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To: Mike10542
I don't know how the end times will play out with the Jews and Christians.

I think Christians should treat Jews with love and respect unconditionally and vice versa. I certainly don't like the idea of supporting Jews *just because* it fits a Christian interpretation which could be incorrect, at least in part, because that is self-serving and hypocritical.

I do not wish decent Muslims to go to hell. I don't really wish anyone burns forever. I do hope that there will be some kind of separation of the good and the bad though as part of what makes life so difficult is living in fear of anyone who would do anyone harm unless it is necessary in a just war.

Just some thoughts. If I didn't choose to be a Christian, I would choose to be a Jew. I wish that the practice of Christianity could be more "Jewish". I personally wish we could worship more closely to how Jesus worshipped only with his addition of the Eucharist and other early Christian modifications such as lessening of dietary restrictions. According to my belief, animal sacrifices were no longer necessary after Jesus' death, but being a Jew, he would have supported that.

As a Catholic who is practicing again, I can't resolve how we can obey the commandment of keeping the sabbath and at the same time meet on the "Lord's day" (Sunday) for Christian worship. It isn't practical to do both unless you become part of a sabbatarian group which doesn't exactly fit the bill either.

I do look forward to Jesus' return and hope that all things are restored eventually in a manner that is most pleasing to God, no matter whose ox gets gored in the process.

Jesus did keep a Saturday sabbath and was a practicing Jew until he was crucified. I doubt he ever ate pork, but I believe it is permissible for Christians because of Peter's vision.

I do understand that with the inclusion of the gentiles in Christianity, some rules had to be modified, but sometimes I think they changed too many things over the centuries. Some of my thinking would make some Catholics, Orthodox and even Jews upset.

There are aspects of the Catholic religion that I have mental reservations about. I wouldn't have liked to be Jewish and watched them killing all those animals for sacrifices. I feed sparrows on my front porch and if I killed one (which would be unthinkable), I would be considered a mental risk. Two birds were sacrificed after Jesus was born. I think it was sparrows but maybe it was doves. I can't remember.

But it all gets too complicated, so I just do the best I can and hope for the best for all of us. There are a lot of things I don't understand and don't make a whole lot of sense at this late date and I'm getting too old to make sense of some things. But I'm not getting to old to think and wonder about things, things that a lot of people don't think about.

164 posted on 12/09/2004 7:40:33 AM PST by Aliska
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To: Aliska; Mike10542

There can be no such thing as Christianity that's "more Jewish." The New Covenant is not called to conform to the Old; it's the fulfillment of the Old. Far better to wish that Judaism would be more Christian.

The fact that you're confused about why Christians don't worship on the Sabbath is not surprising, but you really owe it to yourself to have a look in the catechism. We celebrate the sacrifice of the eucharist, as Jesus commanded, and we do so on Sunday -- the first day of the week -- because as Christians we are a new creation, living in a new eschatological "day". Christ is the new man, who makes all things new in him. The world is re-made with his victory over death. In the creation story of Genesis, God's work is finished on a friday. In the NT, Jesus's work ends when he says "it is finished" -- on a friday. In the OT, God rests on the Sabbath. In the NT, Jesus's body rests in the tomb on the Sabbath. Christians celebrate the 8th day -- the day of the new creation.


193 posted on 12/09/2004 10:28:08 AM PST by Romulus (Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?)
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