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Perfect the Jews?
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The Politics Factory
October 15, 2007 - 12:00am
So Ann Coulter '84 apparently made some controversial comments; what else is new? During her most recent spat, Coulter proclaimed that all Jews need to be perfected into Christians on CNBC's Big Idea. The host of Big Idea, Donny Deutsch—who is a Jew—found himself justifiably taken aback by her comments, but in response demonstrated a much higher level of character, in spite of his need for "perfection." While Coulter may righteously profess the tenets of her own faith, her insensitive and cruel remarks showed her own imperfect flaws in her words, theology, and political ideology.
Ann Coulter on CNBC's Big Idea
Since Coulter has dubbed herself an evangelist of sorts, let's evaluate her tactics. In fact, let's compare her to a Christian evangelist frequently mentioned in the Bible, Paul, and his visit to Athens in the 17th chapter of Acts: "Paul then stood up in the meeting of Areopagus and said: 'Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.' " Even though these men worshiped false gods in Paul's view, he did not condemn them; he instead praised their religious zeal, building off this to establish rapport with the crowd. No crazy, extreme, or hateful rhetoric. Had Coulter spoke, she likely would have said something along these lines: "Unrighteous idolaters! I see that in every way you are damned to hell. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your false idols, I even found that you idiotically worship an unknown god. Now what you know not of your fate in hell I am going to proclaim to you."
"To perfect you!"
Furthermore, Coulter's strange vision of a Christian nation looks eerily similar to the Republican National Convention, perhaps because she equated the two. However, her own words hardly match up with what Jesus said in the 18th chapter of John: "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." Believe it or not, the Bible does advocate separation of church and state—albeit not the same version that the American Civil Liberties Union advocates. Christians can make America better and have contributed to this nation in the past, but this in no way requires America to be a Christian nation. And as Coulter has certainly shown, some Christians can really mess it up.
Misinterpreting religion is nothing new, though. While Jesus himself lived on this earth, he received constant persecution from the corrupt Jewish leaders or Pharisees of the day. Constantly attempting to "perfect" Jesus, these Pharisees criticized Jesus for not conforming to their own strict, misguided interpretation of Judaism. Such problems continue today, but the roles have been reversed. A modern-day corrupt Christian leader, Ann Coulter, is trying to perfect the Jews, force-feeding her perversion of religion down their throats. However, neither the Pharisees of the past nor the Coulter's of today accurately represent their own religions.
Nonetheless, Ann Coulter's words do possess some level of theoretical truth. If the entire nation of America professed the teachings of Jesus Christ and perfectly followed his example, then a nation of Christians would represent an ideal America. However, that does not happen in practice. In fact, my shift from a private, Lutheran school to a public school was a direct result of the horrible treatment I received from my own Christian classmates. Likewise, although I went to a public high school full of unbelievers, many times you could not tell these unbelievers apart from the Christians at the nearby Lutheran high school. Christianity may guarantee salvation, but it never guaranteed that Christians would be perfect (another fact for which Coulter is living proof).
Christianity teaches that belief in Jesus Christ, not good works, leads to eternal life, but at the same time, Christians should exhibit good works as a result of their salvation. While good works do not matter for the world above, they do matter in this world. To quote Republican presidential candidate, former Arkansas governor, and Christian Mike Huckabee, "When discussing faith and politics, we should honor the 'candid' in candidate—I have much more respect for an honest atheist than a disingenuous believer." When we measure Ann Coulter by her own actions rather than the faith she professes, we find not only a glaring contradiction between the two, but a woman less dignified than many of the atheists and liberals she dismisses. Before Ann Coulter calls for the perfection of the Jews, she should first act to perfect herself. Or, as Jesus said in the eighth chapter of John, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone..."
Mike Wacker ’10 is The Sun’s Assistant Web Editor. He can be contacted at mwacker@cornellsun.com.
Sun Podcast
- Artist: Mike Wacker
- Title: Perfect the Jews?
- Album: The Cornell Daily Sun - The Politics Factory
- Year: 2007
- Length: 7:58 minutes (7.3 MB)
- Format: Mono 44kHz 128Kbps (CBR)
Your article entitled, Perfecting the Jews?
Just wanted to take a few moments and comment on your article entitled, "Perfect the Jews?" based on commments that Ann Coulter made during an interview. [http://cornellsun.com/node/25212 ]. I'll preface them by saying that I do like Ann Coulter and agree with much of what she has to say, and I am also a saved by grace, definitely not perfect, Christian. That having been said...
I appreciated your article and the comments that you made. I especially liked the scriptural examples that you used (Paul speaking about the Unknown God.) While I will defend my beliefs to the point of death, I don't believe that condemning someone else for their beliefs is the way to show the God of Love. There is definitely a reason why we, the church, have a reputation for being judgemental and hypocritical... we've done it to ourselves. I think the following website may help your readers understand a little more what I believe Ann was trying to express...although I can't presume to speak for her. The website is for the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America (http://www.mjaa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Spg_About_Home). Also, if I remember correctly, I think that Messianic Jews [Jews who believe that Jesus (Yeshua) is the Messiah] refer to themselves as "completed" Jews, not "perfected" Jews.
As to Christians and Jews...Our church strongly supports the nation of Israel, not only in prayer, but finances as well. (Which leads to another scripture where God told Abraham that He would bless those that blessed Israel and curse those who cursed Israel, and in Israel all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3) I love the conversation that my pastor (Pastor Eddie Crabtree of Valley Word Ministries in Roanoke/Salem, VA) recently shared that he'd had with a Rabbi the last time he was in Israel. They were speaking about Messiah, and the Rabbi said to him, "You are waiting for the Second Coming of Messiah. We are waiting for the First Coming of Messiah. Why don't we both wait together!"
