Jump to content
IGNORED

What is it like to be jewish?


Guest yod

Recommended Posts

I'm not jewish but this was posted by a jewish believer on these boards. Some of you know him as Shilo. I thought this was too important to be hidden at the bottom of another thread.

Read 'em and weep...

I was called "Christkiller" by "Christian" students in highschool. I was cruelly knicknamed "Jewdas." That was an intentional misspelling on their part. It was meant to imply that Judas, who betrayed Jesus, was an example of a typical Jew. I had to eat lunch alone, and no one would let me sit with them on the school bus. I had to sit on my trumpet case in the aisle. No one wanted to be friends with Jewdas. I was the brunt of jokes on an almost daily basis, and did not get to go to any homecomings or my senior prom. I got beat up twice for asking a girl out on a date. They were not dating anyone else, but I was still not allowed to ask. These were not "neo-Nazi" people. These were Baptist kids who went on mission trips and were regular church attenders. They had every ear-mark of Christianity. When I went to the school authorities about it, it just made it worse, because then the persecution just moved off campus. It was a miserable four years. I remember my graduation, and everytime someone would walk across the stage, everyone would clap. Not so with me. I walked across the stage to get my diploma, and the place was silent. My parents were so embarrassed.

I was saved after I turned 18. Even after I was saved I was labeled a "Christian Jew." I was not a fullfledged Christian, in their eyes. Their opinions was, "well even if you ARE a Christian, you are still a Jew." So the derision was still there.

I could not shake it. I live in a rural area, what you might call "hickville." People around here are not known for being the brightest around.

Don't kid yourselves. Anti-Semistism is alive, and the old "Christkiller" canard has not died out. It is in the modern world, and is being expressed by Christians today. Even those Christians who lived in during WWII, were indifferent to Jewish suffering. Most of the Christian world was silent concerning Hitler's madness. That silence irrevocably cut the lines of communication with the Jewish people. That silence has been interpreted as approval. I did not get saved because any Christian was showed me the love of Christ. Most didn't care if I got saved or not, and some almost resented it. I got saved because another Jewish believer who understood my situation reached out to me. The church would never have been able to reach me.

Christians turn a blind eye to the sin of anti-Semitism in their midst, and then wonder why Jews do not want to get saved. It is important for Christians to realize that Jews of today have a different mindset than the Jews of the 1st century. Jewish rejection of Jesus today, has less to to with Jesus and more to do with Christians. To become a Christian is, to Jews, an act of treason. It amounts to siding with those who have persecuted our people for century. Modern Jews are not resisting Christ, they are resisting Christanity. That is hard for some people to believe. It is the truth, though. I am living proof of that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Worthy Ministers
  • Followers:  4
  • Topic Count:  232
  • Topics Per Day:  0.03
  • Content Count:  7,261
  • Content Per Day:  0.97
  • Reputation:   79
  • Days Won:  0
  • Joined:  08/30/2003
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  12/19/1959

It weighed heavy on me the first time I read it too.

It helped me understand and appreciate Shiloh much more than I did prior. Good idea to post it on a new thread YOD.

Bless you brothers,

Wayne

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest idolsmasher

But I think it also begs the question, how much is too much and when do you let things go and forgive so that you are not consummed by the whole thing. I think probably just about everyone has things from their past that could cause them to be bitter but I don't think that's the Lord's solution. Bitterness is a pretty destructive force. I think anger and bitterness can really hinder a person's growth in the Lord and it's not good to dwell on past hurts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest shiloh357

First of all, thank you Yod, for reposting my testimony.

Idolsmasher,

But I think it also begs the question, how much is too much and when do you let things go and forgive so that you are not consummed by the whole thing. I think probably just about everyone has things from their past that could cause them to be bitter but I don't think that's the Lord's solution. Bitterness is a pretty destructive force. I think anger and bitterness can really hinder a person's growth in the Lord and it's not good to dwell on past hurts.

