Pick up all the spiritual survival skills needed to empower you to respond confidently to Christian missionaries who challenge your Jewish faith.
SEMINAR TOPICS: For the complete detailed curriculum of the entire 15-week seminar, please see the seminar schedule below.
- 15 Thurs. evenings from Jan 6 – Apr 28, 2022 (skip March 17 and Purim and Apr 14 for Passover Search for Chumatz) • 7:30 PM EST GMT-4
- Special thanks to Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, Toronto, Canada
- Admission: FREE via ZOOM only.
- No “In-Person” attendance is allowed, in compliance with the recent Ontario Government anti-COVID Omicron variant restrictions. Participation is only via ZOOM.
- To attend this lecture series via ZOOM, please register by clicking this link
- Login info and password will be emailed to you prior to the program.
- For more info call 416-789-0020 or info@jewsforjudaism.ca
Over the past two thousand years, the church has waged an unrelenting campaign to convert Jewish people to Christianity. While they seek to ‘save’ all people – Jews are a special target. Over the centuries, missionaries have polished their arguments and developed a highly sophisticated presentation to influence Jewish people.
Since the 1980s, Jews for Judaism has been the leading resource for the Jewish community in responding to the threat posed by aggressive and often deceptive proselytizing efforts.
This comprehensive course is an updated version of our original Counter-Missionary Survival Seminar launched in 1993. The program has been designed to give you confidence as a Jew in facing the claims of missionaries who challenge you online and face-to-face.
You will come to understand the missionary mindset and why they are obsessed with converting Jews. The classes will discuss why Jesus could not have been the Messiah and how Christianity split off from Judaism to become a separate religion. We will explore the problems with missionary doctrines of vicarious atonement and the Trinity and will learn how they twist the meaning of Biblical passages to advance their cause.
• THE JEWISH RESPONSE TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
CURRICULUM: LECTURE TITLES, DESCRIPTIONS AND SCHEDULE:
Session #1 – January 6, 2022
WHY MISSIONARIES TARGET JEWS: Understanding What Makes Evangelical Christians Tick
This session is an overview of the nature and scope of today’s missionary threat to the Jewish community. We will learn what motivates them and the tactics and techniques they have developed to influence Jewish people.
Session #2 – January 13, 2022
CHRISTIAN ZIONISM: Why are Evangelical Christians Such Ardent Lovers and Supporters of Israel?
After a long history of anti-Semitism and persecution by the Church, the emergence of Christian Zionists was confusing for the Jewish community. How are we to understand this phenomenon?
Session #3 – January 20, 2022
WHAT IS THE MESSIAH? How the Scriptures Develop and Define the Concept of The Messiah
To evaluate whether someone is or isn’t the Messiah, we need a clear and accurate definition and criteria of what the Messiah is. This session traces the Biblical concept of the Messiah and contrasts the Jewish and Christian understandings of this vital issue.
Session #4 – January 27, 2022
WAS JESUS THE MESSIAH? How Judaism Responds to the Major Christian Arguments
This session focuses on common claims advanced by missionaries for the Messiahship of Jesus. These include their doctrine of the ‘Second Coming’, the assertion that the spread of Christianity proves its veracity and the insistence that the alleged miracles performed by Jesus prove he was the Messiah.
Session #5 – February 3, 2022
WHO WAS JESUS AND HOW DID CHRISTIANITY DEVELOP AS A RELIGION INDEPENDENT OF JUDAISM?
The earliest followers of Jesus were all Jews. If he was not the Messiah, how are we to understand who he was? Additionally, why did his movement not simply disappear as other groups following false Messiahs faded into oblivion and how did it morph into a non-Jewish faith with virtually no connection to Judaism or the original Jesus movement?
Session #6 – February 10, 2022
EVALULATING THE MESSIANIC MAKEOVER: Could Jesus Die for Our Sins?
Because Jesus failed to fulfill any of the real Biblical criteria of the Messiah, Christianity was forced to invent a novel role for the Messiah and claim that Jesus fulfilled it. This new concept is that the Messiah came to die as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. This class carefully analyzes and refutes this concept.
