Posted by
Bob Siegel on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 7:04:04 PM
Have you heard the latest? The Iranian government will not
allow one of their swimmers to participate in the Olympics because it
means such participation would cause him to share a pool with an Israeli
athlete. Better to not even compete than
to contaminate himself, due to deadly Jewish proximity.
For the last two thousand years, Anti-Semitism has not only
demonstrated man’s inhumanity to man, it has also been a puzzle and
bewilderment to the entire world. Nothing, and I mean nothing about Anti-Semitism
makes sense: Consider the following:
The only thing that the extreme Right and the extreme Left
have in common is a hatred for Jews.
Some people view Judaism as a religion. Others view it as a
race. It gets hated equally for either designation.
Those who object to the religion are known to call the Jews Christ
Killers.
But this only shows how little they understand Christianity, for
the Bible teaches that Jesus was meant to die, that it was God’s will
to offer Him as a sacrifice for our sins, that if not for our sins, He
would not have
needed to die, and as a result, we are all responsible for His death. One who does not understand this concept,
basic and foundational to the gospel, does not understand Christianity and is
not a true follower of Jesus Christ. Therefore, the bigot's disdain for Jews is
actually not religious at all and we are forced to view such hatred as a
mystery.
On the other hand, those who view Jewish people as a race
have a difficult time explaining exactly what it is about the race that they
don’t like. Is it the skin color? Not all Jews have the same color of skin. Some are tan, but the Jews in Sweden
have blond hair and blue eyes. They don’t all have big noses either and even if
they did, many people have big noses. Those who are not Jewish are not hated.
OK, maybe it’s those “nasty Jewish traits.” After all,
aren’t they a conspiracy of Communists trying to take over the world? Actually, just as many suggest that they are
a conspiracy of greedy Capitalistic bankers trying to take over the world. The Nazis found it useful to accuse them of
both, hoping nobody would notice the contradiction.
And then there’s Israel.
Dennis Prager put it perfectly: “Israel
is the only country in history that people feel has no right to exist. Countries war with each other and sign
treaties all the time, but the right of the enemy country to exist is never
brought into question.”
For those who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, this mystery finds a partial explanation in what the Bible calls
spiritual warfare. You may not believe in the existence of good angels and evil
spirits. Other articles of mine defend their existence. For now, let’s just
stipulate that whatever your opinion of the Bible, this is just exactly what
the Bible teaches. Demonic beings seek to keep people from the love of God and
these beings especially hate the Jews. They hate the Jews, because through the
Jews, the Messiah came into the world. They hate the Jews because through the
Jews we received the Bible, both Old and New Testaments.
The ability of demons to foster irrational hatred may be a
missing piece of the puzzle here. If you don’t wish to accept this idea, so be
it. But I hope you will at least agree with me that Anti-Semitism is a mystery
because it makes absolutely no sense. Unfortunately, its lack of logic does not
keep it from spreading. Anti-Semitism is as bad today as it has ever been and
it is growing all over the world, not just the Arab world, but Europe,
once again, where it had a happy home not so long ago.
Have you heard the one about the Jew and the nitwit? A nitwit went into a bar, sat next to a Jew
and said, “You Jews killed Jesus Christ!”
The Jew shrugged his shoulders and said, “Even if that were
true, it happened two-thousand years ago.”
The nitwit replied, “I just found out about it today.”
Other blogs about Christianity from Bob Siegel:
Does
Jesus Belong on the College Campus?
Try
To Follow This Logic: If God Exists, God is Real.
Does the Bible Really Speak About the Future?
What is the Unforgivable Sin and How Do I Know If I've
Committed It?
Does The Bible Teach An Age of Accountability?
Was Jesus Gay?
How Should We Pray For Healing?
Is The DaVinci Code Something to be Taken Seriously?
How Does One Become a Christian?
My Brief Time In the Occult
How Do We Know Which Manuscript Copies Truly Belong In The
Bible?
Does The Bible Teach That God Is Everything or that God Created
Everything?
Was Jesus A False Prophet?
Why Are There Different Versions of the Bible?
Three Questions That Test Your Friend's Opinions
Subsiding All The Passion Over "The Passion"
Cherry Picking Our Doctrines
St. Bob's Epistle To The Calvinists
Oh, That Horrible Christianity!
Was Judas Forgiven?
Oh Yeah? Well David Did Alot of Stupid Things
If You Don't Like Her, Take It Up With Jesus
Calling God Allah: What's In A Name?
How To Cause A Muslim Freudian Slip
Behavior Not Even A Christian Apologist Can Defend
Evidently Christians Don't Hold A Monopoly On Stupidity
I'm Not Doing It For the Warthog and the Pine Cone
Is Persecution Good For The Church?
A Pro-Choice Christmas Card?
The No Longer Sacred Santa
Can A Christian Be Pragmatic?
Now Kids, Keep The Name of the Holiday a Secret
Are Christian Ministers Just In It For The Money?
Christianity, Judaism and Islam: Comparison
Is Mormonism Really a Cult? Let's Finally Settle This Once and
For All
How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One
Are Christians Expected to Keep the Sabbath?
If The Gospel Was Fake, This Would Have Been A Really Dumb
Thing To Include
Did Jesus Really Claim To Be God?
Did Jesus Really Claim to be The Messiah?
The Prayer Game
Can The Existence of God Be Proven?
Can't I Accept Christ On My Deathbed?
The Day God Gave Me One Hundred Dollars (And Believe Me; I
didn't Deserve It)
Is Tithing Really Biblical?
The Day A Scholar Said Scholars Aren't Scholarly
Of course the Trinity is Impossible! Haven't You Ever Studied
Math?
Jesus Didn't Rise! Wait Until You Hear How They Decided
Did Jesus Fulfill Bible Prophecy? Isaiah 53
Was
Jesus The Promised Messiah? Daniel 9
Does
God Have a Sense of Humor?
I
Rolled Down The Window So God Could Hear Me A Little Better
Why
Do Most People Think God Will Not Talk?
A
Biblical Case For Authentic Healing: No, I Don't Mean That "Name It, Claim
It" Nonsense.
He
Told Me My Prayer Was Not A Valid Prayer