By Michael Anbar
October 26, 2007
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The recent convention of Christian Zionists in Brentwood, Tennessee, on "Israel, the Church and the Nations," (October 17-19, 2007) might raise the apprehension of many Jews. Jewish people are allergic to the combination of "Church" and "Israel." It reminds them of centuries of misojudaic persecution by the Church. This uneasy feeling might have been strengthened in Jews who listened to Pastor Hagee, the founder of Christian United for Israel (CUFI), interviewed by Glen beck on CNN (October 12, 2007). Listeners heard Hagee's strong belief in the immediacy of the "End of Days," when according to his belief (based on the Christian Book of Revelations) embattled Jews will eventually convert to become Christians at the End of Days.
On the other hand, Hagee's current unconditional support of Israel, held by hundreds of thousands of CUFI members, is based on just as profound a belief in the Jewish prophetic writings about fulfillment of God's promise to return the Jewish people to their ancient homeland. Like the proclamation of Pope Paul VI in Nostra Aetate, affirmed by Pope John Paul II, John Hagee, the Protestant Evangelist, also agrees that Judaism is the cradle of Christianity and must be recognized and cherished as such.
There seems to be a dichotomy here: if the Jews are to be respected today, why should they accept Christianity at the End of Days? Hagee would probably have told you that this is what his scriptures tell him. On the other hand, there are many Christian Zionists who do not share Hagee's eschatological vision, and who believe in the endless bright future of the Jewish nation, as described in the scriptures.
Hagee would probably disagree with Ann Coulter's controversial statement on CNBC TV (October 8, 2007) that "Jews need 'perfecting' by becoming Christians." Coulter, like many Christian Americans, does not understand what Judaism is all about. She might not be a Jew-hater, as some have accused her of, but she manifested lack of pertinent knowledge. She is certainly not a Christian Zionist like John Hagee. Like millions of American Christians, who are not theologians, she seems to have missed the core difference between Judaism and Christianity.
The difference is not in ritual observance, with Christians having "an express route to Heaven" as Coulter stated, nor is it in the belief that Jesus was the Messiah; Jews have believed in many messiahs over the ages. Even resurrection is part of Jewish beliefs, as is ascendancy to Heaven and the appearance of angels. The intrinsic difference between Judaism and Christianity is that the former is a national religion that seeks a national redemption, whereas the latter looks for personal redemption. The Jewish Messiah is to bring about the coveted national redemption, whereas the Christian Messiah heralds personal redemption of those who believe in him. Moreover, Judaism does not accept deification of a mortal being; also many Christians before the Council of Nicaea in the Fourth Century did not accept this premise.
Jews admire their messiah as a human national redeemer, whereas Christians love their messiah as their divine personal savior. In spite of their common holy scriptures Judaism is not an antiquated variant of Christianity, and Christianity is an offspring but not an extension of Judaism. Therefore, no Jew who believes in Jewish national destiny can become a Christian out of conviction, and, consequently, Jews should not be afraid of evangelism.
National redemption of the Jewish people is manifested in the concept of Zionism -- the desire for unmitigated Jewish sovereignty over the Jewish ancient homeland. This is the essence of Judaism, repeatedly expressed throughout the prophetic writings and in the 3000 year-old Jewish liturgy, rather than Jewish religious rituals. Rituals performed by some Jews in order to achieve God's personal favors are closer to Christian theological views than meets the eye, even without believing in a distinct personal savior or in his divine nature.
On the other hand, Christians who actively support the national aspirations of the Jewish people, Christian Zionists like Pastor Hagee, are theologically closer to essential Judaism than realized. Pastor Hagee and his followers are more "Jewish" than many ethnic Jews who may strictly observe Jewish rituals but have detached themselves from Zionism, praying for their personal welfare rather than for that of their nation.
We see this at present, when the division of Jerusalem, the ancient Jewish capital, is at stake -- when the exclusive Jewish sovereignty over the Holy City is being threatened.
Hagee, who fights bitterly against this impending Jewish national catastrophe, is fighting for a Jewish theological fundamental premise (the Jewish sovereignty of Jerusalem is not a Christian doctrine). On the other hand, "liberal" and "progressive" Jews, who support this religion-driven, Islamic political objective, are conceptually, if not actively, misojudaic.
As a Jew, I am not disturbed by Hagee's eschatological beliefs. These beliefs originated in Judaism long before the emergence of Christianity. Also Jesus, like Hagee, believed that the End of Days is near. However, like most Jews at his time, also Jesus believed in Jewish national redemption, a belief for which he was crucified by the Romans as the "King of the Jews."
Christians ought to respect Judaism as a spiritual manifestation of an ancient nation that has survived longer than any other nation on Earth and has sprung off Christianity as a conceptually distinct religious ideology, though based on traditionally Jewish ethical principles.
Unfortunately, too many Christians as well as Jews, saw a non-reconcilable conflict between these two distinct religious approaches. This misperceived conflict has often turned bloody. Insignificant symbolic differences in rituals and beliefs were exaggerated without realizing that the difference between Judaism and Christianity is between a national religion and an apolitical personal faith, with no point of conflict.
Judaism never tried to dominate Christianity or any other religion, as Islam has been trying to do since its inception. And Christianity had no reason to try and eliminate Judaism, from which it derived most of its basic precepts. If all Christians would have realized these basic facts, there would have been no reason for misojudaic atrocities.
On the other hand, one can understand the intrinsic misojudaism of all supremacist ideologies. Nazism, Communism and Islam have tried to achieve global, supra-national domination. They hate, therefore, people who maintain their distinct national faith. This is why they, starting with Hitler and ending with Ahmadinejad, have been targeting Zionism -- the national aspect of Judaism. This ideology-driven hatred of Zionism unites today Islamo-fascists and socialist-internationalists, who seem to understand the essence of Judaism better than many Jews.
Views expressed by the author do not
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