by Rabbi David E. Eidensohn
A Christian friend sent me a piece from the Rev. Pike and asked if I wanted to respond. I answered him that these kind of articles are a problem because they use Christianity to attack Judaism, and this would require me to respond to Christianity. Also, they consider Judaism a gutter religion, and to respond to them would be to dignify their claims, such as rabbis such as me practice bestiality! What should I say, "I don't practice bestiality"? But if my friend sent it to me, and it is there, perhaps I should respond.
Pike's first paragraph begins, "The Bible says sex in marriage is one of G-d's greatest gifts." If this is so, why did the founder of Christianity never marry? Why did the Church, for thousands of years, forbid a spiritual priest to marry? Lie number one.
The second paragraph claims that G-d took Israel for his bride and when the founder of Christianity became the deity, he "rescued her from oblivion." Alas, "Israel...became a spiritual harlot." Another lie. G-d never changed His mind about Jews and He never changed Himself to be the founder of Christianity. That is blasphemy.
The next paragraphs say that Jews are involved in pornography because they descend from Pharisees, the rabbis of the Talmud, who practiced bestiality. I don't want to dignify this by calling it a lie. This is sick.
Unfortunately, ancient Christianity, Catholic and Protestant, had anti-Semitic teachings similar to Rev. Pike's material. Luther was a ferocious hater, not only of Jews, but he was involved in inflaming people to murder peasants. The Catholic Church had ferocious anti-Semites such as Ambrose and Augustine, indeed, hate of Jews is part and parcel of early Christianity.
After the Second World War with its Holocaust, most Christians changed their theology. The Catholics did, and so did the Evangelicals. But there are still Catholics like Mel Gibson's father (and maybe the son when he is drunk) who reject what the new Church has done, and believe in the old way, that Jews are to be hated. There are still Protestants like the Rev. Pike, who believe in the old way, that Christianity is there to pour on hate about Jews, who rejected their beliefs.
I recall my childhood in Washington, DC. We had a mixed neighborhood, and as little kids we all played together fine. When Billy Wilson went to a Catholic parochial school he became a ferocious anti-Semite and would come over to us and curse us and all Jews. When we played baseball, there was a Protestant called Tommy who would pitch a fastball at the head of any Jew who came to bat. The fact is, that the early Christian religion was ferociously anti-Semitic. This is documented by a Catholic priest in his classic, "Constantine's Sword."
Today it is rare to hear in America of a Christian who is anti-Semitic. In fact, Christians are the greatest friends of Israel, and are doing a lot for Jews. But the rot is still out there, especially on the Internet.
I wish to reiterate that this piece I am writing is because of respect for a dear Christian friend. I have other Christian friends who would do for me their best as I would do for them. We are partners in the terrible war against the fiends who want to pervert the world, dominate it and control it and contaminate our children. We must stand strong. We must stand together. We want a world of peace, without the radicals and without the haters. We must fight both.
Now in Jerusalem the Jews and Christians are standing together to fight the International Gay Parade. They want to take over and seduce our children. They won't because we are together and will defeat them.
Indeed, the best friend of the perverts is someone like Rev. Pike. By showing that religious people are haters they promote secularism. Hollywood is filthy because people prefer filth to religious wars. I don't say that people are right about that, but secularism has triumphed because religious hate caused wars and much bloodshed. That is a historical fact. Therefore, if we want to prevail against the radicals, we must answer the haters like Rev. Pike. He is the radical's best friend and only hope.
Now, let's look again into the claim about Israel as a bride of heaven. I believe, of course, that G-d took Israel as His bride at the Covenant with Abraham described in Genesis, about 3700 years ago. I also believe that the Covenant G-d made did not die, decline, or change in any way, and that Israel is today the bride of G-d. G-d does not change His mind, and He surely does not change Himself! The claim of Rev. Pike that G-d not only changed brides but changed Himself into the founder of Christianity is incredible, but then again, that is what he believes.
Rev. Pike explains that Jews are prone to porn because they come from Talmudic rabbis called Pharisees. I am a Pharisee, as I accept the teaching of the Talmud and the rabbis, and all of us reject Christianity. So Rev. Pike stokes the ancient hate of Israel for rejecting Christianity, and blames the rabbis. As a matter of fact, Christianity died out in Israel very soon after it was founded, and had to be reinvented in Greece by Jews who fled Israel. Jews, all of them, had no interest in Christianity. We are G-d's people and anyone mortal person or even an angel who comes to us and tells us to worship him had better start running. It is as simple as that.
The Catholic priest James Carroll in his modern classic "The Sword of Constantinople" tells us about Saint John Chrysostom, bishop of Antioch around the time of Augustine's baptism. (Page 213) This is what this bishop taught about Jews: "I know that many people hold a high regard for the Jew, and consider their way of life worthy of respect at the present time. This is why I am hurrying to pull up this fatal notion by the roots... A place where a whore stands on display is a whorehouse. What is more, the synagogue is not only a whorehouse and a theater; it is also a den of thieves and a haunt of wild animals... No better disposed than pigs or goats, the Jews live by the rule of debauchery and inordinate gluttony. Only one thing they understand: to gorge themselves and to get drunk...By making themselves unfit for work, they have become ready for slaughter." This prepared people to kill Jews. Augustine absorbed this, as did others, and it remained the tenet of Christianity until the Second World War. Many changed them in order not to be laughing stocks, but not Rev. Pike. He is still out there trying to kill the heretics. That is why many people hate religion. The idea of killing heretics almost destroyed Europe, and it is feared by all civilized people. Rev. Pike is for real. He wants to kill the heretics. The first step is to demonize them, and then to declare that "such people are fit only to be slaughtered," as did Chrysostom and Augustine in their time.
Ambrose wanted to exterminate the Jews. Augustine wanted to torment them so badly that they would have to convert. But both of these profited by the lies told by Rev. Pike and the concept that Israel was a nation of "bestiality", etc.
Once you have a religious zeal in besmirching a decent nation, famed for its family values above all others, we have statements like this from Rev. Pike, "The Pharisees perverted the law to permit adultery." (Well, isn't that an improvement on bestiality? Maybe he means that the rabbis of the Talmud slept with married mates of animals.)
Rev. Pike tells us that Talmudic rabbis practiced adultery, bestiality, and rape. Sounds just like that German fellow over there. They went to the same school.
It goes on and on. Today we laugh at these kind of ravings, but for thousands of years, this was what people were taught by their clergy, and they responded in kind. That Jews survived is proof that we, Israel, are G-d's Chosen people and will never be destroyed. We are patient, we have waited long for our redemption. And we will see it flower and conclude with the destruction of hate.
Jew Haters
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