Jewish adults are often accustomed to having Christian missionaries or Christian friends attempt to convert them. What we are often not aware of is that these same missionaries often try to convert our children. They may do this on their own, or with the help of Christian children. This is a very difficult situation for the Jewish child, who is first learning about Judaism, let alone how Judaism differs with Christianity As Jewish adults, it is our duty to protect our children and maintain their Jewish beliefs.
There may be doubt in some of the readers of this web-page. After all, would the minister at the local church and my children's friends collude against my children (which also means that the parents of his/her friends are involved, too)? The simple answer is "Yes". Here is a story from ABC News about "Zack" (his parents chose to withold his real name). "Zack" was invited by friends to attend a fun night at church with them. As you can see from the article, "Zack" was lied to. In reality, this night was known as "Target Night" at the church. The goal of the night was to try to convert friends. "Zack" was placed alone with an adult missionary, who talked him into converting, even lying to him (as if he had not been lied to enough) that he could be Jewish and believe in Jesus at the same time! An important part of the original news story that is not in the shortened print edition is that this adult missionary told the child that he should not talk with his parents about their conversation. The parents found the copy of the Christian Bible in his room, and that is how they discovered the deception. As you read through the article, it is clear that this could be any Jewish child, even yours! Here is the link to the article:
ABC News article Click Here
As a side note, Jews for Jesus is a Christian organization. Similar groups call themselves Messianic Jews, Completed Jews, etc. Here is a brief primer on the true nature of Jews for Jesus. Click Here
Also, I have a longer web-page that demonstrates that the various Jews for Jesus/Messianic Jewish groups are really Christians. Here is the link to that site: Click Here
But you might say, how could this happen to my child? She/he is well-educated, a nice Jewish kid, etc. On a personal note, I had a similar occurrence happen to me. I was in junior high, and a Christian friend of mine invited me to a weekend with her church youth group. I was extremely wary-after all, I did not want to sit around a campfire singing about Jesus! She assured me that there would not be any Christian events occurring. As an adult, I know that it is absurd to believe that a Christian youth group would get together, and not a single Christian item would "pop" up. As a teenager, I trusted my friend and could not believe that she would lie. Fortunately, my father saw through this deception. I was angry-after all, would my friends ever lie? After high school, I lost contact with this young lady for a number of years. I ran into her a few years ago and asked what her future plans were. Not suprisingly, she said that she was planning on becoming a missionary!
Here is another article on the subject. You will note that the parents were unaware of the Christian activities their children were being subjected to: Click Here
Still doubting that Christians will target children? Here is an article from the Dearborn Baptist Church, on how to "save" and "witness" (read: convert to Christiniaty) children. You will notice that at no point in their article do they ever mention talking to the parents, despite being clear that they are dealing with children and teenagers. (Editor's Note: Please be aware that the article horribly misrepsents multiple verses from the Jewish Bible, a common problem with Christian missionaries, please see my "Great Sites, Priceless Information" section for links to groups that prove how missionaries mis-use Biblical verses): Click Here
In fact, a group called Bible Visuals International developed a program to teach children to be missionaries to their Jewish friends. Here is are some quotes on their material:
"Give-A-Vision Mission Programs for children are designed to introduce primary/junior age boys and girls to people groups around the world through interactive hands-on activities. Each of these programs have been field tested in churches, VBS and Day Camps and are guaranteed to spark an interest in missions among children.
Adventures In the Jewish World- The first of our G-A-V Programs to be published in a "How To" manual for use in Children's Church, VBS, Day Camp, or Children's Missions Conferences...Children will come to understand how important it is to reach God's chosen people with the Gospel. Included in this manual are detailed teaching schedules for one, three, five and ten session presentations as well as numerous reproducible masters for both students and teachers.
