Okay, now I *do* have a Jewish-related question.

[conuly]

I vaguely know who the Jews for Jesus and Messianic Jews are. I'm curious, though - the few times I've heard them mentioned, it's been with some hostility. Why?

Comments

[readerravenclaw.livejournal.com]

You're right, it isn't technically a misnomer, but it's very, very deceptive. Not the name itself, I suppose, in a completely literal sense - but the whole jfj organization itself. If you look around online, you can find a large number of stories from ex-jfj members who mention cult-like aspects of the organization, and the organization misquotes and quotes out-of-context everywhere in their literature. Their basic claim is that J. is the Messiah that the Jews have been waiting for, and it's true that a belief in a Messiah is a fundamental part of the Jewish religion, but 1. there are very specific qualifications and indication of what the Jewish Messiah is going to be like and what he's going to do, which J. doesn't qualify for at all, and 2. Just as fundamental a belief as that of a Messiah is that God does not and will never assume any sort of bodily form. Claiming that a human being is actually a god is utterly against Jewish belief.