Counter missionaries are individuals or groups which attempt to prove Yeshua is NOT the promised Messiah of Israel and/or promote doctrines that severely reduce his accomplishments. Whereas I agree with some of the issues raised by these groups with regard to the false teaching that Yeshua is God and other erroneous traditional doctrines of Christianity, I nonetheless vehemently oppose them because of how they accuse Yeshua and his followers of inventing and promoting these false Christian beliefs. In these articles, as time permits, I hope to expose how counter missionary organizations profane the very God they claim to worship. My focus will be on the typical errors practiced by these groups. The 3 primary errors I will discuss, which are also the ways in which they brazenly profane the Eternal One, are:
Loshon hora is the Hebrew word for evil talk. Slander, libel, gossip, etc. are all examples of evil talk. The book, A Lesson A Day, The Concepts and Laws of Proper Speech Arranged for Daily Study, by Chofetz Chaim, defines loshon hora as:
Loshon hora (lit., evil talk) is defined as information which is either derogatory or potentially harmful to another individual. A derogatory statement about someone is loshon hora, even if it will definitely not cause that person any harm. To focus on the shortcomings of another person is itself wrong.
A statement that could potentially bring harm to someone - be it financial, physical, psychological or otherwise - is loshon hora, even if the information is not negative.
Hotzaas Shem Ra is the Hebrew term for slander and is, perhaps, the most wicked type of evil talk. It is this extremely sinful practice that counter missionary groups most aggressively pursue. The zeal with which they slanderously misrepresent Yeshua and his ORIGINAL followers betrays a gross lack of concern for the enormously sinful practice of slander, and therefore is a clear way in which they often INTENTIONALLY profane the very God whose Torah they claim to honor.
Bearing false witness is a "nice" way to phrase "telling a lie." I will thus refer to it from here on as lying, since that is precisely what it is, and those that practice it are liars.
Over and over and over within the pages of counter missionary literature or websites I encounter lies about Yeshua and his first century followers. It is likely that those promoting these lies are simply ignorant of the truth; however, it is difficult for me to accept that ALL of them are simply ignorant. I feel the uncomfortable fact is that some are intent on spreading misinformation (LIES) about the TRUE Messianic faith and the Messiah on which it is based.
I suspect many of these organizations are simply ASSUMING the false teachings of Christianity are what Yeshua and his followers promoted. However, such is NOT the case, and I elaborate at length on this site about that very issue. The mistake made by counter missionary groups - either intentionally or ignorantly - is to equate the paganized, anti-Hebraic, anti-Semitic, anti-Torah, anti-Messiah (antichrist), traditional errors of Christianity with the teachings of the Jewish Messiah Yeshua and his Jewish followers. So, counter missionaries, traditional Christians, and counterfeit Messianics all make exactly the same mistake by totally misrepresenting Yeshua and his original followers. In short, they ALL bear false witness (lie) of the truth.
What makes it worse in the case of the counter missionaries is that they intentionally fail to inform their readers of the Hebraic focused Messianic sites (such as those of the SHEMA sitering), which present an entirely different and TRUE picture of Yeshua and the Messianic faith. In doing so they prove themselves to be deceitful violators of the very Torah they claim to honor. A major ingredient of sites like those of SHEMA, which counter missionaries often fail to mention, is the proof that Yeshua is a staunch advocate of the TRUE Torah, he is NOT God, he never claimed to be God, and NONE of his original followers considered or taught he is God! Counter missionaries know if such information becomes available they may find it much more difficult to misrepresent Yeshua to their predominantly Jewish readers. Of course, counter missionaries, unlike counterfeit Messianics and traditional Christians, know Scripture is clear on the fact that Messiah is NOT God; therefore, I have no argument with them with regard to that specific issue.
The final practice of counter missionary groups lies at the very heart of THE primary error of Rabbinic Judaism. It arose after the destruction of the second Temple when, even Judaic literature admits, Judaism was "restructured." The dominant result of this restructuring was the granting of godlike status to the sages (Rabbis). In fact, the very term "Rabbinic" Judaism reveals this error. It is a Judaism - a largely NEW religion - INVENTED by the "Rabbis," which had its seed planted when the "sages" of the first century convened a council in Yavneh following the second Temple destruction and defeat by the Romans. In that council the foundation was laid for a complete restructuring of the Judaic faith. Thus, the Rabbinic Judaism of today is NOT the Biblical Judaism that was practiced prior to and during the time of Yeshua the Messiah. A primary ingredient of that restructuring was a "reappraisal" of Messianic verses and a wholesale upheaval of the faith to counter the truly pagan doctrines that were being formulated by their enemies - the anti-Hebraic Christian "church fathers." Another major change the Rabbis made was the virtual elimination of the sacrificial system, replacing it with "prayer and good deeds." This is particularly shocking since the written Torah clearly shows blood atonement and the sacrificial system to be a primary Torah foundation. By eliminating what God shows to be crucial, the Rabbinic sages usurped God and His Torah.
