Aren't Christians who are not Jewish bothered that the Son of God was Jewish?

What? Jesus was a Jew? Duh? He was a rabbi. So. I’m cool with that.

As opposed to the Christians who are Jewish?

But seriously, the Pope recently (look it up) decidedly, decisively and goddamit finally announced it was the romans, not the jews, who killed jesus. So it’s time to buzz off the jews and get a life, goyim. Rejoice in the death of Bin Laden – when’s the last time God, or the Devil for that matter – affected your life as much as that cocksucker did?

Meanwhile, we all can live in harmony, to each his own silly faith.

You want to believe in jesus – fine. He’s the son of God – fine. He’s coming back – great.

Jews do not. They await another, sillier messiah figure – on a white donkey who will come to Jerusalem.

Who cares? What’s good for the goose is good for the gander – in all things. Religion, race, creed, sex. Do what you want; don’t try to convert me and I won’t convert you.

Where’s the zebra when you need him.

I got confused at the “Aren’t Christians who are not Jewish”. Are there Christians who ARE Jewish?

Wait, I thought he was born in Hawaii…

As a Christian, I sometimes feel like the jealous adopted kid who loves and adores her non biological sibling, but wishes she had been born into the family. I love the Jewish people, culture and traditions. If they were good enough for God to CHOOSE, who am I to think less of them?

Love you especially @JLeslie

@mazingerz88 God could not have chosen a Christian to have his son, because Jesus was the beginning of Christianity. Jews were the first ro believe in a singular God, as far as I know. So, if God has a son, it is logical it would be born from a Jewish woman.

Atheists tend to look at the fact that God chose Jesus in that particular part of the world and ask, why would God not show himself to the world. Why one guy and then hundreds and thousands of years to spread the word? Why should the farmer in remote China not know of Jesus when the people of Israel did? Seems unfair. I would hope God is not unfair?

Meanwhile, the Christians at this time in history seem very fond of the Jews. Maybe they feel they have a common enemy? I say this from the Christian point of view, the more fanatical Christian. It seems they are moved and thankful in the end for the whole passion thing, so whether Christians believe it was Jews or the Romans who killed Jesus, they believe it was necessary to happen.

@Rarebear I guess maybe the Jews for Jesus think they are Christian and Jewish? Not sure exactly what they think. I always figured if you accept Jesus as the son of God and the messiah as your savior, then you are a Christian, but it seems a person can still be Jewish sort of.

@Judi Thanks :). I think you are wonderful too.

I think the kind of people who would be bothered don’t realize the fact and wouldn’t believe it if you explained.

You’ve got your wording all wrong. There aren’t any Christian Jews, but there ARE Messianic Jews. Also, God didn’t “choose” Jesus. According to scripture, God saw that Mary was worthy and placed his son in her womb. Jesus was BORN, not just “picked out” like a puppy. And it’s not like God just saw some olive skinned dude walking around and said “Hey yeah! That’s the right guy to be my son! Bam!” and then turned said random dude into Jesus.

I’d really appreciate it if people would get their religious facts straight before they make blanket statements about who Christians are, what Christians do and what Christians believe.

@WillWorkForChocolate But, if someone does not know about Christianity the only way to learn is to ask. Nkw you had the opportunity to clarify because the question was asked. I don’t understand why it is upsetting to you.

@jaytkay Agree. In the Philippines for example where Catholicism is predominant at 95%, Catholics may have heard Jesus was a Jew but do not pay much attention. Worse, they sometimes think, during Holy Week reenactments of the way to the Cross, that those Roman soldier actors with the scary masks are Jewish.

@JLeslie I’m seriously not trying to be sarcastic here, but if you don’t understand what in his question or statement would upset someone, then no amount of explanation I can give will help.

@WillWorkForChocolate The OP simply probably doesn’t know much about Christianity. I really don’t understand what it is upsetting. If you don’t want to explain maybe one of the other Christians on the thread can explain it to me hopefully. I am not trying to be offensive in any way or dismiss your feelings, I just don’t understand the harm in asking the question. The OP seems to have shown respect, capitalized God and He, and he seems curious to me.

It’s mainly the underlying arrogance of blanket statements that the OP uses frequently. It’s disgusting. And the mistakes just made it worse. It would be like me asking, “Aren’t athiests who are not agnostic bothered by the idiocy of Christians?” And then, “Atheists are full of hatred for the religious” and “Why is it that athiests”..... A big mistake compounded by making insulting blanket statements.

@WillWorkForChocolate I guess I just don’t get offended easily. I, as an atheist, would just asnwer those questions and say most atheists aren’t full of hatred for the religious. Similar to what I wrote to snowberry here down towards the end of the thread. No problem if you don’t want to look at the link, it isn’t completely related, but just demonstrates I am willing to give me atheist perspective, admit some atheists are different, I don’t get offended when she seems to be generalizing.

Look at it another way: If you were going to create a religion, would you really choose someone as your main guy who was from a different part of the world, a part you had very little if any relationship with?
Many Christians believe that while Jesus was Jewish, it’s the people who come after him that don’t recognize him as the Messiah that are doing something willfully wrong.