Here is a link to the proof of this. As you can see, our Jewish children are being targetted by missionaries from that organization: Click Here
Often, part of the problem is that we as adults do not know how Christianity and Judaism differ. We cannot answer the question, "Why Don't Jews Believe in Jesus"? In reality, there are a tremendous amount of ways that Jesus fails as a messiah and a god (would you really want to worship a man as a god?). Here are a list of excellent sites on the subject:
An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here
Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here
As a former Hebrew school teacher in a small town, my Jewish students were constantly being asked questions (or challenged) regarding their Jewish beliefs and lack of acceptance of Christian beliefs. Sometimes these questions were just typical curiosity. Sometimes, I was pretty certain that the other kids were challenging their beliefs. I also had the opportunity to be a guest speaker in elementary and high schools on a number of occasions. Here are a few common questions that you might run into (many that I actually had posed to me), with answers that you can give your children. The answers are specifically written in a way that a child can understand. They are deliberately kept brief; in my opinion most children are not looking for a speech on a topic, but a simple, direct answer. If your child wants more details, I recommend that you use the resources cited above and some that I will point in the Q & A section for information:
Q & A
Q: Why don't Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
A: The Messiah is a man that will be sent by G-d, at a time when G-d will perform many great miracles and basically bring the world to a practically perfect state. At that time, the Bible promises that lots of great things will happen. For instance, there will be peace on Earth and all of the Jews will live in Israel. Is there peace on Earth now? Of course not! Are all the Jews living in Israel? No way! Since these, and many other events, did not occur with Jesus, he cannot be the Messiah.
Q: My friend asked why do Jews hate Jesus (alternative version: hardened our heart to Christ). Why do we?
A: Jews do not hate anyone. In Judaism we are taught to love others. We are taught in the Bible to love our neighbors like we love ourselves. In fact, many Jewish charities are highly involved in helping non-Jews who need help. Unlike other groups, the Jewish charities that give the non-Jews help are not trying to turn them into Jews. Many Christians are taught that the Jews hated Jesus, but this is a lie. Unfortunately, your friend was told something that is not true.
Q: My friend says that there are a lot of lines (alternative version: proofs) in the Bible that prove Jesus was the Messiah and that we are ignoring these lines? Is this true?
A: There are a number of places where Christianity says that the Bible talks about Jesus, however, this is not true. Christianity makes a number of mistakes. First, some of the mistakes are mistranslations. Very few Christians speak Hebrew, and do not know that their translations of the Bible have many errors
(Editor's Note for Parents: The Christian translations of the Bible are generally poor. Probably the best example of this is the claims that the Bible talks about a "virgin" in the book of Isaiah. Actually, in the places that Christiniaty cites, it doesn't say "virgin" but "young woman". Your "extra slick" missionaries will claim that in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Bible, it says "virgin". They will then state that the Septuagint was translated by Jews prior to Jesus, so this proves their point. They leave out the fact that the Jewish translation was only of the first five books of the Bible, namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. All of the rest of the books of the Septuagint, including Isaiah, were later translations made by Christians).
Second, they often take a piece of the Bible out of context-basically, they are reading one line and ignoring its place in the whole story. This leads to a mistake in understanding what the verse is talking about. Third, Christianity doesn't know the history of the Bible, so they often do not know what a verse is referring to.
Before we go on to the next question, I want to give you some resources that are helpful with the Christian "proofs". Messiah Truth is probably the best site for explaining how Christiniaty looks at the Jewish Bible and makes basic errors. This link will give you a general overview of their errors and tactics. Once you are there, if you go to the Counter-Missionary section and click on Multi-media (All of which can be viewed as a basic web-page-you won't go "multi-media" and hear the web-page unless you ask it to. To hear the web-page, go to the bottom of the page and click to Listen) and go to Knowing Your Orchard section and click on Biblical Passages, you will see a verse by verse breakdown of the errors that Christianity makes:
Click Here for Messiah Truth
Jews for Judaism is another excellent group for this type of information. They tend to group their Proof Text section by topic, and once you click on the topic you will see a large list of questions that Christians often try to use against Jews.
Click Here for Jews for Judaism
Q: Why did the Jews kill Jesus (altenative version: help kill Jesus)?
A: The Jews did not kill Jesus. Even in the Christian holy writings, the Romans were the ones who killed Jesus. As for the Jews helping kill Jesus, there are a lot of things in the Christian writings that do not make sense when we think about Jewish life back then. For instance, Jesus was supposed to have had a Jewish court trial at night, but back then there was no such thing as a Jewish court that had trials at night! Overall, Jews do not accept the Christian writings, and do not believe that Jews were involved in Jesus' death.
Q: I was told that I will not be saved if I don't accept Jesus. Is this true?
