i may not have talked about our hostel manager, Jørgen. he is norwegian. he younger than me. he is my boss.
he invited us to his house one night for a traditional Norwegian feast, compliments of his father, a professional chef. it was there that i was introduced to peanut ice cream. equivalent is Turkish Delight.
the guests were; six Americans, Jørgen, his brother and father, his fathers Latvian wife, that wifes two daughters, Jørgen's three roommates, and a Messianic Jew. and it is about this man that i write this story.
this man had been asked to dinner by Jørgen. he traveled the world preaching to Jews about Jesus being the real Messiah. after our meal we all gathered round the living room in circular seating. i found a seat directly opposite this man, and it was with me primarily that he had eye contact. he addressed us the same as if we were his normal audience. i became defensive at the presuppositions he had already given me but i listened to the amount of knowledge he could conjure....like a brain magician. we told him we went to a Christian school and that we were Christians. that took a fancy with him and he used that as a launching point into evangelism. he asked us if our school had a program to evangelize specifically to the Jewish people. we said 'no'. he said 'huh'.
he believed that the primary people group Christians should be helping is the Jews. to him it is our duty to help them because they had carried and written down our Old Testament for so many years, and without the Jews Christianity would not exist. at this point, i cannot negate him. but this leads into a long train. if you thank the Jews then you have to thank anyone that the Jews had contact with, then anyone else that shaped and changed those peoples history. if you follow this pattern than you have to thank everyone that ever lived. this point i am actually more comfortable with. you must be thankful to all past peoples for there contrubution to the formation of our current way of life rather than saying one specific society has superiority to gratitude. God may have chosen the Israelites to be the ones he fulfills the Gosepel from, but does that mean He had an inferior love for everyone else? to me that seems like no. somewhere in the Bible it talks about equality.
his main purpose in bringing up the Jewish people was that he wanted the ends times to come. he wanted all of Jerusalem (the Jewish race) to accept Christ and fulfill Scripture. the end time are coming.....again
i want to go to heaven but if postponing Jesus coming back means more people have the possibilty to accept Jesus than lets wait a few more generations.
the evening was filled with emotion and synapsis. i will not forget it. that guy spitted out Scripture like it was dragon fire, which i cant help but be respect. he was a kind hearted man that loves God, whom i cannot entirely agree with but im thankful for meeting. its good to make people think and question........or is it?
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