A few weeks back, I started to see the billboards around town that are advertising Jews For Jesus. Having been raised in a religious Christian home, I was intrigued by the advertisements. One above the Boulevard of the Allies reads:
“Jews for Jesus
Isn’t that like vegetarians for meat?
No, not really. Any other questions?”
I liked the humorous tone of the billboard, and I wanted to know more about the group.
But since I don’t work downtown, I didn’t actually see any of the Christian Chosen proselytizing on the street until Friday evening. At that time I saw a guy wearing an Israeli-blue shirt that said Jews for Jesus, talking to some folks in front of the Squirrel Hill Giant Eagle. On Saturday in Shadyside, I saw folks in forest green shirts that said: “Jesus for the Kosher.” There were a few of these folks hanging out along Walnut Street, passing out tracts to those who’d take them, and talking to whoever would speak to them.
Clutching a notebook and a pen, I approached one of the pamphleteers to interview her. As I started to fire questions at her, she looked a bit bewildered.
“Could you take off your sunglasses?” she asked me. I apologized and I took of the sunglasses, and continued questioning her. She said that she was not Jewish, but she was helping the group to spread the Word. “Holy chutzpah,” she called it, after handing me a tract with the title, “CHUTZPAH.”
“People think that if you’re Jewish and become Christian, you’re not Jewish anymore. But if you become a Buddhist, you’re still white,” she said.
The woman declined to be named but she said that she was one of a couple dozen folks who were witnessing across the city. Their message was not always thoughtfully received, she said, confessing that she had received negative responses from Jews and non-Jews, one of whom said, referring to the Crucifixion: “You killed him!”
Now I must admit that I feel for these people, because my parents were Holy Rollers. My late father was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and he also was a Gideon—yes, one of those guys who passes out the little New Testament Bibles on college campuses. I’d never seen him pass them out, but it’s pretty similar to passing out tracts, I think. I imagine you sometimes catch guff from people who don’t appreciate your message.
The Jews For Jesus volunteers who are out in force in Pittsburgh are part of the organization’s “Behold Your God” campaign. Volunteers for the five-year campaign, which is in its fifth year, are visiting 60 cities across the country that have populations of 25,000 or more Jews, said Garrett Smith, the director of the Boston branch of Jews For Jesus who has been in town for the campaign. About 25 volunteers are witnessing on the streets of Pittsburgh, and numerous churches are involved, he added. “All kinds of folks are involved at various levels. Our outreach is to the Jewish community of Pittsburgh, but it’s open to everyone,” he said
Pittsburgh is home to about 50,000 Jewish people. One of the groups involved in supporting the Jews For Jesus effort is the Messianic Jewish congregation of Yashua Ben David.
So far in what will be a two-week stop in Pittsburgh, members of Jews For Jesus have trod the streets of downtown Pittsburgh, Oakland, Squirrel Hill and South Side. To display its message locally, the group has bought space on seven billboards and a few transit shelters.
Originally from San Francisco, Smith said he had never heard the message of Christ while he was growing up. He became a Christian 12 years ago, while he was in Israel. “A Jewish boy goes to Israel and becomes a Christian,” he said, laughing.
Isn’t it questionable to try to change someone’s born religion, I asked Smith.
“If you believe there are consequences to your religion, then it becomes something of a lot of significance. What we believe is important,” he said.
But why do Jews need to know about Jesus, if they worship the same God as Christians?
“Jewish people believe the message of the Gospel doesn’t apply to them. We believe that Jesus is for everybody,” Smith said.
7 comments:
J4J were down in the Strip this Saturday while I was getting juniper berries at Penzeys. They were on two to three corners of four at various intersections quietly handing out leaflets wearing fluorescent tee shirts that said "Jews for Jesus". At any indication of noninterest, they backed off with the leaflet.
Seemed about as decent as you can get for people pushing leaflets in the street.
Amen to that!
Thanks for weighing in, amos.
i wish people would just rejoice in their own religious paths/ or none, and stop trying to save others. people will find their own ways. i am happy the jews for jesus are happy, but still..
one of my best friends from kindergarden on through high school to, today, including catholic grade school is now and has been for over 30 years, happily a jew. she converted from being a croatian/ american catholic to a croation/ american jew. the jews for jesus offend a lot of jews, they just, annoy me, as does anyone that pushes their views at me. if one must push their religious beliefs, let them do it by example, not by aggravation and holier than thou attitudes and spending tons of cash to target cities and neighborhoods. just my little rant.
I hear you and pretty much agree with you, Sherry.
But I don't think the JFJ folks are trying to push their religion, they're just following their religion by spreading the word about it.
yes, but a lot of people use their reading of their religious scriptures to do a lot of negative things. i was told the jews for jesus were more aggressive in their appoach in neighborhoods with high jewish populations, not to mention the fact that it is highly upsetting for others to tell you that the beliefs you have are wrong when those beliefs comfort and suit you. it is arrogance to try to "save" jews or muslims or buddists or christians of a different denomination than you or athiests or agnostics or hindus, pagans etc. not to get over dramatic, but people shoot doctors and bomb clinics and buildings and schools etc. because they believe they are following some divine plan. yes, leaflets and bullets are worlds apart, but the belief system is the same. " we are right, you are wrong, we must covert you" doesn't matter ,if all the compassion in the world is behind that thought, it is still offensive.
I saw the JFJ folks in action in Squirrel Hill and Shadyside on a few occassions. I walked past them and listened to how they interacted with people. Then I also talked to one of them on the street.
They weren't pushy, unless it is pushy and an affront to people to try to spread your religious message.
I don't mind Jews For Jesus, Hindus, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses or anybody else passing out tracts on the street. I just don't like it when they come to my door, as I've told the Jehovah's Witness people.
I understand what you're saying about it being aggressive to try to change another's beliefs, which is why I wrote the story. I also find it to be somewhat aggressive behavior.
People don't like to be confronted about their beliefs, or told they are wrong. But the JFJ folks believe that it is a matter of life or death that they spread their message.
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