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Religion See other Religion Articles Title: ADL’S FOXMAN: NEW TESTAMENT IS ANTI-SEMITIC September 3, 2006 By Rev. Ted Pike Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, believes anti-Semitism will last as long as Christians accept the New Testament’s "lie" that the ancient Pharisees were responsible for the death of Christ.1 In his recent book, Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism, 2 Foxman claims this "deadly" 3 deception has caused untold Jewish suffering through the millennia. Such New Testament-generated hate culminated in the Holocaust, he claims - but it breaks out afresh as the "Christ-killers" charge is inferred in Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ and readings from the "anti-Semitic" Christian story at Easter. Foxman says another wave of global anti-Semitism and persecution of Jews could be on the way unless Christians agree to ignore large sections of the New Testament. What sections will probably be on his "must censor" list? Certainly, it would include Christ’s incendiary attacks on the Pharisees, whom He called "whitewashed tombs, full of dead men’s bones." 4 Foxman would also censor the Apostle John: "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son does not have the life… Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son." 5 In the book of Revelation, recorded by John, Jesus says those Jews who reject Him are "the synagogue of Satan," 6 another passage Foxman would certainly cut out. But most importantly, Foxman would censor the multitude of passages in all the Gospels that reveal a pharisaic conspiracy to entrap and finally murder Christ.7 The book of Acts squarely lays blame for the crucifixion upon the Pharisees and the nation of the Jews.8 To please Foxman, St. Paul’s clear indictment must also be omitted: "The Jews…killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God but hostile to all men." 9 Foxman claims Jews were not responsible for the crucifixion and that Roman officials masterminded Jesus’ death. But only one "Roman official" is mentioned in the New Testament as authorizing the crucifixion; Pontius Pilate was a weak-willed political opportunist, reluctant to condemn Christ. He was coerced by an entire Jewish Sanhedrin and a mob of Jewish citizens who screamed, "Crucify him! His blood be upon us and on our children." 10 Foxman’s Case Against the New Testament Foxman summarizes his case against the New Testament: "Over the last century a growing preponderance of evidence and scholarly study has demonstrated that the execution of Jesus was instigated primarily by the Roman authorities who ruled Palestine in the first century C.E., not by the Jewish people. And the anti-Jewish rhetoric that mars several books of the Christian New Testament has been shown to reflect not historical fact but the rivalry at the time the books were written between Jews who followed Jesus and those who did not. "Nonetheless, versions of the Gospel narratives that emphasize Jewish guilt (rather than the responsibility of the Roman imperial authorities who actually imposed and carried out the death sentence) were included in the Christian canon. As a result, with every annual reading or reenactment of the story of the death of Jesus in Christian churches, millions of Christians imbibed the notion that the Jews had been guilty of the worst crime in history. Into our own time, the deicide libel has been used to justify hatred of Jews and violence against them, including from Christian pulpits. Through the centuries these denunciations have led to countless outbreaks of violence against Jews, including murderous pogroms, a bitterly ironic betrayal of the legacy of the man Christians revere as the Prince of Peace. "For almost two thousand years Christian teachings drove the spread of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and beyond. (As we’ll see, the current explosion of anti-Semitism in the Moslem Middle East is fueled largely by myths and doctrines that originated in Europe.) The story of Christian anti-Semitism is a long, complicated and tragic one. Scholars such as the late Dr. James Parks have traced a direct line from ancient Christian teachings on Jews and Judaism to the death camps of Hitler." 11 According to Foxman, Christians in modern times are also very largely responsible for the Holocaust. "…many Germans and Austrians who spent the week murdering Jews then went to church on Sunday, apparently seeing no inconsistency in their actions and it’s also true that the political and social atmosphere in which the persecution and killing of millions of Jews could be seen as broadly acceptable could not have existed without the tacit acceptance of the Christian churches - as well as the ingrained anti-Semitism of twenty centuries of dogma, doctrine and preaching that demonized Jews…because Christians and the Christian churches had spread hatred of Jews for so long, it’s impossible for Christians - and in particular the Catholic Church - to regard themselves as passive or innocent bystanders during the Holocaust. The killings could not have happened without the sins of millions Christians - sins of commission as well as sins of omission." 12 Modern Christianity, Foxman asserts, is thus based on hateful, vengeful lies spread by the New Testament. He says the evangelism practiced by devout Christians is also anti-Semitic. "Although it is supposedly motivated by love for the Jews, this idea [that Jews should be converted] is inherently anti-Semitic in that it implicitly denigrates the value of Jewish belief." 