Session #7 – February 17, 2022
EVEN THE MISSIONARY CAN QUOTE SCRIPTURE: How Evangelists Manipulate the Bible for their Propaganda
One of the major arguments made by missionaries is that the Hebrew Scriptures contain hundreds of prophecies proving that Jesus was the Messiah and confirming other elements of Christian theology. This program outlines the basic ways in which they misread the Bible to advance their agenda.
Session #8 – February 24, 2022
GROUND ZERO FOR CHRISTIANITY: The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53
Many missionaries believe that the most powerful passage in the Jewish Bible for advancing their claims is the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. A surface reading seems to fit in with what Christianity teaches about Jesus. This in-depth analysis of this key passage will explain the problems with the missionary interpretation and suggest how Isaiah should be understood.
Session #9 – March 3, 2022
DID THE PROPHETS SPEAK OF JESUS? Examining Zechariah and Micah
Missionaries frequently claim that the Hebrew Scriptures contain hundreds of prophecies pointing to Jesus and proving that he was the Messiah. In this class, we will cross-examine two of the more popular prophecies found in Zechariah 12:10 and Micah 5:1.
Session #10 – March 10, 2022
DANIEL’S MYSTERIOUS 70 WEEKS: Puncturing a Popular Missionary Prooftext
Ironically, what may be the missionary’s strongest argument is rarely employed because this passage from Daniel chapter 9 is so obscure and convoluted. Nevertheless, it is often simply presented as the claim that Daniel foretold that the Messiah would have to be killed prior to the destruction of the second Temple. They then ask who this may have been. This session will carefully analyze this difficult passage, refute the missionary understanding and explain the actual meaning.
SKIP MARCH 17 FOR PURIM
Session #11 – March 24, 2022
DECONSTRUCTING THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY: Is God 3 or 1?
The doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus are accepted as foundational by virtually all Christian groups. However, some Christians describe it as ‘Christianity’s self-inflicted wound’. This session will discuss the difficulties with this doctrine and with how missionaries have sought to prove it from the Tanach (Hebrew Bible).
Session #12 – March 31, 2022
WHAT WAS GOD’S REVELATION: Why Judaism Includes an Oral Torah?
Most missionaries adhere to the doctrine of ‘sola scriptura’ – that the only authoritative revelation that exists is found exclusively in the text of the Bible. Historically, Judaism insisted that God revealed things to the people of Israel that were purposely not included in the scriptures. This session will present compelling reasons for the legitimacy of the Oral Torah.
Session #13 – April 7, 2022
TORAH AND COMMANDMENTS: How Judaism and Christianity Differ
The word Torah means ‘instruction’. For Jews, the most important aspect of the Bible is that it includes God’s instructions for how we are to live. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, describes God’s commandments in the most glowing terms. However, after the death of Jesus, Christianity began to denigrate the Torah and claim that its teachings are not all eternally binding. This session will comprehensively analyze several aspects of this vital topic.
SKIP APRIL 14 FOR PASSOVER SEARCH FOR CHUMATZ
SKIP APRIL 21 FOR PASSOVER HOLIDAY (SEVENTH DAY)
Session #14 – April 28, 2022
SEEDS OF THE HOLOCAUST: How Christian Jew-Hatred Paved the Way for Hitler’s Final Solution
Scholars are still perplexed by how it was possible for an ‘advanced’ culture, such as Germany’s in the middle of the 20th century, to engineer the genocide of 6 million Jews while the world looked on in silence. It is clear that 2000 years of anti-Jewish vitriol beginning with the New Testament and carrying on through the early Church Fathers and other clerics over the centuries were at least partially responsible. This session will provide a historical overview to history’s longest hatred.
Session #15 – May 5, 2022 (Apr 14 is skipped because of Passover)
IS THERE ANY HOPE FOR JEWS WHO EMBRACE JESUS? Understanding Messianic Jews and How to Help Them
‘Jews for Jesus’ have been described as the ‘canary in the coalmine’ of the Jewish community. Understanding them provides valuable insight into some of the more serious fault lines of the Jewish people today. This session will uncover some of the reasons that people become vulnerable to missionary influence and how we may be able to help them rethink their involvement in the church.
