Posted on 12/10/2015 10:03:29 AM PST by paladinan
So here's my question: If I inadvertently convert a Jew do I have to go to confession? Like if a Jew comes up and says "Hey I was wondering about this Jesus" should I say "I can't talk to you about Him."
But isn't that anti-Semitic? I'm confused.
[from] The Guardian:
Catholics should not try to convert Jews and should work with them to fight antisemitism, the Vatican has said, in a major new document that draws the church further away from the strained relations of the past.
Christianity and Judaism are intertwined and God never annulled his covenant with the Jewish people, said the document from the Vatican’s commission for religious relations with Jews.
"The church is therefore obliged to view evangelisation to Jews, who believe in the one God, in a different manner from that to people of other religions and world views," it said.
"In concrete terms this means that the Catholic church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews." So why not all become Jews? They have good food and good jokes without all that judgey Jesus stuff. There is bacon. That would kinda' stink, not having bacon. So there's that. Wait, can I talk to Jews about bacon?
...and please send his many cronies to small mission chapels where their only job will be filling the holy water fonts?
**”In concrete terms this means that the Catholic church neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.” **
The first people to hear the word of God as Jesus preached it were the Jews.
I’m glad that the Lord Himself and His Apostles were busily converting Jews. Not good Catholics, I guess. The Lord even converted Saul of Tarsus, a Jew’s Jew, by a direct act.
Next thing, it will be, “Don’t convert Muslims.” Or his he already said that?
Has.
Shame on St Paul and the first “pope” Peter.
35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
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It would appear this Pope who have the last line scratched out, lest the "Jews" find, read, and thereby save Jerusalem from final destruction.
The literal text of the statement is that Jews can’t be organizationally targeted for evangelization and conversion.
It doesn’t say anything about personal interaction that results in the conversion of Jews.
So being approached by a Jewish friend on the subject, with the outcome being that he converts as a result of the discussion, is ok. It’s just that the Church as an organization is not going to run any programs aimed at Jewish conversion.
Actively, and as an individual, identifying and targeting Jews for conversion is a big gray area tho.
So the Pope is basically saying Jews aren’t worth saving?
What else can he be saying, when his own church’s doctrine clearly states that not being evangelized is a sure path to damnation?
If Christ is the New Covenant should we not pray harder for Jews to convert and join in it?
Ok, so Jesus Himself said to go and make disciples, first to Jerusalem, which I think is Jewish, and then to the rest of the word. Does that mean that that the Vicar of Christ thinks that Christ was being anti-Semitic?
Jesus really screwed up when he appeared to Paul and told him to join his church instead of persecuting Christians. Thanks for the tip, Frank.
Yes, they were.
According to the Vatican figures there are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world. Naturally the Catholic bashers will find SOMETHING wrong about that, either too many, not enough or just plain wrong.
Matthew 10:22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
John 15:18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
Mark: 13:13 Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
When I read the Catholic bashing I recall these verses from Jesus. I know that there are so many Protestants, from all denominations, that do not feel this way so it's saddening to read it here.
Jews are not the problem, they are part of the solution, and have contributed tremendously to our culture.
... and they stayed Jews all their lives. Paul says very clearly in Acts 28 that he IS a Jew, and faithfully kept all the traditions of Judaism all his life.
The problem is, Christianity and Judaism both teach that a Jew that converts to Christianity is no longer a Jew. This is not biblical. the Catholic Church, by acknowledging that Jews should remain Jews is at least semantically correct.
Invalid argument. Jesus Christ addressed Jewish crowds has a whole. So did St. Peter.
What's changed?
"Neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews" doesn't imply that Jews aren't worth saving, nor that there is no objective need for them to convert. That's reading more into it than it actually says.
his own church's doctrine clearly states that not being evangelized is a sure path to damnation?
Not sure where you're getting this from. Catholic doctrine always teaches that damnation is the consequence of voluntary fault. "Not being evangelized" isn't a voluntary fault of the person who wasn't evangelized, but it may very well be one of the person who was supposed to evangelize, but didn't!
In the mean time, don't stand too close to Frank during a thunderstorm.
JMHo
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