Letter to the Christians

I Yam What I Yam.


To a Christian friend offended by anti-christianism.

I feel for you. Really. It is hard to be disliked because of your beliefs. Maybe it will help you to see how I, a no non Christain feel all the time.

To start with, living in this society means living in a reality where someone wonderful lived and died 2000 years ago. Even non Christians are encouraged to emulate this universal figure.

But:

1. If Jesus existed, he sure was not called "Jesus Christ." Christ is a greek word meaning anointed. While Judaism of 2 millenia ago did yearn for a leader who would overthrow the Roman yoke, the idea that the Jews rejected Jesus as a messiah makes no sense.

The word "Christ" had no "coming of the seviour" meaning in Jesus' own time. There is NO historical evidence, outside of the Christian Bible (CB), of a gentle teacher who was regarded by Romans or Jews as a savior figure during Jesus's time. MUCH earlier, there were similar figures ...a Yashua ben Pantera lieved abut 100 years earlier and, of course 30 years later, bar Kochba was hailed as a messiah.

2. No one knows what "Jesus Christ" said. The is extensive evidence that the citations attributed to Jesus in the Christian Bible (CB) were not made by any one person. Some of the statements, if they had been made, wold have resulted in his being stoned to death as a blasphemer. Others would have led many to regard him as a Quisling. This does not say there are not good things too, but Christians who want to claim to "know" WWJD, have a real problem.

3. The Jesus painted in the CB is a sanctimonious blasphemer. Judaism is an obligate monotheism. Anyone claiming to be a personification of God, literal son of God, or any such thing would have beens toned for blasphemy.

Worse,despite the good words of the sermon on the mount, that ACTS pf Jesus do nto include a single act of simple charity .. as opposed to miracles. If this was aman, he was not a very good man. WWJD, for most of us, means uisng magic powers to help others.

4. Many of the aspects of Christianity growing out of its role as a state religion are repulsive to those of us who are not Christian:'

a. Exclusivity. To my knowledge, Christianity was the first religion to claim to be the sole, exclusive truth and to depict a Deity who requires belief in Himself. The evil done because of this is overwhelming.

b. Destruction of the past. Wherever it has gone, Christianity has practiced cultural abalation. The thought of the dead deities and faiths of Europe, Africa, Asia, ..is saddening.

5. Many of the commonly held beliefs of Christians are deeply offensive to others:

a.The evil Pharisees. The Pharisees were the leaders of the resistance against Rome ..not surprisingly the Roman religion denigrates the people who founded modern Judaism. My son is named for the head Pharisee, Hillel. Hille is credited with inventing rabbinic Judaism.

b. Theophagy ... it is awfully impolite, but the ritual practice of the mass is distasteful. Imagine, if you will, a "native: culture that baked and ate images of babies. To a non-Christian, that is the image the mass conveys.

c. To accept Christianity is, to most, to accept the idea that Judaism was flawed.

d. Idolatry. It is deeply troubling to watch people who genuflect before atatues of Mary, Jesus, the Sainst, etc .. and then denigrate Buddhists (who have NO God), Hindus, etc,

6. Asking a Jew to be tolerant of Christianity is akin to asking me to tolerate a religion that came into being with the intent of destroying all other religions.

How did this religion come into being? The Christian religion we have today can be traced to only one clear event .. the Council of Nicea. At that meeting, the religion was codified by a Roman Council as a means to politically unite the Empire. The result was suppression of many christianities that existed before that time.

Posted by SM Schwartz:

Christianity

I Yam What I Yam.
With it's twisted roots more deeply pagan than Jewish, Christianity none the less, it is a powerful warhorse. Christianity is also a conundrum. Christian teachings and behaviour are riddled with contradictions.Acts of supreme self-sacrifice to ice cold blooded murder have been undertaken in the name of Christianity. From its inception Christians have been arguing and even fighting among themselves over the meaning of their religion.
Still today the beginnings of Christianity are shrouded in mystery.Many and various are the theories put forward to explain it.Initially Christianity grew out of Judaism in an almost parasitic fashion.To the Jews the Christians were heretics.Christians used Jewish scriptures as justification of their own teachings and scriptures.I believe that the major Christian doctrines emerged out of the mystery teachings that existed in Greece and the Middle East around 2000 years ago, but became distorted by the Church.Early Christian fathers such as Clement of Alexander and Origen mention the continuity between Greek philosophy, especially Plato, and the inner mystery teachings and Christianity.Both stated that Christianity had secret teachings for the few, just as was the case in the mysteries.

The early church was called "catholic", which means universal.It claimed to be for all, and it attempted to combine elements of many religions.In Christianity there is Judaic monotheism, Persian dualism, eastern otherworldliness and asceticism, and various mystery teachings.A veritable potpourri of religious ideas, bound to cause confusion.

Religion

I Yam What I Yam.

There is this friend of a friend, she was a Jew at the same time I was a Christian.
When she adopted the most pagan of all Christian religions. I said to myself, if this Jesus was a Jew, why would a Jew need to be a pagan? I had to take a new look at religion, and turn my back to all of it.
"But Jesus was such a nice boy!" Millions, perhaps Billions have been slaughtered in the name of Jesus and other religions.

"The great philosopher – sage of the twelfth century, Maimonides, basing himself on the earlier midrashim, maintains that it was actually Abraham who discovered the concept of ethical monotheism – a unique and single Creator of the universe who demands justice, compassion and peace. Abraham shattered the idols in Ur Kasdim, was chased to Haran where he continued to preach his new-found religion, and was at that time addressed by G-d and sent to the land of Israel (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Idolatry 1,3). In effect, then, if the question is raised:"

“How odd of G-d to choose Abraham for the Jews”

the logical answer must be:

“It was not at all odd because Abraham chose G-d”.

The Big Guy, does not restrict Himself to being G-d of only one religion. He is the only G-d of all creation. The only saving grace of all the world religions, is that the living G-d; is G-d over the heart's of all men.

Yeshayahu 29.13

I Yam What I Yam.

Isaiah (Yeshayahu) 29.13

"And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear of Me is a commandment learned by rote."

Christian Claim: Mark 7.7 translates the same verse as follows: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men."

Jesus supposedly cites this passage in opposition to the pharisees, after being asked why his disciples do not observe Jewish traditions.

Jewish Refutation: The verse was simply mistranslated in the Christian Bible in order to provide the Christian savior (Jesus) with a more convincing argument against the rabbis, who were responsible for preserving the Judaism all of Israel was taught by Moses in his generation.

In Isaiah 29.13, the Hebrew words "yirosam osi mitzvas enoshim melumodoh" mean that the fear of G-d to some insincere Jews became a mere commandment devised by man, lacking proper Jewish devotion.

There is no mention anywhere in that verse, or even before or after it, of G-d rebuking the Jewish leaders for their traditional teachings. The Talmud and other Jewish sources of traditional teachings are filled with utmost praise of G-d and the holiness of Jewish life. G-d did not rebuke Jewish leaders at any time for continuing to teach the Torah we received at Sinai to the Jewish people, both its oral and written parts.