crf@tomato.princeton.edu (Charles Ferenbaugh) (01/29/91)
In article <Jan.27.02.51.28.1991.18852@athos.rutgers.edu> ta00est@unccvax.uncc.edu (elizabeth s tallant) writes [responding to Yaakov Kayman]: >Since according to the Bible, those who do not believe in Christ (and why >are you afraid to spell His name?) are *NOT* Jews ... AAAARRRRGGGHHH! May I point out that Christ is _not_ His name, but rather His title. His name is Jesus of Nazareth, or Y'shua ben Joseph (spelling?) depending on whether you use Greek or Hebrew naming conventions. Christ (or Messiah, in the original Hebrew) is a title denoting His status as the Anointed One of God. This may seem like nitpicking, but in fact the area of Jewish/Christian relations is one where this distinction becomes critical. Some Jews do believe in Messiah, even if they do not identify Messiah with Jesus. Why not? No doubt the reasons are many and complex, but a major factor must be the horrible abuses of the past which (wrongly) had the word "Christian" associated with them, of which Yaakov rightly reminds us. Think about it: if you were a Jew in the time of, say, the Spanish Inquisition, and all you knew about Jesus was that there were a lot of people running around saying that name and using it as a reason for killing your fellow Jews, would you ever even suspect that this Jesus might in fact be your promised, long-awaited Messiah? (Of course this has nothing to do with who Jesus really was; but would you ever know?) Grace and peace, Charles Ferenbaugh