Orthodox Jews (just as fundamentalist Muslims) never separated practical aspects of their lives from God either - but they never considered it to be "God's War" to impose their beliefs on others.
Well to each to his own , but originally, I do believe that the orthodox Jew was very much prone to impose his belief upon others back in the good 'ol days ...very much so and you can read of its many instances in the Bible of their doing so , (with the help and aid of their "god's" pestilence and plagues...and a sharp sword or spear as well ) as every last man and woman of some cities and other tribes of the region felt the wrath of the orthodox Jew and their tribal God .
You know the one , "Javeh" or Jahweh. The Greeks were kind enough to rule over them for a while , and even saved the translations of the old testament for this extremely irrascible & supertstitious tribe of humans.
Well, I'm not sure quite where you were intending to go with this. Judaism has never been a proselytizing religion. Looking to the text of the Old Testament (or Torah) doesn't really support such a conclusion. What is often forgotten in looking at that wording is that Judaism, at the time, was the only monotheistic religion. Non-Jews were held to a much lower standard than the 613 mitzvahs required of Jews (they were required to abide by the seven Noachide principals). In fact, even today it is difficult to convert to Judaism.
As for forcing conversions at the point of the sword, I really would like to see where you got that from.
Like I said, I don't know what you were going for, but it seemed a little off base.
Best wishes,
Larry |
