JFJ Forums

Note: I had my original post removed and I changed my User name. What I posted included too much personal information (it comes up in Google searches!)

DavidJ posted an email from Graham (got a message that this post was too long so I couldn't include it)

What can I say David. This really touched me deeply! Thank you so much for your and your Pastor's thoughtful response.

It is true that I have experience 0 Judaism in my life. My mom and dad never married...I knew him for a couple years of my life. I have his Jewish name. Though I agree with "If Judaism has not been important to him, which apparently it has not, nothing is going to be gained by getting heavily into it now", there is some emptiness about having nothing to do with part of my heritage. As much as I can't see myself worshiping on Saturdays for example, I think I'd benefit from having Messianic friends. I mean I've had a friends that were Jewish but friends that are Jewish and believers...just the thought of it make me feel more fulfilled.

"He is who he is by the Grace of God not accidents of biology." How beautiful this is! My mom didn't tell me she never married my father until I was a teenager...of course I put 2 and 2 together by then, especially since she had her maiden name! She told me how she feared the day she'd have to tell me. I hugged her and told her how it means nothing. Her and I (I have no siblings) had and have wonderful times together... I give her so much credit for how she sacrificed for me. She raised me Catholic and I will say even then, I felt Jesus was my father.

Regarding my fear of danger. I've been spending too much time watching the news and surfing the net. The last couple weeks I've been bombarding myself with holocaust stuff and there's lost of fears from current affairs in that regard also. I'm a little OCD and sometimes prone to anxiety. I really need to guard my spirit better and not read too much at a time. For me if I let too much in at a time, it is overwhelming. So as far as actually experiencing antisemitism, here's all I can remember in my life:
-A guy at work singing "Hey Ken" when "Hey Jude" was on the radio
-A guy at softball when he heard my name said something about a Bar Mitsvah
-Maybe a couple other silly things like this in my entire life!
-As far as my church being hostile, that's not the case at all. The only thing I experienced is on the church softball team, a teammate corrected the coach that gave my full name and abbreviated my last name. Actually I have a feeling this guy is Jewish...maybe it's why he was sensitive?

So no, I don't think we are in danger...mainly in my mind :o)

I do think being involved with Messianic Judiasm to some extent would give me a sense of pride in my name, and much more of course. I'm tired of wishing my name was different.

What do you think?

Thank you so much David. God bless you!

Ken,
I'm so glad that you have been able to work through this.

I don't mean to add to your anxiety however you do understand that we (Christians/Messianic Jews) are all in this together.  There may come a day when anyone of us are called on to defend our Lord with our lives.

Christians are suffering persecution around the world today more than ever before.

The Voice of the Martyrs

In Him,

Sammy

Thanks Sammy. This board has been healing. Discussing these issues is giving me a sense of pride in my heritage for the first time in my life. We'll see what direction it takes me

Actually, the source of my anxiety might have had more to do with my feeling alone than the actual thought of persecution. Though we have a church family that loves us, I still feel a little different (again I have a little OCD which I know makes me too self conscious). I guess for me to really feel like I fit in, I'd find a church (not a Messianic synogogue) with a bunch of people with Jewish names that we could all share our love for Jesus and our Jewish backgrounds. Probably not realistic so I might have to test the Messianic thing and see where it goes.

Thanks for making me aware of the voice of the martyrs. I will pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I will pray for you too Sammy. God bless you.

I have OCD as well. By the way, is OCD more prominent in Jewish people? I inherited the OCD from my estranged dad, and his Polish-American granddad's last name was Americanized from "_______zki" to "______cki". Also, my Polish-American great-granddad was a Roman Catholic (Jewish Catholic?).

Well, you, me, and probably our relatives. Unless we get a bunch of other responses saying they too have OCD, it's probably not a Jewish thing

Oh. Well, like I said though, I inherited it from my possibly-Jewish dad's (not my mom's) side; and I know a Messianic Jewish person in my church who has OCD. So, I was just wondering if there was a correlation between OCD and Jewish heritage like there is between Tay-Sachs and Jewishness.