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Old 10-24-2007, 05:05 AM   #21
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Some people did, not Christians, who have been running missions to Jews for a long time. But who blames the Jews for the death of Jesus now? No-one, afaik, so this looks like a solution for a non-existent problem. So one wonders if this is not a surreptitious attack on Christianity.
You seeing to be playing along with the conceit common in parts of the US especially that "Christian" refers to modern Evangelical style protestantism and excludes Catholics, Orthodox and even more traditional Protestant denominations.

Although most Christians (including Catholics) in the West seem to have stopped blaming the Jews for the death of Christ, I have heard this claim from various Eastern Europeans (specifically Ukrainians, Rumanians and Yugoslavians) that I know. This disturbed me greatly, especially as the people concerned were all relatively young.
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Old 10-24-2007, 05:08 AM   #22
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They seem to be coyly skirting the worst of the problematic verses.
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What about the Golden Calf incident? The response of Moses to this exercise in "freedom of religion" was to order a massacre!
Surely one can hardly blame Jews for massacres.

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And then there's the Koran, with its lurid description of the "awful doom" of unbelievers in the afterlife: we are to be suspended on iron hooks while boiling liquid burns our skin off, then our skin will regenerate so we can enjoy the experience over and over again.
But that is promised for the afterlife, not for this one. It is the temporal comments in the Qur'an that cause concern, prompting suggestions of an Islamic New Testament or 'Reformation'.
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Old 10-24-2007, 05:10 AM   #23
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They will probably come up with the usual concluding ecumenical statement that basically says :
"Well what was really meant in our Holy Books by "unbelievers" does NOT include the monotheistic faiths of Christianity,Judiasm and Islam, we are all worshipping the same God you know just in different ways , but it really refers to those awful polytheistic Hindus, so thats all sorted .Now who is ready for a Crusade /Jihad on India then ? "
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Old 10-24-2007, 05:57 AM   #24
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Originally Posted by Clouseau View Post
Some people did, not Christians, who have been running missions to Jews for a long time. But who blames the Jews for the death of Jesus now? No-one, afaik, so this looks like a solution for a non-existent problem. So one wonders if this is not a surreptitious attack on Christianity.
Quote:
You seeing to be playing along with the conceit common in parts of the US especially that "Christian" refers to modern Evangelical style protestantism and excludes Catholics, Orthodox and even more traditional Protestant denominations.
The description 'evangelical style Protestantism' would stimulate less suspicion of bias. But as there is no allusion made to any 'style' or species of Christians, I assume that the poster has concluded that anti-Semitism is not an evangelical problem, though it is for others.

Btw, the evangelical 'tradition' traces its roots to the early church, but also to Wycliffe, who well predates any Protestant denomination.

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Although most Christians (including Catholics) in the West seem to have stopped blaming the Jews for the death of Christ, I have heard this claim from various Eastern Europeans (specifically Ukrainians, Rumanians and Yugoslavians) that I know.
Can we have documentary evidence of this, please?
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Old 10-24-2007, 08:43 AM   #25
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What about the Golden Calf incident? The response of Moses to this exercise in "freedom of religion" was to order a massacre!
Which was my point above. Not just the golden calf worshipers, but the Asherah and Baal worshipers as well. The destruction of sacred places and murder of their priests ordered by Josiah is a case in point. And more readily shown to be historical than the Exodus legend.

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They will probably come up with the usual concluding ecumenical statement that basically says:

"Well, what was really meant in our Holy Books by "unbelievers" does NOT include the monotheistic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. We are all worshiping the same God, you know, just in different ways. But it really refers to those awful polytheistic Hindus. So, that's all sorted. Now, who is ready for a Crusade/Jihad on India, then?"
Exactly. Except India has sort of been tried and the Europeans were sent packing. Now the Church (fundies and Catholics) is focusing on indigenous peoples of "undeveloped" poverty stricken countries in S America and Africa and the political/economic wastelands of China and Russia.

