Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyBob
I removed the Old Testament from my Bible. It's now 2/3rds lighter and exclusively pertinent to Christianity. Well, actually Jesus was a Jew teaching Jews exclusively, but Paul set the record straight. Of course, he was also a Jew as were all of the New Testament authors with the possible exception of Luke.....
The Old Testament is Judaism.
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That's a very interesting concept. It would certainly be lighter, but I have to say that they don't call it the Judaeo-Christian 'tradition' for no reason. In order to really understand the New Testament and Christianity, I think you have to appreciate its Jewish roots. As you say, the very concept of a Christ and a Messiah derives from Jewish thought. The Ten Commandments were expounded and expanded by Jesus in his Sermon on The Mount. He was merely interpreting Jewish law as did all Rabbis at the time.
What is really tragic is the confusion and problematics associated with the death of Jesus, which the New Testament (which was written 40-70 years after the death of Jesus) appears to blame the Jews for. Of course the history of the New Testament is interesting too in that during the middle ages it was edited by the Fathers of the Church.
It is no doubt true that after Jesus' death a rift occurred that widened over the decades. Jesus always thought of himself as a Jew. It was not until this rift was institutionalized that the Jew became a pariah. The various Gospels each have a slightly different take on the death and trial of Jesus, allowing for various interpretations, including one that does not make the Jews the villian of the piece, but the Romans.
That particular part of the Christian Bible is responsible for the death of (I don't know how many) Jews, during the Crusades, the Inquisition, and various blood-libels and pogroms and stringing up, expulsions etc throughout history. It is truly amazing that that could stem from a book about Jesus, who himself was a sweet and gentle (and wise) creature.
A fascinating book on the subject can be found here:
Amazon.com: The Trial and Death of Jesus: Haim...
Mohammed was a different story.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x0bU...watch_response
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZL0C2QvqIlo#
"The courageous over the infidels, make war for Allah and are not afraid... This is the depiction of the army of Allah that will come at Allah's decree, from here or from there, to liberate these lands from the defilement of the Jews, for Allah was angry with them in his book and called them once 'monkeys,' once 'swine,' and once 'donkeys.'" (Palestinian TV, March 30, 2001)