An Evangelical Christian, a Jew, and End Times
"While my colleague and his fellow congregants may want to spare my life and my family’s lives, they do so only with a condition: that we will convert to Christianity."
By Dan Goldfine
I have a colleague who is an Evangelical Christian. We were not close, but I considered him a friend and for a long time I really respected him. He worked with and for me and is a very solid attorney. This man is also an important member of the community and also a war hero.
About two years ago, he called. After telling me that his son was dabbling with the Proud Boys and how torn up he was about that, we started to talk about religion and politics — a mistake. He asked what my views were about Israel and the prospect of the State making peace with its neighboring Palestinian enemies. (The focus was on the West Bank and the Palestinian Authority, not Gaza and Hamas.)
I articulated my views, which, for many years, had been the same as they are now:
Israel must survive as a Jewish State.
Deference should be given to Israel on the decisions it makes as a State, but, as a Jew, I have opinions — many of them regarding Israel.
Finding peace with its neighbors is required for Israel’s long-term survival and required by our faith
The fact that your neighbors behave like enemies does not change these requirements.
I have empathy — as do most Jews — for nearly all Palestinians who live on the West Bank and in Gaza.
The only viable long-term peace will involve a two-state solution, but I am open to any other viable option that anyone can articulate.
At some point in time, if there is no peace with its neighboring enemies, the non-Jewish population on the West Bank and possibly in Israel-proper will rise up, and the majority of the settlers — particularly those who moved to the West Bank for economic reasons — will leave the West Bank. This will make Israel-proper extremely vulnerable.
Israel has made peace with its enemies in the past and, while the results are mixed, the overall results have been positive for Israel and Jews worldwide.
I further explained to my colleague that many Jews (in Israel and in the US) have views that resemble mine and that, in the general sense, my views are in line with or adjacent to mainstream Jewish views. He asked how that could be when there are so many Jewish voices in the US and Israel who take a much more hawkish position and say that a Palestinian state is impossible. I responded that he has overlooked something important: the vast majority of American Jews do not share such views, and the vast majority of Jews (roughly 70%) vote for Democrats.
My colleague then lectured me on how such Jews like me could be so “stupid” and “not understand what is best for the Jewish people.” He asserted that Israel cannot survive by making peace with the Palestinians, because Palestinians will always want to destroy Israel and are evil: “just look at their actions.” He added “how foolish and naïve” he thought I and other American Jews wanting peace with the Palestinians were.
My reaction was rash. I told my Evangelical Christian colleague that I did not need to be lectured by someone whose support for Israel is driven by an end times theology involving the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity, based on out-of-context interpretations of prophets found in the Old Testament. I explained that the prophet Zechariah is not a reliable source for Evangelicals’ end times prophecy. Even assuming he was a valid source of the word of G-d, the prophet Zechariah does not talk of killing two-thirds of the Jews who do not convert to Christianity; rather, the prophet Zechariah talks of killing nonbelievers of the Jewish G-d and lived more than 600 years before the birth of Christ. Evangelical Christians are wrongfully conflating the prophet Zechariah with Zechariahs who lived around the time of Christ and much later.[1]
We then discussed Ezekiel, another Old Testament prophet whom Evangelical Christians rely on. Any translation of Ezekiel is that faithful Jews — not others — will survive the “great fire” upon the invaders of, in, and around Jerusalem. Nothing about converting to Christianity. Ezekiel lived about 550 years before the birth of Christ. He prophesied about the invasion of Jerusalem and destruction of Solomon’s Temple years before the Babylonian empire invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple.[2]
I added, to me, Evangelical Christians and Christian Zionists are not credible in their support for Israel and are not persuasive whatsoever. At their core, while he and they may want to spare my life and my family’s lives, they do so only with a condition: that we will convert to Christianity. I ended with, “I know that that is not right, and you know that that is not right — and I believe you are a better man than that.”
My Evangelical Christian colleague responded that if all of this was true, the erroneous use of prophecies from 600 years before the time of Christ, why do so many Republican Jews and Israeli leaders cater to Evangelical Christians? I said that I really don’t know. Many are sincere; many are not. Many are just mistaken; many know better. But I would not read too much into their support. Politics is complicated. So are people. And Jews are people.
Our discussion ended — as did our friendship. I harbor only disagreement with the man, zero hate. I saw him recently at a retirement party of a mutual colleague. We awkwardly hugged. He asked about my wife and kids. I asked about his wife and kids, including his son who had been involved with the Proud Boys. After the hug and this brief exchange, we went to our “mutual corners” of the party.
DAN W. GOLDFINE is an attorney at the international law firm Dickinson Wright and a former Federal Prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, Antitrust Division.
[1] The prophet Zachariah said in the 6th Century BCE when there were Jews and many others in and around Jerusalem:
In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our G-d.”
[2] The prophet Ezekiel said in the 5th Century BCE about Magog, non-Jewish invaders of Ezekiel’s time, and, perhaps, Jews siding with the invaders:
I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands; and they shall know that I am the Lord. My holy name I will make known among my people Israel; and I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. It has come! It has happened, says the Lord G-d. This is the day of which I have spoken.
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