The purpose of this work is to help you understand and appreciate the belief system known as Judaism.
When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, there were many belief systems that held sway in the Western world. There were also numerous variants of Christianity that had taken root amongst the population of the Mediterranean basin. All of this changed with the rise of the Roman Church. From the time the Roman Bishops took hold of the reins of power, they saw it as their holy duty to obliterate every dissenting voice. They were quite successful. By the early Middle-Ages, the European identified himself as a Christian – with the exception of the Jew.
This should not be seen as a reflection on a lack of effort or desire on the part of the Church. There is nothing the Church wanted more than the conversion of the Jew, and there is no area into which the Church poured more energy than they did in their mission to reach the Jew. All of the might of European Christendom was brought to bear in the Church’s effort to eradicate Judaism – without success. Judaism is still here. The same Judaism which predates Christianity is as vital as ever – to the utter consternation of Christendom.
For the Jew who walks in the footsteps of Abraham, the miracle of Judaism’s survival can only be attributed to the power of God’s promise. God told us that His spirit is amongst us (Haggai 2:5), and that it will never depart (Isaiah 59:21). God promised that He will be our sanctuary in this bitter exile (Ezekiel 11:16), and that His Sabbath will stand as an eternal testimony to the sanctification that He continuously grants His people (Exodus 31:13). There was never a question to the Jew. The Jew had confidence that all of the powers on earth cannot destroy the truth, and that God’s word will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).
For many years the Church has tried to ignore the miraculous survival of Judaism. The holocaust has made this difficult. If any phenomenon contained the power to crush a people it must have been the hell unleashed by Hitler’s Nazis. Yet the Jews are still here. The persecuted nation has walked through the fire and lives on to build and to thrive. The wondrous survival of the Jewish people has caused many in Christendom to reevaluate their theology in relation to the Jewish people. It is no longer in vogue to believe what the Church has been teaching for 2000 years – namely; that the Jews are no longer the chosen people of God. Although they have not completely sorted out all of the theological ramifications of this truth, many Christians now acknowledge that the Jewish people are still chosen of God.
Yet by and large, the Church still fails to recognize that it is not only the physical people who survived – a spiritual entity survived. The belief system of Judaism lives on. The founders of Christianity poured invective and ridicule upon Judaism – to the degree that the word “Pharisee” – became a byword for hypocrisy and corruption. The Church fathers perpetuated this attitude and disseminated this venom to the masses. Through the vehicle of the Church the air of Europe became saturated with hatred not only for the Jew – but with a particular animosity towards the belief system that is Judaism. This attitude still lives on in Christendom. The Church cannot concede that the survival of Pharisee Judaism is the work of God. Christendom cannot admit that the preservation of the Jewish belief system is an expression of God’s covenant with Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
The purpose of this work is to help you understand this belief system. We hope that our words will help you see through the lies that Christendom has heaped upon Judaism.
The following is written in the form of a letter to a Jew who subscribes to Christianity. As a Jew who follows Judaism, I attempt to persuade my brother to join me in serving God the way our ancestors did before us.
Originally posted on: https://yourphariseefriend.wor...
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