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Germany: Christians Told Not to Try to Convert Jews

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Nov 18, 2016

The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) decided in their recent synod meeting that German Christians do not have an obligation to evangelize the Jews.

The ethics of Germans evangelizing Jews is complicated by the German reformer Martin Luther’s blatant anti-semitism, as well as the Holocaust and the Nazi party’s annihilation of six million Jews during World War II.

According to ChristianToday.com, during a four-day synod in Magdeburg, Germany, the EKD agreed that Christians are “not called to show Israel the way to God and his salvation.”

The 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg will take place next year and Protestant church leaders want to tread carefully due to Luther’s anti-semitic views.

Luther once wrote regarding the Jews, "Their private houses must be destroyed and devastated, they could be lodged in stables. Let the magistrates burn their synagogues and let whatever escapes be covered with sand and mud. Let them be forced to work, and if this avails nothing, we will be compelled to expel them like dogs in order not to expose ourselves to incurring divine wrath and eternal damnation from the Jews and their lies."

Although the EKD had already repudiated Luther’s statement and held that it “is incompatible with the Biblical testimony of God to His people,” this new measure of no evangelism to the Jews seeks to go even farther.

"We reaffirm our opposition and resistance to old and new forms of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism. The coexistence of Christians and Jews is a common journey on the road to responsibility for justice, peace and the preservation of creation,” the synod’s resolution concluded.

 

Publication date: November 18, 2016