Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and an appropriate time to think on the small ways in which we can stand up against antisemitism both big and small.
It’s the small that is mostly within our reach day by day and week by week.
One small thing that can be done is what we did last night in Bible study. We are studying the book of John, which often refers negatively to a group it calls “the Jews”. Of course the person who wrote the book was also a Jew, and Jesus was a Jew, so the writer clearly wasn’t referring to all Jews everywhere.
Making these kinds of distinctions is necessary and important for teaching. Understanding also that there are instances of anti-Judaism in the New Testament helps us to read in a more informed and less fundamentalist eye. Very important.
Speaking of fundamentalism. Bill Coffin said a fundamentalist to the Bible is like a drunk to a lamppost. He looking more for support than he is enlightenment.
Let’s be more enlightened in the way we read the Bible and teach our faith. Too much is at stake. And too many of God’s children have lost their lives at the hands of their spiritual siblings. We must #neverforget that.
And we must stand against antisemitism in all its forms — whether it be a synagogue in Colleyville or our own sanctuary.
Ryon Price is Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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