Jews for Jesus

[John C.]

I had read an old thread here
Evangelism and arrogance (http://monachos.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1364)
about evangelizing Greece - and rather than bumping up an old thread I thought I would ask it here.

Jews for Jesus is currently holding one of its most aggressive evangelistic campaigns in NYC. I used to be supportive of their efforts, but since I have joined the OCA, my views on evangelism have shifted.

This is an article in the New York Post, which oddly, the JFJ website proudly links on their home page
NY Post (http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/holy_hell_over_subway_jesus_regionalnews_jeremy_ol shan___transit_reporter.htm)

Disturbingly, I find the fields for harvest have become much more vast, and that the narrow road has become much more narrow. I am feeling compelled to write to some of the leaders of JFJ, but I keep second guessing myself because I'm not too sure of how to say what I want to tell them.

[Father David Moser]

I am feeling compelled to write to some of the leaders of JFJ, but I keep second guessing myself because I'm not too sure of how to say what I want to tell them.

The leaders of JfJ are well aware of Orthodoxy and have by and large rejected that path. If you want to contact someone who "knows" the system, let me suggest that you get in touch with Fr James Bernstein at Sts Peter and Paul Antiochian in the Seattle area (can't remember the exact name of the town). Fr James was formerly one of the leaders of JfJ and is now an Orthodox archpriest (and dean of the NW) in the Antiochian archdiocese.

My guess would be that any such contact with the leaders of JfJ would be a waste of time or energy.

Fr David Moser

[Scott Pierson]

let me suggest that you get in touch with Fr James Bernstein at Sts Peter and Paul Antiochian in the Seattle area


Speaking of Father Bernstein, he authored a small pamphlet that you might be interested in John C, if you want to give them info on the Orthodox Church. Its called " Orthodoxy , Jewish and Christian". Overall its a good pamphlet which stresses the continuity of the Old Testament and the New Testament Orthodox Church.

http://conciliarpress.bizhosting.com/orthodoxy_jewish_and_christian_1.html

A rabbi from Jews for Jesus was on the radio for a week a while back here in Michigan. He didn’t seem to think too highly of the Church fathers (he thought they brought the church into apostasy) and he considered the traditional Orthodox teaching that the Church is the Israel of God to be an "anti Semitic" false teaching. 90% of the show was just him talking about how gentile Christians need to support the state of Israel (and it was a four hour show that was on 5 days in a row!). He was even using scare tactics to make the point saying that if America doesnt support the state of Israel that God will punish America. He said that more then half of his synagogue is made up of Gentiles which is rather odd. Sounds like a way to get Christians to support Zionism (the actual number of Jews who join Jews for Jesus is minimal in fact most of its supporters are gentiles ). I tend to think its one of two things 1. an excuse to start another denomination in which the founders can fashion a religion to their liking or 2. A scam used to increase Christian support for Zionism. I'm not totaly sure which it is yet.

[Kris]

Jews for Jesus is essentially just an Protestant missionary group, of the evangelical "low-church" persuasion. Except for their emphasis on all things Jewish, they differ little from other Protestant groups by way of theology (they do not accept the Talmud, etc.).

As such, I don't think contacting the leaders of J4J will be any more profitable than phoning up Billy Graham and asking him to consider Orthodoxy.

Their strategy of getting converts is basically to dress Christianity up in Jewish attire, trying to convince Jews that it is merely another form of Judaism, and that synagogues, yarmulkas and Channukka are just as Christian as they are Jewish.

Of course, this is nonsense. Yarmulkas are prohibited by St. Paul who says its a shame for a man to pray with his head covered; the Old Testament feasts were prefigurations of coming ones, and so at Pascha we no longer celebrate liberation from Egypt, but liberation from sin and death; and the Church Fathers and Councils of the Church clearly state that a person who converts from Judaism must cease keeping Jewish religious customs.

Then there is the dangerous mistake of confusing Judaism (a religion) and the Jewish people (a nation bound together through this religion) with Herzel's Zionism (a secular nationalist movement, the leaders of which were atheists and agnostics), which turns love for the Jewish people into unquestioning support for the Zionist state and its actions.

I find the way this heretical group targets Jews to be extremely patronising, and if I were a Jew I would take offense at its tactics.

Yes, Christianity is the continuation of the true religion of the Old Testament, but I don't see how adopting practices and customs which entered rabbinical Judaism after the exile (i.e. after Christianity) is needed to prove that.