{"id":6712,"date":"2014-03-09T01:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T06:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.dougbittinger.com\/blog\/?p=6712"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:40","slug":"mumblings-christian-jew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/mumblings-christian-jew\/","title":{"rendered":"MUMBLINGS OF A CHRISTIAN JEW"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Calvin<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Go ye therefore into all the world,”\u00a0 He said.\u00a0 “Does He really mean that”?\u00a0 Is this a command or a request?\u00a0 There is a difference, you know.\u00a0 \u00a0It is a big, cruel world out there.\u00a0 Rome does not deal kindly with new movements.\u00a0 Surely Judaism will not tolerate competition for her converts.\u00a0 Our half-pagan world does not understand a religion of love, grace, and purity.\u00a0 Is it possible for this good news to be absorbed by crude and cruel minds?<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “All the world” would mean telling Gentile folk about Jesus.\u00a0 I think we should keep His gospel for our Jewish people.\u00a0 After all, we are the chosen ones.\u00a0 He was birthed and nurtured by our kind.\u00a0 It was our scriptures that predicted His coming.\u00a0 It was our prophets who anticipated a Messiah.\u00a0 Why should we share this good news with anyone but our own?\u00a0 There are a lot of Gentile pigs out there who would trample\u00a0 the\u00a0 pearls of His marvelous story.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Did not our fathers teach us that such people were unclean?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “All the world” could mean going to dangerous areas of foreign countries.\u00a0 It would be risky going to places where human life is cheap.\u00a0 Barbarians do not understand “turning the other cheek” and dying on a cross, crying “Father, forgive them.”\u00a0 People could get killed trying to convince such pagans that God intended us to live with love instead of hate.\u00a0 The remote areas of our world are not advanced enough to grasp\u00a0this gospel.\u00a0 The only savior they know is whoever can help them get what they want.\u00a0 Loving one’s adversary and treating the enemy with kindness are not principles by which they wish to live.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0“All the world”\u00a0 means going to those close to me who have thought my actions strange since Jesus came into my life.\u00a0 It means loving my neighbor as myself.\u00a0 What I know and have experienced with Jesus can be shared with my nearest critic and my best friend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Perhaps this is harder than going to the barbarians because these are people who know me, warts and all.\u00a0 I’m not sure I am good enough nor know enough to be effective in my own community.\u00a0 After all, Jesus said, ” A prophet is not without honor except in his\u00a0own town.”\u00a0 There is a Samaritan family next door.\u00a0 How could I ever step foot into their house with the gospel when I did not even take food when their child died?<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Surely He did not meant “all the world.”\u00a0 My, my that would include Gentile pigs, barbarian tribes-people, Samaritan half-breeds and the neighborhood riffraff.\u00a0 He must have meant it, however, because He whispered strongly into my ear, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”\u00a0 I know Him well enough to know He would not send me somewhere without His companionship.\u00a0 I must confess.\u00a0 It is into “all the world.”\u00a0 I have been challenged to go.\u00a0 Will you go with me?<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     “Go ye therefore into all the world,”  He said.  “Does He really mean that”?  Is this a command or a request?  There is a difference, you know.   It is a big, cruel world out there.  Rome does not deal kindly with new movements.  Surely Judaism will not tolerate competition for her converts.  Our half-pagan … Continue reading “MUMBLINGS OF A CHRISTIAN JEW”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-6712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6712"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19151,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6712\/revisions\/19151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}