I must add that I do sympathize with the zeal of the Rabbinic Sages to protect the Hebraic truths of Scripture and feel their efforts to protect Torah from the determined and continuing efforts of the church to rid the world of it will merit them great and deserved reward. It is for this reason - and others - that I do have tremendous respect and awe for the Sages of Judaism. I consider their insight and record of traditional Hebraic understandings to be extremely profitable for those seeking deeper understanding of the Eternal One and His Torah. However, as is often the case in bitter struggles, they went too far as they fought (and often died) against the pagan church, which resulted in the introduction of errors of their own and ended up sadly hiding their Messiah from their own people.
As I said, Rabbinic Judaism (which is largely the core ideals of counter missionaries) gives godlike status to the Rabbinic Sages. THE central characteristic of this Sage-god faith is the usurping of God's Torah with their own. A central belief one must hold in Rabbinic Judaism is that the "Oral Torah" - Rabbinic commentary and teachings - are EQUAL to the written Torah of Scripture. Rabbinic Jews, without ANY substantiation whatsoever for their claim, teach the "Oral Torah" given to Moses, was passed without error down through the Sages to its present form. It doesn't take a genius to see the huge potential for error that is inherent in the granting of such godlike power to the Rabbis. I very much agree that a LOT of valuable and inspiring truth IS found in the Oral Torah; however, to doggedly claim perfection for it is ludicrous! Furthermore, to present and intermingle it with the LITERAL Torah of God corrupts the purity of the written Torah! It's like mixing a random bucketful of questionable ditch water with a bucket of fresh spring water and calling it pure.
Actually, this is little different from the situation with the great harlot of Rome - the Catholic church - where the same infallibility is given to the Pope. It is the same error! The Catholics do it with the Pope and the church fathers - the Mormons to it with Joseph Smith - the Seventh Day Adventists do it with Ellen White - and the Jews do it with the Rabbis. In each case divine authority is given to men (or a woman in the case of Adventists). However, Rabbinic Judaism may actually be the worst example of this. It is an almost universal truth that EVERY organization that places divine authority in the hands of mankind is crippled with numerous unscriptural doctrines. Traditional Christianity, in general, does this with their blind acceptance of tradition. The ONLY Truth is that found in the pages of Holy Scripture! Whenever those pages are departed from, corruption is inevitable.
So, how does this specifically impact the presentation of counter missionaries? Well, the primary way is how they often accuse Yeshua and his followers of "violating" Torah. In actuality, the "Torah" being "violated" is the Oral Torah - manmade traditions - of their Sages.
It is extremely rare to find an example of the TRUE written Torah being "violated" by Yeshua, even though I am forced to rely upon the sometimes questionable text of the New Testament. There is a possible case which comes to mind from John 6 where Yeshua appears to suggest what the Torah presents as an abomination, which is the implied LITERAL eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood. However, I am of the opinion those verses may well have been one of the edits of early Christian scribes to support the pagan transubstantiation practice since John's account is presented in a context which is different than the other Gospel records. I discuss this in the article regarding the lord's supper. Frankly, there are a number of strange anti-Hebraic issues regarding John's Gospel that continue to cause me grief; however, none of them are with regard to the Trinity issue. I am of certain opinion Yeshua NEVER violated the actual Torah of God. If he had, he would not have been an acceptable, sinless sacrifice.
The point is that in virtually every case where Yeshua or his original followers are accused by counter missionaries of violating Torah, it is the RABBINIC traditions that are being violated. Counter missionaries are actually angered by the fact Yeshua rejects their traditions! Yeshua NEVER violated written Torah, but he did fight against the outlandish traditions and ever-spreading fences of manmade Rabbinic tradition. It is for this reason counter missionaries despise Yeshua. He exposes their Sage-god mentality. In short, he attacks THEIR idol - "Rabbinic" authority!
I may elaborate on specific examples of the deceit of counter missionaries in other articles. In each instance I will point out how the 3 tactics discussed above are used by these groups.