the idea that someone is praying for my conversion to a religion whose tenets are antithetical to my own beliefs
I think I can guess what you mean (though please correct me if I'm wrong). I know there are parts of organized Christendom that blame the Jews for the death of Jesus, and teach that God has rejected them as His Chosen People. They also try to claim the blessings and promises God gave to Israel and apply them to the predominantly gentile church. And because of these and similar teachings, the Jewish people have been horribly treated over the centuries by people claiming to believe the Bible and to be acting in the name of Jesus.
If that sort of thing is what you have in mind, I completely understand why you would find prayers for conversion offensive -- it's tantamount to asking a Jewish person to spit on their identity and their ancestral heritage, and submit to being a second-class citizen in a religion which blames them for the death of its leader. And in all honesty, I would never want to pray for any Jewish person to believe in Jesus as Messiah if I thought that was the case.
However, I don't believe that this kind of anti-semitic teaching has anything to do with the message that Jesus, a Jew by birth, and the New Testament writers, also all Jews, came to preach. Would you be interested in a (brief) explanation of why I as a Christian respect the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, or would you rather just let it drop? I don't want to make myself obnoxious, so I'll leave it up to you.
no subject
I think I can guess what you mean (though please correct me if I'm wrong). I know there are parts of organized Christendom that blame the Jews for the death of Jesus, and teach that God has rejected them as His Chosen People. They also try to claim the blessings and promises God gave to Israel and apply them to the predominantly gentile church. And because of these and similar teachings, the Jewish people have been horribly treated over the centuries by people claiming to believe the Bible and to be acting in the name of Jesus.
If that sort of thing is what you have in mind, I completely understand why you would find prayers for conversion offensive -- it's tantamount to asking a Jewish person to spit on their identity and their ancestral heritage, and submit to being a second-class citizen in a religion which blames them for the death of its leader. And in all honesty, I would never want to pray for any Jewish person to believe in Jesus as Messiah if I thought that was the case.
However, I don't believe that this kind of anti-semitic teaching has anything to do with the message that Jesus, a Jew by birth, and the New Testament writers, also all Jews, came to preach. Would you be interested in a (brief) explanation of why I as a Christian respect the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, or would you rather just let it drop? I don't want to make myself obnoxious, so I'll leave it up to you.