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Q:

When non-Jewish missionaries come to your house how can you turn them away and at the same time be mekadesh Hashem?

A:

To deal with a missionary there’s only one way and that’s to get rid of him.
And I’ll explain to you. A missionary has a closed mind. A person with an open mind doesn’t become a missionary. You understand that because the tenets, the principles of whatever religion he’s preaching can be demonstrated easily that they’re ridiculous. Of course you have to be knowledgeable but a knowledgeable Jew can quickly show up any missionary as silly.
I’ll just give a little example. When they say, let’s say, that that man who founded their religion was the son of the Creator, so you say now how could he be the Messiah? The Messiah has to be of the house of David.
So they say yes, the New Testament has his pedigree. He’s descended from David. He’s descended from David? That means he had a father because through the mother there’s no such lineage in the Bible. If he’s descended from David it means from the father’s side. So what are you saying he had no father?
The answer is two different persons wrote that. The New Testament wasn’t written by one person. At the time this one didn’t think about the other one. Later, there’s a problem. And so they’re busy since then patching it up.
Now any missionary if you’d show that to him if he’s honest he’d back out. He has nothing to say. But they’re prepared immediately to dodge the question and they’ll show you something in some other place – which is also nothing. From this nothing he goes someplace else. So you can’t accomplish with a missionary.
I once tried to convert a missionary to Judaism, a Jewish missionary. But it was a waste of time because his mind was closed up and he had certain smooth answers, all silly answers.
I said to him “Doesn’t it say openly at the end of the nevi’im, the last navi said, ‘Behold I’m going to send to you Eliyahu Hanavi, the Navi Eliyahu, before the great and last day comes and he will bring back the heart of the fathers to the sons and the sons to the fathers. Remember the law of Moshe that I commanded him on Sinai laws and judgments.’ So it means down to the last day, down to when Eliyahu Hanavi will return, you have to ‘Remember the judgments.’”
He said, “Certainly, down to Elijah’s death you have to remember the judgments but Elijah came back and died already. I said “That’s new to me. When did he die?
“Oh yes,” he says. “It’s in the New Testament.”
I knew that answer. In the New Testament it states that John the Baptist was killed by Herod. So we understand that it’s finished. John the Baptist is killed. But no; along comes Oso Ha’ish and gives John the Baptist the name Elijah in order to fulfill that prophecy so Elijah already came. All of a sudden he comes back to this world in order to be killed by Herod.
And so they have foolish answers for every little thing. “Yes, he says, “The Torah is true up until Elijah but Elijah already came and it’s finished. He’s dead already.”
So the best way to deal with a missionary is not to let him in. To tell him ‘don’t waste my time.’ You can’t do anything else with him.
TAPE # 317 (May 1980)

Rav Avigdor Miller on Dealing with Missionaries

print

Q:

When non-Jewish missionaries come to your house how can you turn them away and at the same time be mekadesh Hashem?

A:

To deal with a missionary there’s only one way and that’s to get rid of him.
And I’ll explain to you. A missionary has a closed mind. A person with an open mind doesn’t become a missionary. You understand that because the tenets, the principles of whatever religion he’s preaching can be demonstrated easily that they’re ridiculous. Of course you have to be knowledgeable but a knowledgeable Jew can quickly show up any missionary as silly.
I’ll just give a little example. When they say, let’s say, that that man who founded their religion was the son of the Creator, so you say now how could he be the Messiah? The Messiah has to be of the house of David.
So they say yes, the New Testament has his pedigree. He’s descended from David. He’s descended from David? That means he had a father because through the mother there’s no such lineage in the Bible. If he’s descended from David it means from the father’s side. So what are you saying he had no father?
The answer is two different persons wrote that. The New Testament wasn’t written by one person. At the time this one didn’t think about the other one. Later, there’s a problem. And so they’re busy since then patching it up.
Now any missionary if you’d show that to him if he’s honest he’d back out. He has nothing to say. But they’re prepared immediately to dodge the question and they’ll show you something in some other place – which is also nothing. From this nothing he goes someplace else. So you can’t accomplish with a missionary.
I once tried to convert a missionary to Judaism, a Jewish missionary. But it was a waste of time because his mind was closed up and he had certain smooth answers, all silly answers.
I said to him “Doesn’t it say openly at the end of the nevi’im, the last navi said, ‘Behold I’m going to send to you Eliyahu Hanavi, the Navi Eliyahu, before the great and last day comes and he will bring back the heart of the fathers to the sons and the sons to the fathers. Remember the law of Moshe that I commanded him on Sinai laws and judgments.’ So it means down to the last day, down to when Eliyahu Hanavi will return, you have to ‘Remember the judgments.’”
He said, “Certainly, down to Elijah’s death you have to remember the judgments but Elijah came back and died already. I said “That’s new to me. When did he die?
“Oh yes,” he says. “It’s in the New Testament.”
I knew that answer. In the New Testament it states that John the Baptist was killed by Herod. So we understand that it’s finished. John the Baptist is killed. But no; along comes Oso Ha’ish and gives John the Baptist the name Elijah in order to fulfill that prophecy so Elijah already came. All of a sudden he comes back to this world in order to be killed by Herod.
And so they have foolish answers for every little thing. “Yes, he says, “The Torah is true up until Elijah but Elijah already came and it’s finished. He’s dead already.”
So the best way to deal with a missionary is not to let him in. To tell him ‘don’t waste my time.’ You can’t do anything else with him.
TAPE # 317 (May 1980)

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