A Bun In The Oven

Blog

  • Barriers to Christian Witness

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Hurdling Barriers that Prevent Christian Witness

    Hurdling Barriers that Prevent Christians from Witnessing to Jewish People One key to effective personal evangelism is setting aside stereotypes. Stereotyping any people hinders, rather than helps, our Gospel proclamation to them. When non-Jewish people meet Jewish people personally, they will think about and speak to the stereotypes rather than truly getting to know the person.

    Jewish people are involved in all levels of society. Yet, people stereotype them by appearance, cultural or religious differences. Some say that Jewish people are moneyed or that they control financial institutions or the entertainment industry. Others say that Jewish people are close-knit and exclusive of non-Jewish people.

    (more…)

  • What Hampers Christian Witness

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Hurdling Barriers that Prevent Christian Witness

    Hurdling Barriers that Prevent Christians from Witnessing to Jewish People One key to effective personal evangelism is setting aside stereotypes. Stereotyping any people hinders, rather than helps, our Gospel proclamation to them. When non-Jewish people meet Jewish people personally, they will think about and speak to the stereotypes rather than truly getting to know the person.

    Jewish people are involved in all levels of society. Yet, people stereotype them by appearance, cultural or religious differences. Some say that Jewish people are moneyed or that they control financial institutions or the entertainment industry. Others say that Jewish people are close-knit and exclusive of non-Jewish people.

    (more…)

  • Confronting Evangelistic Obstacles

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Evangelistic Obstacles That Prevent Christians From Witnessing

    At age 15, I went with my parents to the drivers license examiner’s office, and took a written test to qualify for a learner’s permit. The first time I sat behind the wheel of my father’s 1955 Oldsmobile 98, my father sitting in the passenger seat, I noticed first how nervous he was – and how nervous I was!

    (more…)

  • Jewish Treatment Under Early Christianity

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    From the 4th Century to the Reformation

    Hugh Schonfeld’s A History of Jewish Christianity records that in the fourth century such fear of the Jews existed that the church thought it necessary to outline the boundaries of inter-relationships between Jewish people and church members.

    The sixty-fourth Canon stated:

    If any clergyman entered a synagogue of the Jewish people, or the heritage (the Nazarenes) to pray, let the clergyman be deposed. If a layman, let him be excommunicated. If any bishop, Presbytery, or Deacon, or any of the list of the clergy, keeps the fast or festivals with Jewish people, or receives from them any of the gifts of their feasts (unleavened bread, etc.), let him be deposed, or if a layperson, excommunicated. And if any person, whether clerical or faithful, shall take food with a Jewish person, he is to abstain from our communion that he may learn to amend his ways.

    (more…)

  • Jewish Mission History

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    A Brief History of Jewish Missions

    Jewish evangelism, the work of bringing the good news that Jesus is the Messiah to Jewish people, is not just a 20th Century phenomenon. In fact, it goes back through recorded human history. Galatians 3:6 reads, “Consider Abraham: ‘He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’ “

    People of faith are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are men of faith are blessed through Abraham, who had faith.

    (more…)

  • Jewish Concerns

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Current Concerns of Jewish People

    If you speak with two or three of your Jewish friends, you will find that they hold many similar concerns:

    • The survival of their people in light of the growing roots of anti-Semitism

    • Issues surrounding the state of Israel in the heat of political turmoil and battles that rage in the Middle East

    • Declining numbers of Jewish people, in light of intermarriage and children moving away from religious lifestyles

    • Social concerns, including disease and oppression throughout the world

      (more…)

  • Modern Traditions and Customs

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Modern Jewish Traditions and Customs

    Synagogue

    Synagogue, community, home and family have brought about many traditions and customs, which play important roles in Jewish people’s lives today. Everything in the synagogue, the center of worship, focuses on the place of the Torah and of the scriptures, which are front and center in worship, literally and figuratively. The scrolls that contain the words of the Torah are kept in an ark, a closet, behind closed doors and are surrounded by symbols that cause man to reflect on the place of the Scriptures in the life of men.

    (more…)

  • The Jewish Festivals

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Important Jewish Festivals

    The cycle of Jewish festivals that govern religious life today are outlined in Leviticus 23. The first festival, held weekly, is given the highest place within Jewish life. It is known as Shabbat, the Sabbath. Leviticus 23:3 reads, “Six days shall work be done. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.”

    The Sabbath begins at sundown on Friday and runs through sundown of the following day, a time when the family comes together. The Sabbath is a time of joy, change, rest and reflection. It is also a time of worship, studying the Scriptures, and reflecting upon God, our Creator. A festive occasion, the Sabbath is welcomed as a bride, or as the “Queen Sabbath.”

    (more…)

  • The Jewish Calendar

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Basic Jewish Teaching: The Calendar

    The Jewish calendar is really two calendars in one. The civil year and New Year begin in September, the month of Tishre. The religious year begins with the month of Nissan, March or April. The first month of the civil calendar falls on the seventh month of the religious calendar.

    The present Jewish calendar is lunisolar, the months being reckoned according to the moon and the years according to the sun. A month is the period of time between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next. The number of days in a year in this Jewish lunar calendar is shorter than the number of days in the solar calendar. The lunar year consists of twelve months, or 354 days, approximately 10 days, 21 hours shorter than the solar calendar.

    (more…)

  • The Jewish Calendar

    pdfDownload this Topic
    pdfDownload the Book

    Basic Jewish Teaching: The Calendar

    The Jewish calendar is really two calendars in one. The civil year and New Year begin in September, the month of Tishre. The religious year begins with the month of Nissan, March or April. The first month of the civil calendar falls on the seventh month of the religious calendar.

    The present Jewish calendar is lunisolar, the months being reckoned according to the moon and the years according to the sun. A month is the period of time between one conjunction of the moon with the sun and the next. The number of days in a year in this Jewish lunar calendar is shorter than the number of days in the solar calendar. The lunar year consists of twelve months, or 354 days, approximately 10 days, 21 hours shorter than the solar calendar.

    (more…)