BLACK HEBREW ISRAELITES: SLIM JIM’S NOTES

Yesterday I posted on here a dialogue a Christian (host of Back Pack Radio Show) had with the racist Black Hebrew Israelites, who thinks Jews are the true Hebrews.  

There has not been a lot of Christian resources and apologetics dealing with this movement, which has various subgroups with different beliefs.

The following is my notes: First, I have practical apologetics pointers and secondly are some of my thoughts on what the Black Hebrew Israelites were saying.

APOLOGETICS TO THE STREETS PRACTICAL POINTERS:

-Remember to be gentle and respectable even when they are not.

– Talk to the less dogmatic member of the group when they are dominating loudly in the conversation.

– Use advantage of having other believers and the crowd to control the conversation

– Press them on the goal post for their exegesis:  It is not enough to show verses that the faith/salvation is for Israel; they have to show it’s only for Israel with no inclusion of Gentiles to prove their view

-Ask them a lot of questions if you are not sure what they believe ask them so you can accurately understand them

– Have the burden of proof on them by asking them questions; some helpful questions:

• Does the Bible show that no one outside of Israel will ever be saved, not even one?
• Show me where in the Bible that “Ethnos” ever refer to land and not people?

-Verses to keep in mind: Galatians 3:28 (“no Jews or Greeks”) and Revelation 21:24-27 (nations and their kings being cleaned, in heaven)

METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS:

“ Line by Line” they say, but they haven’t done a good job of dealing with the verse within context.

 

EXAMINING VOCAB MALONE’S INTERACTION

CLIP 1

1.)    Objection: They use Acts 17:24 to go against Malone going to a building to worship God on the basis of this verse

RESPONSE:

• But in of itself worshipping in a building is not wrong, because at one time God instituted the Temple in the OT
• John 4:24 is true, but don’t forget that Paul still went to the Temple in Acts 21:26-28

2.)    Objection: Response to Acts 17:26 by quoting from 2 Ezdras 6:54-56

54 And after these, Adam also, whom thou madest lord of all thy creatures: of him come we all, and the people also whom thou hast chosen.

55 All this have I spoken before thee, O Lord, because thou madest the world for our sakes

56 As for the other people, which also come of Adam, thou hast said that they are nothing, but be like unto spittle: and hast likened the abundance of them unto a drop that falleth from a vessel.

57 And now, O Lord, behold, these heathen, which have ever been reputed as nothing, have begun to be lords over us, and to devour us.

58 But we thy people, whom thou hast called thy firstborn, thy only begotten, and thy fervent lover, are given into their hands.

59 If the world now be made for our sakes, why do we not possess an inheritance with the world? how long shall this endure?

RESPONSE:

• Apocrypha, not Bible

CLIP 2

3.)    Objection: Gentiles are the Jews

RESPONSE:

• Makes Romans 1:16 unintelligible

4.)    Objection: Deuteronomy 7:6, that the BHI are a special people

RESPONSE:

• Being a special people does not mean that others are not beneficiaries of God’s blessing

1.                                                                i.      The reason the Hebrews were free from Egpytian slavery is because of the Abrahamic Covenants (Exodus 3:6, 16)  and don’t forget the content of the Abrahamic covenant is to bless others (Genesis 12:3)
2.                                                              ii.      Even more so in light of the NT and the New Covenant

• But is it BHI? How do they respond to other enthno-centric cults who claim this applies to them such as the British Israelites movement?

CLIP 3

5.)    Objection: The New Testament was written in Latin based upon John 19:20

RESPONSE:

• Here this passage mentioned that the writing, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews” was written on the inscription of the cross that Jesus was being crucified in.
• These BHI makes the mistake of assuming that just because there were people in Jerusalem during the death of Jesus that knew how to read Latin does not mean the New Testament itself was in Latin

6.)    Objection: The Dead Sea Scroll does not have the Old Testament, it has the New Testament, it has the Gospel of Thomas

RESPONSE:

• DSS does have OT passages (think of the Isaiah Scroll!)
• Gospel of Thomas is not part of the New Testament!

 

CLIP 4

7.)    Objection: Salvation is only for Israel according to Acts 7:31

RESPONSE:

• Acts 7:31 does not say only for Israel
• Later the Gospel went to others as well as the book of Acts unfold especially with Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, which he described in his own word in Romans 11:13.
• Turning to Romans 11, we read about Israel being darkened (v.7-10) and then how salvation has come to the Gentiles (v.11-12);
• Looking closely at Romans 11:15 means reconciliation of the world!
• John 12:32
• Goes contrary to the example of Cornelius in Acts 10 and the conclusion Peter reached in Acts 10:34-35, and the Spirit’s miraculous confirmation of tongues in Acts 10:44-45.

8.)    Objection: Matthew 28:19-20 reference to nations means Jews in those physical location of other nations

RESPONSE:

• The passage makes no reference to Jews only in those physical location of nations.
• Term “nations” never refer to physical locations in the New Testament, but only to people.  Burden of proof is on them to prove otherwise.

CLIP 6

9.)    Objection: Beat up other nations is premittable.

RESPONSE:

• Contrary to the Bible’s teaching such as 1 Peter 2:12, 2:17, 2:20.

10.)                        Objection: Revelation 1:13-15 shows Jesus is black

RESPONSE:

• Text never said that the skin of Jesus was black.
• Symbolic language, do we expect Him to be Asian since it’s burning bright in verse 15 and therefore represent the “Yellow man”?
• With this kind of hermeneutics, do we expect Psalm 45:2-3 and Matthew 17:2 to prove that Jesus is white?

CLIP 8

11.)                        Objection: You can’t be saved you don’t know your nationality.

RESPONSE:

• Where does the Bible teaches that?

12.)                        Objection: The world cannot sin, only Israelite can sin.

RESPONSE:

• “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–” (Romans 5:12)

CLIP 9

13.)                        Objection: Galatians 3:28, the “Greeks” refer to Hellenized Jews not Gentiles

RESPONSE:

• The burden of proof is on them to demonstrate that ελλην refers to Jews that were Hellenized.
• The Greek word used to describe a Hellenized, that is, a Grecian Jew is ελληνιστης such as found in Acts 6:1.
• The context, it is unlikely to refer to Hellenized Greek because of the opposing contrasts such as the opposites of “free” vs. “slave, Male and female.