In the last few days there has been a Jew named Joshua who has been commenting on some old posts. He then went off-topic and demanded that I say whether I agree with certain publications by Dr. E. Michael Jones. Although I had referenced Dr. Jones in passing, the post wasn’t about him. In addition to that he said:
“But what I can say is that with Catholics of your persuasion, there is little distinction between Nazism and the sort of antisemitism you promote.”
This guy would probably call me an idolater for worshipping Jesus Christ. Most rabbis certainly do. Yet somehow I’m promoting antisemitism of Nazi calibre while committing idolatry by worshipping a Jew. You can’t make this stuff up! Anyways, I asked him to retract the comment and told him that if he didn’t I would no longer publish his comments. I’ve never had to do this before with anyone. Not even with leftists, atheists, or members of the LGBT community. All are welcome to comment on this website as long as you don’t slander me or anyone else. Many Jews have commented on the blog before and I haven’t done this, but when one behaves like this, I have no choice. Joshua didn’t retract the comment.
He tried to publish two more comments but I didn’t approve them. In the first comment he said many nasty things. Since I didn’t approve it, I’ll only share one sentence. He said:
“As it stands, I am sickened by the thought that your kind still exists on Canadian soil.”
Imagine if I said those exact words to him. That I’m sickened by the thought that his kind exist on Canadian soil. He would have used the only bullet in his gun which is the all holy and sacred word antisemitism. No need though, he used it anyway so it doesn’t matter.
Joshua then tried to post under a different name on a different post. I didn’t publish that one either. This exchange has made me think of Catholic-Jewish dialogue. What is the fatal flaw of Catholic-Jewish dialogue? The dialogue starts with the assumption that for 2,000 years the Church has butchered Jews because they haven’t believed in Jesus Christ. This assertion is a lie. It has no truth in history.
I know history so they can’t get away with it with me. This makes them uncomfortable in dialogue. Let me give but one example. We often hear how the crusaders butchered the Jewish(and Muslim) inhabitants in the city of Jerusalem when they took it in 1099. What these same Jews won’t tell you is that in 614 AD the Jews partnered with the Persians to sack Jerusalem and when they were successful they killed up to 90,000 Byzantine Christians.
St. Theophanes the Confessor writes:
In this year the Persians took Jordan, Palestine, and its holy city in battle. At the hands of the Jews they killed many people in it: as some say, 90,000. The Jews, according to their means, bought the Christians and then killed them. The Persians captured and left off to Persia Zachariah the patriarch of Jerusalem, the precious and life-giving wood, and many prisoners.
I’m all for dialoguing with Jews. I’m respectful as well. If you look at the exchange between Joshua and I, I was very kind to him before he got extremely nasty. I’m fully willing to dialogue with Jews or anyone who I disagree with in charity. However, when I dialogue with Jews, I don’t grant the premise that they’ve been butchered for 2,000 years for rejecting Jesus Christ. That makes for a whole different conversation.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
– Romans 1:16
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.