Jews For Jesus

[titaniumsalute]

I live in Palm Beach County...the 4th largest Jewish population in the country. I grew up a Catholic and now mainly go to St. Mattress of the Springs. (of course with Father Sheets saying mass.)

I feel ignorant but today I heard about "Jews for Jesus." When my wife mentioned them I figured she was just joking but I guess they really exist. I guess they are basically Jews who also believe overall in the whole re-birth of Jesus stuff.

Frankly it seems like people who can't make up their fucking mind.

Anyone else hear of these people?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[titaniumsalute]

4. That's what my wife said

I guess I have my head in a hole or something. I'm from Akron, OH and don't think there was much of that there.

[elleng]

7. Didn't think there was much of what, in Akron, OH? Nuttiness?

And, p.s., WASN'T Jesus Jewish?

Can't made up their f*g mind? Really has to be one OR the other?

[titaniumsalute]

13. Oh there's plenty of nutty in Akron...

...I never shed a tear when I moved to Sunny South Florida. Akron is home to the ultra nut Earnest Angeley Ministries. Now that guy is a nutjob. His "church" got busted a few years ago because the wait staff at his 400 table buffet restaurant was all volunteer. Most were kids and the state came down on them pretty hard.

People can beleive in whatever they want. I tend to bow my head over a beer stein.

[monmouth]

15. There is a group right here in West Palm. They meet or at least used

to in a store-front in a strip mall. Many from Century Village....

[murielm99]

2. I used to see magazine ads for them,

but it has been a long time. They have been around since the seventies.

[emilyg]

3. Not a bad idea. Yes I've

heard of them. Read a book about them - wish I could remember title. Does not mean they give up being Jewish.

[titaniumsalute]

6. I was just reading that they are kind of a phony group

Looks like they were original founded as Christians looking for a creative (ok sneaky) way to recruit Jews to Christianity.

Looks like there is a group called Messianic Jews who are considered Jews by Jewish Law and believe 100% in the Torah but also believe Jesus lived and resurrected.

[Joe the Revelator]

24. Bullshit.

It's like saying a Christian is still a christian if they believe that Jesus was not the son of god.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

30. If I say I'm Bulgarian, it doesn't make it so.

They're not Jewish. They're Christians.

I find the whole concept insulting, condescending, dickish, and, frankly, a bit anti-semitic.

[PDJane]

5. Yes, I have.

Interesting bunch. This particular bunch of loonies defines themselves as Jewish, either by birth or law, but are committed to converting Jews to Christianity. By the way, they are not regarded as Jews by other Jews.

There are oddballs everywhere.

[titaniumsalute]

9. LOL...

I can see the "real" Jews not taking much to this group. Most of my neighbors are Jewish and let's just say...they can be opinionated.

[PDJane]

14. Yes, well.........

get a group of four Jews at a table,and you will have seven firmly-held opinions on any given subject.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. Since number one commandment is no other gods, that makes sense.

Catholicism, even more than other Christian sects, is a lot like polytheistic Egyptian religion that Jewish people fled from, with Isis-Mary, Osiris-reborn God and sort of faceless fire deity, Ra.

Note that Isis worship was very big in ancient Rome--which styled the Roman church on its own beliefs.

[Duer 157099]

8. The founder just died last year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moishe_Rosen

[Smarmie Doofus]

10. They've been around NYC for eons.

I knew one or two back in the eighties. One was a proselytizer.

Most Jews seem to loathe JFJ.

I'm non-Jewish agnostic. To me it seems no more or less remarkable than any other theistic belief system.

[titaniumsalute]

11. Forgive me but what's the difference

between Jewish and/or non-Jewish agnostic? Do you simply mean you grew up non-Jewish and are now agnostic?

[Smarmie Doofus]

26. Exactly. nt

[Bragi]

12. "Jews for Jesus" is earliest Christian group ever

They go back to before the alleged historical Jesus was allegedly killed, but they differ from later and current Xians in that they didn't recognize the historical Jesus as being "God." Jesus isn't declared "God" until more than 200 years later.

[On the Road]

17. Yes, I've Known About Them Since the Early 70s

and met a member at one point.

It's really not that strange. Two thousand years ago, belief in a Messiah was common in Judaism. Jesus claimed to be that Messiah. Most Jews don't believe he was the Messiah, but a few do.

The original followers of Jesus in Jerusalem were all basically Jews for Jesus. Paul launched the movement among non-Jews, and the two failed revolts against Rome broke the back of the Jewish part of the church. The Gentile church was the only institution that survived.

[Fuzz]

18. The only people I've known who were associated with that group were christians who were

trying to get jews to 'convert' and accept the 'truth'.

My father was an ordained Assemblies of God minister, so I knew quite a few of these people.

[rug]

19. They're a branch of Messianic Judaism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messianic_Judaism

[Motown_Johnny]

20. way back when Whoopi Goldberg had a show one of the best lines on it

(IMO)

was when she said that "Black Republicans make as much sense to her as Jews for Jesus"


If I could find a clip I would post it for you

[HockeyMom]

21. Yes

If they are Jews for Jesus, they really aren't Jews (religiously) any more, now are they? I spent 12 years in catholic schoo, which was enough to cure me. I stopped going to Mass at 15 and haven't in decades. I watch on TV, at least in Florida, "come back to the catholic church" commericals. Are they kidding? I would rather join a cult.

[Shagbark Hickory]

22. In religious school, they taught us J4J is a cult. And there's an awful lot of J4J chapels...

around here (I feel wierd calling them synogogues) where there are no Jews but whole lots of other fanatical religious people.

[Joe the Revelator]

23. They aren't Jews.

They are a nasty nasty off shoot of southern baptist.

[The Straight Story]

25. I think Paul was a jew for Jesus

;)

[marybourg]

27. A person who believes Jesus was the messiah is called

a "Christian".

[GreenEyedLefty]

28. Yes. A few years back they deployed vanloads of people in our

neighborhood to try to convert the Jewish people here. It was bizarre, to say the least. I haven't seen any since then.

[Nye Bevan]

29. I don't know why people get upset about these folks. I really don't care what people believe

provided (1) they don't murder people and blow stuff up in the name of their religion; and (2) they don't knock on my door and try to convert me. You want to be a Jew for Jesus or a Protestant for Buddha? Go right ahead.

[emilyg]

33. Good outlook.

[Recovered Repug]

31. I guess you've never seen "Airplane".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qse_wf57tZM

[lightningandsnow]

32. I have issues with messianic Judaism because its followers tend to be right-wing fundamentalists.

However, I'm Jewish, and I really don't give a shit about it being "blasphemy"/"idolatry"/inauthentic. People can believe what they want, but when they use it to infringe on the rights of others, shove it down people's throats, or are deceptive, I have a problem. That being said, I don't think J4J are any more evil than, for example, the Southern Baptist church or the LDS church.

[customerserviceguy]

34. First heard of them over 35 years ago

when I started to attend the University of Washington in Seattle. Yeah, the name struck me as kind of weird, too, but the fundie movement was having an upswing that started in the recession of the early 1970's. I would imagine that the proseletyzing that took place at that time started to reach culturally Jewish persons who wished to hold on to a semblance of a Jewish identity while accepting Christian teachings.

As I came to find out, there is a wide variation in the practices of various Jewish groups. On one extreme, there are the ultra-orthodox peoples, like the Hassidim, who live what looks like a 19th Century lifestyle to me. On the other extreme are people who think of themselves as Jewish, yet don't keep kosher, etc. I would imagine that the Jews for Jesus organization was founded in order to sway them.

Good thing I had some Jewish friends in college who would explain this to me after a couple of beers.