Ann Coulter says Jews should become Christians—Is she right?

Within one short week, President Bush stated that Muslims, Jews, and Christians all pray to the same God while Ann Coulter stated that Christians are “perfected” Jews and that all Jews should become Christians. (link to CBS news story below)

Donny Deutsch, himself a Jew, was offended by Coulter’s comments, Michael Savage, also Jewish, accused Coulter of being anti-Semitic, and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has called upon Ms. Coulter to renounce her comments, pointing out that Jesus himself was a practicing Jew. Rabbi Boteach has also called for Jews and Christians to work together for moral and cultural change.
Conducting Talk Show interviews on this topic is Dr. Michael L. Brown, who is considered the world’s foremost Messianic Jewish apologist and author of "What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?"

Dr. Brown says there is both truth and error in each position. Dr. Brown argues that while Jesus was a rabbi who lived and died as a faithful Jew, he saw himself as the Messiah of Israel, and, according to the New Testament, if Jesus is not the Messiah of Israel then he is the Messiah of no one.

Amazingly, many Christians today don’t even know that “Christ” is the Greek way of saying Messiah, and they think of Jesus as the founder of a Gentile religion called Christianity.

Not so. “Christianity” began as an entirely Jewish movement, and if Jesus is not for the Jews, he is not for the Gentiles!

Dr. Brown also points out that while it is highly offensive for a Christian to tell a Jewish person that he or she can only be “perfected” through Jesus, the Christian view is that what Judaism longs for on a corporate, universal level has already come on an individual level through Yeshua the Messiah. Jews, on the other hand, can rightly say to Christians, “Show me the change in your life and then I’ll consider your message.”

Brown faults Coulter for her misrepresentation of Judaism, as if it is a completely legalistic religion, and her misrepresentation of Christianity, as if it is a religion without laws. He agrees with Rabbi Boteach in his call for Jews and Christians to work together for moral and cultural change but argues that here in America, most Jews and Christians are not truly practicing their faith.

Dr. Brown also believes that Coulter misrepresented the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, claiming that he stated that all Jews go to heaven. Rather, Rev. Falwell stated that the only way to heaven for all people – Jew and Gentile alike – is through Jesus, a comment that many Jews claim to be anti-Semitic.

Dr. Michael Brown is uniquely qualified to weigh in on all these subjects, being himself a Jewish follower of Jesus who, as a visiting professor, has debated rabbis and Jewish professors on TV, radio, and college campuses. He holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University and is a prolific author and the host of the new Jewish-Christian documentary TV show “Think It Thru” to be aired on INSP.

LINK TO CBS NEWS STORY REGARDING ANN COULTER’S REMARKS:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/12/national/main3361954.shtml


ABOUT THE BOOK…

“What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?” (Oct. 2007 Chosen Books, imprint of Baker Books), that centers on questions about Jewish-related issues asked from a Christian perspective.

KEEP THE MEAT AWAY FROM THE MILK!
Insights into Jewish custom and belief

Curiosity concerning Jewish custom is nothing new. The popularity of Hassidic Jewish rapper Matisyahu is perhaps the most contemporary sign of the Western world’s interest in the ways of Jewish culture and their struggle to live out their faith.

Dr. Michael Brown, considered the world’s foremost Messianic Jewish apologist, is well aware of this and has already written four books answering Jewish objections to Jesus. His newest book, What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus? (ISBN: 978-0-8007-9426-2, October 2007, $17.99), centers on questions about Jewish-related issues asked from a Christian perspective.

The seed for the book grew out of the tremendous response to two websites Brown helped to launch:

www.icnministries.org and www.realmessiah.org. Brown became inundated with repeat questions, in particular Christian questions about Jewish beliefs, Jewish background to the New Testament, and how Christians should relate to the Law. “In many ways, this book is also my way of being proactive in answering questions I expect to be asked in the future,” says Brown.

There is another, more serious reason for writing the book, however. It is also a response to what Brown calls “concern over the ever-growing number of bizarre and sometimes heretical teachings coming from the fringes of the Jewish roots movement. When it comes down to it, I am deeply committed to the church’s recovering her severed and often forgotten Jewish roots, but I am concerned about some dangerous trends.”

Brown answers sixty questions in the book which is split into four parts: Judaism and Jewish Practice - The Jewish People and Jewish History - Rabbi Yeshua and the Jewish Background to the New Testament - and Contemporary Christians, the Law of Moses, and the State of Israel.

Some of the questions include: “What are the seven laws of Noah?” – “What Do Jewish People Think About Jesus?” – “Should Christians Keep the Law?” – “Should Christians Unconditionally Support the Nation of Israel?”


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To schedule an interview with MICHAEL BROWN, call: 630-848-0750