MESSIANIC JEWS/JEWS FOR JESUS
Dear Friends:
The Half-Jewish Network is an organization for adult children, grandchildren and other descendants of intermarriage. Our members arrive at our website with all types of beliefs, including some of us who are Messianic Jews, also known as Jews for Jesus.
We are often asked what are our views on Messianic Judaism.
We don't have a problem with you personally. You are cordially welcomed to our organization.
But we want to share with you that we do have a very big problem with the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jewish organizations.
SPIRITUAL DECEPTION?
We have read the Jews for Jesus and Messianic Jewish materials and visited some of their websites, and met with a number of them in person -- basically, the messages that the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jewish organizations are teaching are Christianity dressed up to look like Judaism.
For example, some of the Hebrew on a Messianic Jewish website, when translated into English, turned out to be the Christian Apostle's Creed. And the Apostle's Creed certainly isn't Judaism.
It felt very deceptive to see such a primary Christian creed of belief, originally presented to Christians of western Europe in Latin, shown in Hebrew on an English language website, implying that it was a Jewish statement of faith.
Deception is strictly forbidden by both Judaism and Christianity.
HARMFUL TO JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Judaism does not accept Christ as the promised Messiah. Any Jew acknowledging Christ as their Saviour automatically becomes a meshumad, an apostate from Judaism, and must do teshuvah (repentance) to return to Judaism, including giving up all Christian beliefs.
This kind of synthesis of Judaism and Christianity was also prohibited by the early Christian Church.
If you take a close look at the New Testament, you will see that St. Paul frowned severely on mixing the Jewish customs of what Christians call the Old Covenant (Judaism) with the new beliefs of the New Covenant (Christianity) (see Galatians 2:11-21 and Galatians 3 in the New Testament).
St. Paul says: "Before this faith came, we were close prisoners in the custody of [Jewish] law, pending the revelation of faith. Thus the law was a kind of tutor in charge of us until Christ should come, when we should be justified through faith, and now that faith has come, the tutor's charge is at an end." (Galatians 3:23-25, New English Bible).
There are many other admonitions in the New Testament like this, rebuking Christians who adopted Jewish practices.
The early Christian Church followed St. Paul and declared that people who continued to practice Judaism while accepting Christ as their Saviour were heretics. They called it the Ebionite heresy.
While the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jews do attract some descendants of intermarriage, by offering them a synthesis of Jewish and Christian beliefs, the Half-Jewish Network is very uncomfortable with that.
We are not interested in harming either Judaism or Christianity by helping revive a modern version of the Ebionite heresy. It is damaging to Judaism, which has never accepted Christ as a Messiah, and has fought persistently against aggressive Christian conversions of Jews for centuries.
Jews for Jesus/Messianic Judiasm is also damaging to Christianity, by leading people, in classic Christian theological understanding, into what are called "judaizing" practices, undermining the validity of Christian practice and belief.
We value and cherish our intermarried parents or grandparents, and their two different cultures, but we encourage adult descendants of intermarriage who are interested in exploring Judaism and Christianity to examine them thoroughly, and follow their heart into the faith or secular culture that calls to them most strongly.
We have no problem helping adult children of intermarriage and other descendants of intermarriage to find Jewish synagogues, Christian churches, Islamic mosques or secular organizations affiliated with various faiths or cultures. It depends on what their needs are.
AGGRESSIVE MISSIONARY ATTACKS ON JUDAISM
Another problem that we have with the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jewish organizations is that many of them aggressively seek to convert Jews and descendants of intermarriage to Christianity in a way that many of us find invasive, disrespectful, and anti-Semitic.
If our parentage is Jewish and Christian, most of us cherish our extended Jewish family just as much as we love our extended Christian family, and we do not like people telling other Jews to convert to Christianity, even a form of Christianity that has some Jewish customs, such as the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Judiasm.
None of us welcome people telling us that our Jewish family members are going to hell if they don't accept Jesus as the Messiah.
One of the reasons that we had to ban missionaries from our message board was because we had a few posters who persistently badgered our Jewish-identified members to join Jews who had converted to Christianity.
RESPECT FOR OUR DUALITY
We frequently deal with adult children and grandchildren of intermarriage who are primarily Jewish or Christian, but still celebrate some holidays from the other faith in a secular manner, and cherish warm memories of its books and teachings, including old songs they are fond of, books that they learned, ethnic cooking, etc.
Sometimes they contribute to the charities of both faiths. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Both of their parental cultures, their "halves," are a part of them.
