If you are Jewish, your belief system says you must sacrifice an animal to get forgiveness. How many sacrifices have you done? How many sacrifices has the Jewish nation performed since Jesus was crucified or the Temple was destroyed? Why haven't they rebuilt the Temple if you believe this practice is necessary? Even observant Jews don't adhere to all the Commandments of God. Calling yourself Jewish is more a cultural or racial idea than a religious one. Have all the Jews since the Temple was destroyed gone to Hell? It's like cafeteria Catholics or any other denomination. You can't pick and choose what you will believe and not. Even the Old Testament is enough to show you Christ. The New Testament is just the Messiah revealed.
You seem awfully comfortable going to hell. It's not about me or what I think. It's between you and God and what you thought of His Son's sacrifice for you. Democrats are so blinded by their hatred of Bush, they would destroy America to keep from giving him any credit. Don't let your opinion of me get in the way of your relationship with God. The Truth is the Truth, whether I tell you or someone else. Ann Coulter told the Truth to someone who didn't want to hear it. Now many here on FR have turned on Ann Coulter. This is why many Jews vote Democrat. They vote against themselves because they don't like Christians. A real Christian is the Jews best friend. I have been adopted in or grafted into the Vine. Israel won't find a stronger ally than Evangelical Christians. You have no need to fear a Christian holding you down forcing you to get Baptized as a Christian. The choice is presented and you make the choice. Your argument is with God because you can't give a good reason you should be saved other than you believe you are as "good" as anybody. Not murdering anybody or being in prison isn't what saves you.
>I’m not trying to convert you or anybody else.
I didn’t say you were. I was suggesting you not bother.
>The Holy Spirit does that.
Not to me.
>My job is to tell you the truth.
Good luck with that, you’ll need it. Your perception of the truth differs from mine. Greatly.
>If you are not seeking God, you will never find Him.
How about you let me—and God—worry about that. I’m prepared to take responsibility for the consequences. And I’m quite secure in my faith, thank you very much.
>It’s not your Jewishness that is the problem. It’s your non belief.
Kindly refrain from presuming what I am, what my problems are, and what my beliefs are, and I’ll gladly do the same.
>One religion is no different than another if Christ isn’t at the Head of it.
I do not share this belief.
>If you have led a sinless life, you have no worries.
I’m comfortable with leaving that to God, not you.
>I need Christ for myself.
That’s fine. I do not share that need.
>The self righteous only have their own righteousness to present to God.
Whatever. I prefer to keep the matter of spirituality to myself, and I’ve spent more time, publicly, on this tonight than in quite some time. It’s distasteful, and has nothing to do with my faith.
>God said our righteousness were as filthy rags( womens menstrual rags).
Maybe your God said that. Not mine.
>I choose the righteousness of Jesus to represent me.
I do not.
>If you are Jewish, your belief system says you must sacrifice an animal to get forgiveness. How many sacrifices have you done?
I was born Jewish. I do not observe the religion or its rituals. I do believe that the lessons I was taught about being a good person are the best examples of what it means to be a Jew, which I remain even if I do not observe the religion. I’ll leave it to someone else to care if I should still be a Jew if I choose to convert to another religion, which is rather unlikely. If it makes anybody who needs to, feel better, I am not an observant Jew. That does not mean I am not a Jew, however.
>How many sacrifices has the Jewish nation performed since Jesus was crucified or the Temple was destroyed?
You are asking the wrong person.
>Why haven’t they rebuilt the Temple if you believe this practice is necessary?
I believe no such thing.
>Even observant Jews don’t adhere to all the Commandments of God.
If it makes you feel better to say that, fine. I believe the Orthodox and probably the Hasidim would take issue with this. However, it is not my concern.
>Calling yourself Jewish is more a cultural or racial idea than a religious one.
Not racial, but otherwise correct in theory. Being Jewish is an identity. Sorry if you have a problem with that. I do not.
>Have all the Jews since the Temple was destroyed gone to Hell?
You seem to know more about it than I do.
>It’s like cafeteria Catholics or any other denomination. You can’t pick and choose what you will believe and not. Even the Old Testament is enough to show you Christ. The New Testament is just the Messiah revealed.
This is wasted on the wrong person. Quite frankly, what I believe is not actually any of your business. I’m not even sure I could put my belief in God into words; but I will say that it’s easier for me to say that I do not worship as you do. However, I have no interest in providing any reason why you should worship as I do.
