Posted on 05/20/2008 11:43:09 AM PDT by Alexius
Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material. After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it. "The books were dumped into a pile and set afire in a lot near a synagogue," he said. The newspaper Maariv reported Tuesday that hundreds of yeshiva students took part in the book-burning. But Aharon told The Associated Press that only a few students were present, and that he was not there when the books were torched. "Not all of the New Testaments that were collected were burned, but hundreds were," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
They are words are paper...but they are not *just* words.
What do you suppose these folks are so worried about? If they were JUST words on paper, they wouldn’t care a bit.
Oh please. You give away free bibles, you won’t like what happens to some of them. That’s life.
>>So because Muslims are barbarians, Jews get a free pass<<
No. It’s the reactions.
The Muslims freak out when the “Holy Book” is touched.
Christians go, “Wow, that’s nasty.” and go on because we know that the power is not in the pages but in the words themselves.
But it was enormously stupid for the students to burn them, just for how it looks.
I’m sorry that the American educational system failed you as it did.
And actually, it made the kids look just plain dumb.
The FReepers are shaking their heads at the Irony. It’s a Duh moment.
lol...nice argument there, Alexius. Run out of moronic things to say? You’ve certainly run the gamut.
HA! Great minds think alike!!! Look at 47.
They know how it looks, they don’t care. That’s their decision.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
..................
Certainly a terrible incident. Worth noting it was apparently a half dozen students, not hundreds. It's a reprehensible act, particularly on the part of the Deputy Mayor, but not sure it's representative of anything beyond an isolated incident. Since the books were theirs, I doubt theres any criminality here. They should have simply collected them and returned them. Or not taken them in the first place.
I liken it to our “No Solicitors” rule in my suburb.
Am I wrong?
Sure, Jews always get a free pass.
Reading the thread, everybody seems to agree that those involved, a half dozen Jews, acted like as*holes.
That that doesn't please you is apparent, you want more.
What your you propose for burning New Testaments, which was their own property?
Some barbaric Muslims would propose beheading, is that the direction you're heading?
In my view there's nothing to be done other than condemn the stupid actions of the individuals involved.
*sigh* Schmucks.
My guess it's not illegal, simply unwanted, or they wouldn't be evangelizing there, but forkinsocket or alouette would know better.
I haven’t had a solicitor come to my urban door in years, because solicitation without a permit is illegal, and the permit requires both identification, a defined time frame and posting bond.
In anticipation of it coming up on the thread, evangelizing minors is illegal in Israel, as is paying for conversion. But while legal, yes, unwelcome by lots of people. From a few years ago, a favorite quote of my from Reverend Bricker of Jews for Jesus, If they don't want to talk to us, they can say 'drop dead' - we don't want to pester anybody. A better policy than accepting Bibles or tracts and burning them.
This is very, very wrong.
I guess using a Koran for target practice was also an atrocity. Are you going to seethe and riot and demand they should be beheaded?
I have to say I am disgusted with what was done. There are few FReepers that will argue more vigorously on theological differences between Judaism and Christianity than me. And I get very upset at missionary activity, peaceful or otherwise, for reasons that I don’t wish to go into here. But this is simply wrong.
You will not find more than a few kooks among truly Orthodox Jews who would approve of this. I haven’t seen more detail just yet, but I’d like to predict that if the details become better known, it will turn out to be a small group of foolish kids. I pray no person will ascribe these acts to “grown up” mature Jews or real Jewish behavior in any way.
I’ll share a story to illustrate a point. A good client of my law firm called one day and asked me to represent his 15 yr old son who was charged in a criminal mischief and arson case. Turned out he went with a couple of other young morons to a remote church warehouse where they stored food collections for distribution to the poor. Using their brilliant analytical minds deliberatively, they spray painted swastikas and vulgarities all over the building and then experimented with setting some of the boxes on fire, which got out of control and did a lot of damage.
Of course, as the son of a Holocaust survivor, I was not happy to represent the kid. But I met with him and his parents and learned something important: I looked him right in the eye and asked him questions to determine if he understood the significance of the swastika. Turns out he had no idea, thought it was just something cool that would be used by tough types. Astonishing as it was, this fool, the product of a fine family, was also the product of a failed public school system.
I ask others and particularly Christian folks reading this to consider a similar possibility: these are stupid kids (and maybe equally stupid “older” kids) who simply don’t understand how deeply offensive their actions are. All they know is that this is somehow an act of rebellion or defiance against the missionaries for trying to draw them away from their religion.
Even if I’m right, this wouldn’t excuse the actions, but would, IMHO, cast them in a much less outrageous light.
Why am I not surprised. Typical.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.