"The Jews are a nervous people. Nineteen
centuries of Christian love have taken a toll."Benjamin
Disraeli
Jewish Prayer Guide:
The SBC have passed many resolutions
acknowledging that an evangelical outreach to Jews is a part of their Great
Commission mandate. At the SBC meeting in 1996-JUN, a resolution on this
topic passed by an overwhelming majority. It urged the membership to "direct
our energies and resources toward the proclamation of the Gospel to the Jews." It criticized "an organized effort on the part of some either to deny
that Jewish people need to come to their Messiah, Jesus, to be saved or to
claim, for whatever reason, that Christians have neither the right nor
obligation to proclaim the gospel to Jewish people." 1,2
These policies are derived from a historical theological belief called "supercessionism" (a.k.a. replacement theology,
displacement theololgy, etc), This is the concept "that Christianity replaced Judaism and that God no
longer has a covenant with the Jewish people."3 It relegates Judaism to an inferior position and "regards the
Christian Church as the 'true' or 'spiritual' Israel." This concept was first developed by Justin Martyr (circa 100 to 165 CE) and
Irenaeus of Lyon (circa 130 to 200 CE). It was largely accepted within the
church by the 4th century. It has since been abandoned by more
liberal Christian faith groups, who feel that God's covenants in the
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) are still in force. This is called
"two-covenant" theology. One logical consequence of this belief
system is that the Jews already have a route to salvation, as explained in
the Hebrew Scriptures and guaranteed by God's eternal covenants. Thus,
Jews do not
need to be converted to Christianity in order to be saved.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. emphasized that the SBC is determined to not
follow the direction of more "liberal denominations [which have]
declared a moratorium on witnessing to Jewish persons...This is not a case
of religious imperialism or intolerance. Jewish persons--and all other
persons--should know this: The greatest act of respect, love, and honor a
Christian can extend to a non-Christian is to share the Gospel of Jesus
Christ." 4
Don Kammerdiener, executive vice president of the International Mission Board
defended the guide, saying that "Jesus stated clearly that his followers
were to begin their witness to him in Jerusalem, the heartland of the Jews.
Obedient Christians have no choice except to invite Jews and all other peoples
to come to faith in Christ." 5
Jewish groups do not share this view. They regard the covenants and
promises made by G-d in the Torah to be firm, permanent and still valid
today. It is their belief that the Torah talks about salvation and
forgiveness for sins for the Jewish people through rituals and other acts.
Observant Jews observe the Days
of Awe when they pray to God for forgiveness for their sins during the
previous year. The Days start with Rosh Hashanah, which is
the Jewish New Year, and the anniversary of creation. They end ten
days later with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement -- the most sacred
day of the Jewish year. Eight days before Rosh Hashanah on 1999-SEP-11,
the SBC's International
Mission Board announced on its website the distribution of a prayer booklet
to "guide Southern Baptists as they intercede with God on behalf of his
chosen people." 6,7 The guide said, in part, "As
Jewish people attempt to purge themselves of spiritually crippling
attitudes, pray that they will find the spiritual wholeness available
through the Messiah.'' The Messiah mentioned in the pamphlet refers to
Jesus Christ, not the Messiah that Jews anticipate will arrive in the
future.
Randy Sprinkle, director of the Southern Baptist International
Mission Board's prayer strategy office commented: "God calls
on his children to reflect his deep heart love for his chosen people, the
Jews. Evangelical Christians are responding by harmonizing their hearts
with his so his love can be reflected toward Jewish people...Intercessory
prayer is an act of love. Christian intercessors are people of love. They
love the Jewish people, even scattered across the earth as they are,
because God first loved the Jewish people."
Responses to the Jewish prayer guide:
At the core of the friction over the Jewish prayer guide is a
difference in belief about salvation:
Southern Baptists generally believe that the natural destination for
humanity is eternal punishment in Hell. The religious beliefs and
practices of Jews will not save them from this fate, because God has
unilaterally terminated his covenants with the Jewish people. Only
those individuals who have trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior will
attain heaven. They believe that God has assigned the Great Commission
to Christians; they are to save as many people as possible from
eternal punishment.
Jews generally believe that God's covenants are still in force and
that one may attain heaven by leading a moral life, following the laws
of Moses.