I prefer to keep my spirituality to myself.
>You seem awfully comfortable going to hell.
If it’s a place devoid of your God that would send me there based on my beliefs and desire to be a good person, then, yes. But I’m not interested in making any judgments on your desire to end up where YOU wish to.
>It’s not about me or what I think. It’s between you and God and what you thought of His Son’s sacrifice for you.
We believe differently. Not sure why this is so difficult a concept. I say Jesus was not the son of God. You speak as though this is something I have no choice but to believe. Is that how you feel?
>Democrats are so blinded by their hatred of Bush, they would destroy America to keep from giving him any credit.
Well, I knew we agreed on something, otherwise we wouldn’t both be posting here.
>Don’t let your opinion of me get in the way of your relationship with God.
Don’t flatter yourself.
>The Truth is the Truth, whether I tell you or someone else.
Then I’ll have to tell you flat-out that I reject that which you characterize as “Truth.” I can do it in a far less polite fashion if you insist on continuing this. I will not tell you what to believe; I don’t think it’s asking much to receive the same courtesy in return.
>Ann Coulter told the Truth to someone who didn’t want to hear it.
So you say. I reject this as well. If I’m wrong I’ll have no problem admitting it when the time comes. For now I’m quite confident and secure in my beliefs. And you can put me down with him if you must as someone who doesn’t want to hear it, either.
>Now many here on FR have turned on Ann Coulter.
You’d think that those continuing to defend her might begin to wonder why at some point. And I heard Savage say on the radio that she is anti-semitic to her core.
>This is why many Jews vote Democrat. They vote against themselves because they don’t like Christians.
Absurd. I’d say the actual reason is because they like to think that what seem to be the best policies and solutions to problems on paper, to them, will work in practice. What some of us choose to believe, is that what works in theory does not work in practice. Which is something that has a heck of a lot more to do with conservatism, than trying to plug a political book by saying that the country would be a better place if Jews converted to Christianity.
>A real Christian is the Jews best friend.
What’s a real Christian? You may find this difficult to believe, but some of us like ‘Christians’ better than some types of Christians like other types of Christians.
>Israel won’t find a stronger ally than Evangelical Christians.
I don’t disagree.
>You have no need to fear a Christian holding you down forcing you to get Baptized as a Christian.
Who said I fear any such thing? It doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be irritated when I hear these sorts of views expressed. But it happens, and we deal with it as a matter of course. Again—I prefer to keep my spirituality to myself. You want to go around trying to convince those like me that our beliefs are flawed? Good luck with that. You may find more sympathetic ears elsewhere. Like I said, I’m not interested.
>Your argument is with God because you can’t give a good reason you should be saved other than you believe you are as “good” as anybody.
I’m not interested in being ‘saved.’ Nor do I make judgments on how ‘good’ I am. That’s for God to decide, not me.
Not you, either.
Jews believe no such thing, and the Bible very explicitly states that, after the destruction of the Temple, Jews could have their sins forgiven by prayer and repentance.
You seem awfully comfortable going to hell.
You seem awfully comfortable deciding who is going to go there.
There are several pretty serious theological errors with this.
1. Judaism, unlike Christianity, is not predicated on forgiveness. That's a pretty serious distinction. In Protestant Christianity, you just need to confess or repent (depending on the brand) your sins, accept Jesus as your "savior" and you're immediately forgiven. That makes Christianity a relatively easy religion. You can be the worst murderer in the world and you can still go to heaven as long as you repent some time before the end. Judaism is a little more complicated...Jews have a much more complex understanding of righteousness and sin, forgiveness and atonement.
2. Animal sacrifice was only the form of atonement prescribed for a fairly small subset of sins. As animal sacrifice is no longer possible (as is true for other Temple rituals), we must pray for forgiveness, especially in the aseret y'mei teshuva, the period of prayer and forgiveness incorporating Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
3. The Temple has not been rebuilt, because the Temple can only be built with direct instructions from prophets, and most likely won't happen until the coming of the Messiah.
4. Even observant Jews don't adhere to all the Commandments of God.
While that's true, there's no requirement that you must live a sinless life to have your name written in the book of life. One can be righteous without being sinless.
Calling yourself Jewish is more a cultural or racial idea than a religious one.
That just demonstrates your ignorance, and is probably not a succesful strategy. Disagree with Jewish theology if you'd like, but don't deny its existence.