Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site philabs.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!unc!mcnc!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!philabs!jah
From: jah@philabs.UUCP (Julie Harazduk)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: What is a Jew?
Message-ID: <203@philabs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Jan-85 13:29:20 EST
Article-I.D.: philabs.203
Posted: Wed Jan  2 13:29:20 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Jan-85 07:58:09 EST
References: <480@mako.UUCP> <20980046@cmu-cs-k.ARPA>
Organization: Philips Labs, Briarcliff Manor, NY
Lines: 46

> = Tim
> To keep this in perspective, recall that there exist various Christian
> evangelical groups which seek to convert Jews to Christianity by dishonest
> means, specifically by pretending to be Jewish.  (The infamous "Jews for
> Jesus" is, I understand, one such group, and was created by evangelizing
> Christians who had never been Jews.)  They come across at first, that is, at
> the beginning of the semester, as a purely Jewish group, and have meetings
> where they discuss Jewish topics.  Then they start bring up "The Prophet
> Yeheshua" who was "hung on a tree" and his sayings -- since most Jews are as
> ignorant of their religion as most Christians are of theirs, the audience
> thinks this is part of the Torah.  It gradually becomes more and more
> Christianized, although only very late do the organizers let anyone in on
> this.  As such, this is a deceptive and intolerable practice.
> 
> And that, I'll wager, is why whoever it was objected to the phrase "Jews who
> happen to be Christians".  Understandable in the light of the previous
> paragraph, even if you can make a case for the possibility of such a thing.
> To avoid the appearance of such impropriety, please refrain from such
> phrases.

The phrase was not "Jews who happen to be Christians", that is something
that neither a Jew nor a Christian would say so lightly.  The topic seemed
to come up when I was talking about Jews accepting Jesus as the Messiah,
as in "Jews for Jesus".  I am not very familiar with the group and their 
practices, I know that they hold onto the Jewish customs more than most of
the Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian religions.  I think most of the "Jews 
for Jesus" ARE Jewish, though, because when I attempted to go to a Service 
for Yom Kippor this year in New York, all the people coming out were Jewish.
Some of my friends who have been to their services are Jewish as well, and
they have chosen not to go regularly because the Jewish ritual is very much
maintained in the services.

> 
> (This has been posted to net.religion.jewish as a warning to Jews who may be
> unfamiliar with this sort of evangelizing, and to invite first-hand accounts
> from any Jew who may have run into one of these groups.)
> -=-

While you're warning Jews of the dangers of Jesus, warn them of the dangers
of not keeping G-d's Laws also.

Julie Harazduk
{inhp4|allegra}!philabs!jah

Prov. 10:12
Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.