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Click the image to enlarge and read the article if you want. The paper gave me one column for rebuttal. |
Rebuttal to
"Jews worship a god who is no god"Snyder Bible Home Divrei Torah Articles and Essays Search Site Review: JESUS' JEWISHNESS by James Charlesworth, a great book |
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Barry Leff May 19, 2003 Of course Jews and Christians worship the same God. We may disagree in our understanding of how God has chosen to reveal Himself to us, but undoubtedly there is only one God, one Creator of the universe. There is no special God for the Christians and a different special God for the Jews. And of course saying "we worship God and the rest of you don't" is both arrogant and impossible to explain. He admits that Christians worship the God of the Hebrew Bible--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob--well, who does he think Jews worship? Just because we have a different opinion of who the Messiah is or whether the Messiah has yet appeared does not mean we reject God. There are of course some Jews who would claim that since the Bible clearly states that the Lord is One (Deuteronomy 6:4), the Trinity doctrine puts Christians in the category of pagan worshippers. I disagree with those Jews as strongly as I disagree with this pastor...there is an excessive amount of intolerance in the world as it is. Rabbi Dr. Barry Leff |
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Jackson Snyder May 20, 2003 The Gospel writers use the term “the Jews” to describe the religious leadership. Jesus was a threat their authority. These leaders rejected him. But great multitudes believed: crowds so large that Jesus hid. These crowds were Jews who loved Jesus and kept the Law with him. When the Romans invaded Palestine (66AD), these Jews for Jesus were given amnesty and they left Palestine with Jesus’ brother, Simon. They continued to be Jews. Paul prophetically calls such “The Remnant.” As generations passed, this Remnant multiplied and migrated, and still exists in our day. Regarding unbelieving or ignorant Jews, Paul asks, “Has God rejected his people?” “By no means,” he answers! Rather, “Yahweh put them in a stupor” (Romans 11:8) so that Gentiles might be grafted into the vine of Israel. Afterward, “all Israel will be saved” (26). Imagine that! “All Israel” includes Jews. Therefore there are Jews who are being saved and who will be saved. In our day, The Remnant is enormous. There are about seven million Jews here. In a recent poll, 20% believe in Jesus (Yahshua), or 1.4 million. They do not identify themselves as Christians for they are Messianic Jews. Do these Jews worship a god that is no god? That same survey said an additional million have a positive opinion of Jesus. They are in the conversion process. Do these Jews worship a god that is no god? What about the thousands of pious Jews seriously seeking Yahweh’s will and doing their best to listen for his voice. They have arisen from many generations of Jews and are open-hearted to truth. Does not Yahweh’s grace also seek them out? Or do they seek a “figment of the imagination” that cannot seek them in return? After Paul says all Israel will be saved, he quotes Isaiah 59:20: “From Zion will come a redeemer for Jacob.” Paul is speaking of the future – today! There are millions of religious Jews awaiting the redeemer’s return. They will surely welcome Yahshua when he appears. Is he not the scion of King David, the King of the Jews? Do these expectant Jews worship a god that is no god? I have charge of a very small parish in which some names reflect Jewish roots: Levins (meaning priest), Covan (teacher), Mathis (reward), Jordan (justice), Morgan (shield) and even my own name (cutter). Who is to say we don’t have a remnant of Jews right here? They certainly do not worship a god that is no god. No, Gentile Christians have been grafted onto the vine of Judaism, not vice versa. It is the root that supports the branch (18). And it is Yahweh the Father that we worship, the god of Israel, the name from which “Jew” (Yahu) is derived, for crying out loud. Rev. Jackson Snyder, M. Div. |