Some responses to the Jewish prayer guide:
From outside the SBC: Some responses were highly negative:
Abraham H. Foxman, spokesperson for the Anti-Defamation League
accused the Southern Baptists of projecting "a spiritual
narrowness that invites theological hatred..."It is pure
arrogance for any religion to assume that they hold 'the truth,'
especially on the eve of the holiest days for the Jewish faith."8
Rabbi James Rudin of the American Jewish Committee has
called efforts to evangelize Jews "spiritual annihilation."
8
David Friedman, president of Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem NC
stated: "To do this at this time of year is a little bit
startling...I find it rather sad that they place their emphasis on
converting Jews, rather than looking for common ground and discourse
among all faiths." 9
Mark Briskman, the Southwest regional director for the
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, stated: "Baptists have
a right to believe what they believe. But we find this offensive. It
shows an element of arrogance because they are specifically targeting
Jews during the holy season." 9
Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger, leader of Congregation Beth-El, a
Reform synagogue in Fort Worth TX commented: "When they come
to my holiest day of the year and suggest God is not listening, I
think that is offensive and very un-Christian."
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations said: "We'd like a little less love and a little
more respect.There's a kind of theological arrogance that pervades all
of this, a certain willingness on their part to play God, and an
absence of awareness that these sorts of statements throughout history
are associated with coercion, hatred and violence." 5
The Rev. John Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ said:
''It's offensive ... when we have been part of a long history of
abusive behavior ultimately leading to the Holocaust.'' He feels
that it is arrogant to claim that Christianity offers the only path to
truth. ''Christians are called upon to bear witness
to their faith in Jesus... But proselytizing and evangelizing needs to
me more of a dialogue in which we both share and receive. It doesn't
mean we are timid about sharing our faith or making judgments about
the relative value of faith understanding. It means we have a kind of
humility in our witness.'' 10
From inside the SBC: At least one pastor was critical of his denomination's prayer guide:
Mohler quoted a pastor in the liberal wing of the SBC as saying
that: "the Jews are, as they always have been, a people with a
very special relationship to God." The pastor called the SBC
prayer guide "an appalling lack of sensitivity to Jewish
sensibilities." 8Curiously, Mohler did not
mention the name of the SBC pastor.
On the "Larry King Live" show: R.Albert
Mohler appeared on the 2000-JAN-12. Other guests were: Marvin Hier,
founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Schmuley
Boteach, executive director of the Oxford L'Chaim Society , and
David Brickner, executive director of Jews for Jesus. The
latter forms the largest group within Messianic
Judaism - a religious movement of ethnic/cultural Jews who have
accepted Yeshua (Jesus Christ) as the Messiah and whose belief system
is essentially identical to that of Evangelical Christianity.
11
Mohler said: "All I know is that the only way to heaven
is through personal faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ the
Savior...No matter how good or bad by human estimation, the fact
is before God we are all sinners in need of a Savior. There is not
one who is good, no, not one, says the Scriptures."
According to Maranatha Christian Journal: "The Jewish
rabbis essentially said that being a good person is enough to get
into heaven, regardless of religion or belief." Boteach
said: "Who would have thought that in the new millennium
we would once again see the prevalence of spiritual dictatorship
and totalitarianism? I am absolutely against any religion that
says that one faith is superior to another. I don't see how that
is anything different than spiritual racism...I thought I was
living in an enlightened world where people respected each other
and had tolerance."
Brickner, from Jews for Jesus, was supportive of the
Southern Baptists: "I'm proud of them. I applaud their
efforts, because they care enough to love my Jewish people. And
the most loving thing that you can do is share the love of God in
the Messiah, Jesus."
References:
The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., "Against the Stream: The Southern Baptist
Resolutions," "Fidelitas: Commentary on theology and
culture," at: http://www.sbts.edu/fmohler.html
According to the SBC website, one can order a Jewish prayer guide from the
International Mission Board's resource center at [email protected]
or call toll free at 1-800-866-3621
R. Albert Mohler, Jr., "Do Jews really need Christ? Controversy
over Jewish Evangelism" "Fidelitas: Commentary on theology and
culture," at: http://www.sbts.edu/fmohler.html
"Jews offended at Southern Baptist Convention's prayer for Jewish
conversion," The Pluralism Project, at: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~pluralsm/html/news17.html
The article originated at the Tampa Tribune, 1999-SEP-10, Nation/world
section, Page 2.
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