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An Unavoidable Issue

Jews for Jesus has a slogan, "We exist to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people world-wide." If this is the reason for their existence than they might as well close shop. Christendom's centuries old policy of degradation and contempt of Jews and Judaism, based on New Testament models, beat them to it.

The repressive papal encyclicals, the tirades of Luther, the economic disabilities, the forced conversions, the expulsions, the enforced isolation of the ghettos, and the annihilation of Jewish communities made "the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people world-wide."

Jesus was made an unavoidable issue for Jews with every unspeakable crime carried out in fulfillment of the "bloody commission" Jesus gave to his followers: "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them in my presence" (Luke 19:27).

A statement that says, "We exist to make the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people world-wide" can only come from those who show no recognition of the fact that hatred of the Jewish people is caused by what the New Testament says rather than by people's misinterpretation of its contents. Some Christians even assert that a true Christian cannot hate the Jewish people and that there is not even the slightest anti-Jewish sentiment expressed in the New Testament. These assertions disregard all literary, theological, and historical data to the contrary. In fact, one does not have to leave it to personal, theological, or emotional considerations to decide if the New Testament teaches visceral hatred of the Jewish people. The decision as to whether or not the New Testament contains anti-Jewish teachings may be based solely on the information provided by the New Testament itself. This information shows that the New Testament anti-Judaism finally led to anti-Semitism.

How sad it is that somebody actually thinks that they have to make Jesus an unavoidable issue for Jews. What do they think has been going on throughout the centuries? Know the real Jesus? We Jews encountered him in Matthew 23:35, in Luke 19:27, and in John 8:44. The Jesus of the New Testament is an unavoidable remembrance of what hatred toward Jews and Judaism lurked in the hearts of the authors of that evil volume.

© Gerald Sigal