Christians...we must denounce Anti-Semitism

My heart hurts. Yesterday, in a senseless act of terrorism, 11 lives were ended and many more people were injured. Tonight, I am sitting here thinking about my own community--several years ago, the local synagogue put a sign outside the temple that let people know it was a Jewish congregation. Many of the elderly Jewish members of the congregation, had been Holocaust survivors or had lost family in the Holocaust and were worried about the fact that Anti-Semitism is alive and well in our nation and they felt putting the sign outside would invite trouble. 

The student Rabbi at the time said that the community should be proud to let the world know where they worshiped and honestly I agreed with the sentiment. After all, it's the 21st century and anti-semitism is so 20th century...or so I thought until yesterday, when I read that 11 people had died and all of them senior citizens. As a Christian, I immediately thought about evil that is wrought against "my spiritual cousins." As the names started to come out, as well as ages, I heard one was a holocaust survivor. Earlier today, I read on twitter that the "survivor" wasn't a Holocaust survivor--but here is my belief--she was 97 years old; she may not have been in Europe during the Holocaust, but what if her family was? What if she lost someone in a concentration camp?

Today, however, the various news sources have written about the victims, and what caused the shooting. I get it, the shooter was a non-Trump supporter, hater of Israel. However, we've not spoken out about what we really need to stand against! 

Christians, we must denounce Anti-Semitism. I was reading the ERLC website and have chosen to use their 6 reasons as to why we, Christians, must denounce anti-semitism. 

1. Anti-Semitism is hatred of the Jewish people

A human rights agency of the European Union once attempted to craft a working definition of anti-Semitism:

“[Anti-Semitism] is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”[1]

Some will say this is only a working definition of what anti-semitism is and while that is somewhat true; Christians are called to love. Matter of fact, Ruth, a Moabite, gives us our true first example of how we should view the Jewish people and God when she pledges her life to her mother-in-law Naomi “But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 

2. Anti-Semitism is contrary to Imago Dei

As confessing Christians, we learn from the very beginning of the biblical narrative that anti-Semitism is contrary to the biblical teachings of the Imago Dei. Specifically, Genesis 1:27 tells us, “God created man in His own image, He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female.” “In the image of God.” This is a distinction given only to humanity amidst a vast and diverse creation. It is not merely that humans are at the top of a creation hierarchy. It is that we are in a different category altogether.

I love how the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline states “We affirm that all persons are individuals of sacred worth, created in the image of God,” 

To speak, therefore, of any fellow human being as equivalent to—or lesser than—an animal is anti-human and, ultimately, unbiblical. Yet this is exactly what we find in anti-Semitism: the dehumanizing of human beings. Along with other forms of racism and xenophobia, anti-Semitism dehumanizes a very special member of God’s creation, a creature who bears the Imago Dei.

3. Anti-Semitism is an indicator of ethnic and religious intolerance

Where anti-Semitism is found, we also find intolerance of and persecution of other ethnic and religious groups. Anti-Semitic attitudes, rhetoric and actions mark the least free and most oppressive societies on our globe. U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power observed that anti-Semitism “is often the canary in the coal mine for the degradation of human rights more broadly. When the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Jews are repressed, the rights and freedoms of other minorities and other sectors are often not far behind.”

An account by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, (USCIRF) shows clear evidence anti-Semitism often corresponds with persecution and targeting of other minority groups. For example:

• In Egypt, where the media and government authorities permit anti-Semitism to run rampant, we see persecution of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baha’is, among others.
• In Iran, where leaders have a history of denying the Holocaust, and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel, we witness imprisonment and torture of converts to Christianity, and other faiths like Baha'i and minority expressions of the Muslim faith.
• Where anti-Semitism persists in Belarus, other minority faiths are denied registration and Baptist churches are raided by the government.[2]

That is but a glimpse of the data, but the point is clear. Where anti-Semitism remains unchecked, persecution of other ethnic and religious groups also persists. Anti-Semitism is a problem for all human beings, not just Jews. It warns of other existing or future human rights abuses. Anti-Semitism is a worldview of thugs and despots.

4. Anti-Semitism is contrary to the behavior of a civilized people

Anti-Semitism is contrary to the behavior of a civilized people. By any measure, the countries mentioned above are not healthy, thriving societies. Instead, their governments aggressively antagonize and persecute their own citizens. Their governments collude with non-state actors to blame the Jewish people for their own self-imposed poverty, violence, and instability. Or, the government looks the other way and permits social hostilities to abuse Jews. A nation marked by rampant anti-Semitism is not a country entitled to normalized relations with the United States. Those complicit in either propagating or excusing anti-Semitism are no friends of freedom and, therefore, no friends of the United States of America.

