How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One

They called themselves Jews for Jesus. I knew nothing about them, absolutely nothing. And I knew nothing about Christianity itself. For that matter, even though I was raised Jewish, I knew nothing about Judaism. In fact, I grew up as an atheist. How can one have an atheistic background and a religious background at the same time?

Allow me to correct one of the greatest misconceptions about Jews: It is often thought they are a people who believe in the Old Testament, but not the New Testament. Nothing can be further from the truth and it was certainly not true of me. Actually, most Jews do not believe in either one. Oh, many will claim to accept the Old Testament but they don’t. Not really.

As you know, Judaism has three major sects (just as Christianity has one hundred and fifty-three thousand different sects). In Judaism, they are called; Reformed, Orthodox and Conservative. Although the Orthodox Jews verbally ascribe to the Old Testament (or Holy Scriptures, as they call it) in fact, they have a large set of commentaries entitled The Talmud and The Midrash which interpret what these scriptures actually mean. Talmudic and Midrash teachings were originally handed down orally and were finally put to writing a number of years after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. Eager, zealous Christians often show their Jewish friends some Old Testament prophecy, supposedly predicting the coming of the Messiah and allegedly fulfilled by Jesus. Much to their surprise, they hear the words, “That’s your interpretation. Our wise rabbis over the years have told us what this really means.” So yes, they are claiming to accept The Holy Scriptures as the Word of God, but what the rabbis say the scriptures mean is what they mean. It is similar to Mormons, who say they believe in the Bible but who really believe in Joseph Smith’s interpretation of the Bible or the interpretation of their other prophets.

With Reformed Judaism, (the brand I was born into) theology is much simpler: The Reformed Jews have more in common with liberal Christian denominations (members of the World Council of Churches) than they do with the Bible. At a Reformed Synagogue, the emphasis is kind of hit and miss. The Rabbi may indeed expound upon some scriptural passage, but he is just as likely to preach about something he read in the newspaper. He (or she) views Judaism more as a community and less as a literal doctrine. You see, to many, Judaism is every bit as much a culture as a religion. And to some, Judaism is only a culture. One can be an atheist and still be considered Jewish by a Reformed Rabbi. I myself was raised by atheistic parents. Later in life they did turn Orthodox, but while I was growing up, I heard that God did not exist and the Bible was a book of fairy tales. I was also taught that being Jewish was very important. My Jewish education informed me about Zionism and about the horrors of the Holocaust. I learned all about Anti-Semitism. I learned nothing about God. To put it quite bluntly, as a Reformed Jew, I was taught by my parents that I may believe anything I wanted, so long as it wasn’t Jesus.

“Jesus” was a forbidden word in our household. If the subject even came up at the table, my father would shout, “I will not allow that name to be mentioned in the house!” In defense of my dad, his reaction was understandable. From Constantine to Hitler, Jews have been forced from sword point to gun point to either convert or die. In some cases (the Nazis most specifically) even Jews who became Christians were put to death. Racism knows no bounds.

Now, here I was, in the year 1973, nineteen years old, staring at a Jews for Jesus poster on a college campus. Evidently these dudes had come out to the campus to publicize their meetings. I had heard of the freaks but had never actually encountered them. Oh sure, I had dialogued with a few other nut-case Christians but I knew of Jews For Jesus only through name and rumor. Actually I did not even witness their presence on this occasion. (Perhaps they came by night to put up the poster) But however the poster got there, I was enraged by it. I thought Jews for Jesus were traitors. I thought Jews for Jesus were cowards, hoping to avoid future Anti-Semitism by “selling out.” I also thought they were idiots. In fact, I thought anyone who made such a big hullabaloo about a man who had been dead for two-thousand years was naïve at the very least and moronic at the very most.

I was a commuter student at the time, living at home with my folks, experiencing my second year of San Jose City College, where I hoped to get my General Ed out of the way before transferring to San Jose State University as a Drama Major. This was the only field I knew, theater. But religion? I didn’t know the Bible from the back of my hand. Like most people, this did not keep me from forming opinions about the Bible.

Ironically, there was already a passage of scripture that applied to my arrogance.

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding

but delights in airing his own opinions.

Prov 18:2

Are you catching the irony here? I knew nothing about Judaism or Christianity! I knew nothing about religion at all! But fools aren’t interested in learning, only in expressing their opinions and I expressed my opinion with extra finesse. I bought some construction paper and a great big felt pen. Then I made a sign of my own. I had never made a sign in my life, but I made this one and I was quite proud of it. My sign, (which I pinned up right next to Jews for Jesus), said, “How about people for people?” I thought the sign displayed unparalleled brilliance and philosophical wisdom. Still, had you asked me what my sign actually meant, I would not have been able to tell you. It looked good. It sounded good. It meant nothing, absolutely nothing.

Discussing the sign with two women students, (friends whom I had also known in High School) I told them how much the sign enraged me and how fed up I was with Christians who could not keep their stupid religion to themselves. I told these friends of mine I would rather go to hell than become a Christian even though I did not believe Hell actually existed.

One day later, I committed my life to Jesus Christ. One week later I went back to my lady friends and told them they should give their lives to Jesus. You should have seen the expressions on their faces. As the old saying goes, “Their jaws dropped down so low, they could suck marbles out of a gopher hole.”

How did my conversion come about so quickly, so dramatically and against such tremendous odds?

Read the rest of Bob’s testimony in tomorrow’s blog entry.

All Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE

New International Version NIV

Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.