[Letter to CBC radio program, The Current, re story on the Vatican's problems with Bishop Williamson who impudently questions the 'holocaust gospel.']
[Greetings etc,] Your enquiry into the recent tempest in a teapot over Vatican dealings with Israel raised several glaring anomalies in the common mis-understanding of religion.
For notable example, I heard one of the Catholic apologists state that Vatican-II was about absolving the Jews of blame for the execution of Jesus Christ. That may be so, but it completely contradicts the words found right in the scriptures of the New Testament, which is the holy writ of the Christian faith. Christians, including scholars, seem to be ignorant of several salient facts:
1) the Jews who crucified Jesus accepted full blame for their decision; Matthew 27:25 records "And all the people said, 'His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
2) the disciples of Jesus, most of whom were born Jews, accused their countrymen of murdering Jesus; John 19:23 states "This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and YOU, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." And Acts 2: 36 says "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom YOU crucified, both Lord and Christ."
3) the Jews do not deny killing Jesus because they regard him as just another prophet in a succession of prophets whom their ancestors had murdered, previously; as written in Acts 7:52, "Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him [Jesus]."
So, while the Roman Catholic Church feels obliged to absolve the Jews for responsibility for the killing of Jesus, the Holy Scripture holds them accountable. Of course, it is pointless to continue 'blaming' anyone for Jesus' death, since he himself told his followers that he gives his life freely, for the benefit of all mankind (John 10:18).
Second, and much more egregious, the Catholic spokesman asserted that Vatican-II further recognized that the Jews' original covenant with God was still valid and provides them with a separate and distinct means of salvation. That belief is entirely antithetical to the fundamental message of the Christian gospel! The well-known verse, John 3:16, says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." It clearly refers to the whole world, making no distinctions among races or religions. Then, Acts 4:12 confirms that: "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
The New Testament book of Hebrews was written specifically as clarification for Jewish believers about the transition from the former, Sinai covenant (called the 'old covenant') to the new, Christ-centered covenant. In chapter 9, verse 15, it is written: "For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritanceÑnow that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant." The whole book is a careful, forensic explanation of the spiritual reasoning for the change from the Law of Moses to the Law of Love. Most Christians have no clue that this book even exists in their Bible, thanks to a clergy that would rather avoid it than face it honestly.
If the Catholic Church wants to recognize some alternative to the gospel of Christ, then they might as well simply close their doors and shut their church down! What would be the point of it? If Jesus isn't the only channel to the grace of God, then there's simply no need for a Christian Church, period. When will Catholics-- and all other so-called Christians, for that matter-- face the facts found in their own Bible, and either proclaim the authentic gospel, or just shut their apostate system down altogether?
Christians can still acknowledge other beliefs, and maintain dialog with them; but the primacy and uniqueness of Jesus is the foundation of their faith. If you don't accept Jesus as the one way to eternal life, then you aren't a Christian. Listeners may be upset, but they have to ask, then, what is it that makes the Christian faith different or worth believing in. (If your answer is 'the Ten Commandments,' then you are in truly sad shape, and must go back to square zero and start all over again.)
The current controversy underscores the spiritual vacuity of the Roman Catholic Church, and equally, the duplicity of Judaism. How can Jews continue to invoke the 'holocaust' as their free pass to prosecute the extermination of the Palestinians, whose land they usurped? And how can Western journalists keep on mouthing the lies perpetuated by the Jewish lobby groups, while ignoring the legitimate cries of a people apparently given up as a sacrifice by the West to placate their collective conscience for what the Nazis did during the Second World War?
Of course, you will not read this letter on the air, since we seem to be a society that much prefers our cherished fables to truths that may be unpleasant to face. But as a believer in the essence of the Bible, I could not just listen to foolishness without attempting a response.
Sincerely, JK
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