5. Anti-Semitism is contrary to God’s gifts of freedom of thought and religion

Jewish identity is not limited to religious expression, of course. But to the extent religious expression is part of what it means to be Jewish, hatred of the Jews qualifies as hatred of a religious people and their beliefs. Thus, anti-Semitism is contrary to God’s gift[3] of freedom of thought and religion. God created humans as autonomous creatures. His instructions in the Garden gave us the responsibility of choosing our eternal allegiance. Even God did not pre-program us to blindly believe in and worship him. If the Creator granted individuals with a responsibility and freedom for belief, certainly it is wholly inappropriate for another human or temporal institution to persecute another on the basis of religious belief.

6. A lesson from history

Protestant Christianity learned our lesson on anti-Semitism the hard way in the 20th Century. As historian Timothy George accounts, aside from the Barmen Declaration of 1934 there was little in the way of protest from the organized church in Germany and Europe during the rise of Hitler and National Socialism. Instead, following the Holocaust that slaughtered 6 million Jews, the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Baptist Union of Germany could do nothing but issue statements of remorse, confessing they themselves shared in the guilt through their own “omission and silence.”

Regrettably, our own Convention was not exempt from this guilt. In 1936, Southern Baptist leaders visited Berlin to attend the Baptist World Alliance Congress:

“They met under the banner of the swastika, received greetings from Hitler, and returned to America with glowing reports on the great things happening in Germany. They specifically minimized the totalitarianism and glaring anti-Semitism which was obvious even in 1936.”[4]

Those who either fostered or ignored anti-Semitic attitudes were not merely on the wrong side of history. They were, as Russell Moore might put it, on the wrong side of Christ. Millions of our fellow human beings paid for our indifferent attitudes with their lives. Therefore, Southern Baptists have since resolved to no longer stand idly by when anti-Semitism rears its evil head. As we continue to witness new and virulent forms of anti-Semitism here and around the globe, Southern Baptists will–with God’s grace, and hopefully the broad spectrum of evangelical Christianity–stand up and yell, “stop” on behalf of Jewish people.

Notwithstanding the above dark history, Southern Baptists have otherwise commonly expressed solidarity with either the Jewish people or the state of Israel for nearly 100 years. A 1919 resolution called on the U.S. government to provide relief for displaced Jews. A resolution in 1947 called for the U.S. to admit 400,000 displaced Europeans in the aftermath of World War II, including Jewish populations. In this spirit, the following are excerpts from the Southern Baptist Convention’s most recent Resolution On Anti-Semitism, worth quoting at length:

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists deplore all forms of hatred or bigotry toward any person or people group; and

WHEREAS, Scripture speaks of God’s love for the Jewish people, through whom God has blessed the world with His Word and with His Messiah, our Lord Jesus; and

WHEREAS, There is a rising tide of anti-Semitism across the globe, which manifests itself in despicable acts of violence and harassment against the Jewish people; and ...

WHEREAS, Populist expressions of anti-Semitism are becoming widespread in some     European countries to a degree that has not been seen since World War II; and

WHEREAS, The bloody history of the twentieth century reminds us of the unspeakably evil legacy of anti-Semitism; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention… denounce all forms of anti-Semitism as contrary to the teachings of our Messiah and an assault on the revelation of Holy Scripture; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm to Jewish people around the world that we stand with them against any harassment that violates our historic commitments to religious liberty and human dignity; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we call on governmental and religious leaders across the world to stand against all forms of bigotry, hatred, or persecution.

And I am going to add a 7th reason Christians MUST denounce anti-semitism: 

First, anti-Semitism is totally inconsistent with the stated attitude of Jesus toward the Jews. To believe that Jesus is the Messiah or Christ and then not reflect His attitude toward the Jewish people is the height of hypocrisy, let alone a fallacious inconsistency. Jesus was born a Jew, He lived as a Jew, and He died a Jew, by His choice. Even His resurrection was molded after Jewish expectation. He lived in the midst of His Jewish people and He loved them with a love unparalleled in the annals of Jewish history. Even when it became apparent that a large number of His people had rejected His Messianic claims, Jesus wept over a city that not only missed His arrival, but also a city that would come under the Roman destruction in the very near future. Jerusalem, the golden, would become Jerusalem the ruin (Luke 19:37-44).