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Although most Christians (including Catholics) in the West seem to have stopped blaming the Jews for the death of Christ, I have heard this claim from various Eastern Europeans (specifically Ukrainians, Rumanians and Yugoslavians) that I know.
Can we have documentary evidence of this, please?
Sure. The movie called

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (or via: amazon.co.uk)
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Old 10-24-2007, 08:52 AM   #26
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The description 'evangelical style Protestantism' would stimulate less suspicion of bias. But as there is no allusion made to any 'style' or species of Christians, I assume that the poster has concluded that anti-Semitism is not an evangelical problem, though it is for others.

Btw, the evangelical 'tradition' traces its roots to the early church, but also to Wycliffe, who well predates any Protestant denomination.
Hmm. I think it is quite well known that the modern evangelicals (at least since the rise of dispensationalism) are less anti-semitic than most other Christians (until recent times at least), although many would consider "running missions to Jews" a manifestation of anti-semitism.

I am not sure what Wycliff's record is regarding the Jews, but Luther for one was not too friendly: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies

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Originally Posted by squiz
Although most Christians (including Catholics) in the West seem to have stopped blaming the Jews for the death of Christ, I have heard this claim from various Eastern Europeans (specifically Ukrainians, Rumanians and Yugoslavians) that I know.
Can we have documentary evidence of this, please?
Unfortunately not. I speak only from personal experience, as I said.
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Old 10-24-2007, 09:10 AM   #27
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The problem here is not so much that there are many more and much worse passages than the few relatively innocuous ones quoted (there are), but rather that once you start to "set them in their proper historical context," most passages will turn out to be "bound by conditions of social milieu, of culture, of historical context."

So that once people have completed the following:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rabbi Mark S. Diamond
"After wrestling, I hope people can understand these texts in the appropriate contexts and realize that not all of them, but many of them, are bound by conditions of social milieu, of culture, of historical context."
most of what previously was seen as revealed divine truth now is revealed as expressions of the culture of that time and place. Sure, a few things will be more or less timeless, like the Golden Rule, but even those were derived from then extant thought. Robert Price e.g. shows this time and again.

What they are trying to do--make the various scriptures less noxious--is of course in itself quite valid and commendable. But it does open the floodgates, and any arks will probably only be able to rescue a sense of historical interest rather than one of current relevance.

Gerard Stafleu
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Old 10-24-2007, 09:37 AM   #28
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The description 'evangelical style Protestantism' would stimulate less suspicion of bias. But as there is no allusion made to any 'style' or species of Christians, I assume that the poster has concluded that anti-Semitism is not an evangelical problem, though it is for others.

Btw, the evangelical 'tradition' traces its roots to the early church, but also to Wycliffe, who well predates any Protestant denomination.
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Hmm. I think it is quite well known that the modern evangelicals (at least since the rise of dispensationalism) are less anti-semitic than most other Christians (until recent times at least)
That sounds like pure fantasising.

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although many would consider "running missions to Jews" a manifestation of anti-semitism.
People desperate for ammunition in fighting Christianity probably would.


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I am not sure what Wycliff's record is regarding the Jews, but Luther for one was not too friendly
Yawn.

Funny, that looks pretty desperate, too.

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Can we have documentary evidence of this, please?
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Unfortunately not. I speak only from personal experience, as I said.
It does not seem likely that the lady concerned can have had this in mind, then.
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Old 10-24-2007, 10:05 AM   #29
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Scholars try to reconcile 'problematic' religious texts
Christian, Jewish and Muslim experts met this week to add context to passages that have been perceived as hostile toward other faiths


I feel for these scholars.

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Speaking with mutual respect and sensitivity, prominent Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars and clergy from around the country met in Los Angeles this week to "wrestle" with what one rabbi described as the "dark side" of the three faith traditions.

Experts cited "problematic" passages from the Hebrew Scripture, the New Testament and the Koran that assert the superiority of one belief system over others.

As an example, the Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith, ecumenical and interreligous official of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, quoted from the Gospel of Mark: "Go into the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."

It's kind of pathetic in a way.

The problem is obvious to most outside observers: the main monotheistic religions blaspheme each other in their most basic doctrines.

There is no solution except to minimise the effect these religions have in the public sphere.

Ray
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Old 10-24-2007, 10:53 AM   #30
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The problem is obvious to most outside observers: the main monotheistic religions blaspheme each other in their most basic doctrines.

There is no solution except to minimise the effect these religions have in the public sphere.

Ray
Agreed.
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