If a descendant of intermarriage comes to us and asks for assistance in deciding between a religious or cultural commitment to Judaism or Christianity, we tell them to put in prayer, if they are interested in a spiritual path, or to think very deeply, if they are secular. In both cases, we urge them to listen to where their heart tells them they belong.
SUPPORT FOR OUR COMMITMENTS
If descendants of intermarriage decide to be religious Christians or participate in Christian culture in a secular manner, we encourage them to become committed Christians, part of a recognized Christian denomination or secular group.
We suggest that they avoid joining groups involved in aggressive missionary work directed towards Jews.
If they decide to be religious or secular Jews, we encourage them to commit fully to Judaism, and begin the study of Hebrew and learning Torah and Kabbalah or cultural history with a legitimate Jewish institution. Legitimate Jewish institutions do not recognize Christ as the Messiah.
We also assist descendants of intermarriage who are Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan, secular, both, nothing, and so on in working with the best ways to follow their paths.
And no matter what path the descendants of intermarriage chose to follow, we encourage them to retain affectionate emotional ties to their two "halves," including both sides of their families, and both of their parental faith-based cultures. We urge them to show respect for other family members' beliefs and not seek to disrupt them.
WHAT IS TRUE COMMITMENT?
We sometimes hear interfaith couples and adult descendants of intermarriage say that joining the Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jews makes things comfortable and convenient and easier for interfaith families.
But nowhere in the Christian New Testament did Christ or any of the Christian saints say to follow Christ, and he would make things comfortable and convenient and easier. That is not the Gospel.
Nor does Judaism offer comfort and convenience and ease -- it offers deep spiritual and cultural challenges to those who would accept that covenant and join life in an ancient and often persecuted spritual and cultural civilization.
We have a number of members who are struggling with their spiritual and ethnic identity(ies), and we try to help them figure out where they think they might belong.
We are happy to talk with anyone struggling with duality, and what roles their two parental faith-based cultures play in their lives.
But we don't recommend that adult descendants of intermarriage join the Messianic Jews, Jews for Jesus or similar types of groups.
Deception and aggressive missionary work are not compatible with the Half-Jewish Network's values of honesty and respect for the spiritual and cultural integrity of both of our "halves," which includes the distinct faith-based cultures of our parents and grandparents.
IF YOU ARE A MESSIANIC JEW
If you're a Messianic Jew, and you're an adult descendant of an intermarriage, we would be happy to advise you if:
1. You've been raised as a Christian, but you've joined the Messianic Jews because you're trying to find out more about switching over to Judaism, and they have offered to teach you about Jewish customs. You've decided that you don't believe in Jesus, and want to find out more about mainstream Judaism.
There are a number of Jewish outreach programs that we could put you in touch with, which would teach you about authentic normative Judaism, and advise you about conversion or return-to-Judaism options.
2. You were raised Jewish, and joined the Messianic Jews because you have become interested in Christianity and are thinking about conversion to Christianity.
There are many Christian outreach programs that would be happy to discuss what is involved in converting to traditional mainstream Christianity, and we could help you get in touch with them.
3. You were raised as "nothing," or "both" and are struggling to find a way to keep connected to both of your parental cultures, so you joined the Messianic Jews.
We would be glad to talk with you about ways to stay connected to both of your two "halves," that don't involve joining organizations engaged in spiritual deception and aggressive missionary work on Jews.
4. You were raised in one faith-based culture, but have become increasingly drawn to your other parental heritage, yet you cannot figure out what to do with the conflicting feelings and customs, or how to honor your duality in ways that don't feel like cutting off half of yourself.
The Messianic Jews told you that you could be both a Jew and a Christian. So you joined the Messianic Jews, in hopes of resolving the conflict.
But Messianic Judaism, in our opinion, won't resolve that conflict -- it is Christianity with Jewish customs added on.
We totally understand how you are feeling. It is sometimes requires a profound profound psychological and spiritual search to determine where one belongs.
But you can have an primary religious or secular Christian or Jewish identity, religious or secular, that still leaves room for an affectionate attachment for your "roots" in another faith-based culture. We would be happy to talk with you about ways to do this.
We think that is a better option than being a Messianic Jew/Jew for Jesus. It's an honest option that respects the religious and cultural integrity of both of your "halves."
If you're ready to look at alternatives to Messianic Judaism/Jews for Jesus, let's talk. We can be reached at:
If you prefer to remain a Messianic Jew, you are still cordially welcome to the Half-Jewish Network.
And please feel free to share with us any questions or concerns that you may have about this essay. We welcome your input and feedback. Thank you for listening to us.