A little over a month ago, I was asked to read/view and think seriously about a series of video posts (with translation) on an Israeli messianic Christian website. I agreed to do so. My goal is for this blog to be my response to these postings. This endeavor, though, will not be a typical counter-missionary effort as the content of the posts and videos is not the typical missionary content. I've read a few of the translations of the videos, but there are quite a few. There are, as of today (Sunday, May 17th, 2015), 40 posted videos and spaces for eight more that are "coming soon." Most of these videos have a link to a written translation, and my understanding is that all are subtitled, though I haven't verified the latter as of yet. The effort behind this will be somewhat involved as I have found much of the information is either only partially referenced, or not even referenced at all. While I will try very hard to post regularly, I do have many other responsibilities that do need to be a priority: family, home, job, community, and the like.
For the sake of understanding, I think it is a good idea to share a little bit about myself. I am a Jew by choice; I converted at an Orthodox beit din (religious court) in Iyyar 5766 (May 2006). While I have had some Jewish education, I have never had a formal Jewish education and I am not a rabbi, nor am I a professional counter-missionary. Until about two years prior to my conversion, I was Christian and I did have some formal education on the seminary level. I never completed that education. While I held a variety of positions as a layperson, I was never on staff at a church or any other Christian organization. On second thought, I was briefly a paid janitor at a church, but that would be the extent of my paid work as part of the staff in any Christian organization. Currently, I am not attending any synagogue, but I am as active a participant as I can be at the closest Chabad House. I try to learn with my rabbi once a week (when our schedules aren't too crazy).
Now a word about the blog itself: I will make every effort to reference everything I can, and attribute all quotes. For various reasons, I might not want to create a direct link to a website, but when that is the case, I will provide all the information necessary for the reader to get to the web page (example: www. google. com, with the insertion of extra spaces this is not a link in my post, but someone could easily use this to actually get to Google if they chose). Comments are welcome, but proselytizing is not. I will be moderating all comments, and I will make every effort to screen out insults, ad hominem attacks, and the like. Serious discussion and constructive criticism are welcome. In short, be civil.
I am hoping to make the first substantive post by this time next week, if not sooner. Getting together all the information needed is quite a bit of work, so I do ask for patience in that regard.
Finally, some of you might have noticed that I used the phrase "messianic Christians" above. This is a phrase that I have chosen to use for a number of different groups that usually refer to themselves as "messianic Jewish." I think this label is rather confusing, though. While some, many, or even all the members of a particular group might be Jewish (which is a statement of being part of the family descended from the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), their religion is decidedly Christian, even if they choose to use a Hebrew name for Jesus.
