I don't know what it's like to be a Jew, I only know what it's like to be a Christian. Judaeism are part of our tradition, Islam is not. The Old Testament is holy, the Koran is not. Christ was a Jew. We believe, as Jews believe, that the Old Testament prophesied the coming of the Messiah.
That's the way it should be and among more enlightened Christians today the way it is. I guess the difference over time and in reference to what you said was that Jews were seen as a remnant that hadn't accepted Jesus (and whose ancestors maybe killed him), while Islam was a new rebellious force militarily threatening Christendom.
The big difference is that we think he already came, and Jews are still waiting.
Except that Christians think Jesus is God. Judaism and Islam are very similar. Jews can understand Islam perfectly well. The Orthodox Rabbis allow Jews to even pray in mosques while they forbid them to enter churches. Islam is considered a good religion for non-Jews while Chritianity is considered idolatry. For someone like me, Christianity's appeal doesn't make sense at all, the religion is very hard to understand, even though I grew up in a country where it is the official state religion (Britain).
But it's also true that for most Christians, that is not the case, whatever it was in the past.
The US and Australia as well are both pretty good now and are mutlicultural societies. What you get in the South though seems at a stereotype from the outside strong support for Israel and hatred of Muslim countries together with a view of individual Jews as being foreign and not real Americans? Europe is a totally different place.
Christianity is a much happier religion than Judaeism, I think. BWDIK?
The opposite always strikes me. Churches often seem gloomy places and people thinking about Jesus dying on the cross. Synagogues often seem much more full of light. Christianity seems a very pessimistic religion. People are too small to communicate with God and need the death of Jesus to atone for their sins. While Jews believe that God is ready to forgive everyone directly on their own merit. Of course a lot of American Jews seem to have got obsessed with the holocaust which is a very negative development in my opinion. Traditionally Jews do have fast days to commemorate the bad events of the past like the 9th of Av when Jerusalem was destroyed but mostly our festivals commemorate harvests (Passover, Shavuot, Sucot), escape from our enemies (Passover), victory over our enemies (Hanuka, Purim), the creation of the nation (Passover, Shavuot), and the themes of forgiveness and atonement and repentance (Rosh HaShana, Yom Kippur). We haven't found any identity in being defeated by our enemies before... We should honor the dead and then get on with life like the day of rememberance in Israel before Independence Day. I don't think European or Israeli Jews today think much about the holocaust by comparison....
There is only one God, and that God is the same for us all. There is no Jewish God. There is no Christian God. There is no Islamic God. There is one God.
Yes, El the supreme Levantine-Mesopotamian god :)
Anyway, today is the new year, so Happy New Year to everyone!
David |
