I feel like I just got done taking the SAT’s today. I had the amazing opportunity to learn about the Jewish faith in detail and how people try to evangelize to them. We had an amazing NYSUM leader named Don who was so knowledgeable about Jewish people, their background, their history and what they believe in. Let me give you a rundown of the sheet he gave us called “How to Effectively Share the Gospel with Jewish People.”
1. Biblical Principles of Evangelism
This section talked about how Paul says in 1st and 2nd Cor. That we are to be ambassadors for Christ and about how becoming “like” a Jew might win a Jew. (1 Cor. 9:20, 2 Cor. 5:20)
2. Barriers to Communication
I learned the most from this section. First of all, there are a lot of misconceptions about Jewish people.
A. Misconceptions
1. Jewish people know the Old Testament and accept the New Testament.
2. The “Jews” are the “Christ-killers”
3. Jewish people hold similar religious beliefs
4. Jewish believers are no longer Jewish
5. All Gentiles are Christians; all Christians are Gentiles
B. Anti-Semitism
1. Theology of Contempt: Quotes of John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther
2. History of Persecution: Crusades, Inquisition, Pogroms, holocaust
C. Terminology
1. Avoid the “C’s”: Messiah not Christ, Believer not Christian, Atonement not Cross, Repent not Convert.
2. Use these expressions: God of Israel rather than God, Jewish People rather than Jews, Jewish Scriptures rather than Bible
3. Prophetic Scriptures to Share
A. Isaiah Chapter 53 “To who does this passage refer?”
B. Jeremiah 31:31-34 “What is this New Covenant?”
C. Matthew Chapter 1 “Why the Jewish genealogy?”
4. “Provoke Them to Jealousy” (Romans 11:11)
A. Appreciate the Jewish roots of Christianity
B. Express a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people
C. Use Jewish terminology in expressing Biblical truths
D. Acknowledge the Biblical right for the existence and preservation of the modern state of Israel.
5. Prayer
A. Removal of the veil (2 Cor. 3:14-16)
B. Revelation, Signs and Wonders (1 Cor. 1:22)
Don really got to explain to us in detail how Jewish people feel towards Christians and how it has become his life mission to reach out to as many Jewish people as he can. We got to do two very cool things during the day. The first was going to a synagogue and getting to meet a Holocaust survivor. I felt like I got the chance to shake the hand of a man who has lived through the history which we read about. He shared with us his thoughts on what his Jewish faith meant to him and how it shaped his life. It was very interesting to hear it from his perspective and it definitely raised some questions. The second event of the day was that we got to go into a Hasidic synagogue. It was a time of information overload. I got asked 3 times whether or not I was Jewish and then I got to talk to lady for 20 minutes about everything I saw and about what she believed in. Let’s just say that it was a very interesting time in the synagogue. I feel like I am more educated about their beliefs and at the same time, I have so many more questions about why they believe what they believe.
The thing we got to do was to go to the Brooklyn Tabernacle Prayer Meeting. We got to hear the testimony of a woman from the Middle East and how she came to know Christ. Once the meeting started we got to really sing a couple of songs to God. Pastor Cymbala, shockingly enough, spoke about Anti-Semitism and related it to the story of Moses and what happened to him when he was born. He spoke about how the real turn in the story was when the Mother let her baby go. He spoke about how there are things in our lives that we need to put in the basket, let them go and let God handle the rest.
WHEW!!!!!!!!!! What a day.
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