Posted on 02/06/2006 9:29:24 AM PST by Pokey78
I was taught that Jesus has greater authority than me insofar as taking God's law into His own hands. I would not presume, for example, that I had the power to forgive sins just because Jesus did.
It may very well be that God (and by extension His son) wants Islam destroyed and all of its practitioners exterminated along with it. As you say, if He does, then He will have no trouble doing it on His own. I am trying to figure out where I fit into the scheme of things and what I ought to do. My Christian-trained heart tells me that I ought to pray for peace, look after my family, gather stones together and wait for some stronger indication that all hope of resolution is lost.
I see that we are moving farther and farther down the road. That is undeniable. But there are yet many rivers to cross before we must resort to all out war. Timing is everything in these matters.
One thing the Muslims have learned from their koran is the war tactic of provoking your enemy to the point of overreacting and thereby moving the masses to your point of view. I think waging war against them requires a little more finesse than it did for Iassac or the others in the Old Testament. As you point out, their philosophy came after the Old Testament was written, so Old Testament methodologies may not have primacy today.
To do what or to or for whom? By what value system do you judge the truth of that claim. The author claims "basic human decency" as if that were some sort of standard. Where is that standard raised? Who is its keeper and how can I review it so I can know whether or not I am a basically decent human?
Shalom.
I understand your point, but I wanted to be clear that there is a huge difference between the Muslim call to subjucate everyone under Islam and the Old Testament call to destroy certain groups because of their particularly vile nature. Those who want to claim that all religions are the same need to pay more attention to the differences.
Israel restrained itself by killing only those whom G-d allowed, and did not even kill all of those. At the end of the book of Joshua there is a list of the Canaanites who were allowed to survive, and they did have a negative impact on Israel.
Islam may be starting with the West because of our embrace of sex worship, but they would not end there. Should they conquer us, they would turn to the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Chinese Communists, and, eventually, each other as each sect claims to be the only true Islam.
There is no synchretism between Islam and Judaism, or Islam and Christianity. The differences are like night and day.
Shalom.
Actually, it is just a question of whose god is real.
Whose god acted in human history to bring his message to the entire world, and whose god sent a secret message to a chosen man in a cave with no witnesses.
Also, whose god led his people toward creating improvements for the entire world to benefit and whose god led his people in to the dark ages.
I recognize that all people believe their own religion and can use their religion to justify hideous behavior. I also recognize that there are ways to evaluate the truth claims of a religion. Rational people, even rational believers, should apply those ways as often as possible to their own as well as to other religions.
Shalom.
syn·cre·tism: Reconciliation or fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, especially when success is partial or the result is heterogeneous.
I had to look it up LOL.
Is there synctretism between Judaism and Christianity, in your opinion?
I presume you were asking me, and not yourself. ;)
Yes, Christianity is a Jewish sect. Christians believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, here to accomplish all the things the Jews have always believed Messiah was to accomplish, including spreading G-d's love and forgiveness to all nations (gentiles). In order to accept this notion, Christians have to believe the prophet Isaiah was actually talking about the Messiah coming twice when Isaiah spoke of both a suffering servant and a victorious king. Christians also believe that the Messiah of whom Isaiah spoke would be G-d Himself coming as a man.
Jews (religious, not ethnic) do not believe Isaiah was talking about 2 comings, but one. They also do not believe Messiah would be G-d Himself. What the Christians look to in the second coming, the Jews still look to as the coming of Messiah.
Everything else is in common between Jews and Christians. I don't mean to make light of these differences, but to make much of the similarities.
Shalom.
Thank you for your point of view.
I am all American, having been born here in the USA. My parents and Grandparents were also born here. My father was Lebanese Catholic and my mother was Spanish Catholic. I have an Arabic last name, and sometimes face discrimination from people who don't know me, and assume I must be Muslim or of Middle Eastern origin, based on my last name. Marinite conservatives are fairly rare, but there are a few of us out here. My next door neighbor and close friend is Paul Gottfried, a well-published paleo-con of Jewish origin. We often have interesting discussions about the situation in the Middle East and Europe. Paul is much more noninterventionist than me, so I guess you can't always predict what someone's point of view will be based on ethnicity -- at least in the USA.
Shalom right back at you, thanks for a provocative dialogue, and have a good day.
Shalom.
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