Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land.
Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material.
After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it.
The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue, he said.
The Israeli Maariv daily reported Tuesday that hundreds of Jewish religious school students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched. Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were, he said.
He said he regretted the burning of the books, but called it a “commandment” to burn materials that urge Jews to convert.
The reaction was fiery no doubt, but not unexpected. Conversion missionary activity towards children in Israel is not allowed and towards adults frowned upon. This goes quintuple in Orthodox neighborhoods. The missionaries knew what would happen and provoked this on purpose to try to make the Orthodox look unreasonable.
For centuries Christians have forcibly converted Jews, killed many who refused, expelled from their homes many others, and after just asking to be left alone in their own nation, missionaries insist on chasing them around trying to get them to convert.
Despite the purple prose of “latest act of violence against Christian missionaries” there was no violence against the missionaries. The unwanted materials were merely burned to make a point about them being unwelcome. The missionaries have been made repeatedly aware of their services not being wanted or welcome and they do it anyways to provoke people.
When I asked the question “is it ok to burn the bible” turns out, there is a bit in revelations that says you will be damned or some such for burning “this book’ which technically refers to revelations the way it was written, however, Christians can use that to include (due to the poor translation) the entire Bible, and burning it to e a sin (or otherwise destroying it).
Fascinating that people did hold a mass burning of the books, though…and yes, if the dominant religion in a given area is *not* of a certain faith, those who are trying to push their belief system should expect an unwelcome message, at the least.
Why do people forget so quickly that even a few hundred years ago, the arriving missionaries were converting at sword point? It seems to me only the missionaries are forgetful of this…their targets (the non believers) do remember, and never forget.