World Blog by humble servant.Christians must understand that for Jews the cross is a symbol of oppression

Christians must understand that for Jews the cross is a symbol of oppression

Johnnie Ellington II

Jesus wasn't a Christian – that word exists for his followers and came later. He was Jewish. His mother was Jewish. He was circumcised as a Jew. He pretty much followed the Jewish law, departing from it only in the name of what he saw as its deeper meaning. "For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished," he insisted at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Sure, he debated furiously with the Pharisees and Sadducee's, especially about the significance of the temple. And, in time, this argument came to be restyled by Jesus' gentile followers as an attack upon Jews per se. But originally it was an internal debate within Judaism, not an attack upon Jews from the outside. In was an internal debate in the same way that the prophets of the Hebrew scriptures, such as Jeremiah, often attacked the priests of the temple for missing the point.

Johnnie Ellington II

It is a horrible irony, then, that Christianity bears primary responsibility for historic antisemitism. Few ideas can have been as poisonous as, and inspired more murderous than, the idea that Jews were the Christ-killers. Of course, only the Romans had the legal authority to crucify someone: it was their signature way of dealing with troublemakers. But this fact became historically inconvenient for a religion that was eventually to place its global headquarters within Rome itself.

Johnnie Ellington II

The idea here is that Jesus's death is a punishment by God for human wickedness. He pays the price of human sin on our behalf. This understanding of what Christians mean by salvation – known technically as penal substitution atonement – was actually unknown in the early church, though some Christians seem to think it is the only way of understanding the cross. They ignore the fact that it transforms God into some sort of psychopath who murders his own son as a magical way of dealing with endemic human wickedness. When set in the Holocaust, it doubles the offence by implying that the gas chambers are also a sort of payback by God for human wrongdoing.

Even in terms of Christian theology, penal substitution is a mistake, not least because it doesn't give the resurrection any work to do in the economy of human salvation. Indeed, there are multiple other readings of the cross, which do not rely on this payback model but, out of respect, I am not going to go into that here. While Christians regard the cross as an inevitable part of human salvation, for Jews it remains a symbol of centuries of oppression. And the right and proper Christian response to this is a confession of complicity, not a trumpeting of theological superiority.

What did Jesus say to the cross?

Luke 23:45b-46: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.

In addition, some Protestants read literally the Second Commandment of Exodus 20, which prohibits making graven images. They believed a depiction of any human form is idolatrous. Crucifixes, therefore, disappeared from Protestant sanctuaries.

Johnnie Ellington II

some christian follow the law. They don't change things.

Johnnie Ellington II

You know facebook has monitor. Who might be jewish and look at some idol worshipers criteria over time. And just say please you can't articulate jack. So they just shut you down to see how you react.

Johnnie Ellington II

They know who are the verse ones. Because they can tell who got it and who don't.

Johnnie Ellington II

Understanding every religion wouldn't leave one guessing it would lead you navigating in 6 lane highways.

Johnnie Ellington II

While Christians regard the cross as an inevitable part of human salvation, for Jews it remains a symbol of centuries of oppression.

Johnnie Ellington II

And the right and proper Christian response to this is a confession of complicity, not a trumpeting of theological superiority.

Johnnie Ellington II

not a trumpeting of theological superiority.

Johnnie Ellington II

which is far from the truth

Johnnie Ellington II

Most zealots don't know there own book

Johnnie Ellington II

You can tell by the way they talk

Johnnie Ellington II

Because if they had read it.

Johnnie Ellington II

They wouldn't look like a pancake

Johnnie Ellington II

I take that book and wrap it around these zealot like you won't believe.

Johnnie Ellington II

That is what they hate

Johnnie Ellington II

THE TRUTH BASE on that book they have for show

Johnnie Ellington II

giggles