Compassion in the face of unbelief

I once had a conversation with an Orthodox Jewish man who told me he would not discuss Jesus with me. His words were striking: “Speaking to you is like speaking with a Holocaust denier. Would you listen to a Holocaust denier? For the same reason, I won’t listen to anything you have to say.”

For this man, the resurrection of Jesus seemed to belong in the category of outrageous falsehood, unworthy of consideration.

He made discussion impossible and to even give space to such a conversation would be to legitimise something utterly repulsive.