab, I would rather live in Israel than in any other Middle Eastern country, and that’s for sure, not because it’s Jewish but because it’s sane.
 
judcath4 said:
Hello everyone,

I am a Jew who converted to Catholicism several years ago. It was very hard as I was raised by both Jewish parents, but not strict.
I did all the “Jewish” things growing up but somehow, all my friends were Christian, mostly Catholic and I wanted to be like them. I was young and I adored their Christmas and so on. One day I decided to actually open up a New Testament bible and read it. I could clearly see how this man Jesus might of been the Messiah. It was foretold in the Old Testament and I was starting to believe it. Then I started reading about the lives of the saints. Particularly Edith Stein who was also a convert. My life started making more sense. Anyway, sorry for derailing the thread.
I love my Jewish heritage and the Jewish people, I do support them and always will, they are good people. But I have found what was missing in my life and that was Christ. Jesus makes so much sense to me. I use to feel like I am betraying my own people and I almost gave it up, but by the grace of God the urge was to powerful. The Holy Spirit entered me.
I had RCIA and was baptized Easter sunday seven years ago.
I now attend Mass seven days a week and thank the Lord for finding me. I love the holiness of the Catholic church and how people pray, they are so holy. It’s the way it should be. I also went to the Vatican and was blessed by the pope himself.

Thanks for listening. 🙂
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👍 🙂 I’m also a Jew who came to Christ in my 40s (in my case, worshiping in a Protestant congregation). Its been an amazing journey.

Blessings,

Brian
 
I fully approve of and encourage helping out the Jewish people in Israel(or anywhere else for that matter), but what I would love to know is how the Jews feel about some of these whacked groups that send money to support and/or send Jews to Israel for the single reason that they believe that as soon as they get all Jews to Israel, Armageddon will come and then Jesus will come back… basically they are rounding up the Jews (who they believe are not saved) so Judgement Day will begin… totally whacked if you ask me!
 
Mystic_Warrior said:
I guess I simply don’t understand how one could NOT support them after reading the OT. We were taught to revere the prophets and leaders of Israel. We were taught the stories of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The book of Hebrews is one of my favorite books because it chronicles the lives of the holy men of God in the OT.

Peace…

MW
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The biggest reason for institutionalized antisemitism in Christianity has to do with St. Augustine, who started speculating that the Christian Church had replaced Israel; that the promises of G_D to Israel had been transferred to Christianity. Over the centuries this developed into Replacement Theology, which was never part of Catholic doctrine but did have a significant influence over the centuries. It began to fall out of favor after WW2, and it was implicitly rejected by Pope JP2.

<><
 
***How Odd
of God
to choose
the Jews!

Yet not as odd as those who choose
a Jewish God and hate the Jews!***

I’ve seen these two fragments attributed to too many people to number.

<><
 
Muzhik said:
The biggest reason for institutionalized antisemitism in Christianity has to do with St. Augustine, who started speculating that the Christian Church had replaced Israel; that the promises of G_D to Israel had been transferred to Christianity. Over the centuries this developed into Replacement Theology, which was never part of Catholic doctrine but did have a significant influence over the centuries. It began to fall out of favor after WW2, and it was implicitly rejected by Pope JP2.

<><
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Yes, I read up on that just yesterday. I never believed that, but I do know people who believe that Israel has been done away with and replaced. I see Christianity as a fulfillment of Judaism, not a replacement. However, I know that Jews do not see it that way (of course).

Peace…

MW
 
BlestOne said:
I fully approve of and encourage helping out the Jewish people in Israel(or anywhere else for that matter), but what I would love to know is how the Jews feel about some of these whacked groups that send money to support and/or send Jews to Israel for the single reason that they believe that as soon as they get all Jews to Israel, Armageddon will come and then Jesus will come back… basically they are rounding up the Jews (who they believe are not saved) so Judgement Day will begin… totally whacked if you ask me!
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Yes, I want to know that too. I would be surprised if that were the only reason, though. The Christian supporters I’ve heard speak about this use as foundation of their support from the Old Testament, not simply from the Apocalypse. If I were a Jew and that were the only reason I wouldn’t get any warm fuzzies either.

