Jerry's Story

I was raised in a Conservative Jewish home and my parents were Holocaust survivors. As a child, I attended Hebrew school and observed the holiday traditions. I always felt proud of being Jewish, especially after visiting Israel.

Following high school, I attended a major university in Southern California, majoring in engineering. During my years at the university, I came into contact with a number of "born again Christians." It was my acquaintance and subsequent study with them that led me to become a "born again Christian." I experienced a real personal relationship with G-d. I was very involved for over four years. I read the Bible every night and attended a fundamentalist church called Calvary Chapel at least twice a week. As I grew in my faith, I started influencing others and even ran my own Bible study group. Since I lived on campus, I joined an organization called Campus Crusade for Christ. I became very involved in that group, attending Leadership Training classes and "action group" meetings. Eventually, I ran my own "action group." I also appeared on Christian radio and television programs, and even in two Christian movies. I considered myself not only a "born again Christian," but a "completed Jew."

One day, our entire advanced action group went to hear a rabbi from "Jews for Judaism" lecture about Christianity. The sincerity, commitment and wealth of knowledge of this rabbi impressed us all. But, since we knew that we had the "truth," we challenged him on numerous theological points. To my amazement, he was able to answer every one. After the lecture, I decided that I would stay and continue talking with this rabbi. We spoke all night, finishing at 4:00 A.M. The rabbi was so dedicated that he missed his plane in order to talk with me!

I began to realize that even with my Jewish background I still had a very limited understanding of what it meant to be a Jew. My acceptance of Jesus had been a very one-sided decision. I knew so much of the Christian perspective but relatively little of the Jewish viewpoint. As a Christian, I had been very dogmatic; my attitude was, "I'll listen to what you have to say, but I know that I'm right." My encounter with this rabbi made me realize that there are two sides to every story.

I started to study and check things out. Christians would ask me, "Do you think the devil's got a little hold on you?" I would reply that I was only doing what Jesus said: "Ask and ye shall receive" and "Seek diligently and ye shall find." I prayed for guidance, and others prayed with me that I be led on the right path. My course of inquiry turned up countless "proof texts" from the Christian Bible which were based upon mistranslations or which had been taken out of context. The more deeply I searched, the more apparent it became to me that I had made a mistake.

At the same time, another part of me was demanding, "What about all the changes in my life, the miracles I had seen, the gifts of the "Holy Spirit'?" How was I to ignore all of this? I eventually realized that all of these experiences were not unique to Christianity, but that they happen to people in other religions as well. People's lives have been changed within the realm of Judaism; Christians hardly have a monopoly on G-d!

I am now practicing Judaism in its proper and spiritual way, and feel much closer to G-d than ever before. I know now what it means to be a Jew. It is important to use the mind that G-d gave me, and to follow His word as He intended it.

I can't see how anyone who would really understand Judaism could ever believe in Jesus; there's just no room for Jesus in the Jewish picture.