It is a shame that more Christians don't read the scriptures that talk about Us being ingrafted into the vine (the main part of this "vine" being the Jewish people.) [Romans 11:1-32] Time and time again the Word of God shows Father God affirming His Covenant with the Children of Israel. And Jesus Himself said He didn't come to Do Away with the Old Covenant, but He came to Fulfill it! [Matthew 5:17]
There are many moral issues that I feel very strongly about, and am vocal about my beliefs (abortion, homosexuality, etc), BUT I love the people who are involved in those things. People used a "Reader's Digest Condensed Version" of the Bible today. They skip Genesis 1 & 2 and go straight to the fall and then the redemption. They forget the part that says that we are ALL created in the image and likeness of God, and that God created ALL OF US to fellowship with Him.
Then they skip the End of the story as well...Jesus didn't just die on the cross to redeem us...to pull us out of hell's fires (although if He did that would still be great!), but He came to RESTORE all of the good things that God wanted for us in the first place, Abundant Life...IN THIS LIFE...peace, joy, prosperity of mind, health, and yes (even though we sometime get into a ditch about this...) even wealth! ["The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." John 10:10 AMP.]
When I look at someone who doesn't believe in Jesus, I don't look at them thinking, "They need to change, or they're going to [envision crooked, pointed finger] "burn in he-e-e-lll!" I look at people who are just like me...people who need to have hope. People who need to know that they have divine purpose. People who need to know that there is a God in heaven that loves them as an individual person, and wants to have an intimate relationship to them as Abba...Daddy. [Romans 8:14-16, Galatians 4:1-7 AMP] When I share my faith with other people, it's not because I think I'm better than they are...it's because I see where I used to be, and many times still am. I want them to know the peace of mind that I've found and that Jesus wants them to have ["And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts]." John 17:13 AMP ].
I've heard that the the word perfect in the Hebrew [many of the words translated perfect in the OT come from the Hebrew root word shalem (Strong's 8003- Hebrew)] and the Greek [many of the words translated perfect in the NT come from the Greek root word teleo (Strong's 5055- Greek)] simply means to mature, to complete, or to finish . NOT that one will never do anything wrong again. I'm glad that God didn't tell me to attain something unattainable! The Word tells us to Grow Up as believers. And part of that is learning to love those around us like God loves us!
Thanks again for your article, and for the opportunity to write in response.
Grace and Peace to You (or as they would say in Israel...Shalom!)
Sandi Bird
Lay Ministry Leader, Valley Word Ministries, PO Box 846, Salem, VA 24153
CEO, Bird & Associates International, PO Box 116, Salem, VA 24153
Whadya say we ALL get a little "Perfected"
I enjoyed reading your online article, Mike. Well done and nice scriptural reference.
Unfortunately, though, I believe this is a case where Ann and Donny were both right -- and wrong (mostly for behaving badly).
Last I knew, BOTH Jews and Gentiles alike are called to be perfected before our God. This is a scriptural REQUIREMENT -- and nothing's changed on the subject for 3500+ years! It's ANYTHING but controversial, no matter what label you stick on it.
Shame on Donny for not knowing more on the subject of perfection and being so thin skinned about the term itself. Yom Kippur is a "Judaism 101" concept that speaks volumes on the subject of atonement and being perfected (and re-perfected...and re-perfected) before God.
Shame on Ann for not being more sensitive to the fact that non-Christians don't just automatically pick up on what we mean to say when we throw around 'Christian-speak' terminology. Plus, the entire subject is a little heavy-duty for a light workout on good ol' talk-TV and she should have been more graceful and less smug in her approach in general.
For Jews, perfection before the eyes of God is achieved by obedience to the Law. Period. As for followers of Christ, our perfection is achieved by faith, accepting the fact that Jesus died and acted as the blood sacrifice for our sins (in accordance with the requirements set forth by Jewish Law ironically), thus making a way for us Gentiles to become 'perfect' in the eyes of God. Ann was right on these points, conceptually speaking.
Loads of Holy Scripture -- in both the Torah and New Testament -- support the concept of OUR need of perfected. It's nothing new and it's certainly not hateful, anti-Semitic or anything of the sort. Both our faiths share this common thread and we are both better off agreeing on what we have in common than childishly arguing over the method of delivery from our imperfections.
Ultimately, if Ann had not insulted Donny by snidely quipping "...you're probably not a practicing one[Jew]", he might not have completely shut his ears to the relevant theological subject she was floundering to explain for the next 5 minutes (albeit using a sadly awkward "FedEx" analogy). If anything, Ann should apologize to Donny for that rude remark -- it was the only offensive thing she said, really. She likely won't apologize though, cuz she's Ann Coulter and that's not her style (unfortunately). Think of the impact she could make if she did, though...(hmmmm)!!
People of all faiths behave badly, Mike. Myself included. I'm pretty sure we've all fallen short of our own high standards at some point (and we've all wronged someone in a way that wouldn't be flattering to our faith). There's a song called "What If I Stumble" by DC Talk. Check it out. Please.
I hope you find a way to regain your lost faith, brother (if indeed you've lost it). Whatever it takes. At 41, I can tell you first-hand it's a journey worth having.
P.S. I love Sandi's comments. Also well worth reading. You go, sister!