Many Christians think of Jewish people as people who do not know God. The Gentile should realize that a Jew's conception of a Christian is also a person without God--that is, the true God of Israel.

Some Jewish perceptions of Christianity are perhaps more valid than the Christian comprehension of Judaism; others are clearly misconceptions.

The Jewish understanding of a Christian is anybody and everybody who is born in the Western world and is not a Jew or a Moslem (or Hindu, Buddhist, etc.). A Jew believes one is a Christian because he is born a Christian, just as one is a Moslem because he is born a Moslem. Anyone born in the United States, Canada, South America or Europe is presumed to be a Christian--except for those born a Jew or Moslem. Columbus, Billy Graham, the Pope, Marilyn Monroe, Hitler and you (if you are not a Jew, Moslem, etc.) are all considered Christian.

This does not mean that Jews feel all Christians are to be despised. Israelis usually tend to measure a Christian's goodness by his attitude toward the Jews. Danes, who helped save so many Jews during World War II, are considered good Christians; and the Germans, who slaughtered the Jews, are considered bad Christians. Many times the Israelis have referred to certain public figures as "righteous Gentiles" because of their attitude toward the preservation of Israel.

The non-Jew should be aware that the Hebrew word for Gentile or nation is goy. The word in Hebrew for heathen and pagan is also goy. In Old Testament times, Israel worshipped God, but neighboring nations--or the heathen--did not know Him.

It logically follows that the religions of the Gentiles (heathen) are heathen religions, or at least inferior to Judaism. The semantic development is understandable. The connotation has been carried down to the present day. Any Jew knows some heathen religions are idolatrous, and some are not. For example, the Moslem religion is in no sense idolatrous. One may walk into any mosque in the world, and he will never see a graven image or likeness (picture). But the Jew understands Christianity to be not only a Gentile or heathen religion, but also an idolatrous heathen religion. An Israeli could take you into almost any cathedral in Israel and point out to you what he considers graven images--a violation of the Ten Commandments. This was one of the very sins his ancestors committed and, as a result, were carried off into Babylonian captivity.

Watching ancient Romans worship in their temples before the gods of Venus and Mars, or observing Christians in a church praying before statues or pictures creates precisely the same impression on a Jew.

For further information or to receive I Became as a Jew, you may call 1.800.856.7060. Or, email your request to maoz@onramp.net.

Back to I Became as a Jew Index Page