Even in His hour of death, He prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). His dying heart desired forgiveness, not revenge! Is it any wonder that Jesus told His disciples that love would be the one undeniable evidence that they had been with Him (John 13:34-35)? He commanded them, “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44). One can argue against a doctrine and fight against a cause, but when love is felt, the message is heard! The early Jewish believers were known for many things, but none more forcibly than their undying love for their Messiah and their Jewish kinsmen. It is utterly inconsistent to despise those who are so dearly loved by Jesus Himself. Prejudice must fade in the dawn of His love.

Early Jewish leadership of the Church

Second, anti-Semitism is absolutely inconsistent with the attitude and teaching of the Apostles, the early Jewish leaders of the Christian Church. They were not only loyal Jews who had come to believe that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, but they also wrote the documents of the New Testament. They knew Jesus personally and willingly died as martyrs rather than renounce Him. The Apostle Paul, more than any other, carried the good news of the Jewish Messiah to the farthest corners of the earth. And yet, wherever he traveled, he never bypassed the Jews; he always went to them first. God’s program begins with the Jews (Romans 1:16). Paul’s greatest sorrow was that many of his kinsmen had rejected their Messiah. This great Apostle’s love for his Jewish people was so intense that he was willing, if it were possible, to surrender his own salvation and suffer the eternal judgment of God, if they would only come back to Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. “I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from the Messiah for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Romans 9:2-3). His prayers were constantly rising before the throne of God on their behalf: “My heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is their salvation” (Romans 10:1).

Paul realized that Israel’s future was anchored in her great heritage. The Jewish people “are beloved for the sake of the fathers” (Romans 11:28). God’s covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not broken and irretrievably cast aside. The promises stand firm and secure. Like Jesus before him, Paul foresaw a day in the distant future when Israel would experience all of the Messianic blessings, that glorious day when the nation would turn to Jesus as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world (Romans 11:25-29). The Apostles would have been appalled at the centuries of anti-Semitic hatred. It is absolutely inconsistent with not only their love and concern for the Jews, but also with their hope for Israel and her future.

Is the Bible Authoritative? Is Jesus the only way?

There's an old story about four blind men who were introduced to an elephant for the first time. None of them knew what an elephant looked like. "Ah!" the first one cried out as he grabbed the elephant by the trunk. "An elephant is like a giant and powerful snake!" "No, you are wrong," said the second blind man as he ran his hands over one of the elephants floppy ears. "The elephant is like a large, leafy plant." "No, you are both wrong," said the third blind man as he wrapped both arms around one of the elephant's legs. "The elephant is like a strong, sturdy tree." "All of you are wrong," said the fourth man. He was holding onto the elephant's tail. "The elephant is like a rope."

I tell this story to help you realize that people approach the Bible with the same confusion. 2. People approach the Bible with the same sort of confusion:

1) The Bible is the literal Word of God without error.

2) The Bible is the flawed product of men.

3) The Bible is both the Word of God and the product of men.

4) The Bible is the Word of God and the product of men, but it does have mistakes in it.

b. Like the blind men examining the elephant, each one of these statements embraces only part of the truth about the book we call the Bible.

1) The Bible is the Word of God.

2) The Bible is also the product of inspired men.

3) The Bibles we have today do contain some copyist errors and some seeming/apparent contradictions.

3. What is important is to see the whole picture--the entire elephant, so to speak.

a. The Bible is the Word of God given to us through inspired men.

b. Mistakes and seeming contradictions are there, but they can be corrected and/or explained.

c. The Bible, as it was originally written and received is totally and completely free from error. 

But then people say "Well with all the different translations, can I trust the Bible?"

A man went to a bookbinder to get a well-used New Testament rebound in leather. He wanted the side binding to read: “The New Testament”. When the job was finished, the binder explained that he just wasn’t able to get all the letters on the side, so he abbreviated: “TNT”.

Some people might like to think they can take some of the powder out of this dynamite, but it’s not possible to disarm God’s word. Comparing the Bible to TNT is appropriate; the author of Hebrews describes the Scriptures as a “double-edged sword” (4:12). The edge of our sword is not dull and cannot be made so by skepticism. Spiritual blindness keeps people from recognizing God in nature and in the revelation of His written word.