Why doesnt this response surprise me? I am not angry or bitter about it, but was expressing the fact that anti-Semitism is still here in the world and is not something in the past that can be "let go of." Here in the 20th and 21st century anti-Semitism is just as prevalent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest idolsmasher

I was also going to say present and future hurts too, but anyway, don't you think that a lot depends on one's definition of what constitutes anti-semitism? I think many Jewish groups use the anti-semite accusation with a very broad brush to the point where it can even become persecution of non-semites and Christians or non-Jewish semites. Also, there are many ethnic groups through history who have suffered persecutions and holocausts yet we hardly hear about them. Check out the death tolls for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I would think that black people have suffered as much or more than the Jews have and they continue to be persecuted to this day by other tribes and hardly anybody even cares. Arabs are semites too but it seems very few people care if they are hated. I don't think the Jews have a corner on suffering. What about the American Indians. I remember boys in my school who were persecuted because they were Chekoslovakian. I'm not saying that you didn't have a traumatic childhood, but I'm saying you need to rise above it with God's help and not become vengeful and vindictive etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest shiloh357
I was also going to say present and future hurts too, but anyway, don't you think that a lot depends on one's definition of what constitutes anti-semitism?

I would find it interesting to know what YOUR definition of anti-Semitism. Are you going to assert that I was not undergoing anti-Semitism?

Also, there are many ethnic groups through history who have suffered persecutions and holocausts yet we hardly hear about them. Check out the death tolls for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

Do you know why we dont hear about them? Because the Jews are not the ones percieved as causing their problems. I have made the same point in the past. There are many people who are suffering from true occupations such as the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Jews are not involved in that, so no one cares How about the cruel way the Syrians treat the Leboneze as they occupy Lebanon? Why doesnt anyone talk about that? Because Jews are not in the equation. It doesnt matter what other group you are talking about. The only time it seems the world cares about suffering is if they can pin it on Jews/Israel. The Muslims are slaughtering Christians in the Southern Sudan? Does the UN call any emergency sessions? Nope. How about when Nigerian Christians were slaughtered by Muslims during the Miss World Contest? Did the UN say anything? NADA. How did the world act during last part of the 20th Century when 100,000 Timorese Christians were murdered by Muslims in Indonesia? No one gave it a second thought. Where is the outrage over all of that? When Jews are murdered in their own country, the world is silent for the most part. Only when Jews rise up in self defense is there any outrage.

I would think that black people have suffered as much or more than the Jews have and they continue to be persecuted to this day by other tribes and hardly anybody even cares.

Again, because Jews are not in the equation.

Arabs are semites too but it seems very few people care if they are hated.

Arabs are not Semites, rather they are Hamites, but that is beside the point.

What hatred against Arabs? I see hatred for the religion of Islam, and the way Islam treats it adherants. I see hatred for Islamic agendas of world domination. I do not see hatred of Arabs. I see Christian missionaries who go to Arab countries to win them to Christ. They are risking their lives to do so.

I would also point out, that every country you have mentioned, have missionaries galore being sent there. Evangelism of Jews recieves zilch. In any other given country there will be more missionaries sent to it in a year, than will be sent to Israel in the next ten years. In my town, the headquarters of two denominations boast of their missions programs, but neither has a program to reach Jews with the gospel. Neither denomination sends even one missionary to Israel. They have missionaries to almost every Arab country, and every country in Asia, Africa, Europe, and South America, but Israel is barren. No, nothing conspicuous about that...

I don't think the Jews have a corner on suffering.

The problem is that so many people like you are morally indifferent to it. People like you who cannot speak out against terrorism when it is perpetrated against Jews are certainly going to be morally indifferent to it no matter where it occurs. No matter how bad it gets for the Jews, you will always find a way to downplay it. You will always find a way make it appear that we are just being overly sensitive and should just let it go. That is a very civilized way to express anti-Semitism.

I am not downplaying what other races of people have gone through, but I am going to make sure that people like you are not allowed to just brush aside Jewish suffering as no big deal as you seem so fond of doing. I have not even scratched the surface. There are volumes I could post.

I'm not saying that you didn't have a traumatic childhood, but I'm saying you need to rise above it with God's help and not become vengeful and vindictive etc.

I am not vengeful or vindictive about what happened back then, but I cannot forget it. It will be with me forever. The original reason I posted my testimony is because someone asked the question "why does it matter who crucified Jesus?" My point was that the answer to that question has reprecussions. I was on the recieving end of those reprecussions. Christians need to see that anti-Semitism is alive and well in our day, and it must eradicated from the church.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But I think it also begs the question, how much is too much and when do you let things go and forgive so that you are not consummed by the whole thing. I think probably just about everyone has things from their past that could cause them to be bitter but I don't think that's the Lord's solution. Bitterness is a pretty destructive force. I think anger and bitterness can really hinder a person's growth in the Lord and it's not good to dwell on past hurts.

I totally agree with you Idolsmasher

Why don't you expect the Palestinian terrorists to do that?