Why would current Jews know any better what happened? They weren’t alive then any more than current Christians. Neither @zen nor @WillWorkForChocolate was there, because they weren’t born.

@WillWorkForChocolate So maybe instead of just getting mad, it might be more fruitful to politely explain where the OP has erred. You might actually change a mind instead of just acting like a stereotype.

And, @MyNewtBoobs also got me thinking that it is worth stating that the Jews believe Jesus did some great things, they just don’t think he rose to the level of messiah required by their religion, but he is still an important religious figure. The messianic age is defined differently by Jews and Christians. I think in Judaism (someone correct me if I am wrong here in my own religion) when the messiah comes there will be a time of great peace, and we still are not enjoying a great time of peace, so Jesus could not have been the guy I guess according to Judaism.

@JLeslie Well, that’s what my Religious Studies professor taught me. Hey, she got one right! Now, onto those other 97K incorrect statements…

I am going to approach answering this as if you know little or nothing about Christianity or Judaism and I am giving a very simplistic view. The Jews were/are the chosen people of God. They believe(d) a messiah would be born into their midst (a Jew) from the line of King David. He would be the annointed one. (There are differing views of what the messiah’s actual role is, I am not getting into that.)

Christianity is a religion born of Judaism. This does not mean that all of the first Christians were Jews. It means Christians believe Jesus fulfilled the role of the messiah. Some Jews (at/near the time of Jesus) believed this and some gentiles also; this started Christianity. The point of Christianity is that Jesus was the messiah promised by God in the Jewish faith. The Jewish messiah could not come from another part of the world unless that part of the world was populated by Jews who had a direct lineage to King David.

The reason not all Jews believe Jesus was the messiah is because they do not believe he fulfilled the requirements of the mashiach (messiah.) If all Jews had believed Jesus had fulfilled the role of messiah, there would be no Christianity as it would have just been a continuation of Judaism. The anscetors of both Christians and Jews were there at the same time. Jews do not deny the existence of Jesus or his role as a noteworthy person; they just do not believe he is/was the messiah.

it is worth stating that the Jews believe Jesus did some great things

Also that Islam considers Jesus a prophet.

Now THAT would make some heads explode among certain Christians lol

@JLeslie I thought you were jewish, yet you say you write from a christian’s pov.

@zen What I mean is the Christians seem very united, zealous even, with the fight for Israel. This in turn is keeping Jews in good favor by the Christians, even if it is just so we can rebuild the temple. Additionally, the Christian fanatics here in the states hate the Muslims and see them as an enemy, so I think for now the Christians see the Jews as having a common enemy with them. I think most Jewish people do not see Muslims as the enemy or that we need to rid the world of Muslims, we just want peace; peace for everyone, and for everyone to leave us alone :). We, Jews, do not want a religious war. That is why I said above it was a Christian point of view, the idea of a common enemy and that in this time in history the Christians are fond of us. This is my perception of things anyway.

Later I specifically say I am Jewish when I talk about the Messianic Age.

Sorry babes, I missed the messianic age.

@JLeslie I suppose the Jews for Jesus consider themselves Jewish. Jews don’t consider them Jewish, though. I’ve actually only seen them occasionally on street corners holding signs; I’ve never met one.

Met them; they consider themselves Jew-ish. Jews consider them nuts.

Yeah, nuts. The way I see it, if someone accepts Jesus as their savior and the son of God, they are Christians.

Who do these Jews for Jesus try to go after? Jews? Or, other Christians? Who is their prime target? I remember my sister telling me they had a big campaign going in NYC a few years back. Right there they can’t be Jewish. Campaign and all.

Who do J witnesses go after? Who is everyone not them, alex.

Why be bothered by this ?
God chose them to serve Him.
They did not serve Him as they were supposed to.
Jesus came to them but they did not want Him.

They [ jews ] are still waiting for the Messiah.

I have seen a few “Jews for Jesus” presentations to Christians. Their approach to us I’m sure is different, but I found it interesting because I learned a lot about the customs that Christianity has abandoned in the last 2000 years since Jesus. I have heard that their street evangelism can be pretty aggressive and I don’t like that, but I do like learning about the details of the Passover meal, and the other holidays that Christians don’t observed but are historically important to both Christians and Jews.

@Judi My Jewish friend finds them despicable, assuming they are really Jews. Politically she is a liberal democrat but I guess draws the line when it comes to proselytizing. Jews do not proselytize and she hates it when door knockers tell her they have the Truth, when all these Christian practices just branched out from Judaism mainly.

Btw, your answer to my question helped me a lot to understand why Christians from other parts of the world are not bothered that God chose the Hebrews to produce Jesus. It seems your faith is strong and clear, unquestioning with an openly big heart. Not so in my case. During my first communion I looked at the huge man on the cross and wondered who he really was. I did grow up doing my best to follow his teachings and whatever good things I’ve done, it’s because of his words and probably due to some philosophical learnings as well.