13 Threat of Religious Right But Foxman’s allegations go farther still. He says we should fear Christians because they want to take over America! They are "part of a broader strategy to transform American government into a wholly owned subsidiary of the evangelical movement… They seek the power to impose that faith on everyone in America, replacing pluralism and tolerance with theocracy." 14 Ironically, Foxman thus becomes one of the "conspiracy theorists" he usually rails against. Foxman’s ADL exerts enormous influence over at least half million Jewish members of B’nai B’rith worldwide. His dark warnings about the Christian threat helps explain the eagerness of many Jews to oppose Christian symbols, ceremonies, holidays, and values. Foxman is trying to instill a guilt complex in Christians and a desire in the Jewish people to resist, restrict, and ultimately persecute Christians; 15 ADL/B’nai B’rith hate laws were created for this purpose. To stimulate Jewish anger at Christians, evil Jewish leaders are creating a truly Big Lie: that the New Testament is inherently evil, anti-Semitic and violence-generating - a book which, like Mein Kampf, should not be read. How Should Christians Respond to Foxman? Bible-believing Christians remain extremely reluctant to identify evil Jewish leaders for what they are (Jewish). Such truthtelling, however, would be very constructive. It would embarrass the Jewish community into restraining their brethren in Jewish "civil liberties" groups and the media. Tragically, lack of specificity from evangelicals only gives a green light to evil Jewish leadership, hidden behind a media they control. Eventually, they will convince not only the Jewish people but the world that Christianity is the most hateful and hurtful of the world’s religions. A generation from now, our media-reared children may regard Christianity as deserving outright persecution. The power of Foxman’s blame-throwing against Christians inheres in his presumption that all who have ever called themselves Christians are indeed Christians. This allows him to lump together in "collective guilt" those who, throughout history, were Christian in name only with those who do in fact epitomize the words of the gentle Jesus. Christ commanded us to love our neighbors and bless our enemies. Anyone who behaves in a malicious persecutive manner toward Jews, especially to the extent of the medieval barbarities and pogroms, is not a Christian. A true Christian is simply not responsible for the misdeeds of counterfeit Christians, nor is the New Testament. Nowhere does the New Testament remotely hint that Christians should persecute Jews, nor does it provide even one example of such persecution. On the contrary, the book of Acts contains at least 20 instances of Christians being persecuted at the urging of Jewish leaders. 16 This is the kind of persecution that ADL’s national executive board member, Philadelphia district attorney Lynne Abraham, brought down upon 11 Christians in Philadelphia in 2004. They were jailed and threatened with 47 years in prison and $80,000 fines each, for the "hate crime" of witnessing to homosexuals on a public sidewalk. Should Christians Change the New Testament? Can Christians accommodate Foxman and disregard the New Testament? Not without destroying Christianity - the New Testament defines Christianity. No Christian can omit or de-emphasize any part of the New Testament. To do so is to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, an act for which Christ will be ashamed of that person on the Day of Judgment. 17 After 300 years of blessing 18 from Christian America, a nation established on New Testament values, it is time for Foxman to face reality. Jews, far from being harried victims, have been the coddled darlings of evangelical New Testament-believing Christians since at least the 17th century. Foxman and Jewish leaders should stop raking up the past and count their present blessings - blessings which would never have come upon them except within a civilization upholding Christ’s New Testament message of love and forbearance. The church must stand resolute against Foxman’s demands that it deny the New Testament. It is Foxman’s persecution complex which must end. End Notes: Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#3. To: Brian S (#0)
Hell, he doesn't have to worry. Bush and his gang ignore the ENTIRE New Testament already. They are what I call Old Testament Christians. Another term would be "Kosher" Christianity. Bushco has a real problem with all the references to Christ as a "peace and love" kind of guy. So they've rewritten him into their script as Rambo Jesus. "I came not to bring peace, but a sword." This was originally meant to be symbolic, but the MIC doesn't do symbols. It is literally beating all remaining plowshares into swords — most of them at least partially made in China or some other "outsourcing" center.
#8. To: Sam Houston (#3)
Rapture Nutter "Christianity" is a thinly vieled tribal revenge fantasy. They like to think of themselves as if they were the Jews of the Old Testament- a persecuted tribe (they love to present themselves as eternal victims surrounded by enemies) in possession of the "true faith" whose vengeful killer GOD will one day descend from the Heavens and murder all their enemies. Jesus barely figures at all in thier religious uber tribal nationalist world paradigm. He is an afterthought. Rapture nutterism grows and prospers in this country because it offers a feeling of "belonging" to something bigger than oneself. This is a country of atoms- of alienation- of isolated suburban "Communities" that are anything but "communities". In a country in which the nuclear family itself- never mind extended family- is barely alive- rapture nutter tribalism is a haven for many people.
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