We live in an age where it is popular to question authority, and this extends to what God has said. Although for most of the past 2,000 years all branches of Christianity have agreed that the Bible is completely trustworthy, in recent times the validity of Scripture has been questioned by some. Can we trust our Bible? Can we trust its message?

We believe that the Bible is our basis for living. We base our decisions and set our priorities according to what is revealed in God’s word. To deny the divine origin of Scripture is to open the door to further unbelief—any or all teachings of the Bible could be tossed overboard if we do not accept the Bible as our authoritative word from God.

When Martin Luther was put on trial, he stated that he would gladly renounce his opinions if he could be shown where his views disagreed with Scripture. “Prove me wrong from the Bible, and I’ll gladly change,” he asserted. The Scriptures, not man-made rules or tradition, was Luther’s sole basis of authority. So he declared to the Council: “Here I stand! I can do nothing else!”

How to we respond to people who contend the Bible is full of errors and contradictions? Skeptics have over the years argued that there are discrepancies in Scripture, yet no one has ever come up with any firm evidence that might topple the basis of our faith. For every charge against the Bible there is a scholarly answer. There may be some difficult statements in Scripture, and we might not understand all we read. But when something appears inconsistent, we have to realize that the problem is with us, with our limited understanding. How we interpret the text may be what is keeping us from arriving at a satisfying answer. With time and study, we will be able to grasp what is being said in the pages of God’s word, and when we arrive in Heaven, all questions will be adequately answered to our satisfaction. The bottom line is that the Bible is a unified book and can be defended. People may hammer at an anvil, and their many hammers will break, but the anvil will remain.

Peter describes the process of inspiration, stating, “No prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (II Pet 1:21). The word “moved” could be translated “carried along”. The Bible is divine in origin; God superintended the production of Scripture. It’s not “creative writing” or inspired in the same way we think of people like Shakespeare, Mozart, or Rembrandt. Theirs was a gift of genius, but those who wrote the Bible were guided by the inward work of the Holy Spirit; they wrote in such a way that God got written exactly what He wanted. Because of its divine origin, the Bible (in the original languages) is completely trustworthy. There may be errors in translations, which is why it’s important to choose a reliable version, and then compare translations. 

As far as translations go, there isn’t a Bible translation that we, fallible humans, can point to and confidently identify as “the best.” It is of course possible to translate the Bible well, or to translate it poorly—just as with any other human activity. But for the most part, the Bible translations readily available to us today don’t differ as much in quality as they differ in translation philosophy. A translation philosophy isn’t a philosophy in the “Socrates, Descartes, and Confucius” sense of the word. Rather, the translation philosophy behind a particular Bible translation represents the way that the translators chose to answer the questions that must be answered when translating any text. And all Bibles fall into one of three categories: 

Word-for-word Bible translations, which emphasize faithfulness to the original text’s literal wording. A popular example is the English Standard Version.
Thought-for-thought Bible translations, which emphasize faithfulness to the original text’s intended meaning. A popular example is the Contemporary English Version.
Bible translations that mix the above two approaches. A popular example is the New International Version. 
I will tell you now, that the best Bible for anyone to get is the English Standard Version--as it is a word for word translation. 

However, aside from all this, The primary way that we United Methodist discern salvation is through understanding Scripture... and Scripture tells us that the way to salvation is through the atoning blood of Christ. In fact the UM official doctrinal statement is "The Holy Scripture containith all things necessary for salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." (p. 60 "Book of Discipline" (2000)

So Scripture contains what is necessary to believe in salvation, and the story of Scripture is the story about Jesus. It my friends, is not the story of Allah, or Gandi; nor is it the story of Buddha, or any other way, for that matter. It is, quite simply, the wonderful story of a God, made manifest in Jesus Christ!

Now that doesn’t mean that we beat up the Buddhist, or drag Muslim’s kicking to discipleship, but what it does mean is that "The Way" we teach is Jesus. And "The Truth" we preach is about Jesus and when we know the truth "the truth will set us free"...!

But, I know what you thinking...this leaves out a lot of people. True enough, so let's look at the exclusive claims of Christianity against that of world religions. The issue of exclusivity – is it truly a Christian only claim?

Christianity is not the only religious that claims exclusivity…

For the Muslim, one must believe in the Koran and know its Arabic language.

For the Buddhist, you must reject Hindu scriptures and the caste system.

For the Hindu, you must believe in karma (every cause has an effect), the authority of their scriptures (Vedas), and reincarnation.

For the Sikhist, you must reject both Hindu and Buddhist thought.

