Saturday, October 20, 2007

Jews not "Un-perfected" Christians not "Complete"

I would certainly not say that Jews who accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah become "perfected" or "complete." This is what a conservative (somewhat reactionary) firebrand commentator Anne Coulter is supposed to have said recently, which is causing great consternation among some Jews.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21257498/

Both sides are in error. She was not making hate speech but rather expressing the politically incorrect but accurate view that Christians affirm that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of Israel foretold in the Book (the Old Testament). Jews are so fearful of the slippery slope of anti-Semitism that they overreact when a Christian states that he or she believes that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews. I mean, duh, that is the Christian belief.

However, she and others who state this are in error to assert that Jews, either individually or collectively, are somehow incomplete or unperfected. They are and remain the first to whom God revealed himself. It is very presumptuous of certain evangelical or fundamental Christians to assume that God views his first people as incomplete. And certainly Christians are not "perfected" or "complete" themselves. Jesus himself stated in the Bible, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God." If Jesus would not accept the title of "good" from an "average Joe" then how can certain Christians claim to know who is "complete" and "perfected?" They cannot and they should not put words in God's mouth that Jesus Christ himself would not do. And they certainly should not second guess God's relationship with the Jews. However, Jews need to chill out and understand that while they are still awaiting their Messiah (those who still are faithful and have not secularized) Christians (and Muslims incidentally) recognize and affirm that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of Israel. While Christians have no right to be judgmental, as I described above, likewise they should not be ashamed of expressing that core belief and truth of their faith.