Peace…

MW
 
I find it hard to support Israel’s politcs sometimes, since they wasted no time expanding beyond their original UN Mandated terrority after their state was artifically created. On the other hand, the people living there have as much a right to live free of terror as anyone else does.
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However, i do not support the state of Israel because of the horrible restrictions it places on Palestinan Christians, a large percentage of whom are Catholic, plus a number of Orthodox
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Because of the nature of this thread I won’t belabor these points too much except to say that Israel expanded it’s UN boarders because it was attacked by 5 Arab armies on the day of its creation. The 1967 expansion was again due to aggression on the part of the Arabs.

The Christians have more freedom of worship in Israel than in any other Mideast country.

Me, I’m a rabid supporter of Israel for a mix of political and religious reasons.
 
Most evangelical Christians support the zionist state because they think it is a fulfillment of their prophecies that the Jews must be returned to the Land before their messiah returns. I really don’t think they support the zionist state out of a true love for Jews, but because they see the establishment of the state as one further step toward the return of their messiah.

One thing they forget is that the most religious of the Orthodox Jews are not zionists, and many are even anti-zionist (see this website for more info: jewsagainstzionism.com

Many Jews, even the zionist ones, do not truly trust the evangelicals; they feel the support they give is designed to assist in their efforts to ultimately convert Jews to Christianity.

We are not as dumb as we may seem, you know. 😉
 
I think that Jews think that Christians who support them are naive, useful idiots. The chosen people are those who believe in Jesus, not those who rejected him.
Many nations are in danger and they also need support.
It is wrong to justify killing and persecuting people in the name of Israel. I see no reason to support a Jewish nation that is so anti-Catholic. Why don’t you first try to support Catholics who are persecuted in many countries?
What you described above is a very naive, fundamentalistic, protestant point of view that doesn’t have much in common with the teaching of the CC.
God bless
 
Sepharad said:
Most evangelical Christians support the zionist state because they think it is a fulfillment of their prophecies that the Jews must be returned to the Land before their messiah returns. I really don’t think they support the zionist state out of a true love for Jews, but because they see the establishment of the state as one further step toward the return of their messiah.

One thing they forget is that the most religious of the Orthodox Jews are not zionists, and many are even anti-zionist (see this website for more info: jewsagainstzionism.com

Many Jews, even the zionist ones, do not truly trust the evangelicals; they feel the support they give is designed to assist in their efforts to ultimately convert Jews to Christianity.

We are not as dumb as we may seem, you know. 😉
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I never said you were dumb, but I do thank you for answering my question… and just to set the record straight… it isn’t the Catholics that believe this…

I am concerned that many people in Europe do believe in Zionism… it always seems that way from the news, but then, the US news media isn’t exactly trustworthy…

My basic belief is that it is wonderful that Israel exists for the many persecuted Jews in places like Russia to be able to seek refuge there, but as far as believing that the Messiah will not return until all descendants of the 12 tribes are back in Israel is completely a literal fallacy… We are almost all related after all these generations… and the Christians have to believe that we are all related as God’s adopted children…(Matthew 5:45) So who is really supposed to be there so the Messiah can come back?
 
Sepharad said:
Most evangelical Christians support the zionist state because they think it is a fulfillment of their prophecies that the Jews must be returned to the Land before their messiah returns. I really don’t think they support the zionist state out of a true love for Jews, but because they see the establishment of the state as one further step toward the return of their messiah.

One thing they forget is that the most religious of the Orthodox Jews are not zionists, and many are even anti-zionist (see this website for more info: jewsagainstzionism.com

Many Jews, even the zionist ones, do not truly trust the evangelicals; they feel the support they give is designed to assist in their efforts to ultimately convert Jews to Christianity.

We are not as dumb as we may seem, you know. 😉
Click to expand...
Thankfully at least one Jewish person has responded. I admit I’m disappointed though. I don’t know what sect the rabbi’s on that TV show I saw belonged to, but they were willing to accept support from Christians and America without criticism.

I support Jewish people and Israel because of the reasons I’ve already given, i.e. because the great religious leaders we admire in Christianity come from them. My Lord himself was Jewish. And based on Scriptures such as Genesis 12:3.

Believe it or not, there are Christians who don’t have an agenda to convert Jews. I certainly don’t. At one time I considered myself a Noahide that followed the 7 laws. And there are some posters that have written of their support out of love for Jews, not out of an agenda to convert them and bring about prophecies.

God will bring those things about in his own time and way. I am in no position to try to hurry that along. I certainly don’t think you are dumb and given Jewish history, I can understand the level of distrust that exists.

May time heal those wounds.

Peace…

MW
 
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