Here is a link to the context.
Note still that after John MacArthur makes his comment all hear what he states and takes it as anti semantic... also note that John states that the Law of the OT was not "true" which I think God and Moses would disagree with that statement! LOL! It was not that the "religion" was not true it was what and how the religious leaders used it that was wrong.
KING: Who killed him, John?
MACARTHUR: Well, the Romans executed him on the mountain, but they did it under duress and the pressure of Jewish leaders, who hated him, not because of the cure he offered but because of the indictment. I mean, he went to his own town. One of the most riveting portions of the whole New Testament, Luke Chapter 4, he goes to Nazareth, where he grew up, goes back to his synagogue where he attended every Sabbath, he's with his family, his relatives, his friends that he grew up with. He preaches one sermon there, and they try to throw him off a cliff. It wasn't that they didn't want the kingdom of God or salvation or forgiveness or heaven or whatever. They couldn't accept the diagnosis that their religion was not true, that it was not of the heart. And that was the issue that finally drove them to the cross.
KING: I want to see how a Jew reacts to that.
MANNING: That was a reaction especially significant to me, that what upset them was that Jesus was open to finding God's presence even among people who were not Jews. And that really shocked them.
Though John does state these things are secondary, it still does not negate that all there on the panel and also Larry King heard what John stated and heard it as anti Semitic. I might add also that John seem to have a disconnect between "social issues" and "religious issues" which shows a great error of compartmentalizing the Gospel to fit one context and not another.
KING: How does a Jew react to that? You killed him.So, that is the context, and it shows that John did state anti-Semitic statements... Whether that be that he was lost in his secondary points or that he just forgot that the Father's Plan was that Jesus come and die for our sins... seems rather interesting as he has written books on this topic and is considered an authority. At least on enough to be on Larry King Live....
PRAGER: No. That's exactly it. I know you're not blaming me. He's not blaming me. He's blaming me. He doesn't like my politics. OK.
KING: I like you.
PRAGER: I know you do. And I appreciate it. It's mutual. Listen, this is key. I have no issue. No Jew will have an issue with saying Jewish leaders of the time, along with the Romans, conspired to kill him, even though the Jews couldn't do it alone, they didn't have the death penalty or crucifixion. Plus the fact that tens of thousands of Jews were also crucified, other Jews, which is also necessary to point out.
The problem has only been if Christians said Jews are to blame forever, all Jews all the time. That's, and unfortunately, in Europe, not in America, and I tell the Jews make a huge distinction between the Jewish experience with American Christians and European Christians. There, Jews were frequently blamed for something that they had no hand in, and that is evil. But to say that -- but I have no problem in saying that there were probably Jewish leaders, who, according to the story, who conspired with the Romans.
KING: It begins the era of anti-Semitism.
PRAGER: Yes, it does. Because the reader -- it's up to the reader. And this is what I have learned, no matter how divine you find the text, it is still in our hands what we do with the text. This is the ultimate freedom God has given us.
KING: Your interpretation.
PRAGER: Two people can read the same text and one can say, that God ultimately killed him and we are of the branch of Judaism, as evangelical Christians and many Catholics will say today, and others will say damn the Jews. Reading the same text.
KING: Jon Meacham, I'll come to you in a second. I got to take a break. You wanted to say something, John MacArthur?
MACARTHUR: It's much deeper than that. No true Christian transformed on the inside by faith in Jesus Christ is going to be an anti-Semite. What you have is people who call themselves Christians, but who have not been transformed by the power of Christ. They're the ones that would be anti-Semitic.
KING: In other words, if you're a racist, you can't be a Christian.
MACARTHUR: No, if you're a Christian, you will be converted from your racism.
KING: You can't be a racist if you're a Christian.
MACARTHUR: That's right. So true Christians...
KING: So when churches were segregated on Sunday morning, they were non-Christians.
MACARTHUR: You know, I have a real trouble believing -- we're talking about a different issue now. We're talking about a social issue, not a religious.
KING: But they were Christian.
MACARTHUR: I think Christians act like Christians. I think Christians are transformed people. And lots of people take the label, but don't know Christ.
KING: Wasn't it Mark Twain who said, if Christ came back, the one thing he wouldn't be is a Christian.
MACARTHUR: That's another overstatement by Mark Twain.
I will note also as one reads this, one will see John MacArthur's double speak as pointed out by Prager:
No. That's exactly it. I know you're not blaming me. He's not blaming me. He's blaming me. He doesn't like my politics. OK.
The point is this. If John holds others to a certain standard then does not live up to it... should he not then extend a Grace to them instead of declaring war on them?
Oh! Here is something to give a little more levity to all this from Bob Hyatt.
Be Blessed,
iggy
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