[safisoft]

Sigh, you play the blame game and someone will point out Saul of Tarsus and the Sanhedrin's suppression of early Christian communities. The blame game doesn't work. Can you demonstrate any where where the Church now persecutes Jews?

Sanity on this thread? You are correct. Although they were not distinct from the other Judaisms of the First Century, Jews of "the Way" were indeed persecuted by the Jewish authorities. Later on however, they gained great acceptance (Acts 21). By the time James was murdered, the Pharisee party was so intertwined with the movement that they sent emissaries to Caesar to complain against the illegitimate High Priest who had arranged for the murder of James.

By the early Second Century, Gentiles outnumbered Jews in the assemblies, and they had to create theologies to distance themselves from Jews because the Jews were suffering from Roman persecution. Those theologies eventually became dogma and justified the "Church's" systematic persecution of Jews. A brief perusal of the ante-Nicean fathers' writings will reveal a vile hatred of all things Jewish.

Where you are confused is on who the parties were in the First Century. The early followers of Jesus were all Jews. The "your side, our side" was not "Christian against Jew" - it was Jew against Jew. No Sanhedrin ever made rulings against Gentiles.

[Cronos]

Sanity on this thread? You are correct. Although they were not distinct from the other Judaisms of the First Century, Jews of "the Way" were indeed persecuted by the Jewish authorities

let's break it down:.
1. you say that the early Christians were NOT distinct from other Jewish sects (like the Essenes, Nazarenes etc.). That's a WRONG statement. Did the other groups believe that Christ was the messiah? Did the other groups believe that Judaic law had been superseded by God's new covenant? Did the other groups believe in God's grace?

2. Secondly, you DO point out that early Christians were persecuted by Judaic authorities, the Sanhedrin and the like. Isn't that exactly the proof you wanted that Judaic authorities also persecutied Christians?

forget the past, as my post 91 points out, you can go back 4 millenia to play the blame game.


A brief perusal of the ante-Nicean fathers' writings will reveal a vile hatred of all things Jewish.

Examples?