I found the following article on IsraelNationalNews and wanted to reprint a part of it. Recently I have gotten into a little issue with a non-Jewish member of JTF who insists on posting images of his favorite idol, the J-man. It is offensive to me, as it should be to any Jew, to see a person post an image of something which they believe is divine. It is such a sin that the 2nd Commandment of the 10 commandment explicitly forbids the creation of images of anything divine.
Personally he is entitled to believe anything he wants. If he wants to believe that a tree or a rock is G-d, so be it. From a Jewish perspective it is very wrong as Idolatry is one sin a Jew should die before he bows to an idol. But in a Jewish forum it reveals a certain amount of Chutzpah. As a Jews are bound by the 10 commands it is good to know what they are. Just for a refresher, here are the 1st five commanments:
Shemos 2:2-11
1 : 2 I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
2 : 3 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 4 thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; 5 and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
3 : 6 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
4 : 7 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 8 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; 9 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; 10 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
5: 11 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Our forefathers were forced to bow to images of the Jman and convert to their false belief that Messiah has come and that he was divine. The fact that Jman did not fufill any of the messianic prophecies seems to make no difference to the devout xtian.
From A7 News
The Real Messianic Jews
by Yosef Ben Shlomo Hakohen
As we know, Christianity deifies Jesus and also views him as the promised Messiah; thus, some Jews who have adopted Christian beliefs in recent years have begun to call themselves “Messianic Jews.” We need to remind ourselves, however, that they are not entitled to this title, for it belongs to the Jews who have remained faithful to Judaism and who are therefore awaiting the true Messiah.
One major reason why Jews who have adopted Christian beliefs, including the deification of Jesus, should not be called “Messianic Jews” is because our sacred scriptures define the Messiah as a human being. For example, the Prophet Isaiah describes the Messiah as a man who descends from Jesse, the father of David:
“A staff will emerge from the stump of Jesse, and a shoot will sprout from his roots. The spirit of God will rest upon him – a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and strength, a spirit of knowledge and awe of God.” (Isaiah 11:1,2)
The above passage clearly indicates that the Messiah is an enlightened human being who is in awe of God, but who is not God. The Christians, however, call the man they view as the Messiah “God and Savior” – a belief which contradicts the following Divine proclamation: “I, only I, am God, and there is no Savior aside from Me.” (Isaiah 43:11)
Another major reason why Jews who have adopted Christian beliefs should not be called “Messianic Jews” is because Isaiah reveals in the following passage that the true Messiah will inaugurate an age of world peace and spiritual enlightenment when he comes; moreover; in the age of the Messiah, God will also gather in all the exiles of Israel:
“They will neither injure nor destroy in all of My sacred mountain; for the Earth will be filled with knowledge of God as water covering the sea bed. It shall be on that day that the descendant of Jesse – who stands as a rallying banner for the peoples – to him shall the nations inquire, and his peace shall be with honor. It shall be on that day that the Master of All will once again show His hand, to acquire the remnant of His people who will have remained from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. He will raise a banner for the nations, and assemble the castaways of Israel; and He will gather in the dispersed ones of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:9-12)
The above prophecies were not fulfilled during the life of Jesus; thus, to view him as the Messiah is a betrayal of the prophetic tradition. The real Messianic Jews are those who await the true Messiah who will inaugurate the age of peace and spiritual enlightenment for Israel and the world. In this spirit, they proclaim the following principle of our faith: “I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may delay, nevertheless, I wait every day for his coming.”
As I sit in my Jerusalem home, I pray that our lost brothers and sisters who have adopted Christian beliefs will return to their One Loving God, to their life-giving Torah, and to their people, which was given the Torah and its interpretations.
It is not incumbent on a Jew to try to persuade a non-Jew to believe in Hashem. As I said before whatever you personally believe is your own business. But it is important to be considerate of others and not impose your idols on others.
PS: I work with people of all races and religions. There is nothing wrong with working with people of other religions. I simply feel uncomfortable around Buddha and Jman idols.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/8121
PS: I removed an inflammatory sentence from this article. I did it in an attempt to rectify any animosity I generated by making that statement.
PPS: Here is a link to the laws of Moshiach as written by RAMBAM {Maimonides} http://www.sichosinenglish.org/books/mashiach/09.htm .
