| A
history of Christian anti-Semitism
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Christians who support Israel are often surprised
by the suspicion with which they are met by the Jewish community.
What these Christians often don't understand is that Christian
support for Israel is a relatively new concept, but church-sponsored
Christian anti-Semitism has a very long history - stretching right
back to the founding of the church.
It was through His chosen people that, according
to Romans
9:4, God revealed His covenants, gave His law and sent His
promised Messiah through whom redemption would be available to
all. The church was born out of this Jewish Messiah's life, death
and resurrection and its gentile members were, "no longer strangers
and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members
of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, Jesus the Messiah being the chief cornerstone".
(Ephesians
2:19-20). However, in spite of what gentiles '... owe to them...'
(Roman
15:27) the church has sadly been guilty of not only not standing
with the Jewish nation in times of affliction, but of developing
and endorsing the worst kinds of persecutions, all in the name
of Christianity.
The church fathers, whose writings were so revered, spat out venom against the Jew. For example, Chrysostom (b. AD 347), known as the Golden Mouthed Bishop, held Jews responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus and added that they continued to rejoice in Jesus' death. He compared the synagogue to a pagan temple, representing it as the source of all vices and heresies. He described it as a place worse than a brothel and a drinking shop; it was a den of scoundrels, the repair of wild beasts, a temple of demons, the refuge of brigands and debauchees, and the cavern of devils, a criminal assembly of the assassins of Christ.
The great reformer Martin Luther turned on the
Jews with hatred when he realised they would not easily convert
to Christianity. In 1543 he wrote that the Jews deserve the most
severe penalties and listed means such as levelling the synagogues,
destroying their homes, taking their fortunes and many other injunctions,
all of which were eventually fulfilled by Hitler. And when Hitler
was doing this, the church was silent.
It was often the influence of the Church that
led to expulsions of Jews from countries to whose prosperity they
had made very significant contributions. The church was instrumental
in causing the pogroms under the czars of Russia, the inquisitions
in Spain and Portugal and the Crusades, which slaughtered Jews
(as well as Muslims) in and on the way to the Holy Land.
During various times in history, restrictions
on the basic rights of Jews in many countries were enforced as
a result of the church's influence. Accusations such as 'Christ
killers', the use of the blood of Christian children for Passover
(the blood libel) and being responsible for the Black Death led
to massacres and tortures.
Replacement Theology, the teaching that the church
replaced Jews as God's chosen and that Jews were no longer relevant
in the purposes of God, has led to extreme persecution. Even today,
arrogance can be found in churches, in spite of Paul's warnings
in Romans
11:21 "be not arrogant against the branches..."
The long list of church-sponsored anti-Semitism tells a part of the sorry story of what the Jewish people have had to endure directly, or indirectly, from those who claim a Jewish Messiah as their Saviour.
Increasingly, Christians are becoming aware of
the Jewish roots of their faith as well as Christianity's shameful
history. Christian love, now being so belatedly offered, may not
always be well received and our motives misunderstood.
"Once they killed us with the sword, now they are trying to destroy us by 'love' - their goal is to convert Jews and so destroy the Jewish people", has been argued in recent times in the Israeli press. It is to be hoped though, that regardless of rebuff, we will embrace what may be a final opportunity to stand with the Jewish people as true friends without any agenda except to obey Isaiah 40:1 and "comfort, comfort My people..."
Want to know more? Have a look at these websites
"Antisemitism Today," Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
"A History of Anti Semitism," Simple To Remember
"Anti-Semitism," Tikkun Olam
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