recognizing Replacement Theology

[HelenaZF]

Replacement Theology is a heresy and the number one enemy to the pursuit of understanding our Jewish roots. What is it? Simply, it is the belief that the Gentile church has replaced Israel and the Jews in the promises and prophecies of the scriptures. It's premise is that God is finished with Israel and the Church has taken her place in the interpretation of scripture. We can see it's influence in music, in our liturgies and even in the celebration of our holy days.



Replacement theology is not just intellectual theory....it produces persecution for Israel as well. This thinking is behind the shameful attempts of Christianity to purge the earth of the Jewish people in such historical events as the Crusades and the Holocaust. Although not directly responsible for the holocaust, the Church's latent anti-Semitism prevented the church from opposing Hitler's terrible plan to annihilate the Jewish people. Except for small pockets of believers, the church remained silent in the face of the genocide.



As we study and discover the roots of our faith, the questions that come up often have to do with changes the Church has made that diverge current practices from what was established in the Torah. This can often be attributed to the influence of Replacement Theology. This thread is to question, identify and discuss those things and bring them to awareness.



To get us started, here is a comment Dave made on another thread:
<QUOTE author="Dave">

The church has either changed the Jewish festivals beyond recognition, or has just ignored them completely. This, in my view, is a subtle form of replacement theology. It says that the practices and traditions of the church are superior to and have superceded those of Israel, which carries the implication that the church has superceded Israel...



...So, in order to fully exorcise the ghost of those anti-semitic early church figures who banned believers from anything Jewish (and whose influence continues today), the church is going to have to significantly change its ways. To say "your people shall be my people" is meaningless unless you say "your festivals shall be my festivals".