Elliot Resnick writes for The Jewish Press:
All Orthodox Jews believe that a Jew’s sole path to God is through Judaism. A Jew may not become a Christian or a Buddhist, even if his heart pines to do so.
Suppose, however, that a Christian approaches you and admits he has recently stopped attending church regularly; doubts have been plaguing him. What should a religious Jew’s reaction be?
A Jew surely has no desire to convince the doubting Christian that his savior had no physical father or that he died for humanity’s sins. Indeed, the image of a Jew arguing for the veracity of Christianity is amusing or perhaps absurd.
Yet to let the gentleman lapse into atheism presents a risk as well.
Yes, atheists can be extremely moral and "religious" people can be extremely immoral. Yet, to make a gross generalization, those who support gay marriage, partial-birth abortion, moral relativism, blame-free psychology, promiscuous premarital behavior, and a whole slew of other ills tend not to be believing Christians, or believers of any of the major faiths, for that matter.
I once posed this dilemma to a knowledgeable rabbi of mine. He too acknowledged the quandary, without giving me a clear answer.
One solution is to discuss those elements of religion that Judaism shares with the religion of the individual with whom one is talking. One can discuss God’s existence, His caring for His creatures, and His moral expectations of mankind.
This approach only works so far, however. If a Christian doubter rejects certain ideas regarding his savior, he may eventually reject the entire package and turn to agnosticism or atheism.
While he may search for another religion, this scenario is unlikely (though if he expresses a fascination for Judaism, one can make the argument that one should encourage him to convert — but this too is debatable).
In short, one’s options when crossing paths with a doubter do not appear to be happy ones.