A: In Judaism, we have a Savior, someone who always watches over the Jewish people and helps us. That "someone" is G-d. G-d is our Savior and no one else. We refer to him as our Savior in our prayers. We are taught in the Bible that no person, whether it be Jesus or even a king, ultimately can protect or save us. Only G-d can do that.
Q: My friend says that I am going to Hell if I do not believe in Jesus. Am I going to Hell?
Judaism and Christianity differ on many things. In Judaism, there is no such thing as "Hell". It is not real. It is like threatening to send an imaginary killer purple elf to come and get you? Are you afraid of this elf? Hell is about as real as that elf. The Christian idea of Hell is very similar to the beliefs of other religions, such as the old Roman belief in Hades. However, Judaism does not have such a idea. In Judaism, all individuals are punished for their sins by G-d, for up to one year, but after punishment go to Heaven.
Q: My friend said that I can't go to Heaven because I am Jewish. Is this true?
A: In Judaism, there is no such thing as only some people going to Heaven. In Judaism we believe that all individuals get to go to Heaven, and are rewarded in Heaven based on their actions when they were alive. Once a person dies, they are punished for a period of time, up to one year, by G-d. After that they go to Heaven.
Q: My friend said that Satan (alternative version: the Devil) will ge me unless I believe in Jesus. Is this true?
A: Christianity has a very different view of Satan (or the Devil) than Judaism. In Christianity, Satan is viewed as an evil creature trying to get people to do bad things. In Judaism, Satan is basically a lawyer. His job is to tell G-d, the Judge of All People, about all of the things that we have done wrong. He is not "out trying to get people to do evil".
Q: Why don't Jews believe that Jesus is/was a god?
A: Jesus was a man who lived about 2000 years ago. There is no such thing as a man being G-d. G-d is clear in the Bible that he is not human and we as Jews are forbidden to worship a person. The idea of worshipping a man and calling him a god was very common in the religions that surrounded Judaism in ancient times, like the Romans who rules over the land of Israel. However, this has never been a part of Judaism. (Editor's Note: I have used a similar version of the last two lines to answer Christian adults and kids for many years with a great success and no negative backlash).
Q: My friend said that Jesus did a lot of miracles and that makes him the Messiah. Don't miracles prove it?
Actually, we are told in the Bible that miracles don't prove anything. There are even a bunch of non-Jews who do miracles in the Bible. However, to be the Messiah you can't just do a few miracles-you actually have to live up to every requirement, and Jesus did not do this. For instance, Joe Schmoe can take a few classes in school about medicine, but he has to take all of the classes to become a doctor. Just like Joe Schome can't call himself a doctor unless he completes all of his requirements, Jesus cannot be called the Messiah because he did not live up to all of the requirements.
Q: Was Jesus the king of the Jews?
A: Many Christians are taught that Jesus was the Jewish king. However, Christianity also said that he was a carpenter. There is no such thing as a Jewish king who had to work as a carpenter! The Jewish kings lived in palaces and had servants who did work. At the time of Jesus, King Herod's children were the kings of the Jews. However, it was really the Roman empire, one of the most powerful empires ever, that controlled the area. They were the ones who decided that King Herod and his family would be allowed to be the kings of the Jews.
Q: Did Jesus die for our sins?
A: The idea that some other person take away your sins by dying for you is not a Jewish concept. We are taught in the Bible that each individual is responsible for their own action. We are each punished based on our own sins. The Bible is clear: no person can take another person's sins away, not matter what they do. Also, human sacrifice was a common ancient idea in many religions, but was never allowed in Judaism. Besides, killing a person who has not done anything wrong in Judaism is called murder, and we are forbidden to murder anyone in the Ten Commandments.
Q: I was told that Judaism is a religion of law while Christiniaty is a religion of love. Why is there no love in Judaism?
A: There is a false belief that somehow Judaism lacks love. G-d constantly says in the Bible that he loves the Jewish people. G-d talks about how he loves us, like a parent loves a child. Is it possible for there to be any stronger love than G-d's love? Of course not! As for the laws, G-d commands us in the Bible to follow the laws that G-d has blessed us to live by. One of the ways that we show our love to G-d is by obeying G-d's laws. The more laws we obey, the more times that we are showing our love to G-d.
Q: My friend said that there are Jews who believe in Jesus called Jews for Jesus (alternative version: Messianic Jews, Hebrew Christians, Completed Jews). Is this true?
