EVANGELICALS: IN THE IMITATION OF JEWS
By Harmony Daws
28 Apr 10
This month Ynet
News reported that 1,000 Christian Americans have
signed a document asking if they can convert to Judaism and form
a settlement in Samaria. They
want to join the Israeli Defense Force and live kibbutz-style beyond
the green line of armistice. Pastors at 70 American churches had
the conscience to denounce the plan. This group’s agenda is
extreme but reflects a rapidly growing trend in the Christian American
church to go beyond philo-Semitism and actively incorporate Judaism
into its own identity. American Christians, already besotted with
Israel, increasingly seek to observe Jewish holidays, know Jewish “history” and
even bring Jewish traditions into their wedding ceremonies.
This can be seen as a natural outcome of at least three factors:
the social and political power of Judaism in America (which silences
any criticism from reaching the mainstream); the ardent Zionism of
mainstream evangelical leaders; and the utter inability of Christians
to respect Judaism as a fully distinct, unrelated religion with its
own values, culture and agenda.
Since it was just Easter, the Wall
Street Journal comments on
the increasing number of Christian celebrations of the Passover
seder, the ritual meal eaten in memory of the Hebrews fleeing Egypt,
in an article titled “Is Passover the New Christmas?” Increasingly
enchanted by all things Jewish, the evangelical church is not only
donating tens of millions yearly to Israel but also trying to import
Israel into the American church itself.
Married journalists Steve and Cokie Roberts (Jewish and Catholic,
respectively) have been on the media circuit helping them do just that—promoting
their new book Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith
Families. Allegedly Catholic, Cokie Roberts spearheaded the integration
of Jewish tradition into her family and now proudly reports her seder
is "not Christianized in any way. ... This is very much a Jewish
ceremony that we celebrate." This is important to note: As Christians
appropriate Judaism, it is Christianity which must bend. Predictably,
the Roberts got press on FOX, ABC, NPR, venerable newspapers, and plenty
of other big news outlets. This year Glenn Beck publicly observed the
seder and compared the Jewish flight from Egypt to Christian pilgrims
leaving England.
When the Jewish Encyclopedia discusses origins
of the Passover ritual, it refers to the Mishnah (the first record
of the oral tradition of the Pharisees), not the Old Testament. The Encyclopedia credits
Gamaliel II with codifying the tradition. The Encyclopedia says
observant Jews practice the custom of reciting relevant passages from
the Talmud. Extant written “manuscripts do not go back beyond
the thirteenth century [AD], the time, probably, when the service for
Passover eve was first written separately, since no mention of the
fact occurs in earlier writings.”
Is there a Biblical mandate for a purely Christian observance
of Passover? The Christian gospels say relatively little about the “Passover
meal” of Jesus the night before the crucifixion (Matthew 26,
Mark 14, Luke 22). What they do say is decidedly not Jewish. Christ
makes the meal about His own coming death and His betrayal by Judas.
He does not remind the disciples about the Hebrews leaving Egypt. He
does not narrate the story of Exodus. He does not quote the Talmud.
He does not command His followers to recreate the Passover feast in
the future.
Instead He institutes a new tradition with these words when He broke
the bread, “ This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance
of me.” (Luke 22:19) For centuries Christians interpreted this
command through the ritual of communion; yet it can be most fully understood
as a command to daily “eat His flesh and drink His blood” (John
6:53) by constantly participating in our own crucifixion of self-will.
As often as we eat or drink anything, we are supposed to remember
Christ's sacrifice for us and live in the context of complete surrender
to Him.
Unfortunately, Christ’s spiritual revolution is increasingly
passed over. American evangelicals prefer Jewish ritual to the “sterile” sacrifice
of actually practicing death to self. Twenty years ago, my own birth
family celebrated the Jewish Passover. (I was about eight, so I accept
no responsibility for this mistake.) I can still remember the distinct
ambiance of the event, the unleavened bread, herbs and the succulent
lamb weighing down our walnut dining room table as we remembered not
Christ but the triumphant Jews routing Egypt.
Today, Christian kids are more likely than ever to experience this “gateway” ritual
into Jewish practice . Then, as young adults, they may want to bring
Jewish ritual to their wedding. In February the New York Times wrote
about Christian young adults signing a Jewish wedding contract before
(perhaps significantly) they take the Christian communion.
The contract, called a ketubah, was codified by Talmudic Pharisees
in Babylon, during a time when the Pharisees were overturning God’s
laws and leading the exiled Hebrews into occultry. This doesn’t
seem to matter to evangelicals. A
couple profiled by the Times was said to be “affirming
the Jewish roots of their faith.” After their wedding they hung
their ketubah document above their marriage bed. They are part of “ a
growing phenomenon of non-Jews incorporating the ketubah…” The
bride actually learned this Jewish tradition “from her older
sister, also an evangelical Christian, who had been married five years
earlier with not only a ketubah but the Judaic wedding canopy, the
huppah.” The article adds, “an increasing number of gentiles
have taken up Judaic practices: holding a Passover Seder, eating kosher
food and studying kabbalah, the Jewish mystical movement.”
Most Christians do not recognize modern Judaism as a truly distinct
religion with its own god, its own mandates, and its own very strong
position about Jesus Christ. Instead, Judaism is viewed as a benevolent
parent religion to Christianity, a venerated grandfather who didn’t
quite get the news about Jesus and at whose feet Christian “descendants” should
learn.
If Judaism were indeed a largely extinct religion without its own
intense and exclusive demands about truth, maybe all this would be
okay. But it’s not. Judaism is a powerful world religion with
ambitions and characteristics every bit as real as those of Islam.
Seemingly unaware of this fact, Christians are slow to realize the
bastardization of their faith that happens when they appropriate living
Jewish traditions like the seder. Jews, on the other hand, are very
willing to defend their religion from being diluted.
The Journal quotes Rabbi Neil Gillman, professor emeritus
at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He says, “‘It's deceptive
to introduce Christian themes into the Jewish seder. When you start
talking about Jesus, that is no longer a seder. That is a different
creation altogether,’” a vehicle for preaching or proselytizing.” And
Christian preaching is loathsome to Jews—if it is successful,
they believe, it will lead to the “spiritual genocide” of
the Jewish race.
As we have said many times, the modern Jewish religion is extremely
aware of the inherent hostility between itself and Christianity. The
two faiths could hardly be more opposed in their basic tenets. Judaism
absolutely rejects the deity of Christ, which is (or should be) the
central foundation on which all other Christian beliefs are built.
Modern Judaism exalts the Jewish people as the correct representations
of God in this world while Christians call for a spiritual revolution
that extends to all people of all races. Jewish leaders and sacred
texts know that these two faiths are diametrically opposed; unfortunately,
Christians seem completely ignorant.
It is richly ironic that Christians today eat unleavened bread on
Passover in exaltation of the Jewish religion. The yeast was originally
left out of the bread to symbolize Hebrew separation from the world.
But Jesus told Christians that in their age, the yeast meant a new
enemy, who were “wicked and adulterous.” He gave us this
command: “Be careful, be on your guard against the yeast
of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Jews do not forget Christ's
vitriol against their scholars. But Americans in the church—the
ones for whom this warning was ultimately intended—seem all too
willing to disregard Christ's words and obey Talmudic authorities.
Harmony
Daws is a writer for National
Prayer Network. To greater understand
the illogic behind hate laws, read
her article “Top
Eleven Reasons You Should Fight
Hate Laws.”
Rev. Ted Pike is director of the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watchdog organization.
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