For the Baha’ist, which claims to embrace all religions, they exclude those who don’t agree.

For the Jew, you reject Jesus Christ.

Truth is in the eye of the person claiming the truth…

“If truth does not exclude, then no assertion of a truth claim is being made; it is just an opinion that is being stated…”

Jesus made many claims about truth…many of them recorded by John.

John 8:31-32 says “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

John 3:21 - “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly what he has done through God.”

John 15:26 - “When the Counselor (HS) comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”

John 16:13 - “But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

“The clear implications of Jesus saying he’s the way, the truth, and the life are that, first, truth is absolute, and second, truth is knowable.”

Christianity cannot be faulted for being the only religion that holds to its truth, but we can be faulted for claiming to know the truth, because the truth is absolute and knowable through Christ. No other religion can make the claim that they know absolute truth and that truth is easily knowable. Matter of fact, if you keep turning your back on the Gospel message, it will not matter how good we are, how good we've been, if we tell God he is not needed, He will be a gentleman and leave. Anytime we put what we think we know, ourselves, our knowledge, our good works, our opinions, our ideas ahead of the gospel message, then we are telling God, we don't need you, we don't need your grace or your mercy that can only be found through His Son Jesus Christ. As soon as we say that or even act like that by embracing false doctrines, our lives become about ourselves and not about Him.  

Seeing God in the Ordinary

*Names are changed in this post to protect the privacy of individuals. I asked the individuals if I could share the story and they each gave permission and asked for prayer. 

Tonight when I left work, I headed over to Aldi. While in the store, I picked up a few items and spoke with the cashier. I made a joke about "If it doesn't ring up, It's free." She said "I've never seen anything for free, well at least not anything worth having." After paying, I took my groceries out to my car. Upon returning my cart to the front of the store, I didn't notice anyone getting out of their cars. So I was getting ready to hook the cart back up and a woman approached me. I dropped the lock and the said "Here you go ma'am."

"Let me give you a quarter for this cart." she said. "No, Ma'am, please take the cart and hang on to your quarter." As she took the cart by it's handle, she looked at me one last time and that's when I noticed the tears in her eyes. I said "Ma'am, I don't know what you are going through, but I want you to know that God is there with you every step of the way." she looked at me and smiled; "Thank you." Her phone rang and I heard her say "*Maggie's phone." and as I was walking back to my car, I heard a young man (HS age) say "I've never seen Jesus before." 

I kept walking and got in my car and he said a bit louder "Miss, thank you. I asked God for a sign that there are still good people in the world. You're the answer to that prayer." Another man also heard the young man and stayed near by listening. I asked the young man his name and he said "Jimmy*" I then asked "Why did you ask God for a sign that there are good people in the world?" His reply touched my heart. 

"Over the past few weeks of school, I've been considered the outsider. The seniors are making my life hell. I've been targeted, called all manner of names that are derogatory for a homosexual because I don't have a girlfriend and I am not sleeping around. I am a Christian, and honestly I just don't know what I believe any more. I came here to tell my mom good night and good-bye."  

Seeing tears in my eyes, the bystander asked "What do you mean, Good-bye?" He continued, "Well, I've reported the students at school and they are unrelenting and it seems that the administration doesn't care because I am not a popular student. So I figure "If they don't care, God doesn't care and if God doesn't care, why should I? I honestly just want to die! So I was going home to end my life before my mom got home from work." I told the kid, "My entire life has been fraught with bullying. If I write something on social media, I am put down. I have been lied about by my best friends, I have been attacked, called names and told that I was stupid. However, God has been with me every step of the way, and He's with you. Do you believe in Jesus?" Jimmy said "Yeah, I do." I asked Jimmy if I could pray with him...he said "Yes, please." So we prayed; then I walked him into Aldi to meet with his mom and to stay with her. She was getting off at 8:00pm, but we asked her manager to run the register, so she could talk with her son. We told her about what her son had planned. I left the young man with his mom, and walked to my car, the mom came to the door and said "I guess some things are free and they are good things and worth having." 

Today, I experienced God in a major way--I saw a young man turn from wanting to commit suicide because of bullying. A mom saw that God's salvation goes beyond saying a prayer, but that God saved her son's life for free and it was worth having. A young man experienced God in seeing a woman hand over a cart at Aldi and not taking a quarter for it. An elderly woman experienced God when she was told "Hang on to your quarter."

I don't know about you all, but God is amazing...even in the ordinariness of life!