A: Jews for Jesus (and all of the other groups that I mentioned) is an organization that was started by a Christian minister to convert Jews. Its leaders have always been Christian and their are given money to run their group by Christians. They are specifically trying to trick Jews who do not know a lot about Judaism to become Christians. There is nothing Jewish about them. Unfortunately, many Christians don't realize that Jews for Jesus (or any of the aforementioned other groups) are lying about their identity to convert Jews.
(Editor's Note: I have had a number of Christians try to present Jews for Jesus to me as a Jewish group. I can honestly say that almost every Christian that I have spoken to was shocked when I told them that Jews for Jesus was founded by a Baptist minister and is run by Christians. )
Q: I was told that G-d made a new covenant (alternative version: agreement) through Jesus that replaced the Jewish covenant. Is this true?
A: G-d is very clear in the Bible to the Jewish people. Our covenant with G-d is eternal-it will never end. It is not possible, according to the Bible, to end that covenant, and take away Judaism's special relationship with G-d. Since G-d said that this covenant is forever, saying that G-d took away this covenant means that G-d is a liar. Is G-d a liar? Of course not!
(Editor's Note: This idea that G-d is not a liar has always been successful for me when I speak with Jewish children)
Q: Is it true that Jesus did all of the commandments in the Bible, so now we do not have to follow the commandments any more, like keeping Kosher?
A: Actually, Jesus did not do all of the commandments in the Bible. For instance, we are commanded to have children in the Bible, when G-d tells us to "be fruitful and mulitply". According to Christianity, Jesus never had children, so he obviously did not fulfil this commandment. Also, G-d repeatedly states that the commandments are meant to be followed forever, so it is not possible for anyone to take away the responsibility to do these laws
(Editor's Note: I have heard some Christians argue that by Jesus having followers this is the same as having children. There is no basis in the Bible for this. The context in the Bible is clear, it literally means having children. This is why there is no such thing as Rabbis taking oaths of celibacy.)
Q: Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday while we celebrate on the Saturday. My friend wants to know why we celebrate the Sabbath on the wrong day?
A: Judaism has always celebrated the Sabbath on the same day, the seventh day of the week, since we were first given the commandment to keep the Sabbath. In fact, in Judaism we don't even use names for each day of the week, we just say, Day One, Day Two, Day Three, just like in the Bible. Judaism has always kept the Sabbath on the seventh day, which in English we call Saturday. Originally, Christians celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday, but they later changed and began to worship on Sunday. Christianity had been around for roughly 300 years before they even considered make Sunday their day of rest. In Judaism we keep Saturday as our day of rest, because if we changed we would be violating G-d's rules from the Bible.
(Editor's Note: Here is a link to The Vatican, which has an explanation of this under "1166". As you might guess, The Vatican, which is the headquarters of the Catholic Church, is not exactly a Jewish organization: Click Here
If you have any other questions, you can connect to my e-mail at the bottom of the page and e-mail your questions to me
Counter Missionary Counseling
A number of organizations offer countermissionary counseling to help your child when a missionary group has led them away or is trying to lead them away.
Jews for Judaism
Torah Atlanta
Outreach Judaism
Torah Life and Living
Parent Pointers
This is the most important pointer to remember when dealing with missionaries:
Never assume that they are accurate in their portrayal of Judaism or the Jewish Bible
-I cannot tell you how many times I have seen false portrayals, bad translations, atrociously presented facts, all in the name of conversion. Frankly, most Christians, since they generally know little about Judaism outside of what they have been given in their missionary "pamphlets", don't realize that the information they use is false. Here are a few important issues that parents should keep in mind when talking to their kids about missionaries:
1. Don't Ignore the Issue-Ignoring the issue or attempting to brush it away will not make it disappear. You can bet that the missionary, whether adult or child, WILL follow up on their previous conversation with your child.
2. Don't Lie or Make Up Facts-let's face it, your kids know when you are telling the truth or not. Being dishonest is just likely to confuse them.
3. You Don't Have to be All-Knowing-its is OK to tell kids that you do not have an answer. You are not expected to be an expert in Christiniaty just like they would not expect you to be an expert on microbiology. A good response to give would be "As a Jew, I am not always familiar with all of the Christian beliefs. Let me go and check on that for you, and we can talk later."
