The slinky blonde in the black leather mini-skirt is at it again. This time Anne Coulter has used her Christian perspective to offend Jewish people.
According to NewsMax Coulter, a conservative pundit told CNBC’s Donnie Deutsch: “We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say … Christians believe the Old Testament (Jews) don’t believe our testament.” Asked by Deutsch if she believed everyone should be Christian, Coulter twice replied “Yes.”
Two observations strike me. First, Anne used the term "perfected". I assume she meant converted . . as in converted to Christ. Second, by believing everyone should be a Christian she is mirroring what every other evangelical Christian believes and what the New Testament teaches. In a sermon given to a Jewish audience, Peter said in Acts 4:12, "salvation is found in no one else [Jesus], for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Am I coming to Anne's rescue? Of course I am. This time Coulter is not just partially right (pun intended) but completely right (intended once more). I agree with her 100%.
To top it off, Coulter is being charged with uttering "hate speech." Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, condemned her comments, calling them “hate speech” and saying: “How does someone who says that Judaism should be thrown out, that Jews should be ‘perfected’ and that America would be better off were everyone Christian continue to receive a megaphone and platform from the news networks?"
Advocating that Jewish people need to accept Jesus as their Messiah is not hate speech. It's actually love speech. To not tell the people of Israel they need to accept Yeshua as their long awaited Messiah is "hate speech". Here's Paul the Apostle's heart on the Jewish need to embrace Jesus: I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh . . (Romans 9:1-3). To wish someone to accept eternal salvation through the Messiah and offering his own eternal salvation in exchange for theirs is not hate speech but heart speech.
Is it hate speech when Muslims wish Christians and Jews accept Mohammed as the final prophet and Allah as God? Is it hate speech when Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons argue their their literary sources or interpretations are the Word of God and that Jews and Christian are devoid of the truth unless they accept these respective positions?
Personally, I think Mormons and JWs are erroneous in their viewpoints. But I would not accuse them of hate speech.
Here was Coulter's position when she was interviewed on Hannity and Colmes the other night. I paraphrase, " All I am doing is standing up for my Christian convictions. I believe Jesus is the only true way of salvation and I am willing to stand up for my beliefs." Colmes accused her of being arrogant. However, isn't it arrogant when Jewish people declare there is only one true God when they recite the Shema on various religious occasions. The Shema makes no room for Hindus or any other polytheism. Is that hate speech?
Hate speech is now boiling down to one's expression of faith. To demand Christians or Jewish people or any other group refrain from espousing their beliefs because these doctrines go against the grain of other religions is closer to hate speech.
Will Jewish people become eradicated if they are all "perfected" as Ira Forman fears? Not really. The Apostle Paul holds out the hope that "all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26). Then in the next verse he argues that Jewish salvation is a sign of God's faithfulness to Israel when He honors the covenant to remove their sins (Romans 11:27). Israel is not eradicated according to the New Testament but affirmed as God's people through their Messiah Yeshua.
In addition, Revelation 7 and 14 refers to Israel as existing in the future end times and Revelation 11 mentions an existing temple in Jerusalem in the last days. In no way is Jewish identity "eradicated" once a Jewish person or the nation accepts Jesus as their Redeemer.
Of course, pre-millennial Christians believe all the Old Testament prophecies that promise a blessed future for Israel in the Messiah's 1000 year kingdom on earth. That does not sound like eradication to me!
Is it hate speech to say Jewish people need to accept Jesus as Messiah? I'll let Jesus answer this final question: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [including Israel, author's comment], baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
