Apologetics: How do you talk to Jews? --Part 2 -- Religious Considerations.

It is all well and good to talk about how the Bible is a great tool for witnessing to Jews, but what about the modern Jew? What makes them different?

First off the more I study the modern Jew the more I find them to be very much like any other major religion -- common themes, diversity of thought. I suppose you could put them in three major camps --Orthodox, Conservative and Reform -- but that is hardly adequate at all. The fact is there is a commonality of the Torah and Community Worship but to pigeonhole all Jews into a box is just plain intellectually impossible. So don't try. When talking to a Jew you going to have to ask a lot of questions to find out where they are coming from and avoid hot button topics like Israel, the Palestinians and the Sabbath. Remember your fishing not slapping the water.

In witnessing to them there is the advantage of having the Old Testament (don't call it that when you talk to them) as a guide, this is what the early church did, but even then your going to run into different opinions of what the Torah, Prophets and Writings are and how much authority they should have. The real issue is to convince them that Jesus wasn't just a great rabbi but the Messiah. It has worked for some.

Right now one of the most interesting phenomena involving Jews and Jesus is happening -- the Messianic Jewish Movement is growing and gaining steam. Jews are coming to Jesus in record numbers that probably haven;t been seen like this since the first century. I find this interesting and encouraging -- maybe Paul's prayer in Romans is finally being answered.