4. Referrals are Acceptable-It is perfectly reasonable to have your child speak to your Rabbi or a Jewish educator on the topic if they are able to explain the issue better than you can. I can understand that sometimes you may be anxious or hesitant about bringing this up to your Rabbi. I would always prefer that you bring it directly to them, but if you are unwilling to do so, there are other places you go can go to speak to experts on the topic. The best option would be to call Jews for Judaism at 1-800-4PROOF1. Alternatively, you can go to Ask Moses to ask your question. Ask Moses is a chat-room style web-site in which you can have a one on one opportunity to talk to a Chasidic Rabbi about any issue. I personally have found them to be friendly and informative (Editor's Note: In case you are curious, I am not Chasidic):
Click Here for Ask Moses
5a. Sometimes It Is an Adult's Job Part I-If it doesn't look like that your child and the other children can discuss religion without an argument or fight, it may be a good idea for both sets of parents to talk with the children together. This is an excellent opportunity to model good behavior and conflict management (presuming that the other parent is willing to talk and is not trying to convert your family).
5b. Sometimes It Is an Adult's Job Part II-If your child is being targetted by an adult or older child, it is more appopriate for the parent to talk with this individual, rather than a child. Children should not be forced to field questions/challenges to their religion from individuals who are developmentally more mature than they are. It would just be irresponsible to place them in this position.
5c. Sometimes It is an Adult's Job Part III-If you feel that the missionary is going to continue placing pressure on your child, as a parent you have every right to tell the person to stay away from your child. NO ONE has the right to harrass your child, whether it be for religion or any other reason.
6. Missionaries generally attempt to present themselves as "honest" and "just wanting to open a dialogue"- Neither of these two are ever true. Their material, whether they are aware of it or not, are innacurate and they are never "just" interested in talking.
7. PC Does Not Exist-As Jews, we work hard at being "politically correct" and not risk offending anyone. However, when your child is being proselytized, this attitude needs to go. Someone is trying to take your child away from his faith; directness and bluntness is needed, not soft-selling. You can guarantee that the missionaries are not going to be truly respectful of Judaism nor will they care about "political correctness"
8. Don't Tell Them to Look It Up-It is often our first instinct to tell a child or teenager to look up an answer before they come to us with a question. This is a bad idea when dealing with missionaries for the following reasons
a. Half the time kids and teenagers don't look up the answer, so they will not get the real Jewish answer. All they will have is the Christian answer.
b. Often they will look things up on the internet, where there are a plethora of Christian groups (many that falsely claim to be Jewish) who will try to misinform your child.
9. There is a limit to Freedom of Religion and Speech-Many people think that due to rights of Freedom of religion or speech that it is acceptable to use school workers on school property to preach or to use offical school events, such as the opening of a school football game, to preach. Freedom of religion in the United States is limited by the idea that goverment cannot have an "official" religion. The public school system is legally an extension of the government. Hence, if a teacher at school (or any other worker) is trying to preach to your child on school time (e.g. when your child is waiting for the school bus or a preacher is brought out to preach prior to a football game), this is illegal. This has been demonstrated countless times in the United States court system. By the teacher (or other school staff member) trying to preach to your child or by bringing in an outside preacher, it is identical to the government preaching to your child.
Good Jewish Kids Sites
The best way to build strong Jewish children is to educate them on Judaism, so they can learn the true beauty and joy of our religion. Here are some excellent sites for kids on Judaism.
Torah Tots
Akhlah: The Jewish Children's Learning Network
Aish Family Page (includes marriage and parenting advice)
Get Involved
It is also important to be involved in educating your kids on Judaism, so here are a few webpages that can help you
The Jewish Parent Page Please Note that your computer needs to be able to view PDF files to access this page
Holiday Happenings Please Note that your computer needs to be able to view PDF files to access this page
Youth Groups
Another great way of getting kids involved in Judaism are through Jewish youth groups. Here are some links to the most popular of Jewish youth groups. In paranthesis I will put the affiliation of the group and the age group it serves :
Kadima (Conservative Movement: Middle School)
USY (Conservative Movement: High School)
NCSY (Orthodox: Teens)
NIFTY (Reform: Teens)
Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please not that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism.
Messiah Page
Messiah Truth
Jews for Judaism
Outreach Judaism
Counter Missionary Reference
Torah Atlanta
Messianic Verses in Tanach
Australian Anti-Missionary
Escape From Counterfeit Judaism