Exclusivity is not allowed

So, you might have heard about the latest pile Ann Coulter has stepped in…she basically got in trouble a few weeks ago for saying Jews should become Christians. Read this for more information.

The first I heard about it was Jane Hall and Bernie Goldberg on the O’Reilly Factor around two weeks ago. Of course, it was really bad in their opinions, but the thing that took the cake for me was when Goldberg called out O’Reilly for not dogging her on it earlier that week, and he came back with this line: “I don’t talk theology with non-theologians”.

Wow. I didn’t know what to say about that. Fortunately, after a couple weeks, I’ve found plenty.

Ann Coulter tends to be outrageous for the sake of being outrageous. The fact is, she simply sells more books when she’s controversial. But this particular tempest in a tea-cup seems to have been totally accidental on her part…outrage on the part of a whiney and ignorant host, Donny Deutsch of CNBC’s “The Big Idea”, and the reaction of people, namely the Anti-Defamation League, who make a living getting offended at trivialities and regularly issuing press releases regarding them.

First of all, anyone who claims any aptitude on religious subjects ought to realize is that Christians claim religious exclusivity. What this means in a larger sense is that its beliefs are the only means to achieve the goal of that religion. For instance, Christians believe the only way to obtain salvation is through Jesus Christ. There are many scriptures that back this up…it’s a fundamental truth of the Bible. This means other religions are not only pointless but prevent the seeker from obtaining that particular goal.

Second, Coulter was merely repeating this belief by saying that the world would be better off if everyone were Christians. Of COURSE this means leaving their current faith behind. Of COURSE this means other faiths are invalid. Of COURSE this means they are detrimental and should be cast aside. This is no secret. Why get offended when someone articulates beliefs that have largely been around for something like two thousand years?

I talked about this in my previous blog article: it’s all about multiculturalism and political correctness. Everybody can believe what you want, but don’t tell me I’m wrong. The only truth is that there is no truth.

Speaking as a Christian, What is a Jew in my eyes? A Jew is an individual descended from a nation and nationality established by God for the singular purpose of creating a sanctified people through whom the Savior of the world would arise. They are God’s special people, and rather than persecute and seek to destroy them, the world owes the Jewish people a debt of gratitude for producing and crucifying Jesus Christ because it was the means by which salvation was won for all who would receive it. Not only that, but the first great (and greatest) Christian missionaries, apologists, and theologians were Jews.

So, in my opinion, Jews are worthy of great respect and appreciation. But the fact remains that, by the faith spelled out by those spiritual giants of Christendom and that I adhere to as a fundamental Christian doctrine, Jews need the same Savior Gentiles such as myself do. And this is unbearable for Deutsch and the ADL. It’s not like she was advocating their demise…quite the opposite! Even the Old Testament says that obedience is better than sacrifice. Abraham didn’t make it by the law or Jewish tradition…his faith in God was creditted to him for righteousness, just like it is for Christians today.

Ann, you are right here. Don’t let the wet blankets get to you on this one.

As for the No-Spin Zone, the spin was in full effect here. Goldberg, a well-known opponent of bias to a fault, jumped on O’Reilly for not jumping Coulter when he interviewed her a week or so after the debate on “The Big Idea”. In addition to what he said about not talking theology to non-theologians, he goes on to say that nobody in their right mind believes that is true. Good thing he doesn’t talk theology to non-theologians, because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about right there. It also says a lot about how seriously he takes Christ’s Great Commission to witness of Him to the unsaved.

However, I came to realize something afterwards after reading something on why Messianic Jews (Jews who accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah) don’t refer to themselves as “Christians”. The letter writer said: “…we Jews who suffered heavily at the hands of those who called themselves ‘Christians’ choose not to identify ourselves unnecessarily with the persecutors,” to which the commentator replied, “I sympathize with the antipathy Jews have toward ‘Christians,’ but that is based upon a gross misunderstanding fostered for generations. Isn’t it time that Jews who know better should explain to their fellow Jews that the Nazis and all others who have ever persecuted and killed Christ’s brethren, the Jews, were not true Christians?!”

Then something clicked…Bill’s a Catholic. The Roman Catholic Church has brutally assaulted the Jews for hundreds of years, both in attempts to force their conversion to their perverted form of Christianity and to eradicate them totally, either for a perceived blood libel or to cement the church’s claim to be the replacement of Israel in the eyes of God. The only other group that was persecuted in that way was the non-Catholic Christians in the RCC’s reach…the precursors to modern evangelical Christianity. The staunchest ally Jews and Israel has ever had, and ever will have, are true Bible-believing Christians.

“How can you sit there in judgment as if you know if someone’s saved or not?” Read 1 John 4:20…”if someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he’s a liar! If he can’t love the brother he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?” You kill people because they’re, say, sub-human (to use a standard Nazi term for Jews), you obviously don’t love them. And the quoted verse (albeit in my own translation) is axiomatic.

When you consider that the Crusaders who raped, pillaged, and destroyed Jewish settlements on their way to the Holy Land, the Inquisitors who terrorized medieval European Jews for over a hundred years, and the Nazis who attempted to exterminate Jews entirely were all Catholics, his seemingly mild trepidation takes on the potential of being much more calculated. Could it be that Bill didn’t bring it up precisely because Ann would not have thought twice about pointing this very fact out to him and thereby making a much-deserved fool of both him and his faith?

Maybe not, but I’d have paid good money to see that on Pay-Per-View!