Eventually, my lingering doubts led me to believe that the Jewish people, when their beliefs evolve into just having one God, did not really intend for their religion to encumber the whole world. When Jesus came and split their world apart proclaiming he is the Son of God, which to a lot of people makes him a god or God himself as well ( or whatever ), he did so merely in the context of being a Jew. As for the inclusion of the Gentiles ( like me ) in this path to what is really exclusively Jewish destiny, I don’t buy the justification that Paul got talked to by God and instructed to indeed add the Gentiles in that list. ( as what guests? )

Yet Jesus’ words were really that powerful that it was enough for people around the world today to believe in him as God. And never mind he was of a different people with it’s own history and identity. But him supposedly being resurrected from the dead, then showing himself only to a chosen few ( not the whole Jewish realm or the Roman empire ) makes me wonder, what was the rush?

@mazingerz88 ; But even the old testament says that the Jews were “blessed to be a blessing.”
I feel Jesus was part of that blessing, and I have many Jewish friends who bless me today. I cherish those blessings.

@Judi I can see why Christians would be interested in celebrating some of the Jewish holidays. I think there are other forms of Christianity beside Jews for Jesus that do it? Seems like I have heard it before.

@JLeslie ; There is a messianic christian community. They are quite a closed community. They don’t use their worship services for evangelism, actually, they don’t seem to do a lot of evangelism at all. My son had a psychologist who was a Rabbi in their community. My son was very interested, but was never invited in, although he learned a lot from him. They’re not secretive about what they do, they just live a quite orthodox life and I’m sure it was obvious that my son would not be able to handle that.

Well, as a Jew, I don’t consider JFJ “despicable” at all. I just consider them a bit odd.

@Rarebear Who said despicable? I don’t remember reading that.

@mazingerz88 wrote: ”@Judi My Jewish friend finds them despicable, assuming they are really Jews.” 6 posts above this one.

@Rarebear Thanks, I couldn’t find it. Dispacable does seem harsh. I guess it seems so not Jewish that maybe some Jews don’t want to be associated with the movement and resent Jews being in the name of the group? Maybe similar to howso many Mormons are horrified to be associated with those closed communities where young girls are wedded at 14 against their will and never see the outside world.

@Rarebear If I may ask, what do you think is odd about Jews for Jesus?

@JLeslie If you mean my friend finding JfJs despicable “not so Jewish” since that’s being intolerant and Jews are suppose to be tolerant then I would likely agree. I think she assumes Jews for Jesus proselytize and she disagrees with that, along with other religions doing the same. She is 80 years of age and the holocaust memories will always be with her. There were Christians who helped Jews then but there were more Christians who if not party to that inhumanity did not bat an eyelash, in her view.

@mazingerz88 The fact that they stand on street corners holding signs “Jews For Jesus.’ That’s odd.

@Rarebear Gotcha. It would be more odd if they start twirling the signs like ones I’ve seen.

@mazingerz88 I never think of the holocaust as been caused by or perpetrated by Christians. The Germans may have been Christians, from what I understand Hitler was a Christian, but it never enters my mind that it was a religious war of any sort. I never thought about it in those terms until you brought it up.

@mazingerz88 I had a Christian friend who was in a concentration camp for being from an educated, Polish-Christian family.

@JLeslie Did I say anything about Christians perpetrating the Holocaust or WWII was a religious conflict of any sort? I hope not. And wow, I had no idea Hitler was a Christian. I may have another question now that I would want to ask in Fluther.

@bkcunningham Yes, apparently there were some who suffered in concentration camps who were not Jews but probably Germans who had the humanity to say something or do something against the Reich. I haven’t read any historical book on this but a 91 year old American who worked in intelligence during WWII mentioned this to me.

@mazingerz88 Many people besides the Jews were persecuted and put into concentration camps by the Nazis; homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled, Catholics, Christians, minorities and gypsies, to name a few.

@mazingerz88 I was not accusing you of anything, sorry if it came out badly. You had mentioned some Christians helped Jews during the holocaust, and I was just saying that I, as a Jew, never think of the holocaust as a Christians against Jews event. And, I don’t think of it as Christians not batting an eyelash like the woman you mentioned. If anything among the Jews I know it is always stated as Germans going along with Hitler, I never hear religion mentioned. Approximately 6 million Jews died at the hands of Hitler and 3 million others. Some because they helped the Jews, some because they simply disagreed or would not join the cause, and others for just existing, like the disabled, gypsies, and others.

@mazingerz88 Here‘s_religious_views is the wikipedia on Hitler’s religious views.

Although the conversation seemed to steer that way, I am amused at the applicability of Godwin’s Law in this thread.

@Rarebear Indeed it seems Godwin’s Law has just been applied here.

@JLeslie Thanks for the link. That was quite a read, whew!

Somehow that link was messed up. Here is the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler's_religious_views

@JLeslie Though the stories about his religious views and practices convey a conflicted nature, I read his supposed actual statement and cringed when he invoked “fighting for the Lord’s work in defending himself against the Jew” What a twisted dark evil man.