Your point is extremely valid either way. We've all gone through painful experiences in our life that can leave us bitter if we hang on to them. In the general sense, Shilo's experience is no different that anyone else

HOWEVER....

the point is that HIS persecution came from Christians....and your response didn't indicate any empathy for what was done to him in the NAME OF CHRIST.

I wanted to point out that we, christians, have a blind spot when it comes to the jews. We may not realize the extent of it...but it's there.

A jewish person has a lot to overcome before they can call on His Name. Most of their hurdles are put there by christians...and it's time for that to stop.

My dear brother Shilo....please continue to forgive us...and don't take Idol's comments personally. You do take offense pretty quickly when "some" statements are posted in ignorance of your experience. I love you brother....but the Lord is your defense. You will receive a crown of glory only when you let Him do it.

Grace you guys...grace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


  • Group:  Royal Member
  • Followers:  10
  • Topic Count:  5,823
  • Topics Per Day:  0.76
  • Content Count:  45,870
  • Content Per Day:  5.97
  • Reputation:   1,897
  • Days Won:  83
  • Joined:  03/22/2003
  • Status:  Offline
  • Birthday:  11/19/1970

I heard a testimony from a Native American. He was hostile to Christians and the "white man" in general because of what we as a people did to his people.

It was not until a white man who was also a Christian appologized to the N.A. for the sins of his people against the N.A.'s people and asked for forgiveness that this N.A. was able to release all the hurt he had been carrying for all his life.

We focus so much on the offended person, how "you need to forgive and let it go." But why do we not focus on the offending person for a change.

Remember what Jesus said:

Matthew 5:23,24 - "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift."

We cannot keep telling the Jewish people to heal themselves for the wounds they endure for the sin of our people against them.

We need to be the real Jesus to them. We need to minister healing to them. We need to humble ourselves before them. We need to acknowledge the sin of our "fathers" against them.

How can we ask them to "let it go" when as far as they are concerned, their blood is on our hands?

If we want to reach them for Jesus, we need to give them the love that has been denied them over the centuries. There is not other way.

They need to see the real Jesus in us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest shiloh357
My dear brother Shilo....please continue to forgive us...and don't take Idol's comments personally. You do take offense pretty quickly when "some" statements are posted in ignorance of your experience. I love you brother....but the Lord is your defense. You will receive a crown of glory only when you let Him do it.

You would be glad to know that many of the kids that put me through that have since grown out of it. They came to their senses, and we have made our peace with one another concerning what happened. Essentially, they grew up. I recieved a letter from one of the guys who beat me up in highschool a few years ago, and he currently lives in Virginia and attends "Congregation Ohev Yisrael"

a Messianic Congregation there. He found my number and called me up weeping over the phone. We had a good time of fellowship then. He has written me since and his job keeps moving him around, so he will be leaving Virginia soon. he promises to keep in touch and to find a Messianic Congregation to attend whenever possible.

So, that has allowed me to heal quite a bit. My experiences are something that I do not want anyone to go through no matter what race they belong to. No one should be put through that, espicially at an age when emotions are fragile.

Others have apologized as well in recent times. So for the most part all is well.

I still have a lot to work on. It is one of the greatest struggles of all time for me not to take certain remarks on this board personally. I am not proud of that. I have lashed out innappropriately at times, and have had to go back and delete certain remarks. At one point I got so frustrated at myself, I asked George to de-member me. So there are some things I am still working out. That does not mean I can ever allow anti-Semitism to go unchallenged, but as has been said, I am going to have to allow the Lord to work through these situations as He sees fit.

Yod, Nebula thank you both for your remarks. I have nothing but the highest respect for both of you. Perhaps one day can sit at a table and "kibbitz" (chat)around some bagels, knishes and Chicken/lentil soup. Jews love to "nosh" (eat).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That does not mean I can ever allow anti-Semitism to go unchallenged, but as has been said, I am going to have to allow the Lord to work through these situations as He sees fit.

And no one expects you to. If I could ask one thing though....please don't look at christians who make ignorant statements through the prism of how you were treated, ok? They also have much to overcome put in their path by christians long ago.

Perhaps one day can sit at a table and "kibbitz" (chat)around some bagels, knishes and Chicken/lentil soup. Jews love to "nosh" (eat).

Speaking of jewish people liking to gather and eat....Did you ever notice how Yeshua went around looking for a free meal???

He was ALWAYS going to someone's house to eat with them!!?!

Revelation 3

20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...