Three Perspectives: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim

“Now, while I can appreciate that Jesus’ ethics―his admonition to ‘turn the other cheek,’ for example―were an inspiration for Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., as well as for people like the Amish and Quakers, I think that to try and apply them on a larger scale would be completely inadvisable. How could we possibly turn the other cheek to a Hitler, or a Stalin, for example?” Looking directly into Dov’s eyes, he asked pointedly, “Do you really think that the State of Israel could survive for more than five minutes if they tried to put Jesus’ ethics into practice? If a terrorist bombed one bus, do you think that Israel should invite them to bomb another bus? If Iraq or Iran asked to be given one of Israel’s nuclear weapons, do you think that Israel should give them two?” ***** “Well, as we both know, the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, as the prophet Daniel had predicted would happen after the Messiah was ‘cut off’; until that point, the Temple functioned as the means of atoning for the sins of the Jewish people. But with the Temple now gone, blood sacrifice―the only means of atonement―is no longer possible! So that means that God, if He is to be just, had to provide another mechanism of atonement, and it had to be provided prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD! Furthermore, since all of the Temple’s genealogical records were destroyed, no one in the future could ever prove that he was descended from David―and thus that he was the Messiah―so once again, the Messiah had to come before the Temple was destroyed.” With a confident smile, he added, “So what this means, is that if Yeshua wasn’t the Messiah, no one else can be, because it’s too late!” ***** “Richard, we don’t want you to give up your Jewishness―in fact, there are special blessings in store for Jews who come to faith in Yeshua,” Dov said, almost pleading. “You see, those traditional Christians who accept so-called ‘Replacement’ theology―whereby the Church, as ‘spiritual Israel,’ has now inherited all the blessings that God promised to the Jewish people―miss the whole point of Paul’s argument in Romans 11. Paul isn’t saying that the Church has ‘replaced’ the Jewish people, because there are three distinct groups he identifies: the natural branches of the olive tree, who are the Jews who became the original Christians, including Paul and the other apostles; then there are the branches broken off from the olive tree, who are unbelieving Jews; and then there are the branches that were grafted on to the tree, who are the Gentiles, who soon became the majority in the Church.” Passionately, he added, “But the unbelieving Jews―the branches that were broken off―can easily be grafted back on to the tree! That is the unique role that Messianic Jews play in the divine plan, and…” “Then I’m glad that all of you former Jews have a nice little church you can go to on Friday evenings to discuss your part in the ‘divine plan’; as for myself, I’ll stick to Sabbath services at my Temple,” Richard said sarcastically, turning his attention to his food. ***** “You think that by us returning to the land, we’ve paved the way for the Second Coming of Jesus―particularly if you can succeed at converting us! You believe that Revelation 7:4-8 teaches that God is somehow going to be able to identify, after more than 2,700 years of assimilation and intermarriage, literal members of all the twelve tribes of Israel … that are going to evangelize the whole world, just before the Second Coming!” He looked Dov directly in the eye, and added bluntly, “My question is, if you evangelicals knew with certainty that none of us would ever convert, and that basing your whole apocalyptic scenario on the reestablishment of the State of Israel is completely wrong, would you still assist us? Would you still support the State of Israel, as a national homeland for the Jewish people?” He paused for a moment, then added in a softer tone, “Or would you cast us off, the way the Roman Catholic church did for so many hundreds of years?” ***** “Isn’t it possible that the fact that you Jews have historically kept your culture somewhat ‘separate’ from the mainstream culture―and vigorously resisted assimilation, including intermarriage―is part of the reason why various nations throughout history have found it so tempting to attack you?” “We’ve had to keep our culture ‘separate’ because we were often forbidden to interact with the mainstream culture―and were kept behind the walls of a ghetto they consigned us to!” Dov said angrily. “Sure, back in biblical times, we made sure to keep ourselves separate from the evil cultures of the idol-worshipping nations all around us, and that was probably a major reason why God gave us many of our dietary laws, and laws of ritual purity…” “But we’ve also tried complete assimilation many times before, and it’s always ended up in failure, because for all of their fine talk about ‘religious tolerance’ and ‘freedom of conscience,’ it’s the majority culture that ultimately rebuffs our attempts to assimilate, not us!” Richard added. “That’s the lesson of the persecution of the 19th century French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was unjustly convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, while crowds marched through the streets of France chanting, ‘Death to the Jews!’ Even though he was later proved completely innocent, and finally released from prison, witnessing this chilling event was what influenced a journalist named Theodor Herzl to found the Zionist movement!” ***** Richard looked the young man directly in the eyes, and said, “As long as there is a distinctive Jewish people, there will be a need for Israel. If history has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t count on the ‘good will’ and promises of emancipation given to us by others. Who would have ever thought that a country like Germany, the land where the Jewish Enlightenment or Haskalah began―a country where we achieved a degree of success unlike any other land, where we were fully integrated into German culture, and in which our contributions in music, science, finance, and industry were recognized and appreciated, and where Jews developed their scholarship to the very highest levels anywhere―we could be systematically rounded up and sent off to concentration camps? And yet it happened!” He shook his head, and added, “But in fact, the Diaspora has ironically helped to ensure our survival―just as during the Inquisition, Jews escaped from Spain to the Americas, North Africa, Turkey, Italy, and Poland; if we were all concentrated into a single geographical location, just think how easily it would be now for some anti-Semitic, nuclear missile-wielding dictator to take us out in a single strike! Our very worldwide dispersion virtually guarantees our ongoing existence!” ***** Earnestly, Jahangir added, “Still, I would hope you could understand that relations between the U.S. and Iran have shifted radically over the past three decades, so that Iran has gone from being a very close ally of the United States during the first half of this century and through the days of the Shah, then took a step backward during the reign of Ruhollah Khomeini, but now has degenerated even further so that it is now considered one of the three ‘Axis of Evil’ nations that your former President felt compelled to single out for approbation.” With an ironic smile, he added, “Just remember that it was your own country whose naval cruiser the U.S.S. Vincennes mistakenly shot down a civilian Iranian airliner in July 1988, killing its 290 passengers and crew―for which the Iranian people have never forgiven you. And it was your very popular President, Mr. Reagan, whose administration was responsible for providing arms to Iran, during the so-called ‘Iran-Contra affair’ … which took place beginning in 1985, soon after the Islamic Revolution