If I intend to be on this site, at least I can do is respect their policy, especially when I can think about it, but sometimes things get out of control not on purpose.
Back in the days when I was a college student, I was given an assignment for a preaching class I was taking to visit a synagogue and prepare a report on my experience. I phoned a synagogue (in Atlanta), told them I was a student, explained my assignment and asked if it would be okay for me to attend a service. I was extended an invitation to attend and did so on the following sabbath.
When I arrived at the synagogue I was met at the door by a very friendly man who had been assigned by the rabbi to escort me, sit with me, and answer any questions I might like to ask. I was given a kippah and a tour of the building before the service started.
I soon became aware that people were avoiding me. Finally a man approached, shook the hand of the man who was escorting me, then turned to me and said curtly: “Jesus isn’t welcome here.”
We were quickly joined by a couple of other angry looking men. I explained that I was there merely to observe the service. The man who was escorting me - a dentist by profession - must have been a man of some authority in the synagogue for he quickly dispersed the growing crowd that had begun to surround us.
After the service concluded, I was invited to stay for lunch. The rabbi joined us and the conversation quickly turned, at the direction of the rabbi, to a discussion on differences between Christianity and Judaism. The rabbi was very friendly and brought up the unavoidable subject of Jesus. As we spoke, a small crowd quickly formed around the table we were sitting at. They were curious, as was the rabbi, about my belief in Jewish monotheism and in Jesus, himself a Jewish monotheist.
One man, however, protested loudly against any conversation about Jesus. The rabbi silenced him, then asked why I wasn’t speaking more aggressively about Jesus. I replied that I was a guest and had come to the synagogue as a student to observe the preaching. I added that I wasn’t there to cause trouble. The rabbi quietly asked me what I thought Jesus would think about that. The wry question caught me off guard. I replied with the first thing that came to mind: “Blessed are the peacemakers”. The rabbi paused, then asked someone to pass me some food to try. The conversation turned to other things.
I’ve often reflected over the years on that encounter. Should I have said more about God and Jesus than I did? Perhaps. Or had what I did say about them on that day, my witness, been enough? Perhaps.
Now here I am, decades later, a guest on a trinitarian internet discussion forum which, by policy, prohibits people from discussing trinitarian belief. I see parallels.