Sorry I didn't get to this sooner.

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PrincessElisa said:
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Dk said: It's not about one faith being right for everyone. It's about one faith being right for us.



I disagree! It IS about being one faith FOR EVERYONE! What about the whiping out of the pagan tribes in the Promised Land?? Especially when God instructed Joshua to annilate the Jebusites, Hittites, the Perizzites and I know I'm missing some more. Anyways, after they whiped out the main pagan tribes each tribe was allotted their land by Joshua and TOLD to annialiate the people there. But did they obey God? NO, so the Angel of the Lord appeared to them in Judges 2 and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.""



Idolatry was not permitted within the land of Israel when the law of Judiasm was the law of the land. Israel was meant to be a land reserved for the practice of Judaism alone. However, we were not supposed to wipe paganism off the face of the earth or convert anyone to Judiasm. If a community outside the land of Israel wanted to worship idols, that was between them and G-d. Within Israel, that's when it became our problem.

BTW, since our exile from Israel, (the current state of Israel is a secular one, so we're still in exile until the Moshiach - Messiah - comes) this rule is not currently in effect. Were Jews to use violence against non-Jews in Israel or try to expel them by force, it would be considered a sin, rather than a good deed.

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Notice God seperates Himself from the other "gods" of the culture. If "It's not about one faith being right for everyone. It's about one faith being right for us", then why were the pagan tribes judged by the Lord Almighty? Why were the Israelites instructed to wipe them out? Sure God judged both the Israelits AND the pagans but if God only cared about the Jewish people and their faith, why did he send Jonah to preach to the Gentile city of Nineveh?



I think you misunderstood what I meant by Judaism being right for us. I meant that Judiasm is right for Jews, and other religions are right for their practitioners.

As for why pagan tribes are also judged and punished for their misdeeds, there were some rules that were given just to the Jews, and some that were given to everyone (prohibition on murder, theft, sexual immorality). If a society collectively broke rules that was given to everyone, they'd be punished for it. It wasn't about not following the Torah, because the Torah is only meant for Jews to follow. Non-Jews have no obligation to follow the Torah (check out my Judaism 101 thread for details).

And I NEVER said that G-d doesn't care about non-Jews.

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The Bible seperates itself from any other book in that there is only ONE way to heaven, ONE faith, and ONE book that reveals the mind of God. Anyone in Scripture who chose to not follow the Lord was judged in one way or another (like in Isaiah when God again judges the pagan community for their evils (Egypt, Mesopotamia, etc).



Again, not following the Lord most likely meant that they were punished for generic evil rather than not following the Torah.

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Now if you consider both parts of the Old and New Testmant...



You're no doubt aware that the New Testament isn't part of Judaism, so certain Christian beliefs won't be part of the Jewish mindset. Regardless, I'm not familiar with what the New Testament says, so I can't comment on it.

Last edited by Darknight613; 2005-